#996

For me also - thank you! Booked in for the Friday at Shepherd’s Bush.

1 Like
#997

Thanks! Im in for the Friday in London.

1 Like
#998

Got one for Bristol. It’ll be two years to the day since their Hammersmith Apollo gig - the last time I saw them and the last time I’ve seen any form of live music in person. It’s almost a shame that I’ll probably go to other shows in the meantime because that’d be a lovely little coincidence.

1 Like
#999

I also am going to the Friday in London

1 Like
#1000

Thurs & Fri in London for me… got a bit excited.

Also they were the last band I saw before the Pandy… will I see any others before these gigs… :thinking:

#1001

You guys know the band have literally no say in where their tours go right :rofl:

2 Likes
#1002

I dont work in the industry but surely you can kind of have as little or as much say as you want?

#1003

Depends on the size of the band, I think. I’m sure I read bigger bands and a significant chunk of mid-sized bands just rely on managers booking this stuff and telling them where they’re going and when.

1 Like
#1004

On an indie/DIY level sure but once you’re on the level Big Thief are on everything is tied up in various booking promoter/agent contacts/bands are too busy writing/playing music/doing p.r to be booking tours so they just show and play wherever the people employed to book them send them

#1005

Yeah i guess, i dont know what these interactions/contracts look like. But i’d guess there would be something rough worked out first before everything was agreed and you could go ‘no i dont want to play 3 nights in london l, can we do 2 and one somewhere else’ and ‘cant we play somewhere else in that city we played there before and it was crap’

Though kinda just looking at it from a point of view of what i would want of i was in a mid-tier indie band. Sure, some would be happy to play whereever but some would want some kind of autonomy/final sign-off?

@Severed799

1 Like
#1006

I do wander if Big Thief would be a bit of a special case in this area, actually. They do emphasise their closeness as a band and their consideration of external factors that may affect them. There was the Israel gig which must have had some intra-band discussion given the family connection - I doubt there’s many booking agents or managers who would have opted for that of their own accord.

1 Like
#1007

Yeh also a bit unfair for the band themselves to make a call on each venue half-way around the world based on whether local gig goers think a pint is too expensive there

5 Likes
#1008

Obviously they can make special requests but ultimately it’s not up to them/not their job to be particularly worried about this. Big Thief do have a bit of a raw organic feel but that’s who they are as people and in their home lives, when they are going half way across the world from home specifically is not really a concern to them, they’re just happy to be there at all.

The sad reality is once you hit that level being a fairly successful regularly touring band it kinda just becomes a job :man_shrugging: the fact that any band still find a way to be creative in those conditions is beyond me, but it’s a big reason why the infamous “difficult second album” exists because bands who have a successful debut suddenly start living a completely different life where they are treated like celebs but lose much of their autonomy.

2 Likes
#1009

Yeah, to an extent - literally no say is a stretch though - they can still highlight things which are shit and change them. If they were touring europe, and said they wanted to play the UK as well someone would make it happen for them. If they said they wanted x dates in a country and in different cities - it could happen. Especially when the tour is being booked through O2 and there are 02s everywhere.

To say they can’t do anything is wrong - to say they are not too fussed about it/haven’t noticed/are too busy/are too detached from their fans/don’t really care enough is fine imo.

1 Like
#1010

if they want people to come and see them it is!

(i fear i’m coming over as more bothered about this than i am :rofl: Just think its a farce for any band of this level to play three dates in one city and not visit the rest of the country)

1 Like
#1011

Again, it’s not the band’s decision, it’s the booking agents based on in their professional opinion, what will sell the best.

As I’ve gone on to say, bands can make requests, but it is not their job to book tours, they entrust professionals to do it for them, to suggest this means they don’t care is a fallacy, it’s a full time career with lots of things going on which you have a team around you to make that happen. Given bands now more than ever survive of touring revenue, they are pretty hamstrung as it is literally what keeps them and the various other people involved in a job.

Theres also been massive redundancies in that industry in the past year, so who knows, maybe bands will have a more active role again…

#1012

Also between Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow they have hit the majority of the major UK markets that is possible during a massive EU tour?

#1013

Big Thief are American and, as such, aren’t they brought up to believe that ‘London’ and ‘England’ mean pretty much the same thing? I’ve talked to loads of Americans who assume that the rest of England is just some fields full of sheep on the periphery of London. Not saying that this is a great stereotype to have but I doubt it would stand out to your average American as weird collection of tour dates.

1 Like
#1014

I think we’re at odds here - i do understand the mechanisms of touring and promoters but thanks for explaining :wink: I think to suggest they do care and can’t do literally anything about it is a fallacy.

the booking wasn’t their decision but they can do something about it after the fact. I just think they should care more but clearly don’t - that’s fine.

Neither of us know if they care enough - they position themselves to me as a band who would though.

They could have played a fuck off big venue in london to cover the same capacity as those three nights and then play elsewhere. I think perhaps they don’t want to play a massive cavernous arena though? I dunno, as you say - loads of factors go into but on base level it just seems a bit shitty. Would it cross my mind if i lived in London? I am sure not!

Yeah but not my fucking hometown and thats the point :rofl: :rofl: (but joking aside - its a decent trek/expense to any of those and Birmingham is the home of metal so should be included at all times - shit crowds or not!)

2 Likes
#1015

oh yeah, and i totally accept that in other countries people travel for far longer just to see a band and i could go to those cities. London - Manchester is no distance compared to the states

3 Likes