Tremonti - Message to TheABNation.com

[AustinH22]

Cool video, Jim! My ears have been anticipating some more AB!

[joey78]

Hopefully they do dig out some of the old favorites like when they played 'Down To My Last' and 'The End Is Here' on their last UK run. It'll be sorta-kinda close to the 10 year anniversary of ODR when they tour in support of the new album so they oughta throw out some ear-candy.

Say that again man, and I think they should add Broken Wings and In Loving Memory to the setlist every now and then. Myles really shines on these slow songs and I'm sad that they have stopped writing songs like these and even playing such songs live.

Like it or not, Myles and the band sound better on the slow stuff like Burn it Down, Shed my skin, and the 2 listed above. I really wish they'd embrace this side of their music a little more on the next record.

[TenaciousBe]

Hell, I'd've been happy with 'Watch Your Words'.

I want to hear Watch Your Words Darker Than Their Broken Wings!

But, nah. Actually I've championed for more ODR material for a long time, but WYW is still one of my top 5 all time favorite songs they've ever done. That Burn It Down video is proof positive of what happens when you don't keep up on your older material. I'll bet they just never really found much time to continue rehearsing that one till they decided to throw it back in the set, and all of a sudden they're trying to remember how they worked together on a song from several years prior. If I had one wish for AB as a live band, it would be to ditch the old formula of trying to push more and more material from the newest record while keeping just certain favorites of the old ones, and do more mixing and matching and bringing out different obscure songs from the earlier records. I know it's easier to just bring out the same setlist night after night on a long tour, but shake it up a little. Give a treat to the fans who do travel and come to multiple shows, don't just play the same show over and over every night. Play Shed My Skin one night, then All Hope Is Gone the next, then bust out Ahavo Rabo the next. When you have a catalog with a solid 40-50 songs, you have the freedom to really change it up and do something fun and special every single night. Don't just do the same 15 night in night out for 2 or 3 months and call it good.

[RuRo]

If I had one wish for AB as a live band, it would be to ditch the old formula of trying to push more and more material from the newest record.

Considering that at most of their shows the newest album didn't even contribute the highest number of songs to the setlist, I'd hardly say that's how you'd describe their formula. I'd be happy if their strategy was to put as much of the new stuff in the live shows as possible while only keeping a few favourites from previous albums.

[Timotheus]

Yea, not playing many new songs is basically the same thing as saying that you don't like the new songs as much as the old songs. That's not how you promote a new album.

They should take an example from bands like Muse or the Foo Fighters. Muse plays 9 new song every evening (42% of their playlist!). There are only 2 songs on the album they haven't played live yet. The Foo Fighters have been playing their entire new album every night for a long time.
If popular bands like Muse and the Foo Fighters (bands with actual big hits) can find place in their new playlist to promote their new album, why can't Alter Bridge?

[Der_Metzgermeister]

I once went to an Iron Maiden gig where they played the whole of their latest album, in order, from front to back. Iron freaking Maiden used 11 slots in their setlist for the album. I will admit that I was begging for mercy by the end though!

I think that AB could use the setlist better. As with most rock gigs, what people remember most are the first 2-3 songs, and the last 5-6, so why not use more of that "empty" space to play new songs and keep that bit of the show interesting.

[abw1987]

If I had one wish for AB as a live band, it would be to ditch the old formula of trying to push more and more material from the newest record while keeping just certain favorites of the old ones, and do more mixing and matching and bringing out different obscure songs from the earlier records. I know it's easier to just bring out the same setlist night after night on a long tour, but shake it up a little. Give a treat to the fans who do travel and come to multiple shows, don't just play the same show over and over every night.

I think what it may come down to is that, in any given crowd, maybe only 5% of the attendees are die-hard fans, and the other 95% are people who heard a few songs on the radio, bought the albums, heard of AB through friends, etc. So the guys know that they need to play a suite of songs that will be familiar enough to the entire audience. They may also feel that certain unknown songs like "Burn it Down" may lead to a lull in the show, and that goes against the effort of trying to keep everyone engaged.

My ideal scenario would be a tour where they play two back-to-back nights in every city. One at a smaller venue where the die-hards can come out and see them play b-sides and rarities, and one at a larger venue where everyone can come and see them play the more well-known songs. As an added bonus, this arrangement would be much easier on the guys from a travel perspective since they'd get to stay in the same place for two nights as opposed to having to travel almost every single day.

[RuRo]

I think what it may come down to is that, in any given crowd, maybe only 5% of the attendees are die-hard fans, and the other 95% are people who heard a few songs on the radio, bought the albums, heard of AB through friends, etc.

I know no one has any stats on the proportion of "casual" to "die-hard" fans at gigs, but I really don't get this impression at all at Alter Bridge gigs. It's probably more likely to be true of big bands that actually have big hits and a big casual fanbase, but even if not every fan there is intimately familiar with every Alter Bridge B-side it really does seem like the majority of the audience will know the majority of the albums. Their first gig after AB III was just a few days after the release date and the audience knew the new songs well enough to sing along to them just as well as the old ones. This isn't an audience that's going to feel alienated as soon as the band play something other than Open Your Eyes or Isolation.

Basically I think the problem may be that Alter Bridge thinks they have to make setlists as though they have an audience of 5% people who know the albums and 95% people who know the radio hits, when in reality they have an audience where 90% of the people there will know 90% of their music.

Edit: This may not have been quite as true at their last arena tour here in the UK, but they were playing mostly the same songs at every show long before that.

[Andy92]

When I saw them during Carnival of Madness a year ago there were tons of people singing along to songs like Ties That Bind, Buried Alive...just about every song in the set had some people singing along anyways. I don't think Alter Bridge is a big enough band to even attract tons people that only know their singles. Because let's be honest, their promotion of singles over the years has been pretty bad except for Isolation and Open Your Eyes.

[Timotheus]

It's not like Alter Bridge has got that many singles. If they only play the singles (for that 95% that only knows the singles) I'm sure they still got 9-10 songs left on the playlist. Obviously they want to play some fan favourites like Blackbird, but there's no point in adding more older songs than newer songs.

[Andy92]

Yeah I don't really think it makes any difference if they play Fallout instead of Before Tomorrow Comes. The masses don't really know either song lol.

[anguyen92]

Man, if there's an option to change the setlist, I believe they should play Fallout rather than Before Tomorrow Comes. Feels like Fallout is a song that should be played live in the regular setlist, in the first place, but I have no idea why they didn't the first time.

[Timotheus]

I still think it's ridiculous they played Before Tomorrow Comes at Wembley..

[Andy92]

I agree, would have been nice if that DVD had Fallout, Words, and maybe even Life Must Go On. I mean, it was an AB III tour...supposedly.

[Timotheus]

Yea, it would have made sense.. I think it was just a lazy and a very safe move. What happened to pushing the boundaries, exploring new heights and crossing the bridge to the unknown? If they don't mix the setlist a bit up on their next tour I might consider not seeing them again when they come to Belgium.

All negativity aside, I'm really excited for the new record

[Jim]

When I saw them during Carnival of Madness a year ago there were tons of people singing along to songs like Ties That Bind, Buried Alive...just about every song in the set had some people singing along anyways. I don't think Alter Bridge is a big enough band to even attract tons people that only know their singles. Because let's be honest, their promotion of singles over the years has been pretty bad except for Isolation and Open Your Eyes.

Thats a very, VERY important factor. The history of their single/album promotion and popularity in certain parts of the world has certainly caused them to have to play the songs they KNOW go down well.. And keep them..

Totally agree with the Wembley DVD setlist... Especially after it being an ABIII tour, they didnt pull out enough from it, and Mark didnt even play the solo in Coeur D'alene right lol

[Andy92]

I guess it's cool where he likes to improvise the Couer d'Alene solo, but it wasn't as good as the album version to me lol.

Awesome sig by the way, Jim.

[AB23]

except the "i" should be "I". *score*

i have one upped you for evermore

[abw1987]

Mark didnt even play the solo in Coeur D'alene right lol

Pretty sure that was on purpose mate

[Andy92]

except the "i" should be "I". *score*

i have one upped you for evermore

Certain fonts don't have uppercase versions of the letters. Could've been intentional, but just throwing that out there.