How many final tours are all of these bands going to have? Now nobody loves concerts more than I do, but why not keep touring and stop saying it's the final tour? Is it all about marketing just to sell more tickets, is it because they are getting old and they aren't sure they will all make it through another tour, but this final tour craze is all the rage these days.
Kiss, Ozzy, Elton John to name a few and now......now Motley Crue has come out of retirement like many of them do and are going back on the road to tour. Now we the fans pay crazy money to go see all of these final tours and these out of retirement shows, I am so guilty of this it's not funny, why do we do it? Well, for myself, it is bringing back the nostalgia of when I was young, a much less stressful time in my life. Like Bryan Adams said, "we were young and wild and free", I truly believe that we are trying to get back there. We were all in such a hurry to grow up and do the adulting thing, now we are realizing that those were some of the best times of our lives.
When you go to a show you leave everything at the door once you walk in that venue and maybe it's the same for the musicians as it is for us fans. They no longer have to deal with feeling older and wondering what's left, they can jump on that stage, pretend it's 1984 and be the only person some of them have ever known, a true rock-star. They are crowd pleasers, it gives them a sense of fulfillment up there and for us the fans, it takes us back if only for a little while. You aren't someones Mom or Dad, the boss, or the worker taking direction, you are free and happy and feeling like you did back in the day. Perhaps a bit invincible at that moment, I know I felt that way when I was young.
Music isn't only a way of life for these guys, for some of us, it's all we have to make us feel better. You know what I mean, you feel sad, or mad, or you're having a bad day, you turn on some music, whether from your phone, a cd player or a vintage stereo playing some vinyl.....then you hear it, the heavy beat of the bass drum, that killer guitar riff, the bass line complimenting drum parts and those outrageous vocals that kept us in a tizzy when we were young. Your troubles at that moment go away and a sudden smirk comes to your face .....remembering a time when we had no labels, no deadlines, just music, feeling great and our friends. Sometimes, I can even remember certain smells, like vanillaroma air fresheners that were on a lot of tour buses back in the day. I buy them when I see them, crank up some music, just to remember when.
So yes there are many farewell and final tours and yes some bands don't sound the same as they did, but as long as we the fans keep buying those tickets to the shows, and as long as the musicians feel like they still want to share their talents...well, final tour on my friends! We are here for a short time and if music is going to keep us going in this quid pro quo relationship with these final touring artists, then may all of you keep your horns up, your head banging and your problems at the door!
Dream, Believe, Inspire~
*Catch me on Z93.3 with Tigman at 6pm for Therapy Thursday~