There’s been a lot of talk lately sparked by Sabaton’s headlining performance at the recent Release Athens Festival. Who would leave, who would stay, why Sabaton is better than Savatage, and so on. Setting aside the indisputable fact that all these discussions are the…spice of any serious metal debate, the essence lies elsewhere and it’s worth taking a closer look at it. Obviously, this is just an opinion—or, if you prefer, food for thought—and nothing more. However, we’re talking about a future that seems rather… dim. And the question is this: What will the concert scene look like 10 years from now?
Let’s get one thing straight from the start. It’s very encouraging to see quite a few young kids at concerts, although, as is to be expected at shows featuring the giants of the past, the average age hovers around 50. And we say “understandable” because all of us who grew up, for example, with Maiden or Metallica in the ’80s are now in our fifties. However, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that bands like Ghost, Powerwolf, and Sabaton attract—for the most part, but not exclusively—a younger audience. And that’s how it should be! After all, the giants can’t be around forever, can they? So, at the big festivals, things are more or less clear when it comes to the headliners of the future. This also seems to be the case with club gigs, since small-to-medium-sized bands will continue to tour no matter how difficult the equation becomes due to the conditions of this… brave new world, which has to do with the ever-increasing cost of putting on a concert.
At this point, however, we must add a caveat—or, if you prefer, a footnote. There is another phenomenon we believe will play a significant role in the concert scene of the future. What is it? The presence of tribute bands, which we’d say are gradually gaining ground. And they’re taking on different forms. There are the traditional tribute bands that are popping up like mushrooms, as people are eager to hear the classic songs of the great bands that are slowly bidding us farewell. In fact, some of them faithfully recreate the original bands’ stage shows; they’ve invested money and have even secured slots on the lineups of major festivals. Another form is the official tribute bands that have the band’s approval. In such cases, you might see members of the original lineup take the stage, as happened recently with Greek Legion, the official Savatage tribute band in Greece, where Caffery, Middleton, and Plate performed alongside them on the tiny stage at Temple. Finally, we’ll see bands that bear the band’s name but don’t have a single member from the original lineup in their lineup. Foreigner is the first that comes to mind, of course, though we should point out that they do have members who have appeared on their albums.
There will also be other “avatar”-style phenomena (see KISS) or Las Vegas-style shows, but these will either fail to catch on or appeal only to small audiences. There are also cases where the children of musicians continue to use the name of their fathers’ band (see The Good Rats). These, however, are exceptions. On the other hand, I think tribute bands will be a major trend in the future. Don’t forget that there will be kids who have never seen, say, Judas Priest, and who will want to experience something of that.
So, it’s a good idea to add this factor to the equation known as the concert landscape of the future. On one hand, we have the successors to the giants, and on the other, the tribute bands that are gaining ground. The only thing that’s certain is that we’ll all have to prepare for a different concert reality without the huge names that made their mark in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s the shape of things to come…
Sakis Nikas
