ARTICLE - The Showmanship Between Modern and Classic Rock
C.L. Wages - @see_doubleuu
Is there truly a difference in modern rock shows?
I’ve been to my fair share of concerts with genres ranging from pop, to death metal, to RnB and each of these can discern a very different feel.
The topic of today's article are the two most recent shows I’ve been to: Greta Van Fleet accompanied by The Beaches versus Journey and Def Leppard accompanied by Steve Miller Band.
Now, there are many differing opinions on the genre of Greta Van Fleet but if you ask me and their fans, the answer you’re going to receive is going to be a resounding “rock,” with a chance of some blues thrown in here and there. In my opinion, Greta Van Fleet is bringing back the classic rock sound a lot of us have been missing, so, what is the difference in shows when you compare classic rock and new rock?
(from left to right) Greta Van Fleet, Def Leppard, Steve Miller Band, and Journey
Atmosphere
The first thing I noticed about the “Big 3” show is that there was less of a sense of community. This isn’t to say that the other attendee’s weren’t nice, but there wasn’t as much opportunity or willingness to befriend the other show goers. Now, this may be because of the age difference. At the “Big 3” show, the audience was a majority of people over the age of 40. I’ve noticed in older crowds, especially rock crowds, there's a lot of superiority complexes especially when you bring up any new rock bands. Now that’s not with all fans, but I have experienced it with the ones I have come across.
In comparison, at Greta Van Fleet shows, or other rock shows that have a younger crowd, there's a sense of friendship throughout the venue. Of course, there are bad apples in every batch and not every experience will be sunshine and rainbows but overall, the feeling of camaraderie is strong at these shows. This is refreshing, especially when you’re seeing a band for the first time, or even going to a concert by yourself. I have made more friends in a crowd at a Greta Van Fleet show than I have spoken to people at other shows. It can be jarring going from the feeling of a Greta Van Fleet show to a show with a different crowd.
The reason I’m writing this is because I noticed a stark difference in the atmosphere at these two shows, and it was surprising to me. Everytime I tried to speak to another concert goer at the “Big 3” show, I was shot down or given one word answers. This is not to say these shows are worse or wrong in any way, it was just interesting to observe this difference. I enjoyed both concerts thoroughly, however, I felt more welcomed at the Greta Van Fleet show.
All shows are different, and all concert goers are different. Saying that, it seems as though young concert goers are turning these shows into not only a place to see their favorite bands and artists, but also a space to make friends and create meaningful connections with other fans. With the new age of social media and fandoms, these shows have become an opportunity to build a community for people, and personally, I think that is super cool.
Disclaimer: I don’t have the insight to say this wasn’t happening at older shows, but it was not an experience that I had at my “Big 3” show. The show was amazing and it was obvious the other attendees had a good time. Perhaps this camaraderie happened in a different section, but it was not the experience I had. (Again, I am in no way saying I had a bad experience, just a different one!)
The Music
Because we’re talking about differences, I want to talk about show duration. The Greta Van Fleet show I attended (Thackerville, Oklahoma, August 08th, 2024) started at 7pm and ended at around 11:30 pm.
The Beaches (supporting band) had about an hour long set with Greta Van Fleet coming on at about 8:30pm. In total, their part of the show lasted a good three hours, with crowd interaction, jokes, pyrotechnics, and even a short acoustic set right in the middle. The set included a few guitar solos and about a 10 minute long drum solo, for which the fans went crazy (myself included). Greta Van Fleet makes sure to interact with all the parts of the crowd they can reach and ends the show with a thank you and their song titled “Farewell For Now” that reminisces the feelings we all have while leaving a show. A beautiful ending indeed.
As for the length of the show, it's about 4 hours in total, they move quickly in between songs making sure to pack in as much as they can, and give each audience member a fulfilling experience. For this tour, they focused mainly on their songs featured on Starcatcher, but they made sure to include some of their staples like Lover, Leaver and Light My Love. It was truly a well rounded show.
As for the “Big 3” show (San Antonio, Texas, August 16th 2024) doors opened at 4:30 pm, with Steve Miller Band coming at 6 pm sharp. They had an hour and fifteen long set, which is a longer opener than I am used to. It gave them the opportunity to play a lot of their popular songs, like Fly Like an Eagle, Joker, and others.
Journey was on next and there was about a 30 minute break in between the two bands. Journey played for a long hour and forty five minutes set, and they utilized every single moment of it. Something that was surprising to me was the few sound issues they were having. As such a distinguished band, this was unexpected. Though, this could be at the fault of the venue (somewhere that has sound issues before). The long set gave them ample time to play all of their top songs, and some others. They ended with a major finale, including guitar solos, call and responses with the crowd, and streamers. The whole thing lasted about 25 minutes, and felt like it should've been the end of the concert entirely, but there was yet another band that was going to play.
Def Leppard came on stage about 20 minutes after Journey, and when they did, it seemed like the entire venue perked up. The crowd was more lively, and so was the sound, which teetered on too loud. There were many parts when the audio felt distorted because of the sheer volume they were playing at. This is something I did not experience at the Greta Van Fleet show, or the other two bands that played prior to them. Def Leppard played for about an hour and fifteen minutes, a lot of it consisting of guitar solos, which my concert buddy complained about quite a bit. They did not enjoy the length of the solos, part of which I can understand, as if you cut down on those, you have more time for other songs, however we have to remember that these are artists showing off their work to us, and it’s not every day we as consumers get to experience that.
In general, this show was amazing and I count myself lucky to have been able to attend. The only criticism I have to stress is the uneven length of sets between Journey and Def Leppard was disappointing, and by the halfway point of Def Leppard's set, I was checking my watch, and ready to go home.
Overall, with such similar genres and feelings of music, the shows did prove to be quite different from each other. There are many factors that played into those differences, like the average age of attendees and levels of mainstream popularity, even so, the difference was unexpected for me. I wasn’t anticipating the stark differences in experiences that I ended up having.
To end: I hope you enjoyed reading, and maybe even gaining some insight on how different shows compare to one another, even within the same genre!
