Lately I've been thinking about the importance for bands to be touring periodically. Other than mere finance matters, bands need to tour to feed their fans with the appropriate fix of live music every once in a while to keep themselves vital and fresh in the music world. Some bands are able to keep the tour thing going for a while, even long after they've broken up and parted ways, because of course, money doesn't grow on trees. Some others play the "reunion" thing and stage a completely bullshit-filled "reformation" only so they can sell lots of tickets. For extra impact, some bands do the "farewell tour" thing, or something to that effect. And some other bands, usually the really awesome ones, never really tour, and if they do or ever did, it is/was impossible for me to attend their shows.
There are a few bands I wish I could bring back from band demise heaven, or hope their asses go broke so they can stage a fucking reunion tour and let me see them live. (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!)
Joy Division: Given. I just had to say it. Poor Ian killed himself way too early in the game. I'm pretty sure, had he stayed alive, he would have stopped touring a long time ago. From what I've heard, their live shows weren't exactly awesome, but the band was just too fucking legendary to miss.
Video bonus: Transmission and She's Lost Control ('79)
Dead Can Dance: My sources tell me there might be a reunion tour in '11, as well as a new album. Definitely a must. Can't bring myself to say anything bad about Lisa Gerrard or Brendan Perry, even though she's a Bible nut and he's a drunk. Oops.
Video bonus: Cantara ('94)
Morphine: Great band whose promising career came to an abrupt end after the lead singer's death onstage in '97. Wish I'd been at their very last show. That would make a great story to tell my grandchildren.
Video bonus: Buena ('90)
The Beatles: BAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Video bonus: [insert widely overrated Beatles song here]
Concrete Blonde: Currently on tour in Australia. Played some shows in the US before that to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bloodletting, and of course, I was not there while this was happening. With my luck, the band will get into a nasty, Bernard-Sumner-versus-Peter-Hook kind of fight and will hate each other so much they won't ever, ever, ever play together again, not even in hell.
Video bonus: Heal It Up ('10)
Bauhaus: Reformed for like a minute in '08 but didn't tour cause Peter Murphy is such a little drama queen. I'm not sure how good the show would be now that they're all old and balding but I like the music enough to give them a shot.
Video bonus: Bela Lugosi's Dead ('82)
Xmal Deutschland: A huge fan of pretty much all their work, including their poppy last album, I wish I'd been old enough to see them back in the 80's when they were touring. Instead, I got to grow up in the '90s and endure endless plays of Smells Like Teen Spirit on the radio and Oasis shows in every city on the planet. Life sucks.
Video bonus: Polarlicht ('85)
A Perfect Circle: There's like a gazillion rumors of a possible reunion tour/album, but nothing concrete to keep the spark of hope alive. Until I see Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel off their lazy half naked asses onstage playing Passive, I will consider them as dead and long gone. As a bonus, I saw a tweet by Danny Lohner today where he mentioned that APC were rehearsing. One can only hope.
Video bonus: Sleeping Beauty ('00)
Every other post punk/goth/new wave/synthpop/industrial band that was playing shows in the late '70s-early '80s and no longer is: I'm sure Cabaret Voltaire, The Birthday Party, Coil and Fad Gadget were all such a trip live. I was born in the wrong era, sadly, and these bands are no longer playing. God hates me. He doesn't exist and he still hates me. That's how much he hates me.
Video bonus: Cabarer Voltaire - Kino ('86)
Siouxsie and the Banshees: I know they are already included in the above, but I had to write a separate entry for them because they are not just a post punk/goth/new wave/synthpop/industrial band in my eyes, but one of the most inspirational and uncompromised acts in the post punk era. I still can't get over how SUPERB Nocturne is. Makes me wonder how utterly fantastic they were live.
Video bonus: Sin in My Heart ('81) and Israel with Robert Smith ('83)
Cocteau Twins: Are they included in the post punk/goth/new wave/synthpop/industrial band category? Yes? No? Fuck. I miss them dearly. Liz Fraser is... ahem, interesting.
Video bonus: Musette and Drums ('83)
Angels of Light: Their future is uncertain. With Gira reforming Swans and touring with them for a new album, the Angels of Light have been placed in the very flattering backburner until Gira decides that Swans are Dead (again) and goes back to his more acoustic and melancholic venture. Their catalog has a lot of powerful, deeply disturbing songs that I wish I could see performed in a live setting and find out if that way they'd still make me cry.
Video bonus: Nations ('01)
Lard: Jello Biafra needs to stop touring with the Dead Kennedys, get Al Jourgensen out of his coffin and reform Lard. No offense to DK, but Lard has its moments. And I'm pretty sure the Biafra-Jourgensen combo is a machine onstage.
Video bonus: Forkboy ('04)
Option 30: The dance. Oh my god, the dance. I wouldn't even care if they played Justin Bieber backwards over a crazy Tibetan chant, as long as I got to see Trent do the little dance and wear the little outfits. Then again, I don't think that look would be too becoming on present-day Trent Reznor. I liked him better when he was just a little punk doing his little dance and playing bad Police-influenced new wave.
Video bonus: Gotta Look Sharp (circa '85)
Any Krautrock band (even Faust, which is a little ew sometimes): I bet they were the shit back in the day when there was nothing really interesting going on other than mainstream Pink Floyd (meh) and underground bands like Silver Apples (less meh). I really admire the work of some of these bands, and if I could go back in time for a day or two, I'd go to '72 and buy a hipster vinyl of the freshly released Ege Bamyasi.
Video bonus: Can - Vitamin C ('72)
Brainiac: Another band that didn't get to fade away into mediocrity like every other band because of the death of its lead singer. I was really hooked on this band a few years ago. It was actually one of the first electropunk bands I actually liked. Maybe I liked them cause they sounded too punk rock to be electronic. I can only imagine the kind of crazy AWESOME shows they played... *sigh*
Video bonus: To the Baby Counter ('94)
Sometimes I really don't like being young.
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Now playing: Have A Nice Life - Bloodhail
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