Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

[Patrick Thistle]

Just seen a poster advertising a Soul II Soul gig in November.

Didn't realise they've come back to life.

[Giggler]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Dodgy played the Bury Met earlier this year. I'd have thought they were good enough for bigger venues than that.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Pearl Jam are playing Barrow-in-Furness next week, I never knew they were still alive.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Betty Boo is playing Harlow Square in December, I guess she's still doing the do.

[WOM]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

I raise my tea mug to the quality punning, here.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Everyone is still playing. Although they usually stopped for a bit between their initial success and our era.

[Auntie Beryl]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

It's the principal way of making money out of a career in music these days, isn't it? If you aren't still on the road, regardless of age, it's seen as unusual (see recent David Bowie brouhaha).

I saw Soul II Soul earlier this year at a festival, and very good they were too.

[Benjm]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

I'm struggling to think of any big names who haven't reformed apart from The Smiths and Dire Straits.

[quoththeraven]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Benjm wrote: I'm struggling to think of any big names who haven't reformed apart from The Smiths and Dire Straits.

Dire Straits haven't reformed but Mark Knopfler has released a few solo albums since the last Straits album.

You know there's a recession on when bands who split up in incredibly acrimonious circumstances can put their differences aside to re-form and cash in on their nostalgia factor. Looking at you, Spandau Ballet. It's amazing what differences some musicians can put aside when there may be a few quid to be made.

[Benjm]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

That's the thing about Mark Knopfler though; he could make an enormous stack of cash from a Dire Straits stadium tour but instead chooses to play the Albert Hall (usually for six or seven nights, admittedly) as a solo turn.

It isn't that he won't play that material - he plays a fair chunk of DS stuff in his solo sets - he just doesn't want to do it. There may be personality issues involved, of course, and he does have the cushion of having made big money first time around.

[MsD]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

He has a bigger cushion than most, so doesn't have to compromise at all.

In the case of many 80s bands, they're now at the point where children from one or two marriages are getting older and needing more money, parents are going into care homes, investments may not have paid off as well as they thought ... And if that's your job and obvious source of income, why wouldn't you?

The first few comebacks were greeted with a bit of derision, but now everyone's done it and we're used to seeing portly middle aged men playing their old songs, why not give it a go? The idea of a punk band playing in their 50s used to be ridiculous - well, sometimes it IS ridiculous, but usually not.

Plus there are many acts that have never stopped.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

WOM wrote: I raise my tea mug to the quality punning, here.

No such thing as quality punning.

[Benjm]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Done properly, a band coming back together should be fun and financially worthwhile for them and give the punters a satisfying show. Assuming you like the act, very few of them seem to take the money and run as blatantly as my parents recall favourites of theirs like the Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry doing in the 80s. Even the Happy Mondays seemed engaged and enthusiastic when I saw them recently. (At Sandown racecourse oddly enough; that's how to rebuild a sport's credibility after a doping scandal.)

On the other hand, I'd be less impressed if I was a teenager now and constantly being told that the best music has already happened but, as a privilege, you can go to a recital of some of the good bits.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Benjm wrote: On the other hand, I'd be less impressed if I was a teenager now and constantly being told that the best music has already happened but, as a privilege, you can go to a recital of some of the good bits.

They don't need grown-ups to tell them that. Have you not seen the hordes of reactionary 10-year olds on YouTube moaning about how real music died way back in 2011 and we're living the end of history?

[quoththeraven]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Pat McGatt! wrote:

I raise my tea mug to the quality punning, here.

No such thing as quality punning.

That's your opunion (Boston Legal)

[Jah Womble]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

A 'quality pun' can, on occasion, be as satisfactory as a fine ale.

However, I have to say that WOM was a tad easily pleased here.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

I've no objection to a musician/artist making a living out of their craft, whatever their age.

But, as a potential member of the audience, I can't think of any reason to watch 50 or 60 year-olds play the same material, in the same way, as they did when they were twenty. It's the worst form of nostalgia. Especially when there are scads of older artists producing vibrant new work, and a never ending stream of twenty-year-olds doing the same.

[WOM]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Jah Womble wrote: A 'quality pun' can, on occasion, be as satisfactory as a fine ale.

However, I have to say that WOM was a tad easily pleased here.

I'm a simple man with simple tastes. It was late I was tired. I dunno. Tickled my humour appreciative-bone at the time.

It was no Big Country member, that's for sure.

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

Maybe slightly off topic but I'm always puzzled as to why people would go to a Four Tops or Temptations gig (usually somewhere like Caesars Palace, Tipton) when virtually all the original members are dead.

Same for acts like The Faces when they reformed for a tour a couple of years ago, how could you pay good money to listen to Simply Mick do a karaoke Rod Stewart?

[Jah Womble]

Oh, is he/she/they still playing?

I'm a simple man with simple tastes. It was late I was tired. I dunno. Tickled my humour appreciative-bone at the time.

It was no Big Country member, that's for sure.

Shucks - I dined out on that for some months, it must be said. Proved more a pub lunch than a fine ale.

Was just pullin' tha' leg, anyway.

[ursus arctos]

Alexandre Pato scored a hat-trick for Tianjin Quanjian today.

He still isn't 30 years of age.

[Jah Womble]

Should probably be in 'football'?

No such thing as quality punning.

Oh, there absolutely is - but this isn't it. It's the incorporating of song titles/lyrics into sentences. Very well, admittedly - but, if we're going to be strict, it's not punning as such.

Edit: Have just seen how old this thread is. Ignore me.

[treibeis]

Mistaking me for Toby Gymshorts, one of my regulars offered me a ticket for Nazareth, who will be playing about 100 yards from where I work, in about a month's time. I was surprised they can still be arsed.

They want 44 euros as well, the rascals.

[Jah Womble]

Given that none of Dan McCafferty, Manuel Charlton or (the late) Darrell Sweet is still in the line-up, I think I'd need at least €44 of their money to attend.

[Patrick Thistle]

There's an ad up in town for a King Crimson gig. The publicity photo shows a group of old chaps looking for all the world like the cast of a British OAP actor ensemble heist film.