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It seems like we're defining legacy here as "there are key missing members but they keep playing the old songs", rather than just "old and keep playing the old songs". For the first one....I was so excited to see the Pixies with Kim Deal when they reunited. It was awesome. I was less excited when they released their horrible new music, and never went back to see them after she left. However I am totally thrilled to be going to go see Frank Black play Teenager of the Year with all the original musicians from that recording this weekend. So I guess I am a sucker for reunions...but less of a sucker for extended reunions that wear out their welcome.

But all this has been covered by Ricky Nelson...and I do very much enjoy his Stone Canyon Band era.

If you gotta play at garden parties
I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang
I'd rather drive a truck

X (US) was great when I saw them in the early aughts.

Meh.

Highly dependent the act.

Couple years ago I saw Manic Street Preachers and Suede play together, was one of the best shows I've seen. Period.

I've also seem some legacy acts that were fucking terrible. Sisters of Mercy and TSOL come to mind immediately.

X (US) has recently made two good albums, so I'm not sure they're still legacy status. Those bands usually re-record/re-package their old shit, or maybe release a covers album.

I saw TSOL play Dance with Me several years ago, and they were pretty good.

Depends on the band, speaking as a consumer.
I've seen sort of sad examples and invigorating examples.
The sadder examples aren't worth running down.
But if Rocket from the Tombs had decided it was too late to reconstitute themselves, the world would be a worse place today. One of the great shows.

As a musician, I think all bands should 100% do whatever they want.
It's good if there's no code or etiquette around it.

Fundamentally rock music is a young person's game
but that doesn't mean you have to deem yourself no longer relevant at some arbitrary point
even if you are in fact no longer relevant!

Krev wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 12:52 pm X (US) has recently made two good albums, so I'm not sure they're still legacy status.

That's funny because I checked and I saw them in 1998....which was when they WERE a legacy act playing their old hits exclusively....they hadn't made a record together (including Billy Zoom) since 1985. Then I guess they busted out two more records afterwards.

to have a chance of being more than entertainment, the intent of doing it has to be clear and it has to be on the right way round. if you can do it and sustain or renew what the songs expressed originally, you're working at the highest level anyone can unreasonably hope for.

the magic band in london in 2003 were wondrous. sonic youth in minehead in 2009 was, well, educational.

this principle is qualified on all sides - so much of what's expressed by a song is conveyed by the style of specific musicians or performers - some style choices become structurally significant in what the song expresses - where can that conception of a song endure? (it's horribly easy for it to get ground away from the original artist)

enframed wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 12:27 pm Highly dependent the act.

QFT. Also depends on if it's a 'new' band, or a reimaging of a decades-old band.

Wood Goblin wrote: Not crap if there’s joy onstage, crap if there isn’t.

This. The music is only the half of it - if there’s communication, dynamics and shit happening between band members then I’m all in. I love seeing a band when they are clearly enjoying it themselves. When it’s rote playing and songs by number, it can be painful to watch

Wood Goblin wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 10:16 am Not crap if there’s joy onstage, crap if there isn’t.

This is exactly it.

I've liked or loved every legacy-act show I've seen that I can think of off the top of my head. The Sisters of Mercy last year, Silver Apples a couple of times, Rocket from the Tombs, KISS. I regret missing ELO's final tour.

I'm going NOT CRAP.

Depends on the act, some can pull it off, others not so much.

This performance (2014 apparently) sounds better than the original record, IMO.