Failure Fail to Book Opening Act for Reunion Tour
Wanna know who will be opening for Failure on the band’s upcoming reunion tour? Nobody, that’s who! And, no, “Nobody” is the not the name of the opening band. I mean there will not be an opening act. Explains Failure via Facebook:
“For the upcoming Tree of Stars tour, since people have not seen us play live in so long, we want to be able to play a wide breadth of material from all 3 of our albums. Having an opening act would cut down our set list options significantly. Therefore, in lieu of the traditional opening band, we will be playing a short opening film, followed by an extended set of Failure songs. We hope this meets with your satisfaction.”
This isn’t entirely unheard of — Down did something similar in six or seven years ago — but in this day and age, where bands routinely take not just one but two-four support acts out on the road with them, it’s still fairly unusual.
Question is: does it matter? The opening act, as a concept, serves a purpose besides just getting the crowd warmed-up for the headliner; it’s basically the headliner’s way of “giving back,” in a manner of speaking, by introducing their audience to a smaller band who might not otherwise get that exposure. Obviously, sometimes it works better than other times — I’m sure we’ve all seen support bands get hostile reactions from crowds that just wanna see the headliner — but I guarantee you, if you’re, say, Noisem, you’re grateful to be playing for any Carcass/The Black Dahlia Murder/Gorguts fans who show up at the venue early, and who might thereby be turned on to your music. So while as a grumpy old man I’m perfectly happy not to have to spend any more time on my tired feet in a BO-infested venue serving overpriced beer than I have to, as an appreciator of music and a dude who is genuinely rooting for the industry to stay healthy, I actually think it’s downright important for headliners to take other bands out on the road with them.
Failure have added a bunch of dates to the tour, by the way. Here’s the complete itinerary as it stands now:
May 10 Los Angeles, CA Cinquanta (The Greek Theatre)
May 11 Los Angeles, CA Cinquanta (The Greek Theatre)
May 14 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
May 15 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
May 17 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre
May 18 Seattle, WA The Showbox
May 21 Minneapolis, MN The Varsity
May 22 Chicago, IL The Metro
May 24 Milwaukee, WI The Rave II
May 25 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall
May 26 Toronto, ON Mod Club
May 27 Toronto, ON Mod Club
May 29 New York, NY Irving Plaza
May 30 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
May 31 Asbury Park, NJ The Stone Pony
June 1 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
June 3 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
June 5 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore
June 7 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
June 8 Nashville, TN Exit In
June 14 Pomona, CA The Glasshouse
June 15 San Diego, CA House of Blues
June 18 Los Angeles, CA The Mayan
June 19 Los Angeles, CA The Mayan
[via The PRP]
