Enough With Albums In Their Entirety

This year saw a horde of new acts who, with one album or an EP to their credit, play the hell out of their material for months on end. But when you're an established act, and the new stuff just doesn't seem to resonate as much as what got you playing theaters, arenas or stadiums in the first place, you're left with what seems to be a much easier out now than before.

That out is the "album in its entirety" fad, something which really seemed to catch on to almost ridiculous proportions this year by a whole slew of bands, everybody from The Cult and Echo & The Bunnymen to Judas Priest to Springsteen dusting off his back catalogue this fall. Hell, even Hanson (MMM Bop!!!) have decided that this coming April will see them playing their entire discography over a few nights.

The Cult rolled out their Love album, Steely Dan played two-night stands with Aja on night one and the fittingly titled The Royal Scam on night two. Devo had their two-night, two-album jaunt and Our Lady Peace will be doing the same thing in 2010, apparently for fans who wax poetically about middle-of-the-road albums turning 10 and 12 years old.

So why is this so popular now? Well, with an increasingly difficult touring industry that sees three and sometimes four bands joining forces to make a tour profitable, artists (especially those getting long in the tooth) are trying to find that certain something that will make this tour vastly different than before. So instead of say seven signature songs from a band's landmark album released in the late '70s or early '80s, you'll get all 10 tracks start to finish. What they're really saying though is, "We'll give you three shitty, forgettable songs from a great album instead of three shitty set-filling, beer-running efforts off of our new album."

The idea is becoming more of a novelty than anything else, losing its luster with each "veteran" band (i.e. three albums in, dropped from a major label, drowning in debt and burning their tour t-shirts for warmth) deciding now is the time to look back to 2005 and relive past "flavor of the month" glories.

Perhaps the only band who did this correctly was The Cure. At two shows in Berlin back in 2002, the British act decided they would play three albums in their entirety: Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers. But these albums would not be split up over the course of two nights, but played back to back to back. Toss an encore in and both shows easily ventured into four-hour territory. Marathon? Yes. Memorable? How could they not be?

If there's one hope for 2010 when it comes to touring, it will be the demise of this idea. Unless of course Springsteen did Nebraska, Tunnel Of Love and Devils & Dust in one night. Or if Tom Petty opted for Into The Great Wide Open, Full Moon Fever and Damn The Torpedos....then that's different.