Quote:
Originally Posted by coombse
Casual fans should be fine with this tour.
Die hard fans that went to numerous shows in previous years don't like this tour's set lists because they hammer the shit out of 22-25 songs and sprinkle in a few rarities (Raven, You Never Know, The Stone, Two Step, JTR, Bartender.... all not very rare songs but rare on this tour.
And since this is a fan site... where many casual fans don't post, they aren't happy.
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This website has FOREVER overrated the "casual" fan and completely ignored the group that's between them and us.
There were so many people that loved DMB but weren't as insane about them as some of us are. I know I personally have more people I know than I can count that used to love seeing DMB shows that completely gave up on the band because of setlists at shows.
The fanbase isn't made up of just diehards and casual fans like I always see people reference on this board. The world doesn't come in black and white, there are all sorts of shades of grey.
A good buddy of mine tagged along, for example, came with me to Chicago N1 this year. His first DMB shows since the Chicago Caravan. I'm guessing it's around his 9th or 10th show total. Maybe he doesn't know all of the catalog like we do, but he absolutely knows and loves songs like Pig, You Never Know, Rhyme and Reason, The Stone, etc. We left the show and I asked him what he thought. He said he had fun, but most of that was because of all of our buddies we were with. He said they didn't play much of what he wanted to hear. That same buddy and I just saw the Foo Fighters at Wrigley, and he was BUZZING after the show. Off-the-walls excited. They just blew him away (and me too, for that matter). I haven't seen him act like that after a DMB show in a long time.
My point is, he's not a unique scenario. DMB has completely isolated themselves to a more black-and-white version of that crowd over time. More and more of those people that would fall into those "shades of grey" I mentioned earlier are bailing on DMB, leaving the hardcores like on ants/TDC/etc., freaks like DMB Family and the casual fans.
I think a lot of people on these boards tend to overestimate how many "casual" fans there are just because they're the loudest and most obnoxious at shows, and you can't really tell who the diehards are vs. the "shades of grey" people are. I'm sure there are still plenty that fall somewhere in-between those three categories, but I also think that's where DMB has lost most of it's fanbase. And I do believe that a lot of it is tied to setlists and live performances.