Speaker 1: There's always things, interesting things going on that we can
talk about, and we always have something we I'd like
to keep something kind of in my back pocket in
case something like this happens with a guest, especially as
we move into cold and flu season, these things will happen.
There's a story involving the Pretenders rock Legends. The Pretenders, Uh,
they've been around for decades and decades of course, and
uh there's a little bit of controversy around the band now,
and it's by the way, it seems like these days
controversy in the music industry. It stems from well, either
either AI related issues, which is what we talk about
a lot, or issues in terms of the live touring business.
We've done a couple of segments on the Oasis tour
and some of the issues around that. And then of
course there's the limp biscuit lawsuit for two hundred million
dollars against UMG Universal Music Group, and I thought about
maybe talking about that today and maybe, you know, maybe
we will. If the guys from Dead By Winds they
don't get here, you know, maybe we'll we'll go to
that after we finished talking about this. But so the Pretenders,
they they have done something controversial, but it has nothing
to do with ticket prices or the availability of tickets
and all that goes wrong there. This is what's going
on with the Pretenders, and I think this is interesting,
and this is from what website is this americansongwriter dot Com.
And I don't know how far we'll get into this
because the guys could arrive at any time, But the
Pretenders are dividing fans over new live music policy. So
here's what it says. With decades long career. With a
decades long career under their belt, the Pretenders are no
strangers to the dynamics of live performances. But in October
twenty twenty four shakeup prompted by frontwoman Chrissy Hind has
left many wondering if she's lost touch with the proper
relationship between fans and musicians. Hind made her announcement ahead
of The Pretender's October sixteen performance at USh Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland,
and in true online fashion, the Internet seems wholly divided
over whether Hine's comments were just or unfounded. By the way,
I intentionally avoided pre reading this, so I'm learning about
this with you. If you're not already aware of it,
because I want to give you my unvarnished, shall we say,
gut reaction to this, So it says here. The Pretender's
embarked on an almost exclusively sold out tour of the
UK in October. Stops include Oxford, Bristol, Portsmouth in London,
among other large cities cities. But just before the band
made their way to Scotland's capital to perform at Usher Hall,
Chrissy Hind shared a message on social media that angered
many fans, and here's what she said. Quote. First of all,
thank you to everyone who's come to see our shows.
We're in the home stretch of this year's tour and
it's been a real pleasure. Fantastic cities and fantastic audiences.
We've had a great time playing for you. One thing
we feel a blit to explain when we go on tour,
the whole point is for the band. The whole point
of it for the band is that we are playing
to a different audience every night. That's why we go
on tour. So if we're in Edinburgh like we are tonight,
we look forward to seeing local faces. This is what
makes it new for us. Every night. We appreciate those
of you who follow us and buy tickets for multiple nights.
So please don't be offended if we request you to
move out of the front row. All we are asking
is that you give the local fans a chance. This
is what keeps it new for us, especially after being
on tour for so many months. Unquote Okay again, I
did not preread this. I didn't know this is what
this was about. My gut reaction. And by the way,
I'll open the phone line too if you have a
reaction to this six oh three two five oh six
oh seven, if you'd like to chime in, or of
course you can chime in the chat room, but the
studio line is open. Six oh three two five six
oh seven. My gut react action of this is what
are you doing? Why would you This is weird to
me for a couple of reasons. Number one, why would
you go out of your way to alienate your your
fans that way, your die hard fans, Because obviously, if
anybody is actually going and following the band around buying
tickets to multiple shows, you're only doing that unless you're
a scalper. You're only doing that if you're a die
hard fan. So why would you want to alienate your
most dedicated fans like that. That's bizarre and I think
really self sabotaging. It's really strange. Another thing that I
find very odd about this is are you trying to
tell me that when you're on stage and you look
out at the crowd. First of all, I mean, you
know the pretenders they're I mean they've they've got to
be in their seventies at least, right, Well, I shouldn't
say at least. I'm sure they're not in their eighties,
but but they have to be in their seventies, if
not late sixties. I mean, are they actually able, like
is Chrissy Hind Maybe she wears contact lenses in a
correct or vision to twenty twenty. I have no idea,
but I'm just saying, is she able to actually look
out at the crowd and see as she's performing, look
at the faces, look at the people she sees in
the front row, and look at them, see their faces
clearly enough to identify, Hey, these are all the same
people I saw at the previous show. And even if
she can do that, I find it really hard to believe. Look,
I know they're a legendary band. But is this really
a problem, Like is it actually all the same people
in the front row of every show? I just find
that hard to believe. Yes, there are people who will,
if they really love a band, if they're a die hard,
if they're a super fan, they'll buy tickets and try
to go to as many different shows as they can.
I mean, you know, look, I'm a Kiss fan. Kiss
is my favorite band of all time. I know plenty
of I never did it, but I know plenty of
Kiss fans who you know, when Kiss would go on tour,
especially the Farewell tour because it was in theory the
last time you'd see them, right at the end of
the road tour, you know, people would, people who had
the money because it's expensive, you know, people would buy
tickets for multiple shows and kind of follow the band,
you know. And of course there's bands that are legendary
for having those kinds of fans that would do that
kind of thing, Like The Grateful Dead is probably the
epitome of that, right, the classic example of you know,
you had all these dead heads who would who would
actually sort of go on tour with the band, and
that they would follow and the band would go on tour,
these people would follow I don't know how anyone affords it,
but how you know, would follow the band on tour
and go to all the shows, and you know, it
gets to a point where the band gets to know
the fans, gets to know these super fans, knows them
by name, develops relationships with them because they see them
so much. You know, but do the pretenders as they're
doing these shows? Is it literally the same people in
the front row? I just find that hard to believe.
Isn't that a little that seems like a stretch. Again,
I'm not knocking the band in terms of, you know,
their place in music history and their fan base I'm
sure is even in twenty twenty four. Obviously these shows
are selling out, so obviously their fan base is enormous.
But I find it, I just find it hard to
believe that Chrissy hind is actually looking at the front
row and seeing the exact same set of people every night.
And even if she is, why do you want to
why do you want to do this to those people?
Why do you want to talk to them that way?
Why do you want to alienate them? You know? It's
bizarre to me, And and what in her mind would
make her think that this was a good idea to
say this publicly and to I mean, you're chastising people. Really,
it's very I mean not to sound cliche, but if
this even still means anything in twenty twenty four, but
it's very unrock and roll. I would say, you know,
telling telling people, well, you know, if you buy a ticket,
you know, I don't want I don't want to see
you in the front row more than once. I mean,
it's just I find this very bizarre. I find this
whole thing very strange. Let's see. So here's the next
part of the article. This ought to be good. Fans
react to the band's request. Uh uh. Now, I again,
I did not preread this. So I'm going to make
a prediction, and I'm going to predict that the reaction
was not positive. But let's see. Well again, if you're
if you're just learning about this as I am, will
learn together. But so it's not a spoiler, but I'm
guessing that there was a bit of a negative pushback
on this. Okay, it says Chrissy Ian's announcement divided fans
across several social media platforms. While some praised the singer
and guitarists for her thoughtfulness and willingness to prioritize local crowds.
Others condemned the message, saying it was disrespectful to her
most devoted fans. These fans, the dissentered argues, deserved top priority.
By the way, let me stop there for a moment.
I don't even think of it in those terms. I
don't think of it in terms of who deserves Nobody
deserves top priority. This is uh. You know, touring is
a business operating in a free market. You know, whoever
buys the tickets buys the tickets. Whoever's going to the
show is going to the show. If you buy a
front row ticket, you get your front row seat. That's it.
There's no, it's not a matter of priority. It's a
matter of first come, first serve. Now. I know that
it's not a perfect system. And we've talked a lot
on the show again with the Oasis debacle, with the
tickets and the dynamic pricing, which is very controversial. I
don't want to take that side street right now, but
I get it. But look, it's not a matter of
I mean, if you really, if you really want to
quote unquote prioritize local crowds. Then maybe maybe if you can,
maybe you devise something. This might be too convoluted and complex,
but you could do it. Devise a system where when
you buy a ticket, if you show residency. It sounds
like I'm talking about voting, but we don't. We don't
do politics. But if you show residency, maybe if you're
buying a ticket to that local show, then you get
a free meet and greet. Right, that's part of the
you know, because that's a big thing now with these
and I don't know if the Pretenders is doing anything
like that, but you can, you know, on a lot
of big tours, you can buy a meet and greet
package and you get to meet the band and have
them sign things and say a few words to you.
I don't know, I mean, you could do something like that.
You could do something special. If somebody proves their local residency,
they get to meet you. I don't know, I mean,
if you're really that serious about this, but this is
just strange. This is just strange. Okay, So here's an example.
Here's some examples of some of the reactions. One angry
fan posted on Facebook quote talk about how to kick
your biggest supporters in the teeth, and I suppose you
don't want your photo taken either. Get off the stage
if you can't appreciate the people who have kept you there.
I just found this statement really insulting. Talk about taking
your biggest supporters for granted. Sorry, we're bored of your quote. Sorry,
we're bored of your faces unquote Yeah, I mean again,
Chrissy hind is not clearly it is not her intention
to kick pretenders fans in the teeth. But uh, she
just doesn't want to have to see your teeth. You know,
she doesn't want you close enough. She doesn't want to
have to see your teeth on more than one night.
I guess other self described uber fans stood by Heine's request. Okay,
so there's an example of a supporter. One commenter said, quote,
It's not always about you at this point in time.
It's about the band who wants to keep things fresh
at the end of a long tour for the benefit
of all those who attend, and for local fans, ninety
nine percent of whom this is their only and maybe
last chance to see the band. You don't own the
band and shouldn't own the front row experience, and well
done Chrissy for having the guts to courteously point that
out unquote, but the commenter says here, this commenter is saying, well,
you know, ninety nine percent of these people this will
be their only chance to see the band, So that
kind of undercuts the point, doesn't it. Okay, dead by
Wednesday is here,