I was amazed at how many WGWG they had doing the Hurricane Sandy concert! Don’t they know how bored and tired we are of them, especially since they’re all the same! ;-)

Everybody has to start somewhere. Not all of these guys, from last night’s show, were immediate stars right out the gate. Just as with all other types of singers/performers, building a career takes work, time (and a bit of luck) and there will be ups and downs along the way.

“Once all these baby boomer rock stars die, how will we ever have another benefit show?”

The Boomers themselves will die and benefit shows targeted to them and their particular tastes will be supplanted by shows featuring the musicians that GenX and the Millennials will pay to see play MSG for disaster relief. Organizers admitted that they deliberately targeted boomers because that’s where the money is…now.

Will benefits be able to raise the same amount of money if average standards of living stagnate and increasingly fractured listening habits mean that fewer acts are capable of drawing arena-level eyeballs on their own? Probably not. Will they be able to raise enough money to do some major good? I’d say that’s a near certainty.

In the meantime, I don’t think that “we care about the needs of a demographically diverse population in NYC and NJ metros” is the message people were getting from the massive amounts of rockist bittercakery I saw last night when, for 20 whole minutes at a time, the show focused music from artists outside heritage rock bands. And I was excited for many of those heritage rock bands, for the record.

Not all of these guys, from last night’s show, were immediate stars right out the gate.

Absolutely true, Sassycatz – many of us were around for those early days, and hung in there for some rocky times (you should excuse the pun). “Everybody has to start somewhere.” My brief with people who want to dismiss the guys who play guitar today is they also tend to want to demolish the starting gate for them. 

That Twitter remark has more than a little grain of truth. The benefit show was designed to get donations – the organizers knew who to appeal to, who had the deep pockets, and for once, no one was looking at the prime Ad Market. Heh. And yes, I absolutely get the irony, Sassycatz. It sorta jumps out there. *snerk*

The Baby Boomer Generation covers a lot of years – and we still buy music. The Advertisers on radio and TV may not like how the Boomers aren’t susceptible to their Bright New Products, don’t have to own The Latest Thing and the music industry as it is nowadays allows the advertisers to drive the market, not the music. But our adherence to the styles of music we grew up with is a positive for the artists. And, as it turns out, for charitable causes we can afford to support.

The organizers could have put together a benefit show with any genre predominating that they wanted – they chose these Wonderful Guys With Guitars, and these guys more than delivered the entertainment, and buzz all over the Social Apps. It will be interesting to see how the audience did with the donations, which was the point.

IMO. Of Course.

Although I think you meant to say “beef” … very, very well said. By limiting who gets in the door and writing them off before they even begin, you are lowering the overall potential.

No, Sassycatz, I meant ‘brief’, as in the written document used in legal adversarial systems that explains why an argument should prevail.

However, ‘Beef’ would work too!

And This – in spades – even though the Baby Boomer die-off is gonna take a while – *snerk*

And I wouldn’t be so sure that once the baby boomers and the entertainers they’ve loved die off that another generation won’t be interested in people with similar talents. After all, these same youngsters show up at these concerts and seem to be having a blast. And it isn’t because the performer is male, or white, or plays a guitar but it’s because they are talented.

There is plenty of evidence that an affinity for different sorts of rock music is not solely generational – or confined to people from the Baby Boom Years, 1946 to 1964…which is a HUGE span compared to the next named generations.

Rock and Roll will never die – it’s actually true.

The Baby Boomer Generation covers a lot of years – and we still buy music.

Indeed!  Our children also seem to like the music we grooved to in the 1960′s and 70′s.  Oh, and their children like those “Guitar Hero” type of video games which just happens to include a lot of the Baby Boomers music.  Rock and Roll can bridge generational gaps!  I actually consider Bon Jovi and Nirvana a little more current, than the “old guys.”

Rock and Roll will never die – it’s actually true.

All this talk of “us” dying is frightening, but true.

Not all of these guys, from last night’s show, were immediate stars right out the gate.

Right, and I think that this shows the longevity that this type of artist could have,  much more so than for most pop stars. Very few pop stars have careers of more than 10 years, let alone 30 or 40. 

But isn’t it interesting how few performers there were of the sort AI fans claim to want to see win AI … like diva women, R&B folk, or dancing singers, to name a few?

I think there is still a big audience, both young and old,  for rock, and country too,  and that the reason for the WGWG doing so well on AI is a sign that many people still prefer this type of music.  Or at least among the audience that watches AI.

Quite a few people at work have said that their kids listen to classic rock or country instead of most current pop, which they don’t really like.  And I live in the Northeast.  I have also noticed that every rock concert I go to has a mix of all ages, from 40s to teens.