Waiting on a revolution in 2007
Orange County Register, CA
December 29, 2006
By: Ben Wener
"...It was above all a good year for geezers, despite that it started with the passing of Wilson Pickett and ended with the death of the Godfather of Soul.
The Stones had the highest-grossing tour in the universe – not that that was any surprise, given the number of $450 floor seats. Dylan issued another great one, Paul Simon an uncharacteristically atmospheric one, Tom Petty a warmly low-key one. David Gilmour and Donald Fagen proved they don't need their legendary bands.
Bruce Springsteen exhumed Woody Guthrie and made a ramshackle Americana epic for the ages, while Elvis Costello teamed up with Allen Toussaint in one of the year's more memorable of many tributes to New Orleans. The half-dead Beatles, meanwhile, simply got remixed and mashed-up – and wound up with one of the more enjoyable albums of the year.
Logically, boomer buyers starved for good tunes snatched up those titles and scores more, as they became the leading CD-buying demographic. And they're far from excluded in the download tally, either; it wasn't just weepy teens mewling along to Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" and those whiny ballads from James Blunt, and besides, where were we all supposed to shop? Tower Records?
Even the best concerts were by and large staged by and for people at least over 25: Pearl Jam at the Forum, Madonna's tour opener at that same arena, Red Hot Chili Peppers' mighty spectacle, Springsteen's folk-rock extravaganza, Roger Waters' Floydian redux at the Hollywood Bowl, Aerosmith's fiercest performances in years..."
December 29, 2006
By: Ben Wener
"...It was above all a good year for geezers, despite that it started with the passing of Wilson Pickett and ended with the death of the Godfather of Soul.
The Stones had the highest-grossing tour in the universe – not that that was any surprise, given the number of $450 floor seats. Dylan issued another great one, Paul Simon an uncharacteristically atmospheric one, Tom Petty a warmly low-key one. David Gilmour and Donald Fagen proved they don't need their legendary bands.
Bruce Springsteen exhumed Woody Guthrie and made a ramshackle Americana epic for the ages, while Elvis Costello teamed up with Allen Toussaint in one of the year's more memorable of many tributes to New Orleans. The half-dead Beatles, meanwhile, simply got remixed and mashed-up – and wound up with one of the more enjoyable albums of the year.
Logically, boomer buyers starved for good tunes snatched up those titles and scores more, as they became the leading CD-buying demographic. And they're far from excluded in the download tally, either; it wasn't just weepy teens mewling along to Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" and those whiny ballads from James Blunt, and besides, where were we all supposed to shop? Tower Records?
Even the best concerts were by and large staged by and for people at least over 25: Pearl Jam at the Forum, Madonna's tour opener at that same arena, Red Hot Chili Peppers' mighty spectacle, Springsteen's folk-rock extravaganza, Roger Waters' Floydian redux at the Hollywood Bowl, Aerosmith's fiercest performances in years..."
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