Do you care that Ky-Mani Marley is the opener for the second leg of the tour?
I was talking to a die-hard VH friend on the phone who attended last night's Tulsa concert, and he was pretty animated (in a negative way) about the selection of Ky-Mani Marley as the opening act for the next leg. I don't really care because I'm pretty used to VH having awful opening acts and I just take it for what it basically is, which is one of these "an evening with" shows with no opening act. Of course even in VH's heyday they never had anyone worth a damn open for them, although for a couple of Van Hagar tours they did have real bands opening like Alice in Chains and Collective Soul.
But he did bring up an interesting point--it'd be nice if they had a decent opening act if for nothing else than to be a pot sweetener for everyone else who goes to these concerts, and not just us who follow the band religiously every day on these boards and on the internet. He said that while Kool and the Gang are an odd opener, at least they have name recognition and everyone knows one or two of their songs, and they're perfectly fine for doing exactly what an opening act should do--get people engaged and warm up the crowd. For everyone besides us, it gives you at least SOME feeling of value for your dollar. Plus if you want to bring a significant other to the show who's not really a VH fan, an opening act like that can help your cause. But Ky-Mani Marley, he said, sells zero tickets and does absolutely nothing for you. There's no curiosity factor going on there especially since he's a retread. We both agreed he pretty much sucks and sure as hell isn't his father.
I brought up the point that Aerosmith is once again teaming with Cheap Trick this summer. I would think this is because Aerosmith isn't all that confident they can sell out arenas on their own anymore. And we know that while attendance at the VH shows has generally been solid, there have been some shows like Jacksonville and Montreal that underperformed. So it's not like they couldn't use the boost. I surmised that a better opening act might eat more into the profits, which VH probably wouldn't be keen on.
So then my friend said if they don't want a solid, established act opening for them like Cheap Trick, why not give an unheard-of rock band a chance instead of a known, awful retread like Ky-Mani Marley. Could it be that they don't want anyone upstaging them the way they upstaged Black Sabbath in 1978? At this point in their careers I don't think it matters at all if the younger band is phenomenal. No one's going to be let down by VH especially given how well they're rolling along right now.
So why are VH going with such a poor opening act in this day and age? The only thing I could think of is that Dave likes him and wants to do him another favor bringing him on board. I'm pretty sure Ky-Mani could use the work.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by ELVIS
