Touring in the US is “not really viable at the moment”

[whirlygirl]

As someone who's never been to a show, I'm curious, what's the difference between a festival show and a solo show (other than, obviously, one happens at a festival, and one is just a solo show)? What about them feels different?

Also, I got COVID a few months ago and it messed me up BAD. Second time I had it, I think. And I'm vaccinated. If I wasn't, I can't imagine what it would have done to me.

A festival show will be a shorter set (most usually) and solo shows tend to be longer. Example would be the 2 Coachella sets and the solo Santa Barbara and Seattle shows sandwiched in-between. The solo shows got longer sets with encores and the Coachella shows didn't.  As for the different feels... I could go on for ages! But both experiences are special!

That stinks to read about yours and others' experience with Covid. It caught up with me back in January and it messed me up bad and lingered for weeks. Hate everything about it.

[Enjoyed]

The easiest (and certainly much too reductive) way to look at the differences in the vibes, is the crowd that each is likely to contain. A solo show is, in theory, going to be 99% full of fans who came to see The Chemical Brothers. A festival show should have a very large number of fans, but there is going to be a non-negligible number of people who are there because it was the better choice between other headliners, or are there because of a vague memory of the band name they have from college, or (at some festivals I'm sure) just ended up there randomly.

Obviously not all true, all the time and everyone will have their own view of the differences, but for me I'd argue that at a Solo show, if you turn around to look at the crowd during Star Guitar, it's gonna feel like you're a child at Christmas with your entire family - compared to a festival show where you might feel like you're the only one who spotted the squirrel in the tree munching on a mouth full of acorns while you're all waiting for a bus after work.

Or something.

[Biff]

Both are great in different ways. I'll add for the festival shows I've been to there's also the magic of people seeing them live for the first time when maybe it wasn't on their radar before-like going to get the mail and seeing the face of god. 

Also, at Coachella they have been a favorite of frequent attendees. The show they did in 2011 had planned glow stick throwing during Galvanize. Not only way I there, but one hit me in the eye.😜

Here's a clip, skip to 2:30:

[rynostar]

The show they did in 2011 had planned glow stick throwing during Galvanize. Not only way I there, but one hit me in the eye.😜

Is it all over Biff's face / eye? (Yes it is!)

[Enjoyed]

Both are great in different ways. I'll add for the festival shows I've been to there's also the magic of people seeing them live for the first time when maybe it wasn't on their radar before-like going to get the mail and seeing the face of god.

True! George & Mildred also seem to consistently induce involuntary gasps and wows from all around, which is so wonderful!

Also, while a solo show may be expecting Galvanize and be totally ready to party when its played, the sudden shift of excitement for an entire festival audience when that HUGE hit comes on is a palpable and electric feeling! HBHG/BRB to a similar but lesser extent as well.

[gfa2001]

@gfa2001

Residency for a 3 day weekend at something with the capacity of SB Bowl would essentially up the attendance to 13,500. If you charge $100 a tix and sell out all 3 nights, we are above the million mark...

3 nights means 2-3x the costs though, i bet their electric bill isn't cheap

There will be a size of a show where its worth doing in each locations and it clearly isn't possible in the US at the moment

Once demand builds up again i'm sure they will go back


----

I've only seen them at festivals so far live but generally I really like festival shows. Its nice being outdoors and the set is basically the same length either way, the only thing cut is reel which is like 5% of the show so its not a significant amount really

[Bosco]

Also, at Coachella they have been a favorite of frequent attendees. The show they did in 2011 had planned glow stick throwing during Galvanize. Not only way I there, but one hit me in the eye.😜

It should be known that this was spearheaded by a PLUR friendly group on the Coachella forum (RIP), they literally spent weeks/months planning getting the word out, having people procure every glow stick west of Albuquerque.

I'm almost positive that the original timing of the "glowruption" was supposed to hit during Don't Think. But because of a delayed start (Thanks Kings of Potato-Rock!), a bit of a buzzkill loomed about in the crowd. The group smartly deployed early into the show.

[whirlygirl]

That glowruption was wild! Seriously almost put a few eyes out including mine 

[shakermaker]

I'm almost positive that the original timing of the "glowruption" was supposed to hit during Don't Think. But because of a delayed start (Thanks Kings of Potato-Rock!), a bit of a buzzkill loomed about in the crowd. The group smartly deployed early into the show.

you remember correctly - "don't think, just let it GLOW" was the plan. everyone had gotten annoyed from sitting around waiting, then super pumped when it finally began, and we couldn't... hold back.

fun fact, it was a sequal to an orbital glowruption the year before (which went off much more according to plan).

[shakermaker]

sooo here's my take on the solo vs festival. both have their pros and cons and of course there are exceptions to ALL of these.


at a festival they will be one attraction of many. people will be there for a variety of reasons.
at a solo date they are THE attraction. everyone is there to see the brothers, with an insignificant number of exceptions.

festival sets tend to be shorter, though the brothers command a decent set length at this point. encores are very uncommon.
solo dates they have more control over set time, with options of encores.

festival crowds may be huge or may be thin depending what else is scheduled at the same time.
solo dates there's nothing to compete with, everyone is in one place

(this next one is almost a coincidence, or a side-effect of the size of the event, but...)
festivals are more likely to be outdoors, which is nice for fresh air and scenery but not as great for sound engineers
solo dates are more likely indoors, which helps if you're really into sound quality

festivals you are going to have to deal with portapotties
solo dates you are more likely to have real bathrooms available

and nowadays, festival sets are more likely to be streamed online.

for me generally speaking for an artist I am really into I will always prefer a solo date over a festival appearance, while acts I am a more casual fan of the condensed festival sets are sometimes more attractive

[gfa2001]

sooo here's my take on the solo vs festival. both have their pros and cons and of course there are exceptions to ALL of these.


at a festival they will be one attraction of many. people will be there for a variety of reasons.
at a solo date they are THE attraction. everyone is there to see the brothers, with an insignificant number of exceptions.

festival sets tend to be shorter, though the brothers command a decent set length at this point. encores are very uncommon.
solo dates they have more control over set time, with options of encores.

festival crowds may be huge or may be thin depending what else is scheduled at the same time.
solo dates there's nothing to compete with, everyone is in one place

(this next one is almost a coincidence, or a side-effect of the size of the event, but...)
festivals are more likely to be outdoors, which is nice for fresh air and scenery but not as great for sound engineers
solo dates are more likely indoors, which helps if you're really into sound quality

festivals you are going to have to deal with portapotties
solo dates you are more likely to have real bathrooms available

and nowadays, festival sets are more likely to be streamed online.

for me generally speaking for an artist I am really into I will always prefer a solo date over a festival appearance, while acts I am a more casual fan of the condensed festival sets are sometimes more attractive

Chems will have a fair crowd at basically any festival, certainly far more than how many would be standing at one of their arena shows. Not sure this point applies much - as you said there are exceptions to all of these but chems getting a small crowd is 100% the exception. Not sure they've had a proper poor turnout at any point recently at a fest?

The shortened fest sets are great for acts you don't know as well, if its an act you love only doing 40 minutes then yeah its shit. Atmosphere just fantastic at festivals is the key thing for me

[;]

The show they did in 2011 had planned glow stick throwing during Galvanize. Not only way I there, but one hit me in the eye.😜

Holy crap, that was about the coolest thing I have seen next to George and Mildred (and Jerry's return)! Definitely not the safest, but a sight to see for sure. Galvanize live never fails to give me the chills, and that clip was no exception. So cool that people planned that. 

Thanks everyone for your input and insight on the difference between solo and festival shows! That makes a lot more sense. I think, if there's any chance of me seeing them, it would likely be a festival show (the venue I saw Kraftwerk at was probably too small for the Chems, so I couldn't see them doing a solo show there), but I would love to see them at a solo show with other fans. Maybe one day, I'll travel.

[shakermaker]

Chems will have a fair crowd at basically any festival, certainly far more than how many would be standing at one of their arena shows... Not sure they've had a proper poor turnout at any point recently at a fest?

sure, I'm not aware of any times it has happened to the Chems specifically, but also would not consider it impossible at a US festival.

which, callback to Bosco's question - we may be out of US festivals that will book them until goldenvoice is ready for another round, so maybe it is a moot point. 

[gfa2001]

sure, I'm not aware of any times it has happened to the Chems specifically, but also would not consider it impossible at a US festival.

which, callback to Bosco's question - we may be out of US festivals that will book them until goldenvoice is ready for another round, so maybe it is a moot point.

I think that last point is the big one to be honest - although basically anywhere they play they would be headlining (or at least a pretty big act like Coachella) so there would be a significant amount of people going to watch them specifically.

We're lucky in the UK (and Europe too I guess) that there are so many fests that they could get booked at