The Thing About Anniversary Tours

It seems a well-established fact that today’s music industry is in the midst of a 180 of what it once was. Album sales are tanking, and their only saving grace is the revival of vinyl. It’s becoming more and more difficult for small acts to break into the national and international stage. The idea of popular music having meaning is hotly debated.

Despite the dismal outlooks on the future of music, there is a peculiar shift in focus in the undercurrents of the industry- a fast-growing concert trend could very well be the glimmer of hope and pure optimism that the community needs to reinvigorate itself.

Just this past summer, Ra Ra Riot did a tour in honor of the 10th anniversary of The Rhumb Line, their 2008 full-length debut- that means, before playing hits like 2015’s “Water” and even debuting new tracks, the band could highlight some of the hidden gems of their early discography, like “Each Year,” “Saint Peter’s Day Festival,” and a cover of Kate Bush’s “Suspended in Gaffa.” The entire show was well-crafted and astoundingly emotionally charged. It felt like a secluded safe haven- just a band and some fans playing music that means a lot to them.

Ra Ra Riot, while extremely talented in their own right, are not unique for doing this; it seems as of late that there’s a spike in these “whole album tours,” all with their own emotional background and purpose. There’s a sense of genuine connection, because there’s an innate dedication to rehearsing and performing pieces that aren’t the latest in their repertoire. These tours, above all, seem rooted in nostalgia for a band’s natural progression; many times, as was the case with The Rhumb Line, it’s in honor of their first major release, but could encompass any number of reasons, from critical acclaim to musical influence to fan perspective.

Another well-received instance of an anniversary tour was the return of early-2000’s rock band Jack’s Mannequin to revisit Everything in Transit. The tour, aptly entitled “10 Years in Transit,” coincided with the 10-year anniversary of the release of the album and spanned a few US cities during the beginning of 2016. Andrew McMahon, former frontman of Jack’s Mannequin, has had an illustrious 20-year career, and is now more well-known for his self-titled project Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, but revisiting the project was an homage to what some may call the glory days of his career. Though “Dark Blue” and “La La Lie,” both singles off of Transit, have continued to this day to be concert mainstays for McMahon (possibly out of respect for their success in the early 2000s), “10 Years in Transit” gave even those tracks the context and depth only a full album could possibly

provide, creating an unparalleled concert experience. For fans, it was a seemingly once-in-a-lifetime experience; older fans could reconnect with their past memories, and newer listeners could get to see and hear what they previously had never expected.

The trend of anniversary tours, however, isn’t restricted just to bands selling out 300-capacity venues or whose impact is but a blip in music history. Bruce Springsteen famously completed an expansive tour to coincide with the rerelease of his 1980 album The River. The tour lasted from 2016 to fall of 2017 and seemed to reach all corners of North America; during it, he and the E Street Band played all 20 songs off of the album, deep cuts and classic hits alike. U2 similarly did a tour in honor of the anniversary of their album The Joshua Tree, selling out arenas simply to commemorate 30 years of the album. Even acts like Toto, Foreigner, and Def Leppard have gone out on tours over the past five years to commemorate simply existing as a band for 3 or 4 decades.

If you go to an anniversary tour, you’re going to reflect on the music as a collective, not a series of individual works. And in a world of streaming where trends are instantaneous and fleeting and album sales tank in favor of singles and playlists, the rise of anniversary tours subverts the norm. Its uptick in popularity in and of itself was a surprise; with such a volatile industry, to go back to the past and pause to recognize a band’s roots is a gamble. But it has paid off tremendously, both financially and socially, for nearly every band that’s attempted it. It’s something fans continue to celebrate and encourage, something that creates a deeper appreciation for the music community, and above all something to bring people together. At the end of the day, that’s all that music’s about- giving people a sense of belonging, a sense of understanding. And that is exactly what the world needs more of today. If hearing an album cover to cover is what makes someone feel a little less alone, if it brings someone joy and brings music back to its most personal form, then I can’t wait to see the trend continue. Here’s to the future of concerts, and the future of music, and here’s to more whole-album sets from the bands we love the most.