4 ms·

It was clear that Nirvana had something before Nevermind - when the album blew up they were on an Australian tour at the time, Ken West brought them out to supp

by caf 4y ago

It was clear that Nirvana had something before Nevermind - when the album blew up they were on an Australian tour at the time, Ken West brought them out to support the Violent Femmes at the Big Day Out. If you're touring internationally then you've hit some kind of success already.

Maursault 4y ago
> If you're touring internationally then you've hit some kind of success already. Not really. Bands will tour Europe and Asia in small clubs, but until they make it in the US, they haven't really made it. Only after a band becomes big in the US can they then become a global sensation. The British Invasion is a good example of this. Beatles had exploded in England, but only after their US tour did they then fill large venues in Europe. Same with the rest of the British Invasion that followed them. What you almost never see is a band take over the rest of the world filling large venues, and then come to the US. If they're touring internationally prior to US recognition, they can only headline in small venues like clubs and small theaters. Likely the only reason Femmes were even in Australia is they had by then saturated their US market and couldn't sell enough tickets domestically to justify the cost of any available venue. I was a Femmes fan, saw them in 1989 promoting 3 in a tiny venue called The Boathouse that literally was a small converted boathouse. Indigo Girls opened for them. The entire show was awful, bad sound, bad performances, and I regretted not going to see REM, playing that same night. REM was playing a coliseum, a huge venue, and I prefer smaller venues and try to avoid big crowds, but anything would have been better than what I was subjected to that night, and reportedly, REM delivered a fantastic show. I like the Violent Femme's records, but unless they played big festivals with lots of other artists, they never performed before a large audience, say, of 5000, and I'd be surprised if they ever saw an audience of 1000. Of course, Nirvana ultimately would find their biggest audiences in Brazil, with 100K+ people night after night, which is difficult to even comprehend.
- caf 4y ago
  Robbie Williams is an artist that comes to mind who was able to sell out large venues across the world without US success - thinking of the Close Encounters tour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_Tour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_Tour - but it's certainly hard to think of others.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    He hasn't had much if any impact in the US with his albums, but he did tour several large US cities in 1999 playing smaller venues.[1] So while he appears to be somewhat of an exception, even after international success he's unlikely sell out stadiums in the US. We'll see, though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Tour_(Robbie_Williams) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Tour_(Robbie_Williams)

by caf 4y ago

Maursault 4y ago

> If you're touring internationally then you've hit some kind of success already. Not really. Bands will tour Europe and Asia in small clubs, but until they make it in the US, they haven't really made it. Only after a band becomes big in the US can they then become a global sensation. The British Invasion is a good example of this. Beatles had exploded in England, but only after their US tour did they then fill large venues in Europe. Same with the rest of the British Invasion that followed them. What you almost never see is a band take over the rest of the world filling large venues, and then come to the US. If they're touring internationally prior to US recognition, they can only headline in small venues like clubs and small theaters. Likely the only reason Femmes were even in Australia is they had by then saturated their US market and couldn't sell enough tickets domestically to justify the cost of any available venue. I was a Femmes fan, saw them in 1989 promoting 3 in a tiny venue called The Boathouse that literally was a small converted boathouse. Indigo Girls opened for them. The entire show was awful, bad sound, bad performances, and I regretted not going to see REM, playing that same night. REM was playing a coliseum, a huge venue, and I prefer smaller venues and try to avoid big crowds, but anything would have been better than what I was subjected to that night, and reportedly, REM delivered a fantastic show. I like the Violent Femme's records, but unless they played big festivals with lots of other artists, they never performed before a large audience, say, of 5000, and I'd be surprised if they ever saw an audience of 1000. Of course, Nirvana ultimately would find their biggest audiences in Brazil, with 100K+ people night after night, which is difficult to even comprehend.

caf 4y ago
Robbie Williams is an artist that comes to mind who was able to sell out large venues across the world without US success - thinking of the Close Encounters tour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_Tour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_Tour - but it's certainly hard to think of others.
- Maursault 4y ago
  He hasn't had much if any impact in the US with his albums, but he did tour several large US cities in 1999 playing smaller venues.[1] So while he appears to be somewhat of an exception, even after international success he's unlikely sell out stadiums in the US. We'll see, though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Tour_(Robbie_Williams) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Tour_(Robbie_Williams)