British/European/anywhere! SOLO tour

I hear what you're saying TC...but believe me when I say...GLENN wants to do a full solo tour of the UK (and elsewhere) as much as you and all the rest of us want him there.

It comes down to tour support or lack there of ($$$ and decent venues)...simple as that! Hopefully that situation will change soon...but for now...that's the way it is (so to speak)!

Ey up TC!

Yes, I noticed the board had been blissfully quiet of late I agree with you.....I'd love to see Glenn come over for a solo tour, just as Glenn would like to as David pointed out. But talk about whinge whinge whinge! SOME of us have NEVER seen Glenn in the flesh yet!

As it stands, I think there's a fair chance of a solo tour, but an excellent chance of an HTP one. I'd take that quite happily. There's always the risk of Glenn having to do a solo tour on a shoestring and you end up getting back to the old "Glenn-plays-as-a-trio-and-does-Trapeze-and-Purple stuff" debate again because of lack of solo material suitable for a trio. The HTP line up would be a full band. Joe could even provide a second guitar if needed and then we should get at least ONE Glenn solo track played live as Glenn wants it to sound, plus all the HTP ones and a couple of Purple tracks too.

The only way I can see Glenn doing a solo tour of more than a trio is to finance it himself (AGAIN, and he shouldn't have to) or support a bigger band but only play something like 45 minutes. It's shit, but that's the way it is.

Touring or not touring though, I'm loving being a Glenn fan at the moment. We've just had SITKOR, HTP 2 it on the way, there's a possible Phenomena involvement, we know now there's another Voodoo Hill, it just never stops! So yeah, I'd like to see Glenn do it live, but if not, he's sure keeping me going with his prolific output.

At least the HTP shows and Legends Of Rock helped remind people who Glenn is and build up a fan base. Perhaps a support slot with someone who doesn't mind being blown off the stage every night wouldn't mind having The Voice open up. If the interest builds, the shows will come. Until then there's always the long awaited DVD lurking in the background....

JG

"How can you lose, when you're destined to be a winner?"

I can't believe it nearly 3 years since the Astoria gig !!!! Time flies eh?
It does seem to be down to funding the tour i think.
I agree that although we had Legends and HTP it still isn't a solo tour.
Hell whats wrong with playing JB's in Dudley for a couple of nights, maybe with a different set list each night??
I could stay in the haunted Station hotel again !! and maybe see another girl try to walk through glass !!!!!!

For those who believe, no explanation is necessary.
For those who do not,
none will suffice.

Hi TC and all

I agree with you that a G solo tour is essential. Having seen him on LOR he was the star of the show and should have capitalised on that fact with a a tour earlier this year. But I suppose things happen to prevent it happening.
A joint tour with Travers (funky T not bluesy T)would be good or a co headlining with another classic act.

Cant believe its 7 years since last solo tour.

Fingers crosswed it happens this year and he visitis outside of London n Dudley. Judging by the response he got in Edinburgh on LOR he would have agood audience. Well me n Artemis99 will be there (hi John!!).

End of back up sermon.....let us pray....

Dear G,
who art my hero,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom doth rock,
thine also doth funk,
in the UK and the rest of the world,
give us this year a solo tour and forgive us our rants,
as we forgive the press who dont recognise you,
for thine is the rock dom
the funk n the glory
forever n ever

Amen

Now lets sing the well know hymn 'Coast to Coast...

Can I step into this please??? A few days after seeing Blackmore, and I am still too tired to get the report together, and I promise I will with some pics too.....A thought has come to mind today. Ritchie seems to be the only DP member releasing albums and then doing the damn songs off of them. Saturday when I got to Germany I went and got Ghost of A Rose, and the next night I was treated to several tunes off the album and also of course lots of favorite BN tunes, and a couple of Rainbow songs and of course Difficult to Cure, (part of it) the riff/intro to Burn, etc... But the thing that made the show was that Blackmore wasn't trotting out endlessly rehashed oldies. It was a vibrant, living band, playing it's new and recent material. I just find myself really frustrated seeing recent GH and DP sets consisting of so much MK3 and MK2 material, when on a daily basis I am so entertained and enjoy GH's and DP's recent stuff. So please Glenn, let's hear more solo album tunes....surely people know them....They are a daily inspiring part of my life. Even Dio plays his new stuff....and it's crap!!!!!!!

JH

I was with 4 other guys at the Legends of Rock tour in Edinburgh. None of them were fans of Glenn, mostly just knew him from Purple. All were knocked out - one commented that he's a better singer than Coverdale (can't really argue with that on Glenn's form of late!)
Any other attendees at the gig can't have failed to be impressed by Glenn's performance.

A solo tour to capitalise on this seemed essential to me at the time.

cheers
John

Phew, TC you certainly didn't leave much out! I agree with you wholeheartedly, but as David says it's lack of tour support and $$$£.

Steve, I would be more than happy to watch him at JBs for a few nights in a row - the venue's great and the entertainment at the Station Hotel is priceless!

James, I NEVER realised you'd never met our man! Your rants will be a lot longer than TC's once you have...

Chris - your prayer is so good I've copied it and printed it off. It's now pride of place in my office. Classic, an absolute classic!

Glenn - you're on a roll this year and no-one is happier than your British friends. I'm not sure how I'll react (like this maybe? ) when we do get you back over here, under whichever guise you feel is the most appropriate, but make it before Christmas if you can brother. We support you all the way, you know that.

David ,
I whilst agree with your comments on the $$$$ re touring, I cant believe for one minute there arent enough 1000 seat venues around Europe to support a hughes tour!? I live in Australia and our local music scene is dead , but I can name at least 6 good venues in my city( Brisbane)alone!
Any way it does come down to $$ but more-so GH clue-less record company and management to get off their collective asses and do something with this guy. As I stated here a couple of weeks ago, SITKOR is bound to become another GH classic lost due to the ineffectiveness of Glenns "people". What needs to be done as I have said before is a 40 day, 25 gig blitz of the East/West coast, with 10 gigs in Uk/Europe to promote SITKOR. But GH Record company-management are too gutless to take the financial risk, and are more happier to have Glenn on their roster, giving them credo and do nothing with him! They are what I call "Mcdonalds Management". That is , happy to have the product, happy to reap the profits of that product, but promote it....nah too hard....lets just live off the name.
Glad I got that off my chest...
Pete.

Folks, for those of you who don't regularly check into www.melodicrock.com, I found this piece in today's news and thought I'd share it with you. It may shed some light on how little financial support most independent labels may be capable of, especially when you consider that a number of artists on their rosters may be seeking some kind of tour support. Touring ain't cheap, and without sales of product to offset expenses, it just isn't really feasible. Read on...and after you read the figures for the more popular bands, pay particular attention to the very last paragraph!

"SALES FIGURES - JUST WHAT ALBUMS HAVE SOLD WHAT?:
One of the most popular questions that are asked of me is how many units did a particular artist or album sell? Sales figure information for albums is not easy to access - anywhere! In the US, all official sales figures are tallied by a company called Nielsen Soundscan.
The figures gathered by Sounscan come from reporting stores across the USA and are deemed reliable enough for Billboard to use as their official supplier for data for their charts, including the USA Top 200 Albums.
Access to Soundscan's data can only be afforded by companies within the industry. A limited access pass costs in the upper 4 figure ballpark!
But thankfully I have some good contacts, one of which was kind enough to look up some titles for me via their access, so I would be able to report back these to you!
While I could have sent a list of hundreds of titles, I selected a few classics and a few recent and relevant titles to report on.
Before you read the figures - a few words of explanation. These figures are USA only. Not worldwide numbers and for the titles also available via different labels in Europe, the figures must be understood to be USA domestic sales only.
Additionally, the figures don't include most mail order sales, and also most gig sales - where a number of titles would have sold well. Soundscan was only introduced in 1991, so the few classic albums listed have only sales data gathered since 1991. The figures below are up to date as of last week!
A few side notes are placed next to some of the titles - please also take those notes into consideration.
Artist / Title / US Sales To Date
Journey - Trial By Fire - 1,195,095
Journey - Arrival - 177,350
Journey - Essential Journey (2CD Set) - 250,515
Journey - Greatest Hits Live - 534,405
Journey - Red 13 - 14,916 (Does not include website, gig or European sales)
Rick Springfield - The Greatest Hits...Alive - 23,175 (Does not include limited website edition of 5,500 units)
Rick Springfield - Karma - 46,769
John Waite - Temple Bar - 19,222 (Label went bankrupt during album's initial release period)
John Waite - When You Were Mine - 5,833
John Waite - Figure In A Landscape - 8,465
John Waite - Live And Rare Tracks - 1,735
Styx - Brave New World - 72,779
Styx - Styxworld - 22,400
Styx - Cyclorama - 39,657 (Sales still going strong)
Def Leppard - X - 231,195
Def Leppard - Hysteria - 2,167,680 (Only since 1991, add +/- 13 million prior to that date)
Bon Jovi - Crush - 1,944,337
Bon Jovi - Bounce - 674,525
Van Halen - 3 - 512,390
Van Halen - 5150 - 1,082,469 (Sales since 1991, +/- 7 million is the official total figure)
Van Halen - Van Halen - 1,669,687 (Sales since 1991, +/- 10-11 million is the official total figure)
Van Halen - Best Of Vol. 1 - 2,783,035
Sammy Hagar - Marching To Mars - 356,234
Sammy Hagar - Red Voodoo - 364,549
Sammy Hagar - Ten 13 - 128,686
Sammy Hagar - Not For Sale - 47,572 (Moved to a minor label)
Sammy Hagar - Hallelujah (Live) - 19,557 (Only just released - sales to date)
Dokken - Long Way Home - 19,447
Lynch/Pilson - Wicked Underground - 8,350 (Only just released - sales to date)
Poison - Hollyweird - 50,190
Poison - Power To The People - 75,350
SR-71 - Now You See Inside - 370,824
SR-71 - Tomorrow - 66,283
Butch Walker - Left Of Self Centered - 16,276
Streets - 1st - 852 (2003 re-issue, not including mail order store sales, where titles would have been popular)
Streets - Crimes In Mind - 787 (2003 re-issue)
Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are - 1,283,694 (still going strong)
Whitesnake - 1987 - 679,229 (Only since 1991, add +/- 10 million prior to that date)
Hall & Oates - Do It For Love - 111,671 (Still going strong)
UFO - Sharks - 12,042
MSG - Arachnophobiac - 1,093 (Only just released - sales to date)
Toto - Through The Looking Glass - 6,100
Toto - IV - 288,653 on Columbia, 1449 of the Gold Disc, plus 5,564 of a 3 album box that include IV (Sales only since 1991)

Some interesting figures! What is doesn't answer is the amount the European labels are selling of the popular AOR and indie melodic releases that are featured here so often. I know a number of you are also interested in these numbers, but the fact is that they will never be disclosed. A number of labels were asked if they would like to participate in this news item, but all declined. I respect their decisions. What I can tell you is that from personal knowledge, the odd title can be as low as 500 units, while others can sell anywhere between 2,000 and 5,000 units, with a few reaching up to 10,000 and just a few making it as high as 15,000 and 20,000 units. Not many pass that mark." by Andrew McNeice @ MelodicRock.com.

Thoughts?

Cheers...Todd

Hi TC and Todd,
I do agree with all U2 have said, and I do know the hardships that indie labels are up against, in these ever changing times in the music industry, but these guys have Glenn Hughes,not totally unmarketable. Tell me these songs arent amongst the most FM friendly songs you've heard for a while,
1.Its all Right
2.Talk about it
3.Blue Jade
4.The way it is
5.Feels Like Home
6.Out on Me
7.Angela
8.Written all over your face
9.Higher Places
The list goes on, and thats without re-issueing CTC.
My point is they(record company)have missed the boat, or will if they arent quick. Its frustrating for us the fans,just imagine how GH feels. You can tell if you read some of the more recent interviews.
The reasoning behind why GH cant get a major label deal to get the ball rolling is bewildering. I mean we know some of it, but we dont know all of it.
It will make a great read one day....
yours frustratingly,
Pete.

This article over at melodicrock.com seems relevant to what we're talking about here....thought it might be of interest.

The day will come my friends...when this "industry" gets it come-uppance...it's just a matter of time

I will feel it a real crime if Glenn cannot tour with his solo stuff and what makes it worse is it ain't his decision.
What with HTP,LOR,SITKOR and HTP2 on the way,
the guy is on a roll....
I've often thought about Queen,Alice Cooper,Pink Floyd,Aerosmith..etc..fans who've bought their tribute albums ( on Glenns performance in each of those )if they saw a GH tour list in their daily rag/mag...would they attend? I think a lot would..
Anyway lets hope.

Cheers...

Pete S.

I think your right there Pete,even if it is for thr "novelty" valueof lets go see if he sings that tribute song.
Hell even got my mother liking his singing when i played her, her favourite ever song.......Ave Maria !!!!!
Can't get her to listen to SITKOR yet lol

For those who believe, no explanation is necessary.
For those who do not,
none will suffice.