Live Album?

[James1]

So the TSO Facebook and X pages have been active lately with a requiem and Beethoven clip from that tour and asking people to follow them on Spotify and Apple Music “for more” something coming down the pipeline? Seems more teasing than anything, but still interesting.

[danfromnj]

I don’t think a live album is on the offing.  But being down in attendance by 6% last year sure seems to have gotten them to be aggressive on socials.  They hired an ad agency that is running ads on YouTube and elsewhere that encourage people to sign up for their mailing list with the promise of possible ticket giveaways.  And now they are trying to get people to follow their Apple Music account.  Seems to be an effort to build up a bigger fanbase online.  IMHO.

If you’re a Wizards of Winter fan, they DO have a live album coming out this year - a 2 CD set recorded on the 2023 tour. It will include their original music along with the narration.  They say “We are doing this " Old School" style...no backing tracks or tricks. Just the band recorded live.”

[SammyGIII]

I don’t think a live album is on the offing.  But being down in attendance by 6% last year sure seems to have gotten them to be aggressive on socials.  They hired an ad agency that is running ads on YouTube and elsewhere that encourage people to sign up for their mailing list with the promise of possible ticket giveaways.  And now they are trying to get people to follow their Apple Music account.  Seems to be an effort to build up a bigger fanbase online.  IMHO.

If you’re a Wizards of Winter fan, they DO have a live album coming out this year - a 2 CD set recorded on the 2023 tour. It will include their original music along with the narration.  They say “We are doing this " Old School" style...no backing tracks or tricks. Just the band recorded live.”

What they need to do is release new music, and then push that in their advertising. Yearly tours are cool, and all, but it’s almost been almost 10 years since any new music has been released.

[James1]

I don’t think a live album is on the offing.  But being down in attendance by 6% last year sure seems to have gotten them to be aggressive on socials.  They hired an ad agency that is running ads on YouTube and elsewhere that encourage people to sign up for their mailing list with the promise of possible ticket giveaways.  And now they are trying to get people to follow their Apple Music account.  Seems to be an effort to build up a bigger fanbase online.  IMHO.

If you’re a Wizards of Winter fan, they DO have a live album coming out this year - a 2 CD set recorded on the 2023 tour. It will include their original music along with the narration.  They say “We are doing this " Old School" style...no backing tracks or tricks. Just the band recorded live.”

What they need to do is release new music, and then push that in their advertising. Yearly tours are cool, and all, but it’s almost been almost 10 years since any new music has been released.

Agreed. But I don’t think that’ll happen. We were lucky to Carousels of Christmas Lights two years ago and it seems that was thrown together last minute. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as the core band member get older.

[TheBigTBone]

I don’t think a live album is on the offing.  But being down in attendance by 6% last year sure seems to have gotten them to be aggressive on socials.  They hired an ad agency that is running ads on YouTube and elsewhere that encourage people to sign up for their mailing list with the promise of possible ticket giveaways.  And now they are trying to get people to follow their Apple Music account.  Seems to be an effort to build up a bigger fanbase online.  IMHO.

If you’re a Wizards of Winter fan, they DO have a live album coming out this year - a 2 CD set recorded on the 2023 tour. It will include their original music along with the narration.  They say “We are doing this " Old School" style...no backing tracks or tricks. Just the band recorded live.”

There are not many groups that have pulled off a great live album. There have been many done but there are good ones and then there are some really bad ones. Good ones?  Here's my top ten (plus 6):

J. Geils Band - Live, Blow Your Face Out
Kiss Alive (First one)
Bob Seger - Live Bullet
Peter Frampton - Comes Alive
Aerosmith - Live Bootleg
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
Cheap Trick -  Live at Budokan
Queen - Live Killers
Ten Years After - Recorded Live
Deep Purple - Live, Made in Japan
Alcatraz - Live, No Parole from Rock and Roll
Judas Priest Live, Unleashed in the East
Foghat - Live
Johnny Winter - Captured Live
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Live, One More From The Road
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense  (Live) Psycho Killer, Swamp, Burning Down the House, Once in a Lifetime, and Take me to the River are so much better than the studio recorded versions. If you haven't given this one a listen you should give it a try. Was never a fan of them but this is a great album.

That's my top ten (in no particular order) plus some extras, and I don't think there are many that come close to those listed, but if you can add to the list please do and you may jar my memory a bit from what I have forgotten in my 63+ years of life.

[ackydacky1]

I don’t think a live album is on the offing.  But being down in attendance by 6% last year sure seems to have gotten them to be aggressive on socials.  They hired an ad agency that is running ads on YouTube and elsewhere that encourage people to sign up for their mailing list with the promise of possible ticket giveaways.  And now they are trying to get people to follow their Apple Music account.  Seems to be an effort to build up a bigger fanbase online.  IMHO.

If you’re a Wizards of Winter fan, they DO have a live album coming out this year - a 2 CD set recorded on the 2023 tour. It will include their original music along with the narration.  They say “We are doing this " Old School" style...no backing tracks or tricks. Just the band recorded live.”

There are not many groups that have pulled off a great live album. There have been many done but there are good ones and then there are some really bad ones. Good ones?  Here's my top ten (plus 6):

J. Geils Band - Live, Blow Your Face Out
Kiss Alive (First one)
Bob Seger - Live Bullet
Peter Frampton - Comes Alive
Aerosmith - Live Bootleg
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
Cheap Trick -  Live at Budokan
Queen - Live Killers
Ten Years After - Recorded Live
Deep Purple - Live, Made in Japan
Alcatraz - Live, No Parole from Rock and Roll
Judas Priest Live, Unleashed in the East
Foghat - Live
Johnny Winter - Captured Live
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Live, One More From The Road
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense  (Live) Psycho Killer, Swamp, Burning Down the House, Once in a Lifetime, and Take me to the River are so much better than the studio recorded versions. If you haven't given this one a listen you should give it a try. Was never a fan of them but this is a great album.

That's my top ten (in no particular order) plus some extras, and I don't think there are many that come close to those listed, but if you can add to the list please do and you may jar my memory a bit from what I have forgotten in my 63+ years of life.

Add to your list Tommy James and the Shondells live at the Bitter End. This is a legit cd. Peter Frampton has a bootleg concert on bootleg sites from 1979 Ft. Worth, Texas from the old Supergroups In Concert series which is great. Same thing with a Steely Dan bootleg from 1993 in St. Louis which was from the mixing board.

[admin]

I have always said Savatage and TSO are the most frustrating bands to be a fan of. Sava's online presence is terrible which is a big reason why I started this site. The old Savatage.com and Chris Caffery sites had very active messages boards full of great fans and info. Now, nothing...

It just feels like TSO has been on auto pilot and they are making money so you don't touch what works. It is a "Holiday Tradition" and you don't mess with tradition, etc.

How does neither band have a killer live / video Blu-Ray by now? So much history and so many gems. Insane.