Harry Styles, PJ MSG
Foriginal Sin
Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 1,789
in The Porch
Question, Harry Styles just sold out MSG 15 nights and now has the record. It wasn’t consecutive but over a month. My question, could PJ pull that off even if they tried? Phish played 13 nights in a row without repeating a song, wow.
Chicago 6/29/98, Alpine Valley(EV) 6/13/99, Alpine Valley 10/08/00, Chicago 10/09/00, Phoenix 10/20/00, Orlando 4/12/03, Tampa 4/13/03, San Diego 6/05/03, Vegas 6/06/03, Phoenix 6/07/03, Chicago 6/18/03, Alpine Valley 6/21/03, Orlando 10/08/04, D.C. 10/11/04, Chicago 5/16/06, Chicago 5/17/06, LA 7/12/08, Chicago 8/23/09, Chicago 8/24/09, LA 10/07/09, San Diego 10/09/09 (Front Row Center, Finally), Phoenix(EV) 11/4/11, Wrigley 7/19/13, Phoenix 11/19/13, Denver 10/22/14, Wrigley 8/20/16, Wrigley 8/22/16
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The thing about Harry Styles is that he’s getting a different audience every night, and playing the same show over and over. He’s that popular in the mainstream. Pearl Jam has to get repeat customers to take weeks off of work in order to pull something like that off.
"...I changed by not changing at all..."
Also PJ is not a "play the same set every night" band, and playing 15 different sets and really giving it your all for 15 nights in same city would be brutal on the band & crew in a different way than HS & his band & crew. Also MSG seats 20,000 people, so Styles sold out 300,000 tix for ONE setlist, ONE show, 90 min each show at most & average cost of tix about $400 (and YES at least my show was completely sold out, no noticeable empty seats at all).
And as much s**t as PJ gets for the towns, states & COUNTRIES they do NOT play, the hate from fans for playing 15 shows in any one place would be immense. And why would they do that anyway? What would be in it for them when they could do 15 shows in different cities and give more fans a chance since NOT EVERYONE has the money & time off & ability to travel to NYC or any one city for a show. Never mind for 15.
1) What year did Phish do 13 nights? Was every night sold out?
2) What evidence is there Phish would sell out 13 nights at MSG in 2022?
3) We all know that whether an album or songs is great or not has little to do with the charts. But the Billboard charts are still absolutely an indicator of sales and demand, so for a question like this there is some relevance. Gigaton did debut at #1 on the Billboard Rock chart, and got to #2 on the Billboard overall album charts and was on that chart for 8 weeks. You said "Harry has a few hits"... But not only has Harry's House his album debuted at #1 in US, Styles broke records buy having his album & his single "As It Was" both debut at #1 simutaneously in ALL of these countries: US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Belgium. AND every single one of the 13 songs on that album charted, which is highly unusual. The single is still #1 now, so #1 for 14 weeks straight.
Say all that to say, again, I've been a PJ fan for 29 yrs, think they're better than almost any other artist out there before and now, and would always choose PJ anything over Styles. But gotta ask, given that it's pretty obvious how/why Styles was able to sell out 15 nights at MSG and almost as many in LA and Chicago each I think, what do you base your certainty PJ could sell out 15 nights at MSG on other than more people knowing PJ songs than Phish songs?
Btw everything I just said about charts I just looked up. I don't follow them. Wild to see that Ozzy Ozborne has #1 album right now, and Kate Bush is still in top 10 singles with Runnin' Up That Hill thanks to Stranger Things!
The sound of 20,000 teenagers screeching made my ears bleed once Harry came out. I much prefer the roar of the crowd at a PJ concert, like on 9.11. I live 10 blocks away from MSG-would I go to 15 PJ shows? 🤔
Rage did 5 nights same setlist. They blocked out the back.
Wetlands 91
CBGB 91
Roseland 91
and many, many more
"...I changed by not changing at all..."
Pearl Jam has fans that travel. Even when they don't have tickets. If they do 15 shows in a 2 month period. You have the die hards that might do 2-4+ shows. The casual fan. The tourists. Someone's plus one. Then you might have someone who goes for their first show and loves it and wants to go again. And then when they find out they'll do different songs might go to another. If could do 2 Fenway or Wrigley shoes at 60k or at the time SafeCo with 80k for 2 nights. And there were still people who got shutout. I think they can do it. Otherwise we are a doomed society.
Obviously, it’s not just that but I think that’s part of it. Harry Styles might be the biggest draw in music right now and Pearl Jam (despite being the best live band around and far more talented) falls more into the legacy rock act category so hard to compare the two at this stage of their careers. As others have said, if it’s the mid 90s and assuming no battle with TM? PJ could easily sell out MSG that many times.
I don’t think Pearl Jam would be able to sell out double-digit MSG run (unless tickets came with unique merch poster/shirt/hat/sticker bundle for each night but that’s a different debate…). I would say probably closer to 7 nights realistically. Would end up with too many repeats or some duds that a lot of people just don’t want to hear.
I still don't see PJ ever doing a 5+ run anywhere (not saying they wouldn't sell it out, just saying it's hard to see it being something they want to do), but now that you've described the Phish thing and also watching the Taylor Hawkins London benefit show again and the magic & fun that comes from throwing so many amazing musicians together, some legendary, some less known but awesome... I CAN see PJ doing a THEATER multi-night run, like 5 nights at Radio City Music Hall (6,000 capacity) or maybe even the Beacon Theater (3,000 capacity), and doing that combo of "no repeats" PJ songs (which means casual fans would have to be on notice they might not get Alive or Betterman or Evenflow depending on night),but also surprise special guests and maybe a theme for each night that affects the music. It could go in so many directions... It is fun just thinking about something like that with PJ.
But a 10 or 15 night run of straight powerful PJ shows at MSG... I still don't see the band ever having any interest in it, don't see it selling sufficiently, and I see fans everywhere else in the US and world who can't get to MSG being really bummed that instead of 15 NYC shows there weren't 2 in NYC and then 1 in 13 other cities (but yes, I know, a LOT of PJ fans CAN get to MSG. I'm talking about the millions that cannot get to MSG or NYC).