by Simon Wright

Created on: June 09, 2008

Many of today's aging rock bands put their younger peers to shame, both in terms of showmanship skills and musical ability. At times, too, they expend far more energy on stage than singers who are in the first flush of youth. This is part of the reason why acts like the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Iggy Pop, and Alice Cooper have remained popular decades after they first burst into the music scene.

I was listening to a Planet Rock interview with Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson recently that helped shed light on why these vastly experienced bands continue to do gargantuan tours when they could easily rest on their laurels and happily pick up their fat royalties cheques. Dickinson talked about how in recent tours they've been able to sell out venues in countries that they've not toured before, like Colombia and Costa Rica, and how thrilling it is to see so many under thirties amongst the crowd. These fans, he said, have really only known Iron Maiden from their last three albums so winning and retaining these new generations of fans requires the band to remain fresh and vibrant.

One of the most physically extraordinary displays that I've seen from a rock star was from a certain Mr Iggy Pop about four years ago at the Download Festival in Glasgow. Iggy was easily the oldest performer at the festival, yet he was non stop movement and, at one point, caused great alarm to his security people when he decided to climb down from the stage to mingle with the fans. He then adroitly pulled himself back onto the stage and launched into another adrenalin-soaked tune.

Two of my favourite all-time performances have also come from gnarled rock acts that could have been excused for retiring a few years ago. Aerosmith at Wembley stadium were consummately professional and Steven Tyler is maybe the best example of how a front man should work a crowd. There's no doubt that there are many great young rock bands (check out Northern Ireland's The Answer, for example) but many of them take years to reach their potential. This is partly because it takes time sometimes for them to be confident enough to own the stage and, of course, it takes a few albums to build up that really killer portfolio of great songs. Established acts like the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith can play for two hours and fans may still be wondering how they omitted some old favourites.

The second show that really sticks in the mind was Alice Cooper in Edinburgh. Alice is famous for his stage shows and it was an amazing experience to witness one of his concerts. The fans knew all the words and, like Tyler, Alice Cooper is totally in his element as the circus ring master.

Finally, it's worth remembering where rock music came from. As the song says 'the blues had a baby and they called it rock n'roll'. Blues acts have always gone on until they either died on stage or died off stage. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the singer hasn't lost his or her voice and as long as the band can still play their instruments then there is a vitally important place in the world for aging rock stars. So, even with bands that have been around for as long as The Rolling Stones, I guess you could say that 'time is still on their side'.
Of course, we need new talent to come through as well and often they benefit from supporting slots with legendary older bands.

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