40th Anniversary Tour 2013

[shawnpfan2010]

"Either poo or get off the pot" I feel the same for Classic Petra. If they come back in late 2013 or 2014 they need to make a real album. I love BTTR but they need to do some new fresh stuff.

Not trying to make people mad, but as I recall, J&H didn't exactly burn up the charts, and sell millions of copies, so why would a J&H remake suddenly rocket up the charts and sell millions?

[Preacherman777]

Classic Petra is not going to do anything without Bob. I've been assured of that. Having said that, I don't think Dean is feeding me the company line. He's been very open and frank with me about what's going on. I know the up side and I know the down side. You can trust me when I tell you that he did not attempt to paint any pretty picture for me, but he also didn't go beyond the actual realities of the moment. There are some who will try to tell you that Classic Petra is already dead. All I'm saying is such reports are premature and ill informed.

[brent]

All I am saying is Bob decides what happens.

[Preacherman777]

Well, yes, and that has something to do with why this (the 40th Anniversary Tour) is happening right now, but in the big picture, it's not quite that simple. You, being in the business, I'm pretty sure you'd understand what I'm getting at.

[Preacherman777]

"Either poo or get off the pot" I feel the same for Classic Petra. If they come back in late 2013 or 2014 they need to make a real album

This too is part of what I'm trying to tell you guys. The fact that the new album hasn't been made is not and has not been by the bands choice. They want to make the album.

[rexreed]

Anyone that has never heard of Asia, ELO or Genesis does not know much of rock music in the 70's or 80's. Asia has more than one hit, too. Five come to mind with a couple minor hits to boot.

[Preacherman777]

I think we need to keep in mind to that the vast majority of people who will come to hear Asia or ELO tunes are not going to know anything that Petra is playing and honestly, if they want to relevant to that audience, they'd probably be better off to play more of the arena rock from their hey day rather than Jekyll and Hyde type stuff.

[brent]

Asia had more than one hit. But there is one song in the rotation of most classic rock stations, and only one song that most people could name.

http://youtu.be/K92cPgVioGI

[brent]

"Either poo or get off the pot" I feel the same for Classic Petra. If they come back in late 2013 or 2014 they need to make a real album

This too is part of what I'm trying to tell you guys. The fact that the new album hasn't been made is not and has not been by the bands choice. They want to make the album.

They could Kickstart it

[rexreed]

I think we need to keep in mind to that the vast majority of people who will come to hear Asia or ELO tunes are not going to know anything that Petra is playing and honestly, if they want to relevant to that audience, they'd probably be better off to play more of the arena rock from their hey day rather than Jekyll and Hyde type stuff.

Well these aren't exactly the original lineups of any group but I have to agree that Petra's body of work is the least progressive of the bunch. One thing I've noticed about ELO and Asia fans (usually they are Yes and ELP fans, too) is that they are open to new music and/ or bands. This could really be a lot of fun.

[rexreed]

Asia had more than one hit. But there is one song in the rotation of most classic rock stations, and only one song that most people could name.

http://youtu.be/K92cPgVioGI

Classic rock stations have a bad habit of using extremely narrow playlists. Many great songs, former hits, never made it out of their respective era if you go by the current playlists. One more gripe- low rider has no place in classic rock radio. It simply does not sound like classic rock.

[shawnpfan2010]

So is this a "Christian rock tour" or is Petra the only Christian band touring? I don't listen to secular music so I honestly don't know.

[brent]

No, it is not a Christian rock tour.

Here are my thoughts.
Most "Christian" or church going men do not listen to much Christian music, unless they got ahold of it before 21. There will be more people who know Petra there than you think. Back in the day, Petra concerts were actually advertised on secular stations. The name "Petra" is recognizable. People will most often say they know Petra, even when they haven't. That is my experience. It will be a win. Someone said that the retirement Petra would not match the sound of the show. I think that is true. The stripped down sound, arrangements and songs of the retirement band are not a good match. Classic Petra would have been a better match, since Classic Petra is what was happening at the same time. In fact, Classic Petra tour and tech info was sometimes in the same industry trade publications as these types of bands. But, if CP is dead, on-hold, not available, whatever, then retirement Petra will have to go. I think they should add Paul and John Lawry at least, and give the music some dimension. Paul would have more of a tie in with Classic Rock than Christian too.

[Preacherman777]

Oh I agree that they might know the name, I just doubt that most of them will know the music. So in that sense it will be kind of like going to a concert with an opening band you've never heard of. Unless you're really blown away by their music, you probably won't give it much thought after that.

Also, none of the guys from Classic Petra (except for Bob) will be joining this tour. I wish they were, because it would make it far more interesting for me, but they are not. And in that sense, I think that calling it The 40th Anniversary tour is a poor name, because this group will do very little actually represent the history of the band. Heck, even if they could have just brought Greg along, so they could have done songs from both eras of the band with the guys who actually sang them, it would have been much better. I'm sure they'll try and do some songs from Greg's era, but John was never really great at singing those and now that he doesn't have the vocal chops he used to have (evidenced by his attempt to sing "Beat the System") they'd just be better off leaving those songs alone. Just my opinion.

[executioner]

Asia and ELO were big at one time. ELO was huge. ELO II never had any hits that I can remember, and were/are like Quiet Riot. It was/is a drummer from the actual band, with other people who never had anything to do with the original music/hits, playing the music. In a way, all of these bands are kind of like that. You have bands with numerous personnel changes, playing music only one or two of the members had anything to do with. The names of these bands are the only things to have latest all these years.

The only one that I know anything about is Asia, and the Asia that is going to be on this tour is actually more popular right now than the orginal Asia is currently. John Payne has a huge following in Europe and frequently plays in front of 8k-10k per show, but here in the USA has a very small market. I never liked anything from Genesis or ELO. If I was everyone look for this tour to be more for Europe, South America and maybe a few Asian dates thrown in to the mix. I would be shocked if we get more than 10 dates here in the USA.