Shelter

^ That was very heartwarming and nicely put! 
I just like to add, that a community like this equals it's content. That is, if people wants it to be insightful and clever they better be insightful and clever.
In the long run there's no such thing as a read-only online community. People like Nurk, Marion and MJ2LD and a few others really add to the content in a big way by sharing, posting links, shout outs and variously angled pieces of opinion and thoughts, all of which is needed to make the place alive.
Therefor, all of you who like to find out more about the band, who just fancy discussing various aspects, asking more experienced fans about this or that, or who like to take part or share stuff or thoughts that may interest fellow fans, should perhaps consider contributing a few lines yourselves from time to time before it's too late. 
So, for every classic rock video, or guitar links that Nurk posts (take it as inspiration), if someone should just post a few clever words about anything they pleased, this place would soon be buzzing with electricity.. (or whatever it is that keeps it rolling like a dino through ignorant shallow times..) Rock on, farmers!
Besides. If a 40th anniversary tour don't make a fan community boil with excitement, I for one smell a rat (a big, fat and overly content one, if not quite dead yet), but discussing why that may be - many interesting theories, surely - is also mind food and fandom in a way.. and..again.. reasons plenty for all of us, in each their own way, to help keep this place alive. If we don't care, then caring is no more. Cause no matter what people say about trends, quickfixes and shouting cant measure up with qualith and discussions.
Quality and content always beats smileys and surface. Slow beats fast.. ironically.. Or.. Rock'n'roll beats Facebook.. I like to think that's kinda part of the DNA we all have from listening to TP so much. Let's prove ourselves worthy. And let's prove ourselves worthy of the hard work of Ryan, Marion and others.

Yes, the song is a Hard Promises outtake. Haven't seen the film, but it must be the HP version there.

Here's something I hadn't seen before. Mike talking about and demonstrating his vibrato technique on guitar.
 

Thought you might be interested in this pedal by Electro Harmonix. It's called the "Canyon Delay and Looper". I'm thinking of getting one, but I'm going to take a couple days or a week to watch every video on youtube of this stomp box. There are some pretty nice sounds that come out of this little box. Here is just 1 of many videos available to listen to it.
 

Nurk - I use a Boss BVB-60.  On my board, I currently have a Polycom tuner, a Keeley compressor, a Fulltone OCD (trying it out), an Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS-808 chip), a Fender '63 Reverb pedal, and a Boss TR-2 trem pedal.  A couple of my old Fender amps don't have reverb or trem so I use those pedals.  Pretty much the Tube Screamer is always on, the rest are used when needed.
https://www.boss.info/us/products/bcb-60/

It's showing 9.9 days for the whole library.  The biggest reason for not using an ipod was that what I really wanted was basically a home stereo that would play mp3s and be able to create lots of different playlists.  And I didn't want to fill up the hard drive on my home computer nor do I like software that tries to do everything for you.  It was a lot of work initially to manually enter all the metadata but I would have had to manually change most of it anyway so the playlists come out the way I want them to.

Ticket bundle aside, high chart positions don't mean a whole lot anymore.  With all the marketing geared toward first week sales there are lots of albums debuting at #1 which happened very rarely in the past.  Hypnotic Eye is their highest-charting album and probably their lowest-selling album.  What does that say about the charts?

Just to keep accounts, with some 50 dates played and recently adding Breakdown to the list, I think we now have a total number of 28 songs for this tour.
Actually, that is 26 songs, if we don't count the "tried once, but scrapped" songs of the early dates, and it's 25 if we imagine this tour without the "special, but oh so brief" appearance of Stevie Nicks. Another three songs have been oddly thrown in not once but twice and then seemingly scrapped. All in all that gives the number, for songs played frequently, or at least rotated a few times, in essence being part of the tour in a decisive way, as low as 22. That is 2 2 people! Not impressive is a major understatement. I'd say it's a blatant middle finger in the general direction of their own creative skills, their cataloge, heritage and all the real fans out there buying some 80 million records (not all of which, presumably, is the 1993 package). 
Yep that's it. We've been over this.. and then again.. tour is not over, folks!! Here's hope for the last leg, coming up here in a few weeks, prooving to be grooving, with renewed energy, a sense of "this-is-it", boosted approach, rethinking it as a really celebrative bang way to call it a day by. Or at least to push the total to 30. Cross my fingers, not holdning my breath. Dreams fade, hope dies hard.  
 
 
 

Say what?!  Some of my CDs date all the way back to1983.. and they all look and play perfect! Some hairlines perhaps, that's hard to avoid, but prints and dust can easily be kept off, actual scratches is a no-no. Generally much easier to keep CDs in playable shape, than LPs, where just a little damage can ruin the whole thing. 
Also - in case you didn't know this - it's the label side of the disc that's the most sensitive. CDs are printed so that the grooves are deep enough to be closer to the top than to the playable surface. 

EXACTLY! Tom repeatedly says this type of stuff, but only follows through on the small shows.
I am genuinely happy that (among others) Babydoll enjoyed this tour so much. That said, my beef now is that ten or so years ago, when I went to four or five shows per tour, I could get a really good seat for $100-ish. In this area, however, it seems that you have to buy a premium package to have any chance at comparably good seats. Obviously, the band has every right to charge what the market will bear; I also have every right to "just say no."
BTW: Hi Marion! Hope all is well.
 
 

This is true. Them playing the same show 3 nights in a row (or basically the whole tour) may be explained by this logic.
One would think that a less machine like approach would add some spark and meaning to the whole thing for the band themselves, though. Putting the heart in the right place, aiming a bit higher than just making the preprogrammed job done could still inject the whole experience with some excitement? Perhaps. Maybe. As TP fans in 2017, chanses are we will never know.
But sure, leaving all that aside and accepting that this is just a matter of going to the office, pushing the same buttons each day for the length of the tour, since most fans just go once anyway, we are still left wondering another thing though: Why they play as if most fans (if they even play for fans, rather than just people, or customers) maybe just see them once or twice in their whole life?! It seems like the concept for the last 15 years' standard show is "This is what you'd want to see if you went to see TPATH once in your life!".
Somehow they don't seem to take into account that they may have real fans and that it may be a good idea to play also for them. They don't seem to consider that those fans may care for the music beyond this set focus (be it the "new" album, the "odd gem", the "forgotten hit", the "unexpected cover" or just the heartfelt presence of real people performing from their heart at least on and off, instead of lining up with the machine).
I agree, them repeating the show three nights in the same city is less of an offence than repeating it (essentially) for years and years, leaving most of their music and their real fans out of the deal. The general approach reaks from professional and slick apathy and the standard route to profit, rather than the passion for music they all have or the muck on the guitar neck that MC is so proud of. It stinks. And a chance to hear more than perhaps one special song, or a delivery as heartfelt as it always is perfect, each and every night, even in the same city, well.. that may indeed be too much to ask. I can buy that. But to have such a chance each tour, may be a more humble and reasonable wish, don't you think. (As always, I feel like this issue is being deliberatly missunderstood in various ways and on multiple levels. )

This is true. Them playing the same show 3 nights in a row (or basically the whole tour) may be explained by this logic.
One would think that a less machine like approach would add some spark and meaning to the whole thing for the band themselves, though. Putting the heart in the right place, aiming a bit higher than just making the preprogrammed job done could still inject the whole experience with some excitement? Perhaps. Maybe. As TP fans in 2017, chanses are we will never know.
But sure, leaving all that aside and accepting that this is just a matter of going to the office, pushing the same buttons each day for the length of the tour, since most fans just go once anyway, we are still left wondering another thing though: Why they play as if most fans (if they even play for fans, rather than just people, or customers) maybe just see them once or twice in their whole life?! It seems like the concept for the last 15 years' standard show is "This is what you'd want to see if you went to see TPATH once in your life!".
Somehow they don't seem to take into account that they may have real fans and that it may be a good idea to play also for them. They don't seem to consider that those fans may care for the music beyond this set focus (be it the "new" album, the "odd gem", the "forgotten hit", the "unexpected cover" or just the heartfelt presence of real people performing from their heart at least on and off, instead of lining up with the machine).
I agree, them repeating the show three nights in the same city is less of an offence than repeating it (essentially) for years and years, leaving most of their music and their real fans out of the deal. The general approach reaks from professional and slick apathy and the standard route to profit, rather than the passion for music they all have or the muck on the guitar neck that MC is so proud of. It stinks. And a chance to hear more than perhaps one special song, or a delivery as heartfelt as it always is perfect, each and every night, even in the same city, well.. that may indeed be too much to ask. I can buy that. But to have such a chance each tour, may be a more humble and reasonable wish, don't you think. (As always, I feel like this issue is being deliberatly missunderstood in various ways and on multiple levels. )

I grew up on vinyl but I really like the convenience and durability of CDs.  I do find myself skipping around the CD too much just because it's so easy to do.  I try to resist that temptation though so I don't miss gaining an appreciation for a deserving track or not getting to know the "album" rather just the individual songs.  Cassettes were such a pain to fast forward or rewind that it basically forced you to listen to an album all the way through which was probably a good thing.
As much as people pine for the old original vinyl, it wasn't always all good in reality.  By the late '70s the quality of vinyl records in the U.S. was relatively poor.  Records wore out, they got dirty, maybe even scratched, styluses wore out, turntables might run ever so slightly fast or slow, or the speed could waiver slightly.  There were a lot of variables involved to get optimal sound quality.  I was always happy to get a new stylus or cartridge because of the noticeable improvement in sound quality but at the same time dismayed to realize I'd been listening to shit for the last few months.
The best thing about digital is that you can listen to music jukebox-style which you really couldn't do before unless you actually had a jukebox.  My favorite toy is my "giant ipod", a desktop PC with a small keyboard and screen and 3-way speakers.  The whole thing is housed in an old stereo cabinet so it's kinda like an actual jukebox.  The PC has nothing on it except an audio program and 3,657 songs by 809 artists.  It's not connected to the internet, doesn't even have Windows.  Just turn it on and play.  I guess I could just get an ipod but I don't care for sticking things in my ears any more than sticking something up my nose.

8/28/17
TPATH
 

8/23/17
The Rolling Stones
 

8/10/17
Them
 

8/9/17
The Angels
 

8/7/17
Link Wray
 

Well, I am excited to say that my friend offered me a ticket to one of the Hollywood Bowl shows and I am going to take her up on it!  I don't care where I sit or what they play, I'm just going to go and enjoy the experience!  It's my favorite band at one of the coolest venues ever, shared with one of my very best friends!!  I am very excited!!!  🤗🤗🤗

^ Yes, me too! Great post and great thread. Love the history aspects that book has to offer!
There's so many good ones! I think I have briefly addressed this subject elsewhere, but, again running the risk of repeating myself, I would, off the top of my head have to mention Nick Tosches' Hellfire (the deeply fascinating and somewhat disturbing story of Jerry Lee Lewis). Tosches also, around the same time, that is the early 80s, wrote a cool book called Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll: The Birth of Rock in the Wild Years Before Elvis. It's not as good a read, but the content is mindblowing, never the less, if a bit beside the point here, since it's not a biography, strictly speaking. 
Obviously, some of the later editions of Clinton Heylin's Behind The Shades (about Bob Dylan) are to be highly recommended.
And.. speaking of Heylin (and of the old ways of doing things), I would like to recommend most titles by Heylin, and most titles by Greil Marcus. Whether those guys cover a specific artist in biographies, or (as is often the case with Marcus) discuss certain angles on culture/music history, they are generally very entertaining and educational. In that genre of music history titles that are not biographies, one should also not forget Eric Lott's Love & Theft (yep, I think Dylan borrowed that one!).. or why not Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory, for a fascinating glance down the vortex of the dust bowl past of the midwest and beyond. But I derail.

Until we reach at least 700 signatures here (and shall we say 50 likes, for my previous, and by any fan standard surely obvious post... :D) I wonder how much of a fan community this really is.
I'm joking. Not caring is fine too. 

Bump.
Just in time for Berkley and LA, we need to bump this sad old thread. Because now may be the last time ever for this one - along with most of his cataloge of great, great songs - to ever be played. At least on a big stage. So, come on TP... bring You And I Will Meet Again for some of the last dates of this tour. A great song - I just refreshed my memory and ears of how incredible it is and how good it would fit the current sound, what with the Web sisters and all - and how generally cool it would be to take that - of all forgotten songs (they just don't feel like forgotten songs, they ARE) - up for a show or two. Perhaps just replace it for one of the lesser hits from Wildflowers. That would increase the energy of the set a little and it would add a much welcome variety and counter balance to the WF bias of this tour.
I'm sure it wouldn't hurt your legacy or image one bit to do so! Quite the opposite. Of all the never played songs, this should be one of the catchiest and it's from one of your most sold and most well known LPs too. Although any of all dosens and dosens of Let Yourself Gos, Deliver Mes, Finding Outs, You Tell Mes, Flirting With Times, Let Me Ups, Jammin Mes, Don't Do Me Like Thats, Wasted Lifes and what have yous, would be sooo great to hear as well, as far as I'm concerned. (A rotating two songs spot on these multi-night shows wouldn't kill you, surely!) 
I am thinking of something TomFest wrote once, how "This is not a man that tolerates embarrassment on stage" (with regards to the supposedly unforgivable derailing of Fault Lines live) and how this refusal to embarrasing himself is why he doesn't generally vary his shows much. I mean.. sure... I bet there a lot to that. But seririously. I never expected him to play unrehearsed stuff (like some do) or to change all his set every night. Frankly, I am sure TP don't find 90% of his cataloge to be so much of an "embarrassment" that he don't even want to rehearse it and find a handful of gems that fit the current mind frame? Or his band to be too much of an embarressment to play anything outside the normal dozen or so songs. In fact, his is one of the best band in the world, a band who's members time and time again have hinted at how they would love to play some of all the stuff in the catalogue. And, in fact, TP's has been on record saying how they DO rehearse a lot of songs. (Unknown how many of those are originals, but again...) He can't find 90% of his own stuff to be that incredibly bad!
(Come to think of it, the only half embarrassing songs that I can think of them bringing out would be Money Becomes King and the So You Want To Be A Rock'n'roll Star cover. But I guess that is just me taking stuff a bit too literally, right? I suppose at least the latter, lyrically, has even more self ironic qualities to a contemporary era TPATH, than they even did when the pop sensations The Byrds made the song famous a long time ago. But the former, well.. how can that even be understood, in the light of what a TP live show has become since those Olympic shows of 2002? (And, no, I'm not saying specifically that money has become king to TP, personally. Just that "money" has taken over the whole  thing and killed it all but dead. After all, behind every single argument I've ever been met with, explaining why TP has stopped taking his live act anywhere, to the point of growing rust, has always ended up in a dark alley leading to.... money! One way or the other. Even the misconceptions about what the only ways to make it may be. The same old story down there. Money.) )  
If anything, the surprise show of songs like Something Big, When The Time Comes, Have Love Will Travel, Ange Dream in recent years - and this year's Rockin' Around With You too - seems to suggest there is more than room in the hearts and souls of TP's fans to rotate in some of all his untouched material here and there. Rockin' Around With You was a good start - and an obviously good pick for this tour - so now, please Tom, add two or three more for the last stretch..! Maybe you guys even find time to think You And I Will Meet Again over? I know, these things are nowadays booked, planned, scripted and programmed a year or two in advance, down to every single F#m7 -- how annoying it must be that BT keeps playing from the heart, breaking the agreement at times,  or that MC too hits some passionate stray notes at times. I guess it's all written down and signed off, as part of your Live Nation contract ("I hereby promise not to smoke on stage, not to use the f-word unless forced to and not to play any song that we haven't run by the Live Nation in advance and/or isn't part of our patented Greatest Hits package.") I respect that. (Or do I?) It's just that.. out here, some of us can't help keep thinking about all this as music, as rock'n'roll..!
We can't help hoping that one day you and I will meet again, as it were. And until then, I really wait for more than 14 Farmers to sign this petition. I mean, come on... quit monkey around! (After all - this is not a zoo, it's a Farm!)  
Please? Please!!
 
...please
 

I've got to say the Talking Heads re-issue of "stop making sense" is a prime example of a re-release / re-mix missing the mark.  I loved the cassette version of that album and played it for years. Was excited to get the CD some years later and was utterly disappointed to see the tracks were different and some of the original mixes were replaced with new versions.
I dont know why Tom and the boys cant release some of the CDs with bonus content like a lot of other artists have with live and alternate cuts placed at the end.  I've been dying or a Wildflowers All the rest for a couple of years now...