Rock Legends Party Like It's 1979 (With a 2007 Approach)

Rock has become a 'legitimate trade'
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 16, 2007 9:52 AM CDT
Rock Legends Party Like It's 1979 (With a 2007 Approach)
David Lee Roth, left, holds his former bandmates' hand, Eddie Van Halen, after the rock group Van Halen announced the bands north American tour during a news conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles Monday, August 13, 2007.(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)   (Associated Press)

The Police. Genesis. Led Zeppelin. Rock legends are squeezing back into their familiar duds to electrify audiences decades after their heydays. The comebacks aren’t all about cash, the Economist proposes. Many of the greying rockers are in no need of funds "if they fancy a new castle or a young wife." It's as if a new careerism requires them to prove they can still fill a high-grossing stadium. 

That's not to say that the cash is negligible: the Police are expected to generate $168 million from their latest tour, while the Rolling Stones will rake in $500 million. But, as “rock musicianship has become a legitimate trade,” the magazine says, “creative eccentrics have given way to jobbing professionals,” and the reunion tour is just the latest phase of a  successful career. (More Led Zeppelin stories.)

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