Bruce Springsteen just shut down New Jersey’s Giants Stadium with a five-show run that saw him performing one of his classic albums in full each night. He’s not the first act to take his career-defining work on the road and play it from beginning to end – everyone from Brian Wilson and Pink Floyd to Green Day and Sonic Youth has jumped on the bandwagon in recent years. And in the coming months, we’ll get to see a new crop of artists follow suit. Here’s what you can expect.
Echo & the Bunnymen, Ocean Rain (1984)
That other famous quartet from Liverpool, England helped define its own era with fourth album, Ocean Rain, fueling crying scenes in John Hughes movie and adding a dash of romanticism to late night MTV. The Bunnymen already revisited this LP with three shows last year, featuring a full orchestra and acting as their own support act with an hour-long greatest hits set. The ecstatic reaction to seeing the band faithfully revive tracks like “The Killing Moon” and “Seven Seas” – long coat, dark shades and all – demanded they give a few more fans to bask in the glory.
Pixies, Doolittle (1989)
The album that served as the launch pad for everyone from Nirvana to Radiohead not only contains some of the Pixies’ most archetypal loud-quiet-loud songs but also its most popular, such as “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone To Heaven.” The Boston band originally reunited in 2004 but this is the performance most fans have been holding out for – a chance to indulge in nostalgia while getting their ears shredded, just like the old days
Devo, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) and Freedom of Choice (1980)
While most people remember this Ohio band’s for its funny outfits – in all fairness, it’s hard to put the bright yellow boiler suits and red plastic hats out of your mind – it’s easy to forget that its first two albums lit a match for the new-wave era. Seeing the men revisit their Brian Eno-produced debut, Are We Not Men?, with its robotic cover of the Stones’ "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,” along with its breakthrough third album, featuring the novelty crossover hit, “Whip It,” is an opportunity not to be missed.
Steely Dan, The Royal Scam (1976) and Aja (1977)
A great deal of attention is paid to the painful studio perfectionism evidenced by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen on these two ‘70s AM radio classics but watching the band recreate it all onstage some three decades later is going to be fascinating. Will they be able to pull off the intricate jazz-funk rhythms and detailed horn parts of “Josie”? How about Larry Carlton’s guitar solo on "Kid Charlemagne”? And how are a couple guys that have railed against nostalgia their whole lives going to make it through the tour? We should all be eager to find out.
Iggy and The Stooges, Raw Power (1973)
Iggy Pop tracked down Raw Power guitarist James Williamson some 35 years after they last performed together just to revive this album and it’s hard to think of a more deserving title. Watching the graying group trample through proto-punk classics like “Search and Destroy” and "Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell” is going to be a thrill, plus it can only sound better than the roughly hewn original. So far, the reunited lineup – featuring Mike Watt on bass for Ron Asheton, who died earlier this year – has just one show scheduled for the All Tomorrow’s Parties concert in London next year but Pop assures us some American dates will be coming along shortly along with a possible stop at Coachella.