Nuno Bettencourt says Extreme are faced with a good problem to have being that the audience is loving the new music, but still wants to hear the old live. It means the band has to think hard about the setlist.
Watch the Nuno Bettencourt Noise11 interview:
Nuno went to great lengths to curate the new Extreme album ‘III Sides of the Story’. “When I say ‘releasing an album that’s worth anything” it is about the curation of something that top to bottom you can put a set of headphones on, take a drive in your car and hear an album”.
Nuno says not every track has to be a killer, but the overall album needs to flow. “You don’t have to love everything that happens but it feels like a setlist. It feels like something that you curated that has the right stops and goes, and left and right turns. Just enough to keep you interested so when you listen you go ‘didn’t see that coming’. It is the reason we release ‘Rise’ first and those first three songs because they were the first three songs in the setlist”.
After the album was sequenced, Nuno says it was simple to pick the first single. “When the label said, ‘what do you want to be the first single’, I said ‘well, Rise is first for a reason. Why wouldn’t it be the first song to share with our fans”.
Nuno even considered a complete album performance. “I said to the band, and it is never going to happen, but I said ‘wouldn’t it be cool to do some inner city gigs from top to bottom’. It is fun and we are excited about it in that way but it is going to be a pain because when artists do new songs off a new album, concessions stands are now open. People hit the toilets, they go and get a beer. They want to hear your old stuff. In this case we seem to get “why didn’t you guys play more off the album”. I think the more we do people are going to be disappointed we didn’t do old ones. We are trying to find the right balance. Maybe four of five off the new one”.
Extreme will return to Australia for shows with Living Colour in September.
Dates are:
Melbourne First Show SOLD OUT – 2nd and Final Show On Sale Now!
TOUR DATES
Mon, Sept 4, Melbourne, The Forum
Wed, Sept 6: Regal Theatre, Perth
Friday, Sept 8: Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide
Sunday, Sept 10: Forum Theatre, Melbourne SOLD OUT
Tues, Sept 12: Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Wed, Sept 13: Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
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