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Originally Posted by Abstract Unknown Girl
I do wonder if they even have a say in the number of gigs they do. The live entertainment industry is where a lot of the big money is made now. Personally I don't think they needed to do as many gigs as they did for Truth, but they sold out most (if not all?) of the venues, so of course they'd do it. Towards the end of the tour, they didn't seem to be having quite as much fun as they were at the beginning of it and they stopped changing even one or two songs for the last few gigs, but as I said, they may not get to decide the length of their tours, especially if the label know there is a market for it.
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With Truth specifically, I imagine the decision was mainly based on the nature of the album. I'm guessing even the powers of JDB and co in full flight would have their work cut out doing SYMM in an enormodrome. But once you've made the call to go small, then you probably have to do more dates to make it economically viable. The economics of most tours is 30-50% touring costs, 15% to the promoter, and most of the rest to the band. That typically means a short tour in big venues is better (financially) for a band because you hit more fans with a production in one night, which keeps the costs for that and the promoter down.
The bottom line though, is that bands do gigs in part for their image. Most bands would pick a 16 date run in theaters over 8 half full arenas, even if they'd prefer to play less. That's because what all bands really want is shows that sell out. And even better if they sell out quickly, because that means their shows are massively over subscribed which tends to keep fans coming back for more.
The other thing about 90's bands, is that the demographic most associated with those bands are still more likely to buy music rather than just stream it. This, I think, partly explains all these festivals like Kendall Calling with plucky up and coming bands in the day and feelgood retro acts at night. Unless you're Radiohead or one of the Gallagher Bros, most bands still need to tour to remind folks to go back and buy those plush re-issues. Judging by the number of similar festivals cropping up (and the expansion of heritage rock in general) you're definitely right that there's a market for that kind of thing.