Originally Posted by Thom001:
“That reminds me of Prince who I went to see last year when he brought his Hit 'n' Run II Tour to Glasgow. He performed two new songs, "Funknroll" and the instrumental "Plectrumelectrum" before they were officially released on the two albums that came out simultaneously in the Autumn.
I do wonder if perhaps Rihanna might end up performing one or two brand new songs from the new album on the Anti tour before she then decides to release it.”
prince plays live every year and most years has a tour of sorts, sometimes more than one is planned, sometimes they fall apart like this years US hit and run leg that lasted about 3 or 4 cities, or the cancelled piano tour. he regularly plays new material long before it's released, and did the gold experience tour which was full of new tracks and omitted all his hits, but he's the exception to the rule really. the earlier shows in london and manchester in smaller venues in feb 2014 were much better as it was mostly new material or fresh takes on older stuff, whilst the arena shows become more of a hits show
weller did a couple of tours this year, starting with a theatre tour of venues in cities that are usually ignored on major tours, then the album came out a few weeks/months later, and then he did the arena tour after the album came out
a few bands do things like that, a low key smaller venue tour before the album is out, then followed by a bigger venue tour. or sometimes the tour starts before an album is out and the album comes out in the middle of the tour. i remember seeing radiohead play a couple of gigs the week before kid a was released, but fortunately i got an early copy so i knew what to expect, whilst most of the audience clearly weren't expecting what they heard
for such a commercial act like rhianna i'd expect the album to come out before the tour so fans will at least have heard the songs. it would be unusual for a commercial pop act to play a large chunk of the set of songs that the audience hasn't heard before. it's not like she's going to play the 2016 equivilent of the dark side of the moon or impress people with guitar solos
With still no sign of the album, what do you think will happen if no album materialises by end of January? I'm meant to see her at Hampden Park Glasgow in June but even that I'm doubting will happen the way things are going 
