"I can understand why those bands do it. It can be a hell of a lot of bloody fun. People are allowed to have a bit of fun after the age of 40, and a lot of them do need the money"

Nik Kershaw responds to the perennial sneer aimed at legacy acts with a mix of empathy and pragmatism. When older bands reunite or tour their hits, critics often frame it as a cynical cash grab or a refusal to age gracefully. He flips that narrative, foregrounding two honest motives: joy and livelihood.

First, the joy. Performing can be exhilarating, a social and creative high that never fully fades. Why should that pleasure be reserved for the young? Popular music often worships youth, and rock culture especially has long fetishized early brilliance and early burnout. Kershaw pushes back on that myth by normalizing pleasure in midlife and beyond. Fun is not a crime; it’s a reason to keep making noise together, to relive communal rituals with audiences who have aged alongside the songs.

Second, the money. Artists are workers. Many musicians lack pensions, rely on touring, and suffer from shrinking royalties, bad contracts, or changing industry economics. Family obligations, mortgages, and the ordinary bills of adulthood don’t disappear because someone once had a hit. A tour can be both meaningful and financially necessary. Treating payment as taint misunderstands art as something that must remain economically innocent to be authentic. Kershaw’s bluntness dignifies the reality: performing is labor, and being paid for it doesn’t cheapen the craft.

The remark also counters the shame that often shadows nostalgia. Familiar songs are not just retreads; they are shared memory made audible. For fans, these shows reconnect life stages; for artists, they validate a body of work that still matters. Rather than policing “purity,” the perspective invites a more humane standard: if it brings joy and pays the bills, it’s a worthy path.

The underlying message is permission. Age should not curtail play, and earning should not cancel meaning. Fun and necessity can coexist without apology.