Idolator
Fox 411 columnist and amateur American Idol conspiracy theorist Roger Friedman has a new maligned music-industry heavy that he wants to prop up: The megapromoter Live Nation, whose feelings apparently got hurt by yesterday's New York Post item on Madonna's somewhat-soft ticket sales. In his latest column, he accuses one "Warner M. Group" of planting stories to make Madge—and, by extension, Live Nation, which signed her to an expensive deal last autumn—look bad! But while he's defending his friends, he goes way beyond the bounds of his usually slippery relationship with reality.
Quoth Friedman, or whatever Live Nation mole put the Post-sized bee in his bonnet:
So let's clear up reports from Tuesday that her big fall tour isn't selling out. With the sole exception of Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium, the Sweet and Sticky tour, I am told, will outpace Madonna's last tour significantly.
Indeed, Dodger Stadium is the only venue Madonna hasn't sold out. Of course, the show isn't for five months. The fact that she's sold half the stadium now for November is pretty darn impressive
Well, first off, it's the Sticky and Sweet Tour, but that can easily be blamed on copyeditors who don't feel like slogging through Friedman's paeans to his pals too closely. The real falsity here is Friedman's assertion that Dodger Stadium is "the only venue Madonna hasn't sold out." Yesterday I did a little Ticketmaster searching for Madonna's shows in Boston and Houston, and found available seats at both dates; repeating that experiment just now revealed similar results. (I just did a plain old search, without any wiggling around for VIP seating or secondary-market offers.) Is there another definition of "sold out" that I'm not aware of? Or does he not care about those markets, since later on he puffs up his chest and says, "She's already sold out four shows at the Garden and out in New Jersey at what used to be the Continental Airlines Arena — now the Izod Arena. She's also sold out most of her venues in Europe." (Not to mention that it's the Izod Center, but again, the copyeditor assigned to this story was probably weeping by this point.)
Friedman also whines about the evil Mr. M. Group not promoting Madonna's shaping-up-to-be-a-dud Hard Candy properly:
Meanwhile, a better question to ask is why can't WMG cough up a follow-up single to "4 Minutes"? That is, assuming they would want to. "Hard Candy" is full of candidates such as "Miles Away" and "Give It to Me."
But WMG hasn't had made a move. By contrast, Mariah Carey — whose sales have outpaced Madonna's considerably — is already on her third single from her contemporaneous release, "E=MC2."
Two things: One, I do believe that part of the reason Mariah's on the verge of releasing her third single from E=MC2 was that "Bye Bye" was kind of a flop; and two, apparently he forgot about the video for "Give It To Me," which has actually been spotted by this writer on MTV, of all places. But that's OK, because it's pretty forgettable.
Squatting at yourself in front of a mirror, Madonna? Is this leftover footage from "Hung Up"?
Anyway, Friedman also claims in the piece that Live Nation is on the verge of signing 360 deals with Nickelback and Shakira, but given that he claims that Nickelback's hits include "The Reason," we can assume that maybe he thought he heard "Nickelback" when what he really heard was the name of another band with a kinda-dumb, three-syllable name.
Is Madonna Being Sabotaged? [Fox 411 via Coolfer]
Earlier: Madonna's Ticket Sales Give Live Nation Something Else To Suck On
Comments
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. I'm sure that's what Lyor, Edgar and Tom are doing right now.
If I get to be Roger Friedman status someday and I'm still stuck trying to impress people with my insider knowledge, I plead with you, the readers, to euthanize me and put everyone out of their misery.
Not that anyone here probably cares but Nickelback will suffer if they don't make any crossover hits on their next record. Rock history dictates that the band will do a "return-to-roots" record meaning more Pearl Jam-lite rockers in place of Pearl Jam-lite ballads. This then means that Trina and Sally (best friends living in Neblahoma) won't be quite as inclided to pick up the new 'Back CD when they are at their local WalMart buying "cool" new clothes.
On the other hand, for those of us living in NYC. Don't be surprised if "great seats" suddenly become available the day or so before the Madonna shows.
@2ironic4u: I thought crossover hits were all they wrote?
Roger Friedman is clueless of facts, but this site is far worse with playing with the facts. The New York Post article on Madonna was nothing but a hit piece with an agenda. My understanding is that, 5 MONTHS BEFORE ACTUAL TOUR DATES 4 of the 5 stadium shows are more than 80 percent sold. Only ONE date, Los Angeles, is 50 percent sold (not bad). Given these ticket prices, how can you even consider this "soft sales?" Bruce Springsteen hasn't sold out any of his stadium shows. Have you ripped him to shreds? Nobody sells out shows instantly anymore. For Madonna's last tour, tickets were available for every date until showtime.
Sorry for my rant here, but I respect this site. It's not right that you accuse others of playing with facts when you are doing the same.
Well, yes and no. "Animals" was a mainstream rock hit off All The Right Reasons. Plus, you had "Figured You Out", "Too Bad" and "Because Of You" from previous releases. All were hits on active rock radio (whatever that even means these days).
Point being, if they don't keep dipping there fingers into the power-ballad pot, I wouldn't expect anymore big sellers.
how come my comments aren't showing up?
@report345: Did you read Maura's piece? She never said "soft sales." She was taking issue with Friedman's blatantly incorrect assertion that those shows were SOLD OUT. They weren't. 80% sold is good, but it is NOT, by definition, sold out. Friedman certainly could have compared her ticket sales to others that you list, but he didn't. He said the shows were sold out, which isn't true.
Yes, I read Maura's piece and as someone who works in the industry (not for Madonna) I know the term "sold out" is usually pr stuff. But I was more responding to her piece yesterday, which was nothing but spin. Maura, if you read this, you have a lot more class than the New York Post or Fox News. Now act like it!
@report345: MJ has a lot of class!
@report345: Sure. Everyone's to blame but Madge and LYV.Riiigggght. [finance.google.com]
Madonna Tickets Breeze Past One Million Mark - 'Sticky & Sweet' Tour Heading Toward Record-Breaking Numbers. [www.prnewswire.com] still, however, have a problem with the extravagant 360 deal.
@cosmiclove: wow, talk about your slightly defensively timed press releases!
@Maura Johnston: I know. That crew is something else...Stock's still in the terlet.
@Maura Johnston: What a crew. The stock's still in the terlet, though.
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