Idolator: Concerts

Tireless arena-rock outfit Bon Jovi is playing ...

Maura Johnston — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:15:00 EDT

Tireless arena-rock outfit Bon Jovi is playing another free concert, this time in Philadelphia. It's in honor of the ArenaBowl XXII win of the Jon Bon Jovi-owned Philadelphia Soul, which raises two questions for me. First: The Arena Football League has been around for 22 years? And second: Do you think people in Philadelphia are already griping about how if Jon really cared about the City Of Brotherly Love, his band would have played a free gig there before the one it pulled off in New York City last month? [Billboard]

Is Live Nation Slashing Prices In Your Area Tomorrow?

Maura Johnston — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Live Nation is cutting prices for 40 shows in southern California to $10 during a 14-hour window tomorrow, although anyone who buys those $10 tickets will still be forced to pony up for the various surcharges and "convenience fees" that are always tacked on to ducats purchased online. Trying to put a happy face on the whole thing Live Nation Southern California president Nick Masters told the U-T that the experiment "would be a fun thing to do for our fans"—you know, all the people who are really into everything the pink-and-white concert behemoth does—and not just a way to respond to a sagging economy and a growing wariness about throwing every frivolous expense on a credit card. The U-T-compiled full list of the 11 San Diego-area shows that are involved in this "fun" fire sale after the jump.

July 24: MercyMe, David Crowder Band, SDSU Open Air Theatre
July 26: "Comedians of Comedy," featuring Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford, Spreckels Theatre
Aug. 14: Vans Warped Tour 2008, with Angels & Airwaves, The Academy Is, Gym Class Heroes and more, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 6: Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, The Expendables, SDSU Open Air Theatre
Sept. 12: Alejandro Fernandez, Cox Arena
Sept. 13: Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Augustana, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 24: The Raconteurs, The Kills, SDSU Open Air Theatre
Sept. 25: My Morning Jacket, SDSU Open Air Theatre
Sept. 27: Third Day, Switchfoot, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Jars of Clay, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 30: Santana, The Salvador Santana Band, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Oct. 3: The Swell Season, Iron & Wine, SDSU Open Air Theatre

According to the Union-Tribune, tickets to these shows originally ranged between $59.75 and $178.75, although I'm going to guess that the $10 tickets are in the less desirable areas of the arenas they're being played in. What I am curious about, though, is whether or not this "fun" is going down in other areas of the country as well. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, press releases touting these rollbacks have been few and far between.) Have you heard about any Live Nation fire sales in your neck of the woods? And will rolling those ticket prices back to original Fillmore levels result in you being more likely to pack up the car and go?

[San Diego Union-Tribune via Coolfer]

Concert Business' Behind Sorta-Saved By Ever-Increasing Ticket Prices

Maura Johnston — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Pollstar's Top 100 Tours chart for 2008 so far is led by Bon Jovi ($56.3 million for 39 shows; average ticket price $87.98) and Bruce Springsteen ($40.8 million for 29 shows; average ticket price $99.02), and a superficial gloss on the overall numbers would indicate that the music business' new "let 'em make it back on the road" strategy is at the very least holding steady. North American concert grosses totaled $1.05 billion between January and June, a figure that's unchanged since last year. But Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni thinks these numbers are better than they should be, given the dire economic news greeting the country's front pages every day, and he went so far as to ask the New York Times, "When is the bottom going to drop?" The answer seems to be "whenever promoters get tired of not selling overpriced tickets, and adjust prices accordingly!"

Grosses might be holding steady, but attendance has been slipping for years, as the industry has remained profitable by selling fewer tickets for more money. The total number of tickets sold in the first half of 2008 fell by 5.6 percent to 16.9 million, though that was offset by a 5.9 percent increase in prices. The average ticket price for Bon Jovi, for example, was $88, and for Jay-Z and Ms. Blige it was $111.

Mr. Bongiovanni said high prices made the business vulnerable if the economy continues to curb discretionary spending.

"When times are tight, and there are fewer of those dollars around," he said, "the first thing that's going to get cut is a $200 concert ticket."

Especially if that ticket has 15-20% worth of surcharges piled on top of its price. It kind of makes Live Nation's Michael Rapino sunny outlook about his company's future, and his claims that because people have got to get out, they're going to scrimp and pinch in order to see Tim McGraw, seem kind of, well, deludedly quaint, no? Or at least hampered by the tunnel vision that executives, particularly those in the music business who have had their whole existence mediated by assistants who aren't paid huge sums of money and who actually have some grasp on the real world, seem to chronically have.

New Jersey Rockers Top Mid-Year Tours [Pollstar]
Pop Tours Still Sell, Despite Economy [NYT]
Live Nation Sings A New Tune [WSJ via The Daily Swarm]

Madonna's Ticket Sales Give Live Nation Something Else To Suck On

Maura Johnston — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:00:00 EDT

The New York Post is reporting that while tickets for Madonna's upcoming shows at New York's Madison Square Garden and one show at the just-across-the-Hudson Izod Center have sold out, ticket sales at other venues in the States have been soft. The Post's Brian Garrity pays particular attention to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, which holds 43,000 people but has only sold 27,000 tickets to her November date there so far. (Spot checks of Ticketmaster pages for shows in Boston and Houston also showed that tickets were still available in those markets as well.) Sure, one could cite this as more evidence that the lousy economy is resulting in even those artists who can charge $575 for a VIP package not being as able to make the "earn your money on the road" strategy work as well as it has in the past. So with sales of her final Warner album, Hard Candy, stalling in the mid-500k range and ticket sales to her road spectacles faltering in the U.S., what does this mean for Live Nation, which shelled out $120 million to have Madonna in its back pocket a few months back?

Well, I'm pretty sure that it means that Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino was right to put his foot down about lucrative 360 deals that are based off an unproven business model. But other people in the company are more optimistic:

Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music and CEO of the global touring division at Live Nation, projects the tour will gross more than $250 million in ticket sales - surpassing her record-breaking "Confessions on a Dance Floor" tour two years ago, which pulled in $195 million worldwide.

But just over half of the 43,000 seats available for a Nov. 6 date at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium - 27,000 tickets in all - have been sold in their first three weeks of availability, raising red flags about the limits of US demand for the 49-year-old Madonna at this stage of her career.

It also comes as Live Nation's management has been at odds over the strategy of handing out big-bucks, all-encompassing contracts, known as 360 deals, for aging stars like Madonna and Jay-Z. The rift led to last week's exit of company chairman Michael Cohl.

To be sure, Madonna's sales have been better at other venues.

A Nov. 4 show at San Diego's Petco Park has sold 29,000 of 35,000 seats. And over 33,000 out of 42,000 available tickets were sold for a Nov. 26 stadium date in Miami. ...

Fogel, who has produced Madonna's last three tours, said concern about ticket demand is overblown.

He noted that there are close to five months to go before the US stadium shows in question open, and each one has already grossed $3 million to $4 million in sales.

Perhaps people are waiting until right before the tour, so they can avoid Ticketmaster surcharges, or at least figure out whether or not they can afford to fill up their gas tank and shell out the cash for a nosebleed seat? Either way, I'm sure Madonna is taking comfort in the fact that she'll always have Dubai to fall back on should times get really rough.

MADONNA SALE$ SAG [NYP]
Madonna [Ticketmaster]

In "Maybe The Concert Industry Is Just As ...

Dan Gibson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:15:00 EDT

In "Maybe The Concert Industry Is Just As Screwed As The Recorded-Music Biz" news, the promoter of next week's Phoenix shows by Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie is offering last-minute discounts on tickets, despite both acts selling out the same venues on their last tour stops here. Whether said soft sales are the result of sky-high ticket prices and surcharges or ever-increasing prices for everyday goods (especially gas), one might think that it's going to be vastly more difficult to fill mid-sized venues over the coming months. [Stateside Presents]

San Diego Ticket Sales Sagging: A Sign Of Things To Come?

Maura Johnston — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

The San Diego Reader reports the probably not too surprising news that concert sales in the area have been soft, with George Michael's upcoming concert in particular being something of a bust—the show, which takes place at the Sports Arena on June 17, has reportedly only sold 4,000 tickets out of a possible 15,000. Tickets to upcoming shows by Sheryl Crow and Stone Temple Pilots are selling sluggishly as well. San Diego has been hit particularly hard by the housing bust, and the idea that people are cutting out ever-spiraling ticket prices from their budget isn't all that far-fetched. But don't think that a weak market will result in ticket prices—or the surcharges that mark up those prices by as much as 50%—coming down anytime soon!

"I would say that overall sales are down by as much as 20 percent," says the promoter, who agrees that local promoters will take a drubbing this summer. But he doesn't agree that tickets will come down next year.

"What you are seeing is that people are waiting until the day of the show to buy tickets. I would say that advance ticket sales are down 30 percent, but day-of-show sales are actually up. By waiting to buy tickets on the day of show, people are avoiding Ticketmaster altogether."

The promoter maintains that concerts are more important than ever to artists.

"Artists aren't selling CDs anymore, so they have to go out and tour and make their money from [concert grosses] and merchandise [sales]. But gas prices are crazy. It takes a thousand dollars a day to run one of their trucks. And I guarantee that gas prices will hit six dollars by December. Even if the local promoters wanted to lower ticket prices, they simply won't be able to do it. Food and every other price is going up. You can't tell me that entertainment won't go up proportionally...."

Sure, it'll go up. But as wages stagnate and things that are, you know, essential to living (or at least to getting to and from that crappier-paying-than-ever job), won't demand for non-essential items go down? (It seems like that's already happening, if that anecdote about more people buying shows at the box office in order to avoid service charges can be statistically verified.) And if a half-sold show makes a comparable amount as a sold-out show with lower ticket prices, wouldn't it make more sense for ticket prices to go down, thus accomodating more people, and, well, creating a better overall atmosphere for both the fan and the performer? I'm by no means an economist, but this story seems like a verbal illustration of the whole supply-and-demand curve, and promoters who are standing there with their arms crossed and saying "no, no, no!!" to lower prices seem to be ignoring the fact that the market for nonessentials like entertainment is contracting as people try to stretch their dollars as far as they can go.

Tickets To Slide? [San Diego Reader via Coolfer]

Attention New York City residents who own ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:30:01 EDT

Attention New York City residents who own cars or like to take taxis: July 25 is, as of now, officially a Gridlock Alert day, because early that morning Miley Ray Cyrus will take the stage at Rockefeller Center as part of Today's summer concert series. Also on the docket: Ashlee Simpson (July 4, unless her album gets pushed back again); Alanis Morrissette (May 23); Kenny Chesney (June 13); and a "surprise reunion concert" on May 16 that I'm stumped over, because honestly, what bands can possibly "surprise" America's morning-TV-viewing masses by reuniting at this point? Click the picture of Miley for the full schedule. [TVNewser / Photo: AP]

APRIL
25 Paula Abdul

MAY
2 Neil Diamond
9 Mary J Blige
16 Surprise Reunion concert
23 Alanis Morissette
26 B-52s (Special Memorial Day Concert)
30 Donna Summer

JUNE
6 Chris Brown
13 Kenny Chesney
20 Rihanna
27 Coldplay

JULY
4 Ashlee Simpson
11 Rascal Flatts
18 Natasha Bedingfield
25 Miley Cyrus

AUGUST
1 Sheryl Crow

So Much For The Concert Business Saving The Music Industry's Behind

mjohnston — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:45:37 EST

Pollstar's list of the top 20 concert tours of 2007 had good news for Sting and bad news for pretty much anyone else trying to figure out if the road life would help make up the money lost by nosediving album sales. The 20 top-grossing tours—which were led by the Police's reunion jaunt, which grossed $131.9 million—made a total of $996 million, a number that's down 15% from last year's top 20 total.

THE GOOD: Despite being shut out of rock radio formats that aren't saddled with the word "classic," the aging rock fan still has a place in the big-ticket music industry because he can still spend money. Namely, on tours by classic-rock staples like Genesis, Roger Waters, and Van Halen. OK, this isn't "the good" as much as it is "the obvious," but hey, something has to keep the music business hoping that its next gasp for air is slightly worth it, right?
THE BAD: Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus—one of only two musicians on the list under the age of 25^*—comes in at No. 15, which seems low until you remember that it was the low price of tickets on the legal market (they averaged $54 a seat) that led to the sellouts, the "secondary market" freakouts, and the 400-pound Miley Cyrus statues.
THE WHAAA? Not that I like Genesis all that much, but it has to smart that their big reunion tour (which made $47.6 million) was outgrossed by the umpteenth leg of Rod Freaking Stewart's "Trampling On Any Legacy I Still Have Left" jaunt ($49 million).

^* The other: Wolfgang Van Halen. You forgot about him, didn't you?

1. The Police ($131.9 million)
2. Kenny Chesney ($71.1 million)
3. Justin Timberlake ($70.6 million)
4. Celine Dion ($65.3 million)
5. Van Halen ($56.7 million)
6. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ($52.3 million)
7. Rod Stewart ($49 million)
8. Genesis ($47.6 million)
9. Josh Groban ($43 million)
10. Rascal Flatts ($41.5 million)
11. Dave Matthews Band ($41.1 million)
12. Billy Joel ($39.1 million)
13. Roger Waters ($38.3 million)
14. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ($38.2 million)
15. Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus ($36 million)
16. Elton John ($35.7 million)
17. Jimmy Buffett ($35.6 million)
18. Barry Manilow ($34.8 million)
19. Toby Keith ($34.3 million)
20. Maná ($33.9 million)

U.S. concert business slumps despite reunion tours [Reuters]
The Police Lock Top 2007 Tours Spot [Pollstar]
[Photo: Getty]

Artists To Photographers: "Move Out Of The Way, You're Blocking The Cameraphones"

mjohnston — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:50:07 EST

One would think that, what with this being the era of the ever-hoisted cameraphone, musicians and their "people" would encourage professional photographers to spend as much time angling for the perfect—or, at the very least, not pixelated!—shot as they possibly could. But one would be wrong; for example, photogs working Saturday night's Stevie Wonder show at Madison Square Garden were apparently only allowed to shoot the first five to 10 seconds of Stevie's entrance and the first 60 seconds of his first song before they had to get up and out. And photographers at other shows have noticed that the time they're given to shoot shows has gone down, even as restrictions on the masses bringing in their own cameras have been loosened:

Rahav Segev, a photographer who shoots for Rolling Stone, The New York Times and other publications, said he was at a concert with several performers at the Beacon Theater in New York when he was instructed to shoot only the first 30 seconds of each performance. "You're just getting into a rhythm" when you have to stop, he said.

"I've been encountering that more lately," Mr. Segev said of time restrictions. "Or they put you really far away. More acts are doing that than they used to."

While I can understand that artists wouldn't want to be distracted by people snapping away at them incessantly while they're trying to entertain an audience, it does seem strange to me that they're clamping down on the time that flattering photos can be taken of them at the same time that the number of amateurs out there who have access to YouTube, Flickr, et al, is spiking. Is it just a question of artists and managers being able to establish some sort of control in an industry where they frequently have less and less of it?

That said, the photo editors and photographers who are in a huff over this have apparently never turned around to see the sea of cameraphone viewfinders held aloft by the people who paid to get into the show.

"It's harder for me to find that amazing shot," Michele Romero, a photo editor at Entertainment Weekly, said of shooting only the beginning of a show. "If something happens, it happens at an encore or halfway through a concert. Imagine if Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar and no one saw it. That kind of photography doesn't happen anymore."

Rapidfire dissemination of spontaneous moments doesn't happen anymore? You may want to tell that to Beyonce.

Capturing the Moment With Fewer Minutes [NYT]
[Photo: The BBP]

Just when you think Kelly Rowland's year—which ...

mjohnston — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:30:56 EST

Just when you think Kelly Rowland's year—which was so bad, her Clash Of The Choirs appearance might actually be one of its highlights—can't get any worse, it does: She's now giving away tickets to her upcoming show at the House Of Blues in Atlantic City. [Ticketmaster via ONTD]

Not content with letting Lollapalooza promotion ...

mjohnston — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:10:25 EST

Not content with letting Lollapalooza promotion company C3 stake a three-day festival claim in Philadelphia, Live Nation has petitioned the city's Fairmount Park Commission for a -palooza of its own. Am I the only person who thinks that, by this time next year, every one of the fifty states—including Alaska and Hawaii!—will have a big multi-day puke-and-beer-fueled get-together to call its own? [Philly.com]

Megadeth Concerts Not As Deth-Filled As Classical Shows

mjohnston — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:53:01 EDT

From a pre-Lollapalooza article in the Chicago Tribune on the first-aid staffs at concerts: "Dr. Jeff Grange, professor of emergency medicine at Loma Linda University in Southern California, said most of the medical situations seen at an Ozzfest concert in mid-July were related to violent dancing. 'We saw a lot of trauma, two people with stab wounds, numerous people with dislocated shoulders, facial trauma, sutured up a lot of faces, that kind of stuff, especially from mosh pits,' he said." But despite the stab-wound possibility, the deadliest shows, according to Grange, are actually—wait for it—classical concerts. Sure, it's because of the higher median age of attendees, but we're sure that kids across the Chicagoland area are, right now, getting ready to smugly show this article to their parents in a last-ditch effort to be allowed to attend Ozzfest next week.

Music venue first-aid staffs weigh melodies, maladies [Chicago Tribune]

The Great Summer-Festival Showdown: It Begins Today

mjohnston — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:38:08 EDT

This weekend, two huge summer festivals—Lollapalooza, at Chicago's Grant Park, and the Virgin Festival, at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course—are taking place, a curious quirk of scheduling that has resulted in the nation's outdoor-loving music fans to make Big Decisions. While fans of Interpol, Amy Winehouse, Modest Mouse, and TV On The Radio could go to either festival (if Richard Branson was smart, he'd set up a Virgin America-branded shuttle for bands playing both shows), those hoping to hear other artists weren't so lucky. If you're still on the fence about where your travel budget for the summer should go, we pit the festivals against each other, head-to-head style, after the jump:

Number Of Stages
Lollapalooza: 9.
Virgin: 3.
Advantage: Virgin, if only because their stages have descriptive names like "North" and "South"; one Lolla stage is so named that people will have to tell their friends to "meet me by MySpace." No thanks.

Weather forecast
Lollapalooza: Clear tonight, low of 70; 30% chance of rain tomorrow, high of 81; 60% chance of rain Sunday, high of 85.
Virgin: Cloudy tomorrow, high of 94; 30% chance of rain Sunday, high of 84.
Advantage: A draw. Either way, you're going to be really, really sweaty.

'90s Act Back To Get Everyone's Nostalgia Riled Up
Lollapalooza: Pearl Jam.
Virgin: Smashing Pumpkins.
Advantage: Lolla. The fact that Pearl Jam is touring with more than 50% of its original members is a big point in their favor; the fact that Billy Corgan will probably go on some long anti-downloading rant mid-set seals the victory for the other side.

Old Guard Member
Lollapalooza: Iggy & The Stooges.
Virgin: The Police.
Advantage: Lolla. The Sting factor looms too large. Now, if we put Iggy up against Cheap Trick, this may be a fight.

Crazy High-Concept Spectacle
Lollapalooza: Daft Punk.
Virgin: Panic! At The Disco.
Advantage: Lolla. Honestly, against anyone else, it would be Panic! and their contortionists in a walk!—but the Daft Punk stage show just looks too good to pass up.

Act That Must Have Been Named During An All-Night Bender
Lollapalooza: Slightly Stoopid.
Virgin: Infected Mushroom.
Advantage: Lolla. Who wants to think about infected anything when you're beholden to eating from the on-site food stands all day?

Terrible, Terrible Act
Lollapalooza: Mickey Avalon.
Virgin: Matisyahu.
Advantage: Virgin. Because being subjected to a Mickey Avalon set is a fate worse than humidity.

The winner: Sure, Lollapalooza has Daft Punk and Pearl Jam and !!!, but the presence of Mickey Avalon on its bill made this race a lot tighter than it should have been. Still, Lolla seems like the winner here overall, especially since being in Chicago makes the possibility of Kanye West running out to perform "Stronger" higher than 0%.

VIRGIN FESTIVAL by Virgin Mobile [Official site]
Lollapalooza 2007 [Official site]

Tickets To Overpriced Concert Series Not Exactly Flying Off Shelves

mjohnston — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:35:52 EDT

Hey, remember Social@Ross, the $15,000-a-ticket concert series that allowed Hamptons types to sit on ottomans and suck down top-shelf cocktails while they listened to live shows by Prince, James Taylor, Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, and Billy Joel? You may be surprised to hear it, but tickets aren't selling very well—even though only 1,000 were going to be made available! At least that's what we're guessing from this e-mail that went out to the Dave Matthews Band's fan club and made its way to Bob Lefsetz's inbox. It's hawking tickets to this Saturday night's show for the Crazy-Eddie-low price of $250 a pop. (For those of you who don't feel like doing the math, that's a 92% discount—and you still get free parking!)

Greetings from the Warehouse:

We are pleased to invite you to join Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds for a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience this Saturday evening, July 28 in East Hampton, NY. As many of you may have heard, Dave and Tim are performing a semi-private benefit for the Ross School in East Hampton. We have just been offered a limited number of specially priced tickets for the benefit concert which we are offering to Warehouse members that have purchased Randall's Island VIP tickets. The all-inclusive ticket includes luxurious seating, world class food featuring the BBQ stylings of executive chef Adam Perry Lang, a top shelf open bar, plus pre and post show entertainment. The tickets are extremely limited and will be sold first come-first serve at $250 per ticket/$500 per pair. All proceeds from this special ticket sale will benefit charity with half of the proceeds to benefit Dave Matthews' Horton Foundation and the other half to benefit Ross School. Dave and Tim tickets may be purchased by calling (800) 803-6644 and mentioning the access code "Trax". For more information about the concert, please visit www.discoversocial.com

What, is Christie Brinkley not that big of a Dave fan or something? We figured she'd skip the show by her ex-husband, but really, who knew that people weren't going to lay out the $15,000 for all five shows—except, uh, everybody? Anyway, we can't wait to see what this guy has to say about the whole thing, and how many product-placementy bits he's going to try and stick into his sneery comment.

More Social@Ross [Lefsetz Letter]
Earlier: The $15,000 Concert Series Will Let You See Prince For A Steep, Steep Price

CDs Conspicuously Absent From Merch Booths At Sheds

mjohnston — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:04:01 EDT

Opening last night's Poison show (fun, pyro-filled, CC apparently fluish) was the Swedish heavy-metal outfit Vains of Jenna: Think Buckcherry only with everyone dressing ca. the Sunset Strip in 1989, led by a singer who seemed to have learned his stage patter from the Hives' Howlin' Pelle Almqvist. At one point, the frontman—named Lizzy DeVine—pleaded with the crowd to buy some merch because the band was, and I quote, "fucking broke," and since their set was quite enjoyable, I figured I'd help them out. But the only items available were T-shirts and keychains, and there wasn't a CD (or even a CD single) to be found among them. What?

The same went for Poison, who were touring behind a new album, Poison'd!, that—while consisting of covers of fairly well-known songs—hasn't exactly been burning up the sales charts. (The post-Rock of Love flush hasn't helped Poison'd crack the Billboard 200, at least not this week.) Bret Michaels gave the album-plugging his all during the gig, but it would surely have been more useful for him to be able to direct fans to someplace where they could take immediate action.

Granted, I'm used to shows where the merch tables are operated by the bands, or at least their friends, and not some bored Live Nation employee. But really: Wouldn't it make sense for these road acts, many of whom aren't doing very well on the charts at all, to at least help their cause out (and maybe make a little extra scratch) by buying some copies of their album on consignment, then selling them outside the venue? (Or, hell, even stationing a van outside and reselling copies found in the local bargain bins?) This lack of CDs at shows seems like an outdated-enough business practice to be "a major label thing"; after all, even two years ago people who were flush with enjoying a band's performance could head to an open-'til-midnight Tower Records and pick up an album by whatever band they liked, while now they're beholden to the hours—and crummy selection—of Best Buy. (Who had a booth at the show, but it was only devoted to selling wireless signups.) But it really seems like a no-brainer to set up at least one space for people who are interested in music to, you know, actually buy music—even if it does push out the space reserved for the free sweatband counter at the "I Like My Zune" booth.

Vains of Jenna [MySpace]

Great Moments In Benefit Concert History: Believe It Or Not, There Have Been Some

dangibs — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:40:52 EDT

When you were watching the second of five Black Eyed Peas numbers during Live Earth on Saturday, it was probably hard to think of any moment worthy of being remembered from giant benefit festivals gone by. While it's difficult to think of a defining moment from Farm Aid or even 2005's Live 8, we've collected a few moments from events past, hoping that we can help erase the memories of Duran Duran's attempt to turn "Planet Earth" into a song with a message Saturday.

The Concert for Bangladesh (1971)
George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's Madison Square Garden concert was essential—the first benefit concert event of our time. While only one other Beatle attended (thanks, Ringo!), George's first live performance following his former band's breakup featured an excellent rendition of "Here Comes the Sun":

The Concerts for Kampuchea (1979)
Notable for the final live performance by Wings, the Concerts for Kampuchea included a set by the Clash at top form. Although the quality is a bit lousy, this clip of "Armagideon Time" gives some idea of the band's outing:

Live Aid (1985)
Live Aid will probably always be the benchmark by which these types of shows are judged, but it's easy to overlook the number of forgettable or awful performances that day. The Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath reunions were disappointing at best, and Simon Le Bon provided one of the best-remembered off-key vocal notes in concert history during Duran Duran's set. However, three performances are worth remembering: Queen, with Freddie Mercury at his showman best; U2, who played the set that established them as superstars; and Teddy Pendergrass, making first public appearance following his paralyzing car accident three years earlier.

Pulp - "Bad Cover Version" Recording Session (2002)
Although not actually from a benefit festival, the artist lineup for the recording of this Pulp cover merits another look:

Prince Proves That Even Thugs Have Pride

Brian Raftery — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:30:42 EDT

Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Times reviewed the first night of Prince's stint at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel; in addition to performing two full sets and hugging Penelope Cruz, Prince managed to drive away some of hip-hop's biggest names:

Only one awkward moment emerged during Prince's forays into the crowd. He approached the daunting bunch on what could have been dubbed the "hip-hop power couch" — it included Diddy, Death Row Records founder Suge Knight, Erykah Badu and Nas, among others — and tried to hand the microphone to Nas.

The rapper declined to ad-lib, however, simply muttering, "I love Prince," and handing back the hot potato. Prince then tried to work his charm on Badu; she gave up a half-hearted rhyme about sisterhood, but it fizzled out. About half of those seated on the couch then abruptly departed (although Nas and Badu both stayed).

This must have been one of the most terrifying moments in Diddy's life: With Suge and Nas by his side and Prince standing right in front of him, he's faced with the prospect of having to rap—in public! If only he'd sprung an extra $3,121 and grabbed an extra seat for his ghostwriter.

Prince charming at the Roosevelt [LATimes]

Festivals Turning Into Dirtier, Muddier Fashion Shows

mjohnston — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:30:56 EDT

If you've ever gone to a huge outdoor festival, only to be surrounded by chattering idiots who are angling for blogarazzi shots of the VIP tent's dwellers while complaining loudly about the weather, then you probably won't be surprised by the new survey revealing that the percentage of people who are there for the "scene," and not the music, is pretty high:

The survey, commissioned in the run-up to Glastonbury this weekend, found that a quarter of festival-goers spend around £500 on each outdoor music event.

But half of the 3,000 people questioned struggle to remember the bands they have seen, with almost a fifth admitting they watch less than five hours of music over a festival weekend.

Many festival fans prefer instead to socialise, wander around the grounds and soak in the atmosphere.
A third admitted that they shop for a completely new wardrobe, including designer wellies and waterproofs, before heading to a festival.

The phenomenon, which has also seen designer tents spring up on muddy festival grounds, has been dubbed the "Kate Moss effect".

While this effect probably doesn't bother festival promoters, it's worrisome to us: After all, the more fashion-obsessed idiots who show up at shows, the greater the possibility that Mickey Avalon fans will be there, thus justifying his existence for another day.

'Kate Moss effect' hits festivals [ITV]
[Photo: AP]

Al Gore Discovers New Strand Of Chill-Out Music

Brian Raftery — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:55:07 EDT

Al Gore wants next month's Live Earth concerts to take place around the word, but he's had some trouble getting bands to play in Antarctica: Not only will the shows occur in the middle of winter, but Emperor Penguins make for really ill-tempered groupies. Luckily, the British Antarctic Survey had a solution:

BAS officials told Gore that a band was already in place on the South Pole. BAS press representative Linda Capper told blogger Tim Slagle, "We have a house band — five of our science team. They are very good indie rock-folk fusion. The remaining 17 will be the audience on location."

They've never played in front of an audience. To make matters worse, the band, named after a Greenlandic word for "summit," will be playing outside on the ice, where temperatures could be as low as minus ten degrees Celsius. One of their colleagues will film the performance for broadcast on TV and the Internet.

The band, named Nunatak, doesn't seem to have a MySpace page, so we don't know what to expect, though those of you rushing to make an "Eskimo' Money, Eskimo' Problems" joke better double-check your geography.

Antarctica Cements Act for Gore's Live Earth [Yeas & Nays]

Prince Finally Gives Us Incentive To Move To L.A.

Brian Raftery — Tue, 22 May 2007 11:40:50 EDT

The L.A. Times' Buzz Blog is reporting that Prince will play a seven-weekend residency at Los Angeles' Roosevelt Hotel, beginning some time next month. And if you were expecting Prince to casually plug his glyph-shaped guitar into a socket just fiddle around for a bit, well, you'd be wrong:

What the plans call for: On seven Friday nights starting June 15, the Roosevelt will close off its lobby at 9 p.m. Then, at 11:30 in the Blossom Room in front of 250 seated guests and an undetermined number of standing-room-only patrons, Prince (joined each week by special guests) will give a two-hour performance. At 2 a.m., Prince's private chef will take over the kitchen of the Roosevelt's Dakota restaurant, which will morph into an after-hours dinner club. As part of a jazz ensemble, Prince will entertain diners until 4 a.m.

We're not too good at math, but we think that comes to about 11 hours of music a night, plus a complimentary side dish of vegan prawns. Let's hope things go smoothly: If one of the Roosevelt's VIP guests (Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Karl Malden, etc.) shows up and display too much skin, they might wind up sending the guy into a religious self-seclusion for the next five years.

Exclusive: Seven weeks of Prince in Hollywood? [Buzz Bands]

A Triumvirate Of Terror

Brian Raftery — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:55:05 EDT

Chester Bennington, Jared Leto and a post-op Cowardly Lion vie for the title of "Least Flattering Photo" at this weekend's KROQ Weenie Roast 2007.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The $15,000 Concert Series Will Let You See Prince For A Steep, Steep Price

mjohnston — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:50:38 EDT

Today's Wall Street Journal has an item on Social, a five-concert series taking place in the Hamptons this summer. Those who are interested in seeing Prince, Billy Joel, Dave Matthews, Tom Petty or James Taylor may want to drop by the series, although they'd better be fast, have a fair amount of equity, and be willing to get their snob on, as tickets to the series are limited to a run of 1,000, and will cost each attendee a cool $15,000;

The prices of Social, which work out to $3,000 a concert, may not go down easily, some music-industry analysts say. Barbra Streisand's Las Vegas show was last year's most expensive regular ticket in the U.S., at $1,000 a pop, concert-tracking company Pollstar says. Tickets for Alabama's farewell tour also cost $1,000 but included meeting the band and an autographed guitar. "You're definitely pushing the outer bounds with this," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, "even with prime rib and lobster."

But Joe Meli, Bulldog CEO, says prices are in line with the secondary market. Tenth-row tickets to the Jimmy Buffett concert at New York's Madison Square Garden this September, for example, are being offered for $2,995 on StubHub. Though no one may be willing to pay that much, a buyer from Omaha, Neb., did pay $11,000 for two front-row seats at Elton John's 60th Birthday Bash in March at Madison Square Garden.

Social attendees will also be treated to amenities like free parking, food from celebrity chefs, on-site art exhibits, and seating that eschews chairs for sexier, comfier lodging like ottomans and daybeds—an innovation that, no doubt, was a Prince brainstorm. While events like Social are a likely next step in the evolution of the VIP ticket, we'd be lying if we didn't say that we weren't crazy about the idea of turning a rock concert series into something more akin to a society benefit—where the only thing that benefits are the obviously deformed egos of people who want to pump themselves up by bragging about having dropped $3,000 on a Billy Joel set. Okay, okay, there's free parking, too, but come on.

It's Only Rock 'n' Roll — at $15,000 a Seat [WSJ]

Saying "Never Again" To The Compulsory Encore

mjohnston — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:13:51 EDT

In the Guardian blog today, Dave Simpson has an argument against the ritual of the encore, from the waiting around in the dark for five minutes while musicians freshen their beers to the perfunctory nature of song choices during the after-set portion of the show:

I don't know about you, but the crushingly predictable encore ritual is the bane of my gig life. Very few of them are spontaneous. If you stand next to the mixing desk you can usually see that the band have their entire set list written out, including the songs they'll play as an encore. It doesn't matter whether the audience screams loudly for them to come back. Or even if everybody stands in total silence. They'll come back on and play those songs, exactly like they planned it. What's worse is that the audience knows this too.

Maybe we're just old people who need to get home to our stories, but we're pretty sure Simpson has a point. The expectation of the encore has resulted in too many shows we've attended being split up into two parts, with the dividing line being an awkward, drawn-out interlude that starts off with wild applause before devolving into chitchat and the occasional catcall, with people who are bored mainly standing around because they want to feel like they've gotten their money's worth by hearing the "big hits." This "planned encore" problem has plagued shows at every level, from the smallest clubs to the biggest arenas (admittedly, it's probably more plotted out at the latter type of venue because of logistic requirements, but it turns getting out of suburban venues' lots into a nightmare), and while we figure that this low-level plague has persisted because it became codified into the concert experience a few decades back, we think that the time to start fresh, and just give the people what they want—and, crucially, leave them wanting more when the show is over—is now. (That is, of course, unless a singer really needs to take a much-needed "lozenge break" without anyone in the audience really noticing.)

Encore? Encore? Enough of this crushingly predictable gig ritual [Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog]

The Ben Folds Fight: If It's Too Loud, You're Going To Get Popped

mjohnston — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:36:48 EDT

Today has some grainy footage of the fight that broke out at last night's Ben Folds/Boston Pops concert, which was apparently sparked by one fan thinking the other was "too loud," thus killing the mood for the mosh pit that was going to break out once the setlist reached "Rockin' The Suburbs (Popped-Out Mix)."

Earlier: Ben Folds Five Fans More Thugged-Out Than Anyone Could Have Imagined

More Repellent Than A Pocket Full Of Kryptonite

Brian Raftery — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:04:50 EDT

Spotted in New York City by Amy's Robot: A flyer for an upcoming solo performance from the Spin Doctors' Chris Barron; as the post notes, it's "taped up next to an ad for a man with a van, and a flyer for a craft fair at a middle school." What's most poignant is that you just know he still has crates of that fourteen-year-old Rolling Stone issue lying around.

Long way down [Amy's Robot, via Goldenfiddle]

Ben Folds Five Fans More Thugged-Out Than Anyone Could Have Imagined

Brian Raftery — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:41:00 EDT

A fight broke out last night during a Ben Folds Five/Boston Pops concert. According to the Associated Press:

...two men [struggled] in the balcony — one with his shirt pulled off — as several people stood around them. [Pops conductor Keith Lockhart] briefly halted the performance, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds, while the men were escorted out...
Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated.

WHDH-TV has the video, which at the moment doesn't seem to be working; meanwhile, expect Folds to make a formal statement today, in which he asks that his fanbase—which ranges from white, affluent I-bankers to white, affluent advertising copywriters—puts aside their differences in the name of peace.

Fight breaks out at Boston Pops concert [AP]

The IdoLawyer Turns It Up To 11

Brian Raftery — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:55:53 EDT

Editor's note: Aside from a few Clash lyrics, your Idolators know nothing about the law. Which is why we're proud to present another missive from the IdoLawyer, an anonymous California attorney who will be weighing in on various music-related matters. While her column isn't intended as legal advice, it is sage advice nonetheless, and today she takes a look at connection between the Supreme Court and supremely overcrowded music festivals:

Summer festival season is upon us, and now is as good a time as any to consider why festivals have to be held in either 108-degree sweatboxes (Coachella Valley) or cowpie-country fields (Glastonbury). In one of its most important non-fetus-related cases ev-er, the Supreme Court addressed that great political tradition: the outdoor putatively-for-a-cause rock concert. The case sounds trivial at first—it involves noise regulations—but is in fact a benchmark of the law that governs how cities can regulate free expression.

Back in 1986, organizers of the Rock Against Racism concert were gearing up for a political punk-rock show, and while they were probably hoping to achieve some do-gooding recognition, establishing a First Amendment standard was likely not on the set list. The promoters had booked the famous Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park, but due to noise complaints in previous years, New York City was now requiring that anyone playing the bandshell had to use the city's own sound equipment and sound technician. This was censorship, the promoters said, and way, way un-American (incidentally, Rock Against Racism was founded in the UK).

Ergo, lawsuit.

We don't really think about noise rules as worthy of Supreme Court justice-hours, but because rock concerts are only a few logical steps away from political protests, you can see how figuring out these rules would be important. For this case, the Court literally had to learn how to rock: In the very first footnote of the opinion, the Court gives a detailed explanation of how sound mixing works at a live concert ("During the course of a performance, the sound technician is continually manipulating various controls on the mixing board to provide the desired sound mix and volume," e.g.). The Court also explains just why the city's rule was necessary (roadies, it turns out, don't know how to run the mixboard in outdoor performances). So when rock bands playing the bandshell discovered that their sound would be muffled by the Central Park elms, they compensated by turning up their amps. As a result, their sound not only sucked, it sucked very, very loudly.

City sound technicians, however, had a better idea of how to sound-blast the Sheep Meadow in a way that kept residents of the Dakota and other CPW addresses content. So the city required all bands to hire these technicians or let them supervise the band's own crew.

The Court ultimately upheld the sound technician rule, which regulated the "time, place and manner" of speech. Cities are allowed to regulate TPM (the old bar-studying abbreviation) as long as their rules don't pick and choose between the content of what's being expressed, serve some significant government interest, are "narrowly tailored," and leave open other channels for expression. When cities require permits for protests or when they ban billboards, this same standard applies.

The Rock Against Racism case, however, importantly defined what it means to be "narrowly tailored." The purpose of this standard is to make sure the law doesn't hit you with a sledgehammer when a light love tap will do. The majority opinion, penned by Justice Kennedy, says a law is narrowly tailored if it doesn't "burden substantially more speech than necessary" to accomplish the city's goal. In other words, even if a law could stand to be more precise, the Court will let it slide if it isn't too, too terrible.

By contrast, the dissenting opinion, penned by liberal rock star Justice Marshall, would have required the law to be the least restrictive way to get the job done. Record producers around the world should light a candle for the spirit of Justice Marshall and give his opinion a read; he forcefully argues that the government's control of the mixing board effectively controls the band's self-expression. This was an unconstitutional prior restraint. In his own killer footnote, Marshall quoted a music-history book: "New music always sounds loud to old ears." That's cold, man.

WARD v. ROCK AGAINST RACISM, 491 U.S. 781 (1989) [FindLaw.com]

A "Hey, Asshole!" Special Report: Is The Concert Ban On Cameras Finally Dead?

mjohnston — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:58:36 EDT

Over the weekend, one of your Idolators went to a concert at a medium-sized venue in the suburbs; before the opening act, an announcement came over the venue's sound system reminding the audience that cameras and other digital-recording devices were banned from being used during the show.

Then the house lights went down, the opening act walked onstage, and about 10 flashbulbs went off to commemorate the moment. (The fact that this particular venue was "in the round," and your correspondent was sitting on one side of the stage, made the flashbulbs a little more noticeable.) The camera-wielding patrons didn't seem like your typical rule-breaking, boisterous, screw-'em-all concert attendees—instead, they were suburban women, seated but clapping, a few with greying hair, all with digital cameras of various sizes at the ready.

After a brief flashback to the Pokemon-induced seizures of 10 years ago, we wondered if this show was a final, definitive sign of the "no cameras" era at shows ending. We've seen our share of cameraphones and digital point-and-shoots at the club shows that we've attended, but at this concert, people were whipping out really nice cameras, including a few with film, and doing so from their seats—despite the pre-entry bag check, where the security guard regarded our smartphone with interest, but said nothing about our small camera (which, alas, we did not use).

So we're in an era now where cameras in venues are "illegal," but since so many people carry cameras around in the everyday, chucking them pre-show is both inconvenient and extremely inadvisable (we have awful memories of a Morrissey show where all patrons were required to check their cell phones, resulting in a lot of post-show chaos). Obviously, to set up a nice photo rig that'll inconvenience other patrons should still require a pass—but has technology made the idea of people not bringing cameras into shows at all obsolete? (And if we're going to enter an era where cameras are okay at shows, can we at least encourage people to not use the flash when they're taking pictures? Because it seriously felt like there were strobe lights coming from the seats at certain points.)

~~R. Kelly - Red Carpet (Pause, Flash)~~ [MP3, link expired]
Earlier: The "Hey, Asshole!" archives

Box Office Breakdown: Who's Filling Seats, Who's Illing On The Road

mjohnston — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 10:46:19 EDT

Sure, the boomer-nostalgia quotient may be a bit absurdly high in Bob Lefsetz's music-industry newsletter Lefsetz Letter, but we subscribe for one reason: His occasional peeks behind the heavy curtains of SoundScan and concert box-office numbers. This time around, his ticket-sales findings are somewhat grim: you have the Black Eyed Peas playing to a half-empty amphitheater in Chicago, Megadeth's Gigantour barely filling 20% of Long Island's Nassau Coliseum, and Ludacris packing only 40% of a venue in Champaign. Lefsetz's analyses of why tours are and aren't drawing audiences are definitely filtered through his "real rock" sensibilities (he loves him some Roger Waters), but the pure data more than make up for it.

Box Office Report - 10/13/06 [Lefsetz Letter]

For A Measly $95K, You Too Can Book A Pauly Shore/James Blunt Double Bill

mjohnston — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 14:53:09 EDT

Clear Channel College Entertainment's availability list offers a peek at the ludicrous amounts of cash some bands charge for showing up and strumming a few songs. ($100K for Hootie and the Blowfish? How many dollars is that per person who's purchased a record of theirs in the last few years?) A word of advice to any aspiring promoters out there: if you want to book Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, leave off the last two words of their name for a killer $20,000 discount. See? Sometimes, having indie cred does pay off.

Artist Availability [Clear Channel College Entertainment, via Stereogum]

Kanye West Hits the Tractor-Pull Circuit

Brian Raftery — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:17:51 EDT

Today's New York Times takes a look at the ailing state-fair industry, which has been hit hard by such modern-day forms of entertainment as, you know, everything. But what about the infamously cheesy state-fair concerts? For years, they've been the last refuge of has-been acts from the '70s and '80s, with the gigs ranking somewhere between Indian casinos and corporate retreats in terms of prestige. We were surprised, then, to find how many big-name artists are putting funnel cakes on their backstage riders this year.

Check out these sample line-ups:

Minnesota State Fair: Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, the Magic Numbers, Rascal Flatts

Indiana State Fair: Kanye West, Kid Rock, the American Idol tour, Raven Symone

California State Fair: Ciara, Loverboy, Boyz II Men, REO Speedwagon, Sinbad, Village People, Ted Nugent

Admittedly, that last one's kind of a stretch when it comes to Top 40 relevance, but as must-see line-ups go, that Boyz II Men-Sinbad-Nuge combo trumps this anything at this year's Coachella festival. What's most interesting about the state-of-the-state-fair, though, is that the music acts tend to be either pricey headliners for the kids (Kanye), reliable country stars (Kenny Rogers) and road-warrior classic-rockers (Poison). The truly middle-of-the-road artists that used to fill the tents have been shunted aside, which is bad news for the likes of Slaughter, Cinderella and Gallagher II. And maybe, just maybe, bad news for America.

"State Fairs, Sagging, Arrive at County Crossroads" [NYT]

SHOW PATROL: THIS WEEKEND'S CONCERTS

Brian Raftery — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:32:23 EDT

FRIDAY
- AFI, Dillinger Escape Plan and Nightmare of You play Roseland. Just make sure your parents drop you off a few blocks below 52nd street, where none of the other kids will see.

SATURDAY
-Unless pollstar.com is completely fucking with us, Toto is playing both B.B. King's and Irving Plaza in the same day. Talk about getting swept away in "The Heat of the Moment"! Oh, wait, that was an Asia song? We can't keep our ironic '80s-anthems straight anymore.

SUNDAY
-Jay-Z celebrates the tenth anniversary of "Reasonable Doubt" by making sure ticket availability is completely unreasonable.
-Steven Seagal plays B.B. King's; special seating available for the bolo tie-imparied.