tours - Idolator

Posts Tagged “tours”

the new model

Hurricanes And OPEC To Bands: Don't Tour

Getting gas in the Atlanta region has gotten difficult after hurricanes affected the production of refineries in Louisiana and Texas. Actually, much of the Southeast is affected, and maybe the governor of Georgia is right in saying the current shortage is nothing more than a "self-inflicted" panic, but I'm not so sure. I know that I searched for plain ol' Regular (this was admittedly a small search) a couple of days ago to no avail before finally finding some elsewhere in the city (Plus and Supreme were out there, albeit at $4/gallon).

It got me thinking about the whole "touring equals profit" bit of Conventional Band Wisdom, and how, more and more, it seems to be something of a lie.

10:00 AM on Thu Sep 25 2008
By Lucas Jensen
781 views, 18 comments

Latest by science vs romance: Seeing the numbers like this is great, if not arresting. Talking to friends in a fairly successful, biggish label indie band, I was shocked to hear what a financial loss touring can be and how few CDs are really sold more »

it's the economy?

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

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? More »

9:00 AM on Tue Jun 24 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,823 views, 12 comments

Latest by cosmiclove: @report345: Oh, yeah. That must be it. [finance.google.com] more »

Brooklyn Vegan's commenters respond to AP's version of the "hey, gas prices may be getting too expensive for small bands to tour" story the only way they know how: "hey. whatever it takes to get some of these bands who can't play their instruments to begin with off the road...i'm all for it." [Brooklyn Vegan / AP / Photo: Khuong Hoang]

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Everyone who thinks "hey, don't worry, bands and labels can make up all that money lost from dropping-like-a-stone CD sales on the road"—and even people who have some semblance of sense—should read this Oregonian piece on the effects of high gas prices on touring bands, which contains factoids like this: "But a $200 door guarantee doesn't stretch nearly as far these days. [Portland duo] Talkdemonic, for example, travels in a van that gets close to 17 miles a gallon on the highway 'if we don't drive over 70 mph,' O'Connor says. Covering the 635 miles to San Francisco takes about 37 gallons of gas each way. With gas well over $4, that's more than $300 for a round trip." (Hey, you know what can make up that shortfall? Selling CDs! Oh, wait.) [The Oregonian / Photo: Jamie Carroll]

4 comments

tours

Madonna's Set List May Be Sticking With Some Old Favorites

News that Robyn is opening a few dates on Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour this coming summer has just crossed the transom, but—surprise!—those shows will all be in Europe, at least as of this writing. (Perhaps this means she'll be opening for Madge on this side of the pond come 2011?) While looking for news on who Madonna's tour support in the States might be, I e-stumbled across what may be a leaked set list for the tour, and even though Hard Candy is far from my favorite album of the year, the older songs she's picked are mostly killer: "Everybody" (!), "Borderline," "Dress You Up," "Rain." Plus, uh, "Girl From Ipanema"? Scan and Robyn/Madonna tour dates after the jump. More »

9:30 AM on Tue Jun 17 2008
By Maura Johnston
5,801 views, 8 comments

Latest by BobbyMoon: @dyfl: Don't you know? If you don't attend a Madonna concert before you die you get sent to purgatory... along with the babies who were never baptized. more »

Snoop Dogg will co-headline 311's annual Summer Unity Tour this summer, a long-running jam that has featured such collegiate favorites as the Roots, Matisyahu, and OAR. It's good to see that, despite distractions like a reality show, a movie career, and a vocoder, Snoop hasn't forgotten about those kids just getting into the sticky-icky. [Reuters/Photo: AP]

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you gotta have faith

George Michael Will Not Be Shaking His Booty During His American Tour

Did you know that George Michael hasn't toured the United States in 17 years? Me neither! But he's going to head out on a jaunt this summer that includes two dates at Madison Square Garden and runs from June to early August. Unfortunately, the possibility of him running through all of Faith is out, as he's not performing "I Want Your Sex" (or, for that matter, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go") because he feels he's "too old" to pull it off. Hey, I'll trade that for a rip through "One More Try," which was always underheralded to me. Full list of dates after the jump. [USA Today / Photo: AP] More »

12:45 PM on Mon Mar 24 2008
By Maura Johnston
950 views, 11 comments

Latest by rina: So in order to get the chance to buy tickets three days early, you have to buy his new greatest hits album on iTunes. Sadly, since I'll be seeing the show at MSG, this will probably be necessary. And if he more »

Can it be coincidence that the now Wenner-approved Leonard Cohen is embarking on his first trans Euro-Canadia tour in 15 years just days after "Hallelujah" suddenly found its way onto a billion high school iPods and just days after I was compelled by unseen forces to watch the entirety of Oliver Stone trainwreck Natural Born Killers (which utilizes Len's sunny bombtrack "The Future" alongside the hot alt hits of 1993) on Cinemax? Doubtful! [Rolling Stone]

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The Police will go on one more North American tour this summer and that's it, no more shows, they swear, no matter how desperate for one more round of raking in the cash the business needs and no matter how much money Live Nation waves in their general direction. [Billboard / Photo: Getty]

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The Police's 84-date reunion tour was the highest-grossing jaunt of 2007, earning $243 million and selling 2.2 million tickets worldwide—an average of about $110 a ticket. Wait, does this officially mean that the curse of Sting is broken? [PR Newswire]

2 comments

tours

Audiences Perfectly Content To Let "American Idol" Live In Their Memories

The promise of seeing Sanjaya Malakar's hair up-close is tantalizing (seriously, what I would give to have curls like that—here's hoping he's working on a hair product line), but apparently it's not enough to get butts into seats on this summer's "American Idols Live!" tour. Ticket sales have been soft, with only one date—the show in Idol champ Jordin Sparks' hometown of Glendale, Ariz.—even approaching the sellout mark. USA Today breaks down the year-to-year decline: More »

9:05 AM on Wed Sep 5 2007
By mjohnston
731 views, 9 comments

Latest by AcidReign: Katherine is a hot chick who can sing. She's not great, but good enough. She'll sell. Not to me, though, unless she gets into a prog-rock or metal group. The last two years, there have been some more »

Stevie Wonder's first tour in 10 years begins Aug. 23 in San Diego and wraps up on Sept. 20 in Boston. Along the way: A concert in New York City with Aretha Franklin (nice!) and Carlos Santana (ugh). [Pollstar]

1 comment

the biz

Touring Musicians Trying To Hitch A Record-Sales Wagon To Their Buses

Perhaps it's because people are too broke to shell out money for CDs, Ticketmaster service fees, and gas, but in this transition period for the music industry, there aren't many acts who can sell tickets and move copies of their album at the same time. (Justin Timberlake, whose tour is No. 2 in grosses this year and who has sold enough copies of FutureSex/LoveSounds in 2007 to land him at No. 7 on the album-sales chart, is the exception. Variety looked at the phenomenon, and dropped a speculative factoid that was a little surprising: More »

12:00 PM on Mon Jul 23 2007
By mjohnston
1,494 views, 9 comments

Latest by dippinkind: @blobby: is this a trick question? more »

tours

Kelly Clarkson May Jam Econo This Summer After All

Yesterday's rumor that Kelly Clarkson would be joining the American Idol tour for select dates has been flat-out denied by her publicist: More »

6:09 PM on Thu Jun 21 2007
By mjohnston
792 views, 4 comments

tours

Is Kelly Clarkson Going To Head Back To Her Roots This Summer?

Now that Kelly Clarkson's summer is a lot less scheduled, the rumors about what she'll be up to—aside from recording tunes for the My December "special edition—are running rampant. There was speculation that she'd do a club tour, which would at least complement the rock direction she's barreling down on her forthcoming album My December, but the blog Geno's World is claiming that she'll spend at least a few of her nights playing arenas—in "cameo" appearances on this summer's American Idol tour: More »

10:00 AM on Wed Jun 20 2007
By mjohnston
1,021 views, 2 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: It's a bad move and a total capitulation to Clive & co. if she does it. Staying above the AI fray has been Clarkson's smartest move, and appearing on the show as an established star is different from touring more »

tours

"Kidz Bop" To Hit The Road, America's Parents To Hit The Bottle

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit it a sticky-floored ampitheater, watching in terror as an army of moppets scream out the lyrics to Smashmouth's "All Star" at the top of their lungs? Then you'll be happy to know that the Kidz Bop franchise is set to hit the road this year, with a live-show tour that will play in more than 80 markets. According to a press release: More »

11:30 AM on Thu Jun 14 2007
By Brian Raftery
1,374 views, 13 comments

tours

Is Prince Stepping Off The Throne?

The bad news for Prince fans: There's a report circulating that the singer is going to retire his greatest hits after a 21-date London blitz this summer. The good news for Prince fans: The aforementioned report just broke in the not-always-reliable NME: More »

10:59 AM on Tue May 8 2007
By Brian Raftery
424 views, 5 comments

Billy Corgan Has Some New Entrance Music

Posts Tagged “tours”