TheGoldExperience said:

Based on the above statement that you've made TGE, I've come to the conclusion that your mind does not work in the conventional, logical way. Which, you know, is cool.

But you obviously have some silly thing to prove that Prince isn't selling anymore - probably so you don't have to change your stupid signature.

alandail, you're my hero!!! Thanks for taking the time...I was doing the same thing except I'm not good at doing it over a few days and in all the markets that are on sale...you're absolutely correct in the way you're judging the sales. Obviously there's still a lot of estimation, but you're in the ballpark I would think.

As anyone who has ever bought tickets from TicketBastard (you're spot-on with that one, TGE) knows full well, you have the option of buying either the expensive or the cheaper tickets....best available. Now sometimes their idea of "best" is different than mine would be, but that's how it works.

That's ok with me if you guys are living in lala land...

TheGoldExperience said:

Why does it bother you so much to see Prince selling all of these tickets - I thought you were a prince fan, right?

Just did a quick check

Atlanta is down to a few single seat tickets - otherwise it's a sellout already - just went on sale yesterday. The expensive seats were gone in 6 minutes according to posts I've read.

Cleveland is moving along right in the pattern I expected - now selling tickets in section 118. After that there are at most 3 sections left in the expensive seats. In the mean time, the cheap seats have sold about 12 sections since I checked a couple of days ago. So bump cleveland up from 80% to 85%.

Columbus is down to the last or last two sections in the expensive seats. Bump it up to 65% sold.

First vegas show is down to the last section or two of expensive seats.

atlanta show is now completely sold out.

I wouldn't have a problem if Prince was selling tickets. You can't read, obviously. In an above post, I said I hope you were right but you're not. Currently, out of the 27 shows on sale, only LA (2 shows), Reno and Atlanta are sold out (and Dallas, if it's not already, it will be soon). That leaves 23 shows not sold out. What part of that don't you understand? And don't give me your theoretical BS on how tickets are selling - it's not how it works and I don't agree with that.

TheGoldExperience said:

well, I've been watching the tickets sales for many of the arenas and nothing has happened yet that would indicate that the tickets are not being assigned in exactly the way I've said in my last few posts. Columbus is on it's last section of the expensive seats, Cleveland is down to the last 3 or 4 sections of the expensive seats. I watched Atlanta sell out using exactly the pattern I said was happening other places. I haven't checked all of the shows - some just went on sale the last day or two. But the ones I have checked show 4 complete sell outs, 3 more where all of the expensive seats are gone, 5 more where the expensive seats are nearly gone. And there will be a strong surge of ticket sales next week when the hall of fame induction happens, stories are written, VH-1 airs the induction, etc.

Just keep an eye on cleveland and columbus and watch the ticket selling pattern I stated continue. Columbus is to section 231 - when that section finishes out, you won't be able to find a pair of tickets anywhere in teh 200 level. In cleveland, sales have slowed, so they are still selling seciton 118. After that, it's either section 116, or it's on to 117 or 100. That's all that's left in cleveland and then the expensive seats are gone.

alandail said:

Who care's. I see a lot of shows and Prince's show on Valentine's Day was ridiculously self-seeking and boring. The only reason he sold out the show is because it's probably the smallest house in San Francisco. The reason he does these hit and run type shows is because he doesn't give anyone time to really think. All Prince has these days is a name. I've seen him several times in the 80's(he was top notch). I've seen him the 90's he was alright. I've seen him twice since 2000 and I've given up. Prince doesn't give a shit about the fans. All he cares about is the money. Hello? Look at the mess he made with Warner Brothers... The minute he pulled in the reins and stopped giving any amount of control to anyone it showed in his music. He's definately proven to me that there's no urgency to his music any more. A Prince album always used to intrigue me. Now it just bores me to death. The world has spun around that man many times since the 80's. He has a lot of catching up to do.

His "on one" bs isn't going to cut it anymore.

Who care's. I see a lot of shows and Prince's show on Valentine's Day was ridiculously self-seeking and boring.



which one did you go to? the first one with jams or the hits one?

The only reason he sold out the show is because it's probably the smallest house in San Francisco.


he sold it out in an all time record speed at least.

The reason he does these hit and run type shows is because he doesn't give anyone time to really think.


no, its cos they are rehearsals for the tour, cos the hardcore love it, he knows that, and i dont think the ONA tour was like that, i mean, really i honestly dont know? was it hit n run style, in the uk it was all announced at once and a good few weeks before (and they sold out in a couple of days).


Prince doesn't give a shit about the fans. All he cares about is the money.


hmm...giving away his new cd doesnt sound that bad for the fans (especially now its obvious the album aint coming out for a while, so all the fans will get it when they see him live). in the long term it might get him more money, but for the fans it doesnt matter they are and always will be fans, so giving them his new album, to me at least, is amazing and not at all money orientated. plus what was the ONA tour about? ask his hardcore what they would prefer to hear, ONA or this tour with hits, id be shocked if a vast majority weren't in favour of the ONA tour. all he's done these past few years is for the fans. i mean, what about oz fans from the npgmc, in a week alot of them saw prince, front row, 6 times in a week! now thats pretty cool. ok they payed alot for it, but no more than other artists really.


Hello? Look at the mess he made with Warner Brothers... The minute he pulled in the reins and stopped giving any amount of control to anyone it showed in his music.


i see what you mean, BUT, what about lovesexy? was that all about control from WB, it was totally prince, same with dirty mind etc he did what he wanted in the 80s, and WB were very supportive, it seems to me he wanted to do more than that in the 90s and WB didnt like that and thats when problems started. ie wanting to release 4 albums a year, especially when they were becoming more patchy than the 80s output.


you're completely entitled to your opinion of course so i dont want you to see this as an insulting flame post, im just posting my opinion too!

Here's my list of the shows scheduled or probably soon to be scheduled shows that I think will sell out (included are the four that already have*):

Staples Center - LA** (2 shows)
Lawlor Events Center - Reno*
Centennial Garden - Bakersfield
Philips Arena - Atlanta*
American Airlines Center - Dallas
Toyota Center - Houston (possibly?)
The Palace Of Auburn Hills - Detroit
United Center - Chicago
Xcel Energy or Target Center - St. Paul/Minneapolis (2 shows)
MCI Center - Washington, DC
Oakland Arena - Oakland
Pepsi Center - Denver
Madison Square Garden - New York City (area)

I figure Prince will play around 60 arena shows by the time the tour's over in June. So, if that's the case, then IMO less than 25% of the shows will sell out.
[This message was edited Fri Mar 12 21:03:00 2004 by TheGoldExperience]
[This message was edited Fri Mar 12 21:03:43 2004 by TheGoldExperience]

Prince come back to Europe where u dont have problems selling tix. US proves again and again ur way too sophistacated for them...let them listen to Garth Brooks...geesh.

Looks like its free registration over here...

I figure Prince will play around 60 arena shows by the time the tour's over in June. So, if that's the case, then IMO less than 25% of the shows will sell out.[/quote]


60?? thats quite alot, how many cities will that cover? i think aerosmiths upcoming tour hits about 38 cities. not all shows have to sellout, i think 70% plus attendance for this tour would be quite an achievement. if you have an average topping 80% i think thats amazing. im talking about prince here though.
aerosmith have toured the US ever year for about 4 years now and last tour was averaging about 80% i think, it was in the 90s but they played some places half capacity so it knocked it down compeltely. we'll see i guess!

there you go - Cleveland is now down to the last two sections if expensive seats. Tickets now showing in section 100. when that's gone, section 117 is all that's left of the expensive seats. The upper level is working it's way around too (on section 203 now).

He's going to gross at least an average of $1 million per night on this tour. Who cares if some stops are 80% full instead of 100% full? Why do you think it'd be better to sell out 5,000 seat arenas than play to 80%+ capacity in 20,000 seat arenas?

TheGoldExperience said:

U seem 2 have lots of idle time on ur hands.

alandail said:

WORD!!

I don't understand the worry about selling out at all. Better to play a place that's just SLIGHTLY bigger than you can draw. Then you maximize your return because everyone who wants to see you can get a ticket. Its dumb to play a 6000 seater just to "sell it out" if you can sell 12,000 tickets. So what if you have to play in a 20,000 seater to do that? BIG FAT HAIRY DEAL.

People are buying the tickets. More are selling than for the last few tours it seems to me. I say good work, Prince!

Now go so the shows and JAM!!

alandail said:

Not even close.

alandail said:

You do, as this is what your thread's about.

alandail said:

No.

TheGoldExperience said:

Everyone else says - cool - he's selling lots of tickets. You are the only one trying to turn it into a negative here. And he's easily going to average $1 million/night just by selling out the expensive seats. Average stadium is about 20k seats, expensive seats seem to averag about 2/3 of that. Round that down to 13k of expensive seats. Average price of those seats is $75. That's $975k/night before the first cheap seat is sold.

alandail said:

No I'm not the only one. And I'm being realistic not negative.

alandail said:

You don't know how to configure mathematics. 22 of the 27 shows are nowhere near sold out. So, you obviously cannot average the gross amount made per show at $1 million.

TheGoldExperience said:

I said just the expensive seats have to sell out to generate an average gross of $1 million/show. Selling out the whole stadium pushes that closer to $1.4 million. He's already sold out the staples center twice and now a 3rd show has been added there, as has another LA area show. There are already 4 known complete sellouts.

The expensive seats are all gone in Dallas, Tampa, & Birmingham. You admit Dallas will sell out. Birmingham actually looks like it'll be sold out before Dallas.

I know you dissagree, but I say the expensive seats are almost gone in Cleveland, Columbus, both vegas shows, Bossier City, and a couple others (no time to look up which ones right now).

The two new LA shows likely sell out, but lets just say they average $1 million

29 shows thus far (the ones for sale on ticketmaster, the reno show, the two just added LA shows). 4 sellouts, 2 more shows soon to sell out, 2 more shows expensive seats gone, 5 more they're nearly gone. So 6 sellouts at 1.4 million, 7 shows expensive seats gone, cheap seats half gone (1.2 million), two more shows that will average a million each. The math works out where the rest of the shows only have to average $730k each to have an average of $1 million over the 29 dates.

Selling 2/3 of the expensive seats and 1/3 of the cheap seats works out to $775k/night, which is more than the rest of the shows have to average for the tour to generate an average of $1 million/night. He's selling at those levels already, and sales will take off next week with the hall of fame induction.

He's selling at those levels already, and sales will take off next week with the hall of fame induction.[/quote]


i just think how amazing it is interest in him is rocketing so fast again. anyway i think you're right and by the time the tour starts perhaps we'll have more of an idea, the r&r induction is going to be a huge boost one would imagine. whats the viewing ratings for that show? bit concerned about no single as of yet though, but it looks more and more likely no album until june time anyway...

The atlanta show has already sold out.

Who says Prince cant play arenas anymore?

TheGoldExperience said:[quote]There are 14 other shows that are nowhere near sold out. In fact, you can even get very good plaza section tix for all of those 14 shows.[/quote

Somebody is always trying to hate. I went to go get tickets and I tell you there was plenty of folks there and I don't know how many after. We'll see if he is The Artist formerly known for selling tickets or The Artist that's gonna make you feel silly if he does. Why you just tryin' to hate.

softandwet said:

I'm totally down with your opinion. A lot of it is right. My experience with Prince over the last ten years has been downhill. Each concert being more of an infommercial than the last. Hell, in 98 he was shamelessly trying to sell shit over the intercom during the breaks. It was lame. His show have left me very frustrated and cheated out my money...a lot of money. So I just don't see the point. It's not like that man has put out anything mindblowing or original for years. At least to me he hasn't. I'm moved by music everyday, infact it rules my life. It's been years since I've been exited about a new Prince release. I have tried over and over again to give him a chance and have ended up empty handed. To do it again would be the definition of insanity. Repeating the same mistakes, expecting different results.
Your experience sounds different.

I hope that he adds Phila. to this tour. I haven't seen him live since 1998.

alandail said:

You can't look at it like that. Not all of the venues Prince is playing contain 2/3's the capacity in the plaza. The plaza sections of the arenas ($75 tix) in Reno, Birmingham, Bossier City, Kansas City, Ames, Champaign, Pittsburgh, State College & Biloxi, are from 1/2 to 1/3 of the overall capacity. As you can see, the only way he's going to be grossing $1 million per night for every show is if the arenas are sold out or close to sold out.

And no, there's only 4 sell out shows so far out of the 29 shows on sale, not 6. I can still bring up plaza seats in all of the cities that haven't sold out apart from, Birmingham, AL, Bakersfield, CA, St. Petersburg & Sunrise, FL.

smm said:

..and somebody's always has to be the dumbass and not read the thread...

TheGoldExperience said:

I said a rough average is 2/3, and a rough average number of seats is 20k. When I took 2/3 of 20k, I rounded that down to a lower number to calculate gross revenues from selling out the plaza. Some places have less than 2/3 of the seats priced in the $75 range, others have more.

I didn't say there were 6 sellouts already, I said there were 4 sellouts and AT LEAST 2 more that are likely to sell out soon. And at least 5 more where the plazza seats are nearly gone (Cleveland, Columbus, both vegas shows, Bossier City) Cleveland is now down to the last 2 sections, Columbus is now down to the last few rows. Neither vegas show is available online now - what does that mean? THe first one was close to a sellout a couple days ago, the 2nd one was catching up.

TheGoldExperience said:

I know you're a dumbass. You don't have to prove it to me, prove it to
yourself. Take some more special ed courses.

smm said:

Gee, I should've said that. Read the thread dipshit.

alandail said:

Right. And so you obviously can't estimate in that fashion in order to come to a conclusion. You really have to look at each show individually.

alandail said:

Well, you implied that there were 6 sellouts.

I can still pull up good seats for all the above shows you've mentioned. So I don't agree.

The Value City Arena in Columbus has four levels: the 100 & 200 sections comprise of half the capacity and the 300 & 400 sections obviously comprise of the other half. I can still pick up great seats in the 200 level.

As for the Vegas shows: both of them are available online and the plaza sections for show #1 & #2 are sold out. However, for one of the shows, it's the annual Tiger Woods Benefit Jam, which I'm sure includes various artists - so not all of the people in attendance will be there for Prince.