Two years ago in the North America, Prince was barely selling out 2-4,000 seat theaters charging $90-150. But this year it's an arena tour and he expects to fill or sell out arenas (10-20,000 seaters) "in the round" (utilizing the full capacity of each arena) even though the prices are reduced by around 50%? Add that to the fact that he hasn't had a hit album in several years. IMO Prince will only be able to draw 2-3x (at the most) the amount that he did in cities on the ONA tour. And that'll still leave most of the arenas half full. He's better off using the "in the round" configuration without utilizing the balcony and hence just selling tickets in the plaza and on the floor (like Peter Gabriel did with his Growing Up tour in 2002-2003). That way the arenas will be mostly full. If he doesn't ulitize this configuration, there's going to be a lot of empty arenas and a lot of money lost on the upcoming Musicology tour.

Am I the only one who thinks Prince can't sell enough tickets to fill or sell out most of the scheduled North American arenas and the ones to come on the upcoming tour?

1. If it isn't out of Prince's Pocket $$ who cares

2. If I can get a ticket and see him who cares... (( when I saw Janet last time at Gund a 20,000 seater it wasn't half filled.. we had crappy seats BUT because it was half filled.. THEY gave us seats pretty close to the front)) so if that happens with Prince, then I guess I'll get great tickets for free even though I bought crappy ones.

Yeah, it's no big deal, it's not like it'll cost him money.

Damn though, Prince must have really high expectations from this album if he's making moves like this!

No, he can't sell out arenas in 95% of cities. Maybe he could in NY or SF, but that's even speculative.

I didn't think he was going to be an "arena tour", but as others have pointed out, it is IS "in the round" and perhaps logistically he needs to be in an areana to make this work. I still don't think he will come close to selling out most cities, but the shows will still probably be very profitable for him.

So it looks like I was wrong with my initial assessment of the situation and he will be forced to play arenas, despite ticket sales, because of the "in the round" concept.
[This message was edited Sat Feb 21 6:52:47 2004 by RupertZ]

are people mad? Prince is a major artist of our time. so what if he hasn't had a hit album in several years - his name is instantly recognizable and people will go to see him even if they stopped at D&P.
i don't know about North America but his last European tour was sold out and he was playing bigger venues in Europe than in the UK and North America.

RupertZ said:

Is that a joke? Eight of the shows scheduled so far are all in 10-20,000 seat arenas: Glendale Arena - Phoenix; Veterans' Memorial Arena - Jacksonville, FL; Staples Center - LA; Colonial Center - Columbia, SC; CenturyTel Center - Bossier City, LA; Lawlor Events Center - Reno, NV; Ford Center - Oklahoma City; and Bryce Jordan Center - State College, PA....

And I have a sneaking suspicion that these above shows will serve as testings grounds for how the entire tour is scheduled, since they're mainly in markets that he hasn't ever played or played in a long time. And depending on how tickets sales will go later on today, we'll find out soon enough...
[This message was edited Sat Feb 21 5:40:31 2004 by TheGoldExperience]

Milty said:

But just how many people will come out to see him is the question?

Regarding his European fan base, that's true. Europe has been Prince's largest market now since '87...

4 what it's worth...in Europe every concert in arena's or stadions is sold out in minutes....I know that if he's coming 2 holland....5/6 concerts? SOLD OUT!!!(in hours) and holland is soooo small....so what's wrong with u americans??

AndGodCreatedMe said:

Americans are too busy going to see Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake...
You think people have got enough money to see acts like this AND Prince?

Come back to Europe Prince - we'll always come see you!

AndGodCreatedMe said:

Prince can't sell out stadiums in Europe anymore but he can sell out arenas there. The only expection would be the Netherlands, where he'll probably play the 35,000 seat Gelredome in Arnhem in the Summer...

TheGoldExperience said:

We really shouldn't get ahead of ourselves regarding his concerts. We think of these things, then get bothered by them. At the very least, if the concerts don't sell out, you know you'll be there, right?

wyld1 said:

I'll be there if he adds a Vancouver date.

And if this thread gets you down, then it ain't the thread for you...

October last year he sold out his arena tour in Oz...and that was with minimal publicity!

Throw in a Grammy performance, TV shows and a new album with a cute video - I think you have demand to see him live!!!

derek said:

That's because he hadn't played there in 12 years!

AndGodCreatedMe said:

I dunno, perhapse some of us have better taste in music. Perhapse we have a limit to how much bullshit we spend our money on.

Just a theory.

Without a few new hit songs, he's gonna be hearing crickets in these large venues. The Musicology track will only hurt him if it's gonna be the first true single, and if it's a reflection of what the rest of the album is like.

Maybe, and I stress MAYBE, there is a tour partner to be announced on Tuesday. That would make sense as to why it's an arena tour, and not simply a tour of smaller venues. OR, he believes the publicity from Tuesday's press conference will be enough to get people interested again. Either way, I'll be up in the front. How many people are behind us NPG Club members isn't important.

well, if he does play arenas, they will end up being half full in most places. The only thing I can think of is that he might do a publicity blitz like we've never seen before, and appear on every TV and radio show he can find to increase ticket sales.

In Atlanta, he can usually sell out the Fox Theatre for two nights, so I guess that is about ten thousand tix. But most cities are not as big as Atlanta. Plus the Fox is an especially attractive, intimate venue and people are not going to want to see him play in an arena as badly.


I guess the bottom line is that he doesn't expect to sell out these arenas. He is just being lazy and would rather do one arena show per city rather than two or three theater shows. I guess it will increase is profits most likely as well. I think everyone would rather see him play a club or theatre, rather than an arena, especially if you have bad seats up in the rafters.

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[This message was edited Sat Feb 21 7:14:05 2004 by RupertZ]

EvilWhiteMale said:

Like Mandy Moore, Hillary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Matchbox 20, Nickelback & 50 Cent? Hahahahahah

Wrong on the "better taste in music"
Wrong on "limit to how much bullshit we spend our money on"

Dolphonic said:

Well you know what? Although I don't like any of the ones you listed, they at least put on a better show.

EvilWhiteMale said:

Better show than?

EvilWhiteMale said:

You're kidding right?

Ah no, you're not - I forgot Americans like to have fireworks, blow up dolls and 27 costume changes when they go to a concert....the music comes third or fourth in importance...gotcha...

EvilWhiteMale said:

Dolphonic said:

Britney Spears would sell out concerts all over Europe just like she would in America. Sad, but true. Yes, Americans buy lots of stupid albums, but so do the Chinese, Russians, Europeans, etc.

And Holland is probably the best per capita Prince fan country in the world, so any other nation will suffer in comparison to that.

Well, I'll admit that you guys in Europe probably have better musical taste, on average, than we Americans do. But we have lots more planes, bombs, and missles, than you do...Hahahahaha... (manical laughter)

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[This message was edited Sat Feb 21 7:54:18 2004 by RupertZ]

Just proves how dumb most music fans are. Why wouldn't you want to see him live? He is the mack; live, nobody can touch the boy.

2freaky4church1 said:

Well, people who aren't into him like us don't want to see him. Bruce Springsteen is amazing live too, but I don't have any major desire to see him.

This thread starts out with the assumption that Prince can't have a hit song/hit album behind this tour. I think in a matter of weeks we'll all see just how wrong that assumption is.

alandail said:

That depends on what you call a "hit". Is a Top 40 song a hit? I don't even think he'll do this well though.

Dolphonic said:

Well in my opinion, a good show is giving the audience what they want, and not disappointing them.

2freaky4church1 said:

I don't wanna see him live cuz my last few experiences were shit. His shows were terrible and very disappointing. This is not the Prince of the Lovesexy shows, this is something much much worse.