Seems that quite a few concerts are getting cancelled due 2 poor ticket sells......or is the public catching on 2 these no talents?

Rihanna’s Philips concert canceled

1:23 pm July 8, 2010, by Jennifer Brett

Mixture of both. High ticket prices that people can't pay + people probably don't like them anyway so why bother seeing them at places they wouldn't sell on their own. I've never known Rihanna to sell out in big venues.

Rihanna was never a touring staple in the US. 50 Cent is a certified HasBeen.

As for the rest- its all about who is touring. U2, Madonna, Britney Spears, and Springstein are not touring this year, but they toured last year. You can't compare a summer with those tours to a summer with Liza Minelli and Rihanna.

I don't know - but it is depressing (in some cases).

I had 2nd row seats to Smokey Robinson with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra tonight and the show was cancelled yesterday due to "scheduling conflicts".

Grrrrrr........

No, it's true. The economy is screwing up tours at every level. High-priced, expensive arena shows as well as smaller bands on club tours are having really hard times. Christina Aguilera, Limp Bizkit, various death metal and indie bands, all are cancelling, postponing or moving to smaller venues.

Like I thought those pop-punk teeny bands like Good Charlotte were huge. They were going to have the Bamboozle Fest play at two SoCal venues of ~15,000 capacity each. It got moved to one show at a 5000 seat ballroom, and even that, they were having trouble selling enough tickets.

And it's in Europe too. A friend of mine plays with El Vez, just got back from Spain and out of a two week tour they had three shows cancelled, enough to make it a break-even deal instead of a profitable one. They went ahead and did it anyway but barely scraped by without losing a ton of money.

And then two of the only tours that were selling all their tickets - U2 and Simon & Garfunkel - got cancelled due to illness. That means the promoters & venues don't have that one guaranteed money maker to float them through a bunch of shows that are on the line.

Remember a couple years ago when the record biz was falling apart & the conventional wisdom said "well you're not going to make any money selling records, but if you give the music away free and build a following, you can tour and sell tickets and t-shirts." And the record biz started doing these "360 deals" where the Company takes a cut of the tour revenue and t-shirt revenue. So now that it's become obvious that there's not unlimited money there either...

Well I did say it was 50/50 didn't I? People act like there's a real buzz with the newer acts, there's not. Unless you're a legendary artist, you just won't cut it. But I do think because of this recession, asking people to pay $200 for front row tickets is too fucking much. They cut the fucking middleman when they made those 360 deals.

For me ticket prices are just too darn high. The cheapest tickets I can get are typically in the $65.00-$85.00 range and that is not for great seats. I also find the experience to be really crappy. Who wants to spend that kind of money and have to fight your way to your seat and get pushed around all night? There are very few acts that are worth the aggravation.

Why pay $200 to see someone lip sync?? There have been more malfunctions at concerts lately, letting the audience know they are not getting there money's worth. These nostalgia acts are making the rounds and also charging high prices, and folks are disappointed and outraged that these folks have NOT aged well and their voices are shot!

I also blame the venues. Parking is horrendous and overpriced, traffic is a nightmare, seats are uncomfortable and way too far from the stage, sound is sometimes horrible, folks are way too loud that you can't enjoy the show and you have to worry about hot tempered folks that are ready to shoot or stab you!!

Until you do right by me and get funky, everything you do gonna fail.

Lol at the thread right under this one that "American Idol Live" is also getting cancelled!

This probably doesn't relate to an act to an act like Rihanna who likely has a younger fanbase, but as someone in my 30s I just dont have the enthusiasm for live shows at large venues anymore. As someone up thread mentioned, between the prices, parking, traffic, and sometime drama/distraction at the venue it just doesn't make for a pleasant night for me. I love live music though, and do attend shows at small venues, for more niche artists. I find those shows still worth the price of admission. Im just not interested in paying to go to a basketball arena for a bunch of hassle-no matter who is playing.

[Edited 7/8/10 15:04pm]

The only person I would pay this kinda money to see is Prince I paid $150 for two seats in 2004 and I would pay more this time around also MJ too, now that he is gone I'm not trying to come oughtta my pocket like that I would have loved to see Smokey here in Dallas though

[Edited 7/8/10 15:13pm]

After the incident with Rhianna f*** up the moonwalk, having most of her shows cancel is justice well served.

bobzilla77 said:

Lol at the thread right under this one that "American Idol Live" is also getting cancelled!

I know right? It kinda makes sense hahaha

vainandy said:

Until you do right by me and get funky, everything you do gonna fail.

I'm already.........

[img:$uid]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/Harlepolis/Gifs/145821_o.gif[/img:$uid]

DONE

I saw Prince in '04 for about $65 (with some good seats too), saw Stevie in '06 or '07 for the same price, and saw Robin Thicke and J-Hud for free, which is the only reason why I went. These were the last concerts I've attended.

I'll shove out another $65 for Prince or Stevie. I might shove out $35 or so to see P-Funk. But that's about it. Anybody else, its $20 and under.

It's the economy and high ticket prices.

It's bad when beaticians are telling me they need a second J.O.B. to make it.

Its a combo of things, there are artists that are bringing in people, but everyone has to be realistic, someone like RIhanna should not be playing MSG, she should be playing Radio City or the Beacon, its common sense, artists with these expensive tours and things cant think that in this day age people are going to put down 75 dollars to see Kesha play? i mean people are only spending 99 cents on her no one is buying that cd and NO one wants to see her live, be real. the cancelling i hear is coming from new jacks, i dont hear Elton John and Bruce and Jovi saying sorry cant play tonight the house is only 25% full, the older acts are smarter than that, and not to bring it up but a-ha is on the longest tour they have done ever, going to every country in existence (81 dates) currently and so far the only show cancelled was the one in Chile because of the Earthquake and they made it up 2 weeks later and 1 show because the lead singer Morten Harket had a throat infection and then that was made up, so the whole world has economy troubles much worse than the USA, except here most of what is cancelling shows shouldnt even be playing shows.

Rifund?

I agree Gray. A lot of shows have been cancelled at House of Blues this year. I thought I was imagining this.

I'm going to see Eminem and Jay Z (Just shut up, VainAndy! I'm trying to make a point here! ) in September and I paid 79.95 + those in-convenience fees for each ticket and I've got very good seats.

Would I have paid that to see either one of them...alone? Uhh...hell fuck naw! But for the both of them...that's actually not bad. Both shows in Detroit and both shows in New York sold out in a matter of minutes.

My point? Oh yeah! Even in a miserable economy, people will pay for what they want as long as they feel they are getting some value for their money.

Now somebody go run and tell that to ol' Purple Yoda!

The End of the Road?

The concert business, a lone bright spot in the struggling music industry, is in trouble this summer. A tale of bad backs, canceled acts and angry fans. Plus: A guide to discount tickets.

By JOHN JURGENSEN, WSJ

The concert business is supposed to be the music industry's one sure thing. But not this summer.

The Eagles, Rihanna and Maxwell have canceled tour dates. A wobbling "American Idol" tour has flooded the market with discounted tickets, and the resurrected Lilith Fair tour has called off concerts from Dallas to Salt Lake City. Even teen idols the Jonas Brothers announced this week that they're scrapping some shows.

Then there's this summer's disabled list among rock's contingent of aging stars. Bono's out after back surgery, scuttling a U2 mega-tour; Art Garfunkel, who was supposed to be reuniting with Paul Simon, is nursing a vocal-cord condition.

With the continued evaporation of recorded music sales, acts at all levels of the talent pool must lean heavily on their live-performance earnings. That's forcing artists to tour more, and to keep their ticket prices high, despite the weak economy. This has created a glut of seats.

Ticket prices also can vary tremendously for the same concert. Concertgoers are beginning to shop less like obsessed rock fans and more like picky air travelers, waiting weeks to buy tickets in hopes of scoring discounts, scouting a maze of websites and resellers for the best prices.

The emphasis on touring revenue is tempting more artists to test one of the industry's unwritten rules: Only hit the road when there's a new album to promote. Kings of Leon, composed of three Southern brothers and their first cousin, broke out in the U.S. with its 2008 album "Only By the Night." The group hit the road then and continued to tour through most of 2009, then launched another tour last month, which will take the band to some U.S. regions it has already visited twice since the release of the album. In one of the big outdoor amphitheaters the band is scheduled to play in August, only about one-third of the available seats have been sold so far. The group had sold out a slightly smaller amphitheater in the same market less than a year ago.

The band's manager, Ken Levitan, says fans have been buying tickets closer to the concert dates, and that the tour "for the most part has been doing very, very well." He adds that the band is using the current tour to set up its next album release this fall.

What's working this summer? James Taylor and Carole King are filling arenas with fervent boomers all over the country. Each has a 40-year-old body of work, and combining the two icons ignited special buzz. Similarly, some festivals do fine because they're offering dozens of bands. Sales are strong out of the gate for mellow rocker Jack Johnson, who is launching a tour Friday after a two-year break. Young star Justin Bieber is packing in the tweens.

Some defunct bands staging reunion tours are stumbling. This spring, a comeback by the rap-rock group Limp Bizkit, a 1990s powerhouse, seemed promising after a strong run of theater and festival dates. But sales for a summer tour through bigger amphitheaters fizzled, according to a person connected to the tour, forcing the band to cancel more than 20 concerts. On his blog, singer Fred Durst told fans the tour would be rescheduled, without mentioning ticket sales.

"Moving away from amphitheatres and into venues with appropriate floor space will allow more room for jumping, dancing and moshing directly in front of the stage, instead of on a grassy knoll a hundred yards away," Mr. Durst wrote.

Live Nation Entertainment, which after a recent merger with Ticketmaster is now the most powerful live-music company in the industry, says bad news from a handful of tours doesn't signal a crisis. "Cancellations are part of the business, and in fact the number this year is in line with past years," says Jason Garner, chief executive of the company's concerts division.

Still, he says failed tours and slower ticket sales should serve as a collective wake-up call: "When 40% of tickets across the industry are going unsold, you have to have an honest talk about ticket prices."

In June, Live Nation went on a discounting spree, eliminating service fees and issuing $10 tickets. Mr. Garner says that's just Retail 101: They dangled a bargain and got shoppers through the door.

Overall full-year ticket sales have been rising for a decade, according to the trade publication Pollstar. But in a just-released report for the first six months of this year, Pollstar says the biggest acts are suffering: The top 100 tours in North America show gross ticket-sales revenue of $965.5 million, down 17% from a year earlier. Number of tickets sold: down 12%. Average gross per show, down 14.4%. Ticket prices now average $60.77, compared with $64.61 last year.

This summer, everyone seems to be on the road. Classic-rock fans could have paid $95 for two tickets for a recent Chicago and Doobie Brothers double bill at Boston's Bank of America Pavilion. But they also had the choice of Meat Loaf, Cheap Trick, Bad Company or Heart. All had gigs scheduled there in the month of July.

The likes of Taylor Swift and Mr. Bieber are immune from this problem for now. "It's something the parents won't say no to. They're more likely to buy a concert ticket for their kids than they are for themselves," says Chris Wright, vice president of sports and entertainment for SMG, which manages arenas.

Packaging different acts together isn't always working. The Eagles, one of history's most successful rock bands, who grossed $42 million touring last year, sought to expand its audience this summer by tapping into country music, recruiting Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks to open eight stadium shows. But the bill didn't entice country fans en masse, and Eagles fans had already had many opportunities to see the band, which has been touring to promote its most recent album, "Long Road Out of Eden," since its release in 2007. Shows at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, and a stadium gig in Hershey, Pa., were jettisoned. An Eagles spokesman says the group recently sold out arenas without the country acts.

It's not just that ticket prices are high, but bewildering. They can change based on when and where the tickets are purchased, making it hard to know if you're getting the best seats for the best price. From quiet, targeted promos to last-minute fire sales, ticket discounting has emerged as one of the most divisive issues in the business. Some in the industry worry that potential buyers are being trained to wait for price cuts. Fans who buy early, only to see discounts roll out later, often feel penalized for their loyalty.

To score a pair of tickets to see singer-songwriter John Mayer in Cincinnati on July 27, Beth Collins of Radcliff, Ky., spent $172, including about $30 in service fees, for the best two seats available on Ticketmaster at the time, in section 700, adjacent to the rear lawn at the Riverbend Music Center. Ms. Collins, a 27-year-old homemaker whose husband works in a UPS warehouse, borrowed $75 from a local loan service to help pay for the seats; with interest, she paid the service about $100.

Two weeks after her purchase, she heard that the concert's promoter, Live Nation, had dropped its service fees for the month of June. She went back to Ticketmaster, searching again for the best seats available. This time, she says, she was offered a much better pair of seats—in section 400, about 20 rows from the stage—for the same price.

"It went right through me. I'm just hurt," Ms. Collins says. She called Ticketmaster in hopes of exchanging her tickets, but was told her purchase was final, she says. "I felt like if I hurried up and got them, I'd get decent tickets. Weeks later the great tickets came out."

Last month, during a near-capacity Phish concert in Mansfield, Mass., employees of the Comcast Center took the unusual step of strolling the pavilion with handfuls of tickets, hawking coming concerts by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Santana. Phish fan Chad Baker, 37 years old, would have leapt at the $15 Santana tickets. One problem: he'd already bought two full-price tickets at $50 each online the day they went on sale in April. "It almost ruined my night. Next time I won't be so fast to pull the trigger," he says.

"The industry is trying to rationalize all this by saying it's the same as being on an airplane, where you don't know what the person next to you paid," says Alex Hodges, an independent promoter who runs Los Angeles-area venues including the Greek Theatre. Today's music fans vigilantly monitor discussions online, so they know if others are getting a better deal.

Last spring, Live Nation, flush with cash flow after the Ticketmaster merger, bid against the nation's No. 2 concert promoter, AEG Live, for rights to the annual tour featuring stars from TV's "American Idol," which AEG had promoted since the tours began in 2002. Live Nation agreed to pay 19 Entertainment, the producers of the series, about $400,000 per concert, up from the roughly $300,000 that AEG had paid the year before, according to people familiar with the matter.

Though it paid more, Live Nation kept ticket prices about the same, ranging from about $40 to $70, likely because the promoter expected to break even quickly in amphitheaters that it owns. But the promoter overestimated demand, perhaps because compared with previous years, the TV "Idol" featured a middling lineup this past season. The week of June 14, only about 2,000 tickets had been sold for a July concert in one amphitheater, about five times less than the tour's typical crowds, according to someone familiar with the sales activity.

On June 14, "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest sent a bulletin to his 3.2 million followers on Twitter: "If u were thinking about getting tix to the @AmericanIdol Live Tour, do it now - ALL TIX are $20 for next 24 hrs!"As part of promotional blitz at the end of June, Live Nation offered $10 tickets to dozens of concerts, including several "Idol" dates. This past week, eight concerts were canceled.

A spokeswoman for 19 Entertainment said, "The American Idol Live Tour will continue to play 44 dates across the United States throughout July and August, reflecting the enduring appeal of America's most successful music franchise."

Live Nation agreed to pay rocker Tom Petty up to $700,000 per concert for his current tour with the Heartbreakers, according to people familiar with the situation. That contributed to the highest ticket prices that Mr. Petty has commanded in his 40-year career. They ranged from about $35 for lawn tickets to $125 for closer seats, and up to $300 each for the "Mojo Package," which included VIP parking and a download of Mr. Petty's album "Mojo."

Some fans of Mr. Petty, a workingman's rocker, expressed bitterness about the prices online. A fan calling himself Unocrew complained online: "I was fortunate enough to see Petty front row (2001) and 4th row (2002) - price for the tix were around 60 bucks. Now 300+...Way to hook up the fans buddy!"

A representative for Mr. Petty said, "The tour is selling better than most, and fans are getting a lot of value for their ticket, with a free album download and opening acts like Crosby, Stills and Nash." Live Nation declined to comment on specific artists or tours.

Beyond the vagaries of ticket pricing and the economy, a generational shift in how music is perceived may be at work, say some in the industry. "The love that baby boomers had for music in their lives is a historical anomaly. It was their theme song," says Jim McCarthy, chief executive of discount service Goldstar, which offers its members deals on everything from regional theater to rap concerts.

As aging musicians gradually exit the stage, few younger acts can consistently fill larger venues the way their predecessors could.It's not that young listeners aren't going to shows. About 8% of people aged 18 to 29 said they go to a concert once a month, more than any other age group, according to a Rasmussen survey from earlier this year. But considering how many young fans acquire and listen to music, the music seems to have less sticking power. For instance, 70% of the music obtained by 13-to-24-year-olds isn't paid for; instead, it's pulled from peer-to-peer networks, or ripped and copied from friends, according to the NPD Group. "They get so much free content, a lot of it they don't really value," says NPD entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick.

When 18-year-old Gordy Murphy of Fairfield, Conn., wants to sample new music, he typically grabs it for free at a free-music site ("It may be illegal. I don't know," he says). He intimately knows the 5,000 songs on his computer, but he rarely visits the sites of current artists in his collection, and thus rarely knows when they're releasing new music or embarking on a tour. "There's no way to keep on top of all that," he says.

But Mr. Murphy still has his loyalties. This summer he plans to see singer-songwriter John Mayer, his longtime musical hero, for the third time. His tastes also run to Jimi Hendrix and Steve Ray Vaughn.

In that way, he says, "I consider myself an old person."

Corrections & Amplifications
Citizens Bank Park is the Philadelphia stadium at which the rock band the Eagles canceled a planned performance this summer. An earlier version of this article incorrectly called the ballpark Citi Park Field.

vainandy said:

Until you do right by me and get funky, everything you do gonna fail.

As aging musicians gradually exit the stage, few younger acts can consistently fill larger venues the way their predecessors could.It's not that young listeners aren't going to shows. About 8% of people aged 18 to 29 said they go to a concert once a month, more than any other age group, according to a Rasmussen survey from earlier this year. But considering how many young fans acquire and listen to music, the music seems to have less sticking power. For instance, 70% of the music obtained by 13-to-24-year-olds isn't paid for; instead, it's pulled from peer-to-peer networks, or ripped and copied from friends, according to the NPD Group. "They get so much free content, a lot of it they don't really value," says NPD entertainment analyst Russ Crupnick.

For me and I think a lot of people are like me, it's not about prices or the economic situation. If I really love an artist and I want to see them live, I don't care what the price is. That doesn't really affect my budget too much because there are only a small number of artists that I really love (10 or fewer). None of my favorite artists are touring right now so I haven't been to any concerts this summer.

For me, to want to see someone live, I have to be a huge fan and own all or almost all of their records. If I'm just a casual fan and like one or two songs, I really have no interest in seeing that artist live.

vainandy said:

Until you do right by me and get funky, everything you do gonna fail.

Love it! I think the economy had made people realize that they are spending a "grip" for sub-par artists and lip syncing performances.

TonyVanDam said:

After the incident with Rhianna f*** up the moonwalk, having most of her shows cancel is justice well served.

Does anyone have a clip of this? I wanna see

rialb said:

For me ticket prices are just too darn high. The cheapest tickets I can get are typically in the $65.00-$85.00 range and that is not for great seats. I also find the experience to be really crappy. Who wants to spend that kind of money and have to fight your way to your seat and get pushed around all night? There are very few acts that are worth the aggravation.

I feel ya! I really wanted to see The Time when they were here a few weeks ago, but i could not see myself paying $65 for ceiling seats for someone who hasnt had a hit in over 20 years. I looove The Time but DAMN!

The Eagles... have canceled tour dates.

There's an odd sort of justice about this considering they were the first band in history to just say fuck it and charge $100 a ticket.

I hope they all lose their shirts and end up in debtors prison. Fucking god damn Eagles.