Concert Attendance Hits Sour Note

Mark Brown
Rocky Mountain News (CO)
August 31, 2002 Section: Entertainment/Weekend/Spotlight Edition: Final Page Number: 1D

It's been a summer when music fans just said no to high ticket prices.

As a result, fans stayed away and the concert industry hemorrhaged money, and ``I think Denver was a little bloodier than most,'' said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar magazine. He quickly noted that the entire concert industry nationwide had similar woes. ``Just about every tour out there has soft spots in it, whether it's Bruce Springsteen or the Stones.''

``I've never seen the amount of shows sell so badly. There have been worse times, but there weren't a lot of shows out there at the time. This time . . . people didn't come out,'' House of Blues Denver chief Barry Fey says.

``It was disappointing, but on the other hand, we're finishing strong,'' crosstown rival Chuck Morris of Clear Channel Entertainment says.

``Yes, business is down. Is it dramatic and earth-shattering? I don't think so,'' Morris says. ``I think because of the local economy, because of the fires, the water shortage, I think we might be hurting slightly more than the rest of the country.''

No one will release specific numbers just yet, but business is off sharply in Colorado and the Midwest. Markets such as Southern California, New York, Dallas and Atlanta have stayed relatively strong, but others have been dismal.

``Just about every market in the country has more shows than they can support. The summer concert marketplace is just way too crowded,'' Bongiovanni says.

``In several markets we began to feel the effects of a sluggish economy, particularly the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain region,'' says HOB concert chief Jay Marciano in Los Angeles. Denver in particular was affected because of so many venues and so many acts - in part because HOB rival Clear Channel has opened two new venues in the past three years, along with a partnership with the new Pepsi Center.

``I still believe the CityLights venue in the Denver marketplace is an ill-conceived idea,'' Marciano says. ``If Red Rocks, the Pepsi Center, the Fillmore and the Paramount didn't exist, I might have a different opinion.''
Morris steadfastly stands by the new venue, noting that after a slow start, its sales picked up drastically, including sellout shows from Barry Manilow, John Mayer and more.

Still, next year will be different: fewer shows and lower ticket prices. They promise.

``High ticket prices never help. Hopefully we all learned a lot this summer about that,'' Morris says. ``Sometimes you can't give away tickets on a bad show. Hopefully, we've all learned that ticket prices are critical. Hopefully, the acts and agents will lower it. Next year there will be a different kind of buying out there, a different climate. Our slogan next year will be 'Just Say Pass.' ''

``Rush would have done 4,000 or 5,000 more if you had a $25 lower ticket price,'' Fey acknowledges.

``We've certainly heard that in the past. Whether they actually follow through or not is another matter,'' Bongiovanni says. ``The artists' fees have really gotten out of hand, and that's what's fueled higher ticket prices.''

Still, ``for all the moaning and groaning I did, it really didn't turn out to be that bad,'' Fey says. ``We had some shockers - Sammy and Dave, for one. Our July 4 show I thought would do 10,000 people; it did 4,000. With Rush we did 9,000; I thought we'd do 12,000 or 15,000.'' Sales for The Who/Counting Crows concert on Sept. 19 are up, but there's still plenty to go around. ``I was disappointed in a few shows that were very close to me,'' Fey says

It's not been all woe.

Clear Channel has had sellouts or near-sellouts with Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, the Dave Matthews Band, Lyle Lovett/Bonnie Raitt, the Eagles, Phil Lesh, Jack Johnson, Cher and more. House of Blues has had similar success with Bruce Springsteen, Blink 182, Eminem, the Summer Jam, Widespread Panic, Down From the Mountain and others. Nobody In Particular Presents had high-profile sellouts with Tool, Beck, and all 12 concerts at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
But many of the midlevel acts faced whole sections of empty seats.

What looked like a surefire lineup for the Area 2 concert - David Bowie, Moby and Busta Rhymes, among others - tanked and had to be downsized from the Pepsi Center to CityLights. Losses on that concert alone reportedly exceeded $100,000.

Opinions vary on the sluggish sales. Many of the acts booked into local venues are ones that have played state fairs or for free at places like Taste of Colorado.

Competition for shows ended up hurting the market.

``We could pare 25 percent and no one would have missed an act - acts that never should have been coming,'' Fey says. Fiddler's and the Paramount booked a number of shows ``because we wanted to make sure CityLights didn't get it. So we took it. It's just insane.''

``Things like Tool and the Warped tour were successful, despite lighter sales,'' says Jesse Morreale of independent promoter Nobody in Particular Presents. ``My belief firmly is that ticket prices being as high as they are preclude people from being able to go to as many events. Then stupid things happen, like the Rolling Stones show in February (2003) going on sale in June. It's hard to take Clear Channel's complaints seriously when they take millions out of the market for a show that's not happening for nine months. That hurts for sure.''

``If you bought two Stones tickets for $700 for Febru

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