wow

[Baliset]

Lollapalooza Canceled Due to Poor Sales



NEW YORK (AP) - The Lollapalooza music festival tour has been canceled because of poor ticket sales, according to its Web site.

The tour, featuring Morrissey, Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips, had been set to begin July 14 in Auburn, Wash., and continue through August, including stops in Toronto, New York, Atlanta and Dallas.

Tour organizers and concert promoters ``faced with several million dollars of losses, made the very tough decision to pull the tour,'' the Web site said Tuesday.

The Web site said there had been ``poor ticket sales across the board.''

``My heart aches along with the bands, and all of our employees, whose hard work developed one of the most exciting and important tours that this nation was to see,'' festival co-founder Perry Farrell said in a statement. ``My heart is broken.''


The two-day, traveling hippielike music festival that began in 1991 took a hiatus in 1997 and returned last year.


``In real terms, it's been a tough summer,'' said Alex Hodges, executive vice president of HOB Concerts. ``Ticket sales have been mixed and often inexplicably soft. There are a number of contributing factors, and, as a result, many tours have been cut back, rerouted or canceled.''

 

[minxnim]

i know isn't that crazy? that's because they didn't ask any shitty bands to play. too many good bands = young people NOT interested.

 

[FuSoYa]

i would like to believe more that people are realizing they're not really into:

-huge crowds at shows i.e. non-intimate concerts
-corporate sponsored littering i.e. pepsi bottles everywhere
-rape en masse

etc.

 

[Baliset]

its sad because i read this thing with perry farrell where he was talking about really giving people value for their dollar and showing them bands that are important to music these days and have it be a two day event and all this other stuff. it sounded really neat.

 

[chupe666]

i went last year, but left around 6pm after qotsa. and wouldn't have gone if it wasn't free.

but this yr the bandlist actually sounded decent.

 

[minxnim]

i always though the loll. shows were pretty safe/clean and not that bad comparatively (to like other tours of the same time frame).

 

[minxnim]

i would like to believe more that people are realizing they're not really into:

-huge crowds at shows i.e. non-intimate concerts
-corporate sponsored littering i.e. pepsi bottles everywhere
-rape en masse

etc.

unfortunately i doubt that's the reason. so many 3 day shows with awful headlines like dashboard confessional get sold out in seconds on the west coast etc .

 

[xfer]

I didn't buy Cure tickets even though their tour has a great lineup and I really want to see them again because I'm just at the point where I'm sick of huge, distant, shitty arena shows. The fact that they charge $65 when I wouldn't want to pay $10 is just icing on the cake.

Festivals are similar. They're just really not fun.

 

[avi]

the lineup appeals to an older crowd that knows better than to go to stupid all-day festival events. lollapalooza is better marketed to kids who are into such dealies. doomed to fail.

 

[chupe666]

i was talking to some guy here at work yesterday who paid $70/ticket to see Prince and thought $25 was cheap for a ticket to see The Darkness. ACK. i seriously can't imagine paying that much to be so far back you can't actually see facial expressions.

some fests are decent, but still expensive. there's a jazz fest here this weekend with wynton marsalis, jon scofield, carla cook, etc that is $20/person (which i still consider a bit expensive, but more reasonable) but that's more of a 'picnic on the lawn' outdoors kind of thing than a 'watch the facial expressions and hands' thing.

i think the most i've paid to see anyone in the last few years was jane monheit when she played in a tiny jazz club here a few months back- it was dead silent and every seat was great, with only 50 people in the audience. and the tickets were still halfprice through my work (orig. $38).

 

[xfer]

I can pretty much be sure that any show costing more than $20 or so is going to be, in some way, kind of shitty. I wish pricing were done differently. Like, I'd pay $10 to see the Cure at the Tweeter Center (MAYBE; if i factor in parking and borrowing a car and buying $8 beers it might not be worth it), but I'd pay $60 to see them at Avalon, or $85 to see them at the Middle East Upstairs.

Instead, I'm paying $6-8 for venues that are better than the $65 I'm paying for shitty venues. I understand the quantity thing, but I still think it sucks.

 

[avi]

yeah I'm totally down with the inverse pay scale as well. I paid $50 to see both Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson (two separate shows), but jeez - those guys are legends and it wasn't at some outdoor fest shithole. I've never been to one of those things and I doubt I ever will.

 

[Baliset]

for the most part you are right but i have to admit that two of the greatest shows i have seen EVER were Rush at the Tweeter Center two years ago which was $60 and Iron Maiden and Demons and Wizards at the Gods of Metal Festival in Milan in 2000 which was $70 i believe.

 

[Demonspell]

Those ticket prices are almost reasonable for artists capable of filling stadiums on name alone these days, and obviously don't deter most hardcore fans, but when combined with the drawbacks of festivals and/or arena shows, it can be a gigantic loss for both parties. Especially when Clear Channel is involved, I think every serious music fan should consider boycotting their concerts.

 

[lizard]

I don't even seriously consider live shows anymore; I think it would be safe to say you guys would be the sole exception. With the proliferation of DVDs I can see many bands up close and personal without the parking hassles/fees, eight dollar beers and vomiting teenagers.

 

[mindspell]

I go to plenty of shows, most of them I pay for and the size of the venue and the type of bands have something to do with how good it is going to be. For example, I can't see why I would want to see Iron Maiden in a 1000 or so capacity venue, their show is oriented towards big crowds and they are great at it. However, Rush was NOT very good when I saw them in a stadium, I would love to see them in a smaller venue.

And Lizard, there are always ways to circumvent drunk kids, eight dollar beers etc...

 

[jerkstore]

I was thinking of going to one of the two days maybe...but not a huge amount of skin off my back, I pretty much hate those big shows anyways. The bands I want to see always seem to end up playing at the same time on different stages.

I was thinking about the cure/mogwai/etc.. thing as well, but it's at the molson ampitheatre in TO, which is like the worst place ever, and tickets start at like $40 CDN. too much for such a crappy impersonal venue.

I've been spoiled with the amount of good local/underground type music around here recently, I suppose.

 

[jerkstore]

and xfer, I totally agree with you on the seemingly backwards way all these shows are priced. even at the stupid molson amphitheatre, I'd pay $10 for that show.

 

[mindspell]

I am going to Mogwai and some others in a 3000 tops venue in MTL

 

[xfer]

i saw Iron Maiden at a pretty small venue in like 1997 (with Fear Factory)...Greg, was that Avalon?

they were cool, but i see what you mean about some shows requiring the theatrics...just not my kind of thing, i guess.