NASHVILLE, Tenn. - If you want to sit in the really good seats for a Keith Urban concert this summer, a pair of tickets will put you about back about $170. But in a nod to the tough economic times, the country superstar has also priced some tickets as low as $20 per seat, so fans won't stay home because they can't afford to go.
With the economic news getting worse by the day, artists and concert promoters are trying to make sure fans come out to the stadiums, arenas and concert halls this year by offering ticket deals and other incentives.
No Doubt is giving away a digital download of their entire catalog in exchange for the purchase of a premium ticket ($42.50 before taxes and fees). Coldplay plans to give concertgoers a free live album, while U2 is pricing at least 10,000 tickets to every show in the $30 range.
Summer is a busy time for the concert business. Live Nation, the world's largest promoter, estimates that more than 50 percent of its annual profit comes in the summer months.
But with this year's economic uncertainty, promoters could have a tougher time filling seats.
"In a crowded marketplace in difficult economic times, you want your show or event to stand out as something people recognize as a deal," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of the concert industry publication Pollstar.
Rocker Stevie Nicks, who's currently on a reunion tour with Fleetwood Mac, said times are so bad, the band doesn't know if it can afford to go overseas: "It's so expensive to do that that you put people out of business to go play for them. It's affecting everybody."
Fans can get tickets to Fleetwood Mac's April 22 show at the St. Pete Times Forum for as little as $32.25 (plus service charges).
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In other new interviews Stevie is saying she is letting Lindsey dominate the shows and she keeps more quiet during the Fleetwood Mac shows than at her own concerts. She also is saying that the old issues are still around and if they went in to record a new album there would still be the same old problems with Lindsey. This differs greatly from what she was saying a couple months ago before the tour started.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she was just testing the water with this Fleetwood Mac tour and already realizes she would rather go back to her own career, where she is in charge. Lindsey is getting all the good reviews on the tour. But the critics forget that while he was sitting on his ass for decades having one nervous breakdown after another, that Stevie was out busting her ass touring year after year to keep the audience alive. Who do the critics think are filling the seats at the Fleetwood Mac shows? Stevie's fans, of course. Lindsey can't fill small theatres on his own. And I would rather go to see her solo nowadays, she certainly has more personality on stage at her own shows than on the last two Mac tours. It's too bad the band has let Lindsey run rampant already during this tour. To me he is obnoxious on stage, playing this overbearing guitar hero, and I used to really love him as a performer.