The Best Economic Indicator I Know: Concert and Tour Cancellations.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

Please note: I spent 27 years in the music business, doing everything but playing an instrument, climbing trusses or mixing monitors. I have my standards. Yes, I have even worked for one of the northeast's biggest concert promoters, a certain Mr. Law, fine Democrat he. I know what I am talking about, in case you were wondering.

----------

Recently, the music industry has been getting some pretty bad news with the cancellation of Lollapalooza, Britney Spears US Tour and others. While some will say "BFD", I don't and I have plenty of good reasons why I don't discard this news at all.

The Music Business and the concert business, especially, is about disposable income, that money a person or family has left over after the exigencies of life are paid for. That "pad" that allows a little comfort and recreation. Frankly, it looks like said pad does not exist to any great degree, most apparently amongst the middle class population which makes up the bulk of concert ticket buyers.

With the recent news that finally came out, regarding the fact that the U6 unemployment figure(The REAL unemployment figure) is 9.8%, against a workforce of approx 149 million souls...well, right there is a big chunk of your possible asses in the seats. Furthermore, it is well reported that real wage levels are dropping at a rate that, when graphed, are heading downward at about a 45 degree angle. Add to THAT the real effects of inflation on energy, food and other daily necessities and something has to give. Malaise sets in and you get the soft concert and record sales, because they may want to go and see and hear, but they just cannot justify the expenditure.

It used to be that when the economy was good, people went to concerts to celebrate and when it was bad, people went to concerts to forget for a couple of hours. No more. I think that this, as much as anything, illustrates the effects of the economy. Yes, Wall Street and corporate profits may be up, but if they are not making their way into the general economy in the form of jobs and wages, then you have a real problem and concert takes are your canary in a coal mine.

Trust me: Artists do not just walk away from tours. This is a very, very unique situation, not to be taken lightly.

[Beetwasher]

1. Yes, Indeed. I Too Was In The Industry I Can Confirm

your astute analysis...

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Have you seen the price of concert tix lately?

You need a LOT of disposable income to go!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Yes I have...

And I think they are madness. No artist I have ever worked for(And I have worked for quite a few) was EVER good enough to warrant a $100.00 ducat price.

As regards the prices, they are slitting their own throats.

[midnight armadillo]

7. Damn straight

Some concerts sell tix at $300 a pop!! Even the 'cheap' ones are now pushing $45 a ticket. That makes for an awfully expensive night on the town.

Where does this money go? I understand that artists get completely screwed six ways til Tuesday on record sales and need to make their income from touring. In the last 10 years or so I swear the average ticket price has doubled. If the music industry wants more of my disposable income, then they had better bring their prices down to earth for concerts AND CDs.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. Take this to the bank:

Most artists make the real cake, the take-home, on merchandising sales. Most, if not all, of the ticket sale receipts are swallowed up by "production costs".

[midnight armadillo]

26. music industry

Most artists make the real cake, the take-home, on merchandising sales. Most, if not all, of the ticket sale receipts are swallowed up by "production costs".

Well, as a former band member (played bass for years, nowadays my classical guitar playing has been temporarily suspended for new parenthood :-)), I gotta say that the state of the music industry is sick beyond belief. I didn't know that about ticket sales. I do know bands often fund their own videos, recording, etc. etc. and that most of the starting out bands barely eat. I had considered attending Berklee and trying it in the music biz way back when, but am quite grateful I decided to stick with amateur music and go to a regular university instead.

Despite the money that the musicians (sometimes) manage to make, it's a phenomenally exploitive system. One of my fantasy alt. careers for retirement is to start a label that doesn't completely fuck the artists.

[Beaverhausen]

56. check this out- pay $375- meet the band

http://www.fanfire.com/yes/faq.html

[msmcghee]

3. How many people do you think . .

. . are worried about gathering in large groups with the election looming and increased warnings/speculation about terrorist attacks?

PS Do you know Zeppy?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. I don't see it...

traditional group celebratory mentality does not factor in large-scale disaster.It just doesn't. It is by far economic effects and factors.

Zeppy whom? I might, especially by his/her real name. Then again I might not.

[AP]

25. It's all about money. Has nothing to do with fear of terror.

You know who's buying the $300 concert tickets? Its the corporations who buy them for employees. (And probably get a tax deduction -- so the taxpayer's subsidize it.)

The corps get the money for the tickets from the taxpayer and also from the profits they get from not paying their employees what they're worth. But now the employess don't have the money to buy the tickets.

Corporations aren't taking up the slack. They're not buying up the rest of the seats.

The history of the world is filled with stories of societies that started accumulating a lot of wealth in the hands of a very few people, and then failed by having the top collapse down upon the overburdened (formerly) middle class. That's what's happening in the microcosm of the concert business.

[mhr]

4. One Reason Why - Look At Employment Levels For TX Cities

FWIW - I live in Dallas.

[LuminousX]

5. I was thinking the same thing

when I heard Lollapalooza was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

I'm not a big concert goer, preferring to see only a handful of artists that I really enjoy each year. A few months ago I was really looking forward to summer concerts but as summer rolls around, I just can't spare the normally meager $30-$40 tickets (I don't see big acts, so usually the tickets are fairly reasonable).

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. As regards Ms. Spears...

Do not, I repeat DO NOT buy into the "knee injury" story people are putting forward. I don't. I posit that ticket sales were so soft, versus the incredible production costs, that they could not see any clear way to move forward.

Prediction: She will "heal" and in three months, be back with a scaled-down show.

[JayS]

30. Ms Spears is starting to pursue more intellectual avenues now.

http://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm

[Philostopher]

9. I seem to recall this was a harbinger back in the 80s.

The whole 'big tours' phenomenon -- bills that would have three top-40 artists all playing co-headline gigs, like the 'Black and Blue' tour that had both BOC and Black Sabbath -- fell over in the middle of the decade. It was years before you saw those kinds of bills again.

My take on it is that people's former budgeted discretionary income is being eaten up by higher insurance of all kinds and the inflation in gas prices. I think that's what ate into it back then, too -- I remember being really bummed when I was in high school, trying to scrape money up from my friends to pay for gas just so we could go sit around at the Big Boy all night. All of a sudden, the people who usually go to concerts don't have the dosh they used to for doing things like eating out on a whim or going to concerts.

The fact that tickets have been (artificially, thanks Clear Channel) inflated only adds to the problem. And don't even mention the price of a beer or the food at concerts. We went to a three-band bill concert over the weekend -- Ben Folds, Guster and Rufus Wainwright -- and while there were plenty of people there, the college kids who made up the majority of the crowd weren't drinking much beer or eating anything. I'm guessing they barely were able to squeeze out the tickets, let alone buy merch or food at the venue.

[Mike Daniels]

37. How was that show?

I'm going to the Wainright/Guster/Folds show next Tuesday. Fortunately, the venue lets you bring your own alcohol and food so I won't get gouged on the concessions venue.

[No Mandate Here.]

11. I have to agree that it is an indicator, but I ask two questions...

1. My daughter has a lawn ticket for Dave Matthews for this Sunday near Pittsburgh. She paid $ 46.00 for it. I wonder what the Pavilion tix cost?! Is this not about 500% inflation in the last ten years or so? Who can afford more than one or two shows a season any more? Even reasonably employed people are scraping by.

2. Is there a chance that the wonderful business tactics of Clear Channel and Ticketmaster (and others) have anything to do with this price rise?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

14. By the numbers:

1. Yes, this is incredible inflation and can be tracked to the entrance into the concert industry by CC. No, reasonable people, c.2004 cannot afford to go to many shows. The disposable income situation is just not there.

2. It has much to do with things. Add to that the cost of everything being up, and production costs are going to have to go up. Costs for a tour are an incredibly complex beast. A set of books for a large tour, at the end, are like War and Peace. Just the insurance costs alone are mind-boggling. Add to that lodging, fuel, food and other things, and something has to give. And so it has.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. Our local news were talking about this yesterday.

Of course they gave it their spin. But I agree with you. That's a very good observation.

[RandomKoolzip]

15. Hmmmm.....maybe.

Another factor here is the mephitic quality of the music being presented. Could it be nobody really wants to see these big name acts too much, that their popularity is mostly PR-derived and that, in the case of Britney, their star is on the wane? I mean, we're not talking about the Beatles here anymore, we're talking about some of the shittiest excuses for pop music most people have heard in their lives.

Attendant to the dive in ticket sales is the drop in CD sales. Major labels aren't moving the product like they used to. Why? Cuz the music sucks, and everyone knows it.

And if your theory is correct, why is it that during the energy crisis of the 70's, most big name acts made the transition from large concert halls to massive stadia? The infamous 1974 CSNY tour comes to mind. Or the massive Springsteen tours of 1984-85, when Reaganomics was crushing the working and middle classes. Escapism? "To forget for a couple of hours?" Huge stadium shows are a total hassle to attend, to purchase tickets for, and require money for gas, travel accomodations, food, parking, merch, etc. The planning involved is also time-consuming. The real story here is that the music industry in general is failing, and it's due almost entirely to the absolutely dire quality of the music being put out. The new acts do not engender the fan loyalty of a Springsteen or Grateful Dead or even a Michael Jackson. Until the music industry starts waking up and starts putting money behind musicians who inspire real fandom and real musical interest (read: longevity), the situation will continue sliding downhill. After all, look who's still making money from concert ticket sales: the older acts like Springsteen and Kiss, etc. Kids are attending Coachella and the Warped Tour, too. Look at the Bonaroo festival. Give the people something interesting musically to chew on and they will come.


PS and drop ticket sales by 20 bucks or more and then we'll ALL come! Who can afford this shit? Doctors? Lawyers?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

19. I agree that...

The quality of music being pushed by the bigs could not suck more. You have to remember that starting back around '86, most of your record companies were taken over by big technology companies. After an acquisition, the first people in the door are lawyers and accountants. These are not The New John Hammonds, by any stretch. No, these were, and continue to be, unimaginative people who were delighted to be in something "cool". They got in there, forced out the creative sorts, for most part, started calling music "software" and that was that. The situation has changed little. Their understanding of the creative process of establishing an act is non-existant. If the act does not go big on the first album, they are usually gone before the second.

But as far as the older acts are concerned, those shows are usually winners. Why? Because the people with the money, the parents, come out to them, often with the kids. Not now. That is telling.

In my argument, I spoke from my understanding, hard-won, of the concert and touring business, not from your viewpoint as a struggling artist. I understand your view that much of the music sucks. It soes. But it hardly sucks for everyone. Usually you can get a gate from those that justifies going ahead with the show. But no longer.

Stadium shows may be a hassle for you, and they are for me. But we ain't everyone.

[RandomKoolzip]

23. Absolutely.

Anyone I'd like to see would be playing in a club anyhow. And any smart musician who intends to stay a musician needs to go with an indie label.

We desperately need another Nirvana RIGHT NOW. Someone who'll smack these businessmesn upside the head and show them that they have no real clue what the people want.

[hatrack]

24. "Mephitic" - an apt description of current corporate swill

The saying used to be that "you can't shine a turd" - meaning that most songs had to have heart, originality, punch and power to succeed and stick in peoples' hearts and minds.

No longer. Thanks to market testing, demographic slicing and dicing, an abundance of bean counters and lawyers, and above all to technology, musical turds can now gleam like chrome and do, on airwaves and television stations from coast to coast.

I'm not referring to some mythical Golden Age of Music, since there plenty of crap on the air and in the stores in decades past. But I would argue that crap now outweighs the good stuff by at a ratio of at least five to one. There's good music out there - it's just that most Americans depending on corporate media are never going to hear it.

[hang a left]

32. Those are great points.

Look at how much it costs to go to the movies. Hell we are in an upper tax bracket and it is expensive and ridiculous. I will take my kids this summer to matinees. (I will pay the 9$ to go see F911, BTW but I will stop and get my candy before I go, and the kids won't be going). Just did it Monday and saw Garfield and snuck in our food and drink. And what about ballgames? Jeez, you know how much a hamburger and a coke costs? Let alone an $8 beer? $3.50 for a bag of peanuts? Come on.

When people quit going to the movies and ballgames, which is something they do on a much more regular basis then going to a concert, then their is real trouble.

[hang a left]

34. I am not disagreeing about the condition of the economy.

It is so clear to me that people are not buying. Ford and GM here in So. Cal are having "loyalty" promotions. Offering $4-5000 in "loyalty" discounts to trade in your current vehicle. Furniture, Mattresses, spas, all big ticket items you can buy 0 money down, 0 interest, and 0 payments until 2006. I think that those things are more indicators of people not spending money, or not having the money to spend, than anything.


And don't even get me going on the prices at the market. Everything is so expensive. Even the sales aren't really sale prices, just cheaper than the other things that are offered at the market. And gas, and everyone in So Cal practically has an SUV.

[RandomKoolzip]

35. And all that money....for what?

Nickelback in concert? 50 Cent? NERD? Disturbed? Derivative, uncreative pop backwash?

If you can somehow justify spending $100+ on the "Total Nickelback Concert Experience," you are fucked in the head.

If there was any substance there to get excited about, I could see shelling out that much for the concert. But there isn't and everyone knows it.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

38. I know someone who owns a couple of

car dealerships and he has been saying for the past year and more that his sales have been just terrible, even with all those deals they are offering.

[tom_paine]

42. Yo, RK, I am shocked at your t-shirt!

Don't get me wrong, pal, no disresepct intended, but it's DemocratIC.

It used to be ok to slip up that way until the Busheviks began calling us the Democrat Party as a Propaganda Ploy.

Just wanted to bring it up...

next time you hand-letter a shirt, pal, remember the IC!

[RandomKoolzip]

43. That's not me. That's D. Boon of the Minutemen.

And the picture is from 1984, before DU. D.'s dead now, so I don't think I can take it up with him.

I didn't write it.

D. Boon was great man, a hero of mine, and one of the best musicians of the 80's. If you don't know who the Minutemen were, I suggest picking up "Double Nickels on the Dime" on CD immediately. Great working class political punk-funk-jazz-indie rock.

[tom_paine]

44. I just might do that. And tell him to fix his shirt!

:evilgrin:

[hatrack]

16. Bottom line for us - concerts are too frickin' expensive!!

I just bought tickets for Mary Chapin Carpenter at a 1,200-seat venue. About as far from a big arena Top 40 event as you can get, but even then just plain bloody pricey.

With all of the $8.00 "Convenience Charges" here and $4.00 "Service Charges" there, for the two of us, it came out at just under $100. And now we can look forward to $7.00 beers once we arrive.

Small wonder that we go once or twice a year to see big name live shows.

[givemebackmycountry]

17. TWO WORDS

CLEAR CHANNEL

[catzies]

18. I go to more professional basketball games than big concerts

but I know and see aexactly what you mean, for parallel reasons.

For me the avg. cost (all-inclusive) of going to a single professional NBA game in a big arena (Staples Center in LA) was $150. I used to go to half a dozen games a year. Now I don't go to any.

I went to only 2 concerts last year -- R.E.M. and Radiohead, both at the Hollywood Bowl. This year, who knows? :shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. The answer to this

bypass the big name folks. Hit up the roadhouses and enjoy the great music of undiscovered bands.

[sendero]

21. Very interesting...

... analysis.

I think the economy is in much worse shape than most think. I have no idea if that is what is wrong with the concert biz, but it sure would make a lot of sense.

[SiouxJ]

22. I agree totally.

I've been in the music business for over 20 years, most recently in merchandising, and I have never seen things crawl along like this. We always felt like we were immune to a sluggish economy because kids always have disposable income to buy music merchandise. There are reports of a shortage of jobs for teens because unemployed professionals are being forced to take two or three low paying jobs just to make ends meet. I never thought I'd see this happen but it is.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

29. Whoop! There it is!

Merch checks in and there, people is the telling of the tale. Once merch goes soft, there is then no reason for the act to tour.

Thanks for the input.

[bbernardini]

27. I really do think poor quality music is partly to blame...

As other folks have said. I think people are really starting to wise up to the fact that CC and the big record companies are just recycling the same old crap through new bands and artists over and over and over. Nickelback=Creed=20,000 other bands all attempting to sound vaguely like a harder version of Pearl Jam.

A lot of the students I teach do fall for the occasional "flavor of the month" artist, but I've also found that they're ravenous for things from The Beatles all the way to The Polyphonic Spree, and even Wesley Willis, not to mention John Coltrane, Frank Zappa and countless others. If only we could a) break up the media monopolies and b) give the consumers more credit when it comes to intelligence, I think we'd all be better off.

As I said in my message to the 8th graders in this year's yearbook:

"A wise man once said, "Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's! Never ever accept the mainstream as your best entertainment value."

[tridim]

28. Time for another Renaissance

Let's turn this thing on it's head and start over.. Or at least go back to the booming 90's.

[catmandu57]

31. Yep ticket prices

My wife wanted to see Styx and Frampton last month, I had seen these guys way back when, so she and her sister were going to go. Seating on the lawn was 45.00, then there was hidden fees thrown in and by the time that was done the lawn ticket alone was going for 65.00.
Needless to say she stayed home.
It's not just music though, professional sporting events are crazy, I used to take in a few baseball games every year, but now, with the parking fees, ticket prices, food, etc etc etc.... I stay home and watch it on tv.

[Karenina]

33. Thanx Tandalayo for your astute take

on WHAT IT BE. All I can add to what has already been posted is, Yup, yupyup, ja, da, yup, und so ist das, yupyup, ouioui, yup, sisi, iye :silly:

[hiphopnation]

36. Great stuff.

Thanks. Musician here. It's ALWAYS dismal for us. LOL!!

Who, pray tell, is "Mr. Law"?

[Kat45]

60. I believe he's referring to Don Law

He pretty much 'owned' the concert scene in the Boston area for years and years. He was the guy who put on all the shows. I'm not sure if/how he's involved in it now; my "rock scene days" have been behind me for quite a while now.

[progressivebydesign]

39. Just read our local Seattle paper.. and they said the same thing.

Concerts, which have gotten ridiculously expensive, are a luxury now, and they are just not selling. The economy sucks.. and the tours have become such behemoths, requiring 50, 60, 75 dollar ticket prices. Insurance for the tours.. etc. Corporate music has been effective in pushing down all but the stars that they made with their labels, radio stations, tv stations, etc. So many great bands and artists are opting out of that scene, and self financing their tours, their CDs, and their lives as musicians. So they can have some control. The economy is killing the big concerts... the corporatization of our music scene has contributed. The smaller bands are re-inventing themselves, and probably are doing better.

[LifeDuringWartime]

40. i thought it was cancelled because

string cheese incident sucks. im sure none of you know them, but they're a fairly big jam band these days (not as big as phish, but very well known). i saw them at the palace theater in albany last year, and they were so boring. not a good band to headline anything.

i was actually excited to see lollapalooza, but with so few dates for it there was no way i'd pay money to drive 4 hours to go to a music festival without camping. sorry.

i think besides the economy, poor headlining choices and poor location choices contributed greatly.

[Delano]

41. Britney = Injured, Lollapalooza dead since '97

They tried to resurrect it last year, but Lolapalooza died in the mid 90's when alt-bands like Jane's Addiction fell from vogue.

The economy sucks IMO, but these two cancellations don't serve as really good indicators, IMO.

[rinsd]

50. I would tend to agree....

Just because Lollpalooza canceled doesn't mean much.

Have there been a rash of concert cancellatnions besides that one(and Britney)?

[JayS]

53. Ms Spears is starting to pursue more intellectual avenues now.

And one big lesson from Lollpalooza is to not put the accountants in charge! :)



From: http://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm

It is a little known fact, that Ms Spears is an expert in semiconductor physics. Not content with just singing and acting, in the following pages, she will guide you in the fundamentals of the vital laser components that have made it possible to hear her super music in a digital format.

[rinsd]

59. Thanks for the belly laugh.....

...but you owe me a keyboard!

[JayS]

61. I'm glad you enjoyed it! That site always cracks me up and...

...it does a good job on explaining physics too!

[Forkboy]

45. That's the beauty of the music I listen to

It's so unpopular that it's rarely more than 10-12 bucks to see the bands :)

[Quahog]

46. I suspect you are right, sadly

Man, I SO wanted to take my son to the Rush 30th anniversary tour this year. He is an aspiring drummer, and at 11 years old LOVES Rush and Zep and Santana, and has absolutely no interest in the stuff new stuff that's on radio. I figured since Bonham is dead, the next best thing would be for him to see Neil Peart in action in person.

But dammit, we just can't afford it. I can't spare the $150 for two decent seats at the Tweeter Center, plus parking, plus the refreshments he'll ask for... this is depressing. It's a combination for me of the inordinately high price of the tickets and the fact that we are struggling financially right now (our income is flat while our expenses rise). And it's really depressing as hell. When else am I going to get a chance to do something like this with my boy?

Guess I'll buy a concert dvd and call it a day.

[MuseRider]

47. Check out the other

side of the business and you will see that it has been happening for a while there too. Orchestras in this country are dying unless they already had a huge endowment. Our pay is dropping, concert seasons are being shortened so that means less pay as well. Audiences who normally attended all the season are now opting out of season tickets and we are forced to offer 2 fers. It is understandable that the things that make life good are often the easiest to drop when you have to eat but it is tragic for humanity IMO.

[Hubert Flottz]

48. Maybe we can import some of those killer rock bands from.......

India and Red China! Hook up some Korean effects petals and some Hong Kong amps to them strange guitars they play over there and give 'em a cowboy hat and you could prolly get the tickets down to $2.00 each! Lou Dobbs might not like it, but hell he voted for Bush, so he can't bitch!

The first concert I ever went to was Sam the Sham and it cost $1.50! It was one of the best shows I ever saw! Sam had a cast on one leg all the way up to his hip and he still danced and sang like a crazy man!

[Eloriel]

58. Sam the Sham

Now ThAT brings back memories. :-)

[HFishbine]

49. Yeah, well

When a $35 ticket becomes a $50 ticket after handling fees and "facilities charge" (whatever the fig that is), it seems like greed is what is killing the concert business. (Not to mention the $5 beers if you go.)

[rocktivity]

51. Bon Jovi, of all people, cancelled a concert in Albany

The official word is that they "wanted" to do the show, but can't for "reasons beyond their control." I figured it was some kind of legal snag because there's no way they couldn't sell out a venue less than a half day's drive from their home area. Now, I'm not so sure.

I think Perry's mistake was in announcing Lollapalooza so "late." There's definitely a lot more "shopping around going" on--people are If you live around NYC and have your Ozzfest tickets, for instance, are you going to go out of your way to see the Egdefest? It's featuring two or three Ozzfest bands!

:headbang:
rocknation

[leftofthedial]

52. true

spending on local independent music is way down too

[Karenina]

57. Indies

are the canaries in the mineshaft.

[adriennel]

54. frankly, the Lollapalooza line-up sucked

not the bands themselves necessarily, but Morrissey? Sonic Youth? Pixies? this kind of music was new and alternative when I was in high school...now I would have to take the day off of work, plus a one-act concert is a big deal to me now (ok, I'm old)

[txprog]

55. I will not spend $250. to hear Phil Collins sing "Groovy Kind of Love"

Hey, I love Phil, both in and out of Genesis. But I will not spend this kind of money for a pair of tickets to hear him play this and other of his schlocky songs that he WILL play. Half of that? Probably.

Been to two concerts in Dallas this summer, Aerosmith at $100 a ticket and Rush at $90. Both were well attended, about 12,000 at each I think. That's not bad. Though I'm not an Aerosmith fan (I took my 14-year old daughter who is) but am a big Rush fan, I feel like I got a lot for my money. Especially at Rush. 3+ hour set. Spectacular light and video show.

Of course, demoographics will bring out lots of folks for bands like this. Not the case for Lolopolooza.

[yolatengo]

62. furniture, too

As someone else mentioned, furniture is also an indicator. People say "well,
maybe next year we'll replace that ratty sofa; it's good enough for now" when
they don't have $$$ to spare.

My mom has been selling furniture for 20 yrs. She's very good at it (tops
in sales at her store for 8 straight years, even at age 64). She says she's
doing 'ok' but the store as a whole and other salespeople aren't. It's also
her worst year since '93.

Meanwhile, I paid $14 to see Led Zep in 1980. They were supposed
to start their North American Autumn Tour '80. My friend slept in line
to get tix. A few weeks later, in September, Bonham died, the tour
was cancelled and they officially broke up that winter. $14 to see
Led Zep. $75 to see Nickelback. According to my CPI calculator,
$14 in 1980 is equal to $31 in 2004. Hmmmm, I guess Nickelback
is more than twice as good as Zep! :eyes: Hell, I paid $17 to see
the Moody Blues (Stevie Ray Vaughn opened!) in 1983 or so and
thought that was highway robbery. Heh. Shit, I paid $5 to see REM
in Spring 1985 right before "Fables..." came out and got to talk to
Michael and Peter afterwards (doubt that would happen today!).

Yeah, artists don't bail on $$$ for silly reasons. They have the 'vig'
to pay back their record companies...

Bigby