[online.wsj.com]

I read that many great rock acts are cancelling shows and removing shows from their schedule. The economy still sucks big time and fans are complaining about expensive tickets, and many fans do not wish to pay even reasonably priced tickets with unemployment still near ten percent.


My wife and I will go to the next Stones concert but all of us need to realize that the next concert may not be complete sell-outs or near sellouts. When the Jonas Brothers have to cancel shows, something is very wrong.

I am suggesting that the Stones wait until 2011 or even later to begin a world tour. Read the above article for more information.

Well, that BBC article suggested there could be a tour "next year," which would be 2011, so....

Keep tickets low (50-70$)no fireworks, no automatic stage, no forty musicians on stage, no giant dolls, only Mick+Keith+Charlie+Ronnie playing rock'n'roll:sold out everywere!

They could ADD Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman and you wouldn't need anything else to have a great show.
Keep tickets low and give us the music...and another album...

The stones will sell out.. defenatly. I think people will realize that the next tour will be the last so there will probably be a @#$%& war for tickets.

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flilflam
[online.wsj.com]

I read that many great rock acts are cancelling shows and removing shows from their schedule. The economy still sucks big time and fans are complaining about expensive tickets, and many fans do not wish to pay even reasonably priced tickets with unemployment still near ten percent.


My wife and I will go to the next Stones concert but all of us need to realize that the next concert may not be complete sell-outs or near sellouts. When the Jonas Brothers have to cancel shows, something is very wrong.

I am suggesting that the Stones wait until 2011 or even later to begin a world tour. Read the above article for more information.

The last tour was not complete sellouts. They are fooling themselves if they plan on doing football stadiums again.

They are closing in on 70, is a tour even realistic?

I'm thinking the same thing georgeV, or at least the Stones Tuours as we know them. IF they do go back I thin kthat scaling things down would be their ONLY option, but I have my doubts.

[thepowergoats.com]

i don't think the collective egos of the rolling stones can fathom going on the road in a small-scale. especially if this is going to be the last tour, they will NEED to go out with a big bang and not a whimper. they will NEED fireworks and huge stages and other frills. some people still think they are the world's greatest rock and roll band (in the present tense) and the stones realize that and will exploit that to their financial gain.

20,000 arenas or smaller.
They'll probably offer some reasonably priced tix in the rafters
and then have a bunch of "Super Deluxe" tickets at a super deluxe price
for the mediocre - prime seats. (not unlike the multiple packages of the Exile re-issue)

Sold out (or close) only because people will view it as final tour whether they
promote it that way or not. That's also the only reason a bad economy will not
impact the Stones..and because they are the Stones.


IORR............but I like it!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-07-12 19:40 by sweet neo con.

If they make a concert for 20.000 peoples in Buenos Aires. That could be a massacre ¡¡
It's sad, but it's true.

They already flopped in their North-American Winter leg of ABB. Too cold and too expensive. They have learned from it, I suppose.

Flopped?
There were 2 shows not sold out (and in markets that were more than mature for Stones shows: Chicago and Boston) all the rest was a success.

Check IORR reviews

Plenty of half-empty stadia and arenas on the final European leg, though.

It could well be that they've miked the cash-cow dry.

Ticket pricing is indeed a pain these days. I have not been to a concert by a major rock act since fall 2004. It was hard, but CDs and mixtaping helped me over it. I've always been more of a mixtaper than a concertgoer anyway.

No idea whether throwing out the Azoff Irvings, Cohen Lyors, Iovine Jimmys and Davis Clives would help anyone's ticket prices going down, but reading about the TicketMaster LiveNation merger and their scalping businesses first made me iowhine, then bronf all over the place. I guess there is at least one guy laughing his Azoff over this.

I was invited to The Eagles concert at Soldier Field in Chicago 3 weeks ago. The entire west side upper deck was empty and covered with tarps. The stadium was only 2/3 full and they only played one show in Chicago. They have more album sales in the U.S. than the Stones. $225 ticket prices and $8 beers are getting old to watch a giant screen TV because that's the best view of the band.

I had a last minute chance for great seats to the non-sold out October 6, 2006 Stones show in Chicago. I am a die-hard Stones fan like most of you but it was freezing cold and I had seem them many times in that time period and just didn't need to again that soon. The $7 Double Door show was my favorite but I even surprised myself by turning down a chance to see the Stones even in a freezing stadium show for $300. I think it would hard for them to have another tour that has them going out with a bang unless there something memorable to see like Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor.

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marquess
Flopped?
There were 2 shows not sold out (and in markets that were more than mature for Stones shows: Chicago and Boston) all the rest was a success.

Check IORR reviews

thats simply not true, marquess. There were thousands of tickets available in many places, cut price deals being offered to shift unsold seats on 2 for 1 deals and a lot of 'tarping' to make venues look more sold out than they actually were. (eg 40,000 at Cardinals Stadium, Phoenix a 'sell out'? )

There's never been a Stones tour where tickets were easier to get than the last US tour and the European one that followed it. Its not a big deal really, selling out a venue isnt the be-all and end-all of everything. That was quite obvious on the last tour.

The recession has also made a big difference since 2006/2007 and the trend for ticket sales has spiralled downwards for pretty much everyone. And thats not going to improve if the Stones, a band whom pretty much everyone has had a chance to see by now, are going to keep demanding silly money for tickets. They get their guarantee anyway, whether they sell 10,000 or 50,000 tickets - but they might find that unless they approach things very differently in future, a lot of local promoters, working in an already depressed and struggling industry, might be a lot more reluctant to take a risk on them than they've done before.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-07-13 01:47 by Gazza.

What was really interesting in that article, was it saying Tom Petty is charging higher prices for "mojo" seats. Since he went on record to complain about the Stones "golden circle" seats around the No Security tour time I think it was....even if he is offering a cd download with the seats.

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flilflam
realize that the next concert may not be complete sell-outs or near sellouts

Cool, more space for me

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

It's just all bad timing.

The economy won't be in strong standing in 2011 or even 2012...the Stones are nearing 70...and the clock is definitely ticking. Mick probably knows that Keith cannot guarantee strong shows in another 2 year massive tour--and the longer they wait--the more of a risk Keith will be. But the economy is preventing them from going on tour this year. It all just sucks.

As mentioned, Mick can't bare to have the "last" tour go by without a final record being broken regarding ticket sales and all that crap. Considering he might have to wait a little longer for a good time to go on the road--it will most likely have be the last time.

Mick should just announce that the ABB tour was their final tour and go out with the big numbers he wanted rather than create a new tour purely for the act of topping their last tour.

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marquess
Flopped?
There were 2 shows not sold out (and in markets that were more than mature for Stones shows: Chicago and Boston) all the rest was a success.

Check IORR reviews

The last Seattle show was not even close to a sellout. I was there.

its funny how alot of abb shows were half empty but yet it is the stones highest grossing tour of their career

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melillo
its funny how alot of abb shows were half empty but yet it is the stones highest grossing tour of their career

Easy:

Steel Wheels U.S. Tour: 3.2 million tickets sold at $28 = $89.000,000
A Bigger Bang U.S Tour: 1.5 million tickets sold at $120 = $180.000,000

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georgelicks

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melillo
its funny how alot of abb shows were half empty but yet it is the stones highest grossing tour of their career

Easy:

Steel Wheels U.S. Tour: 3.2 million tickets sold at $28 = $89.000,000
A Bigger Bang U.S Tour: 1.5 million tickets sold at $120 = $180.000,000

ABB tour also had about 30 more shows.

The most successful tour (when adjusted for inflation) was probably the Voodoo Lounge tour.

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hot stuff
They could ADD Mick Taylor and Bill Wyman and you wouldn't need anything else to have a great show.
Keep tickets low and give us the music...and another album...

I really don't think people care if Bill Wyman tours with the group. He was the Invisible Rolling Stone.

And even if Mick Taylor tours, unless they have lots of new material, and a new album, I think their audience is going to dry up.

Why spend $250 on a concert, when you can spend $10 on a DVD Ladies And Gentlemen the Rolling Stones, and see them at their height?


Don't mainly younger people go to concerts these days? And I don't think young people generally care about the Stones any more. Now if they would tour with Madonna . . that is something that would be fun to see . . duets and such.

The amount of extra tickets they'd sell if taylor and Wyman came back would be minimal.

Added to the fact that one of them clearly isnt up to prolonged touring for health reasons and the other doesnt fly and has no interest in touring with them anyway, then its not even worth considering.

Younger people dont go to Stones shows for the simple reason that a) the band mean nothing to most of them and b) they're mostly priced out of it.

Festivals provide a far better value for money for most people. Why pay $500 to see one band when you can see about 50 bands for half that.

I didn't even bother watching them for free when they played the Super Bowl Half-time. I have great memories of them when I saw their concerts in 69 and 72, why would I want to spoil it by watching them when they are just going through the motions? And being sponsored by the Chase Freedom Visa Card?

2006 was well sold, but 2007 was by far not a sell-out tour.
Paris was about 75%, Lyon also had some empty parts in the stadium.
Most of the german shows weren't a sell out either.

The possibility I imagine is making residencies in big cities with 1 show every 2 days for about a week or even more.
That'd be a smaller tour : NYC, Chicago, LA, Washington DC, Miami, Dallas, Vegas, Tokyo, London, Paris, Munich, Cologne or Dortmund, Barcelona, Rotterdam ...
The problem is that they'd have to rent each arena for a long period

[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

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flilflam
(...) When the Jonas Brothers have to cancel shows, something is very wrong.

I don't agree- I think it calls for a party.

Because of my work I happen to GET a lot of tickets but else I wouldn't visit as much shows as I do. The ticketprices are a shame! Especially in the US and when you can buy tickets when they go on sale for 100 USD and then later online or even at the boxoffice for 50 bucks you feel like someone cheated you! Expect the Stones next tour to be around the 120-150 EURO range AT LEAST, that's a shame.