The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World are finishing their career in a truly sad way, Yes Keith's accident was part of it,but cancelling 2007 shows, not being able to sell out shows, not even in England, Ronnie in Rehab, Charlie with cancer,many long time true fans upset, by the lack of communication from the band, total uncertanty as to whether the shows that are suppossed to star in
July will actually happen, overpriced tickets, ect.
l mean this is a mess lets hope that somehow they will be able to pull it off at least for the sake of fans from Europe and the rest of the world.
But in reality, l think that we may not see the Rolling Stones as a band ever again. "What A Shame"

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

I have not heard anthing about the Stones quiting after this tour. As far as Keith's accident things happen and for Charlie thank god he has gotten a clean bill of health, and Roinnie no big deal he goes into rehab before every tour. The stones will be around for many years to come can't wait till the 50th anniversery tour due to start in 2012.

Rickster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have not heard anthing about the Stones quiting
> after this tour. As far as Keith's accident things
> happen and for Charlie thank god he has gotten a
> clean bill of health, and Roinnie no big deal he
> goes into rehab before every tour. The stones will
> be around for many years to come can't wait till
> the 50th anniversery tour due to start in 2012.

Rickster, l truly hope that you are right.

This what I have also thought, though not to that extent...
I think that cancelling the european shows was very bad for the band image..
I am also sad that they are not coming to Greece too.
My opinion is that -I am very sad to state this- they should retire in fame...
On the other hand, I still have faith in Keith beasty riffs...

Some people just don't see things till it hits them in the head....you know how traffic lights have yellow lights to tell you red is coming and it's time to stop. The traffic light in the Stones camp is yellow, red just around the corner.....

Lets just wait till we here from the band. IMO, this is NOT the way they will go out. How can they?They have ment soooo much to music, this just cant end this way. My heart truly goes out to all of Europe right now. BUT NEVER SAY NEVER

The Stones will NEVER Go out any other way than with a HUGE BANG! They aren't going away yet, they will NOT FADE AWAY quietly, they have just had to regroup. Unfortunately, Keith is HUMAN ( I know, hard to believe, but true!) and had an acident which impacted the European Tour but folks, Europe is SMALL in area and if it means moving about a bit to see them in concert, well I guess if it really matters enough, you WILL! In the USA we have to travel across country ALOT of times to see them in different venues and it's not a big deal, and we pay a hell of alot more for tickets! Stop whining and buy tickets to shows that you CAN get to, and if it means traveling a few hundred miles, oh well, they're worth it! if you don't happen to agree, then stay home!

Debra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > and we pay a hell of alot more for tickets!


Yeh, right. On-stage tix in the US were $250 max, whereas in the UK, they are the equivalent of SIX HUNDRED dollars!!!

MicksBrain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some people just don't see things till it hits
> them in the head....you know how traffic lights
> have yellow lights to tell you red is coming and
> it's time to stop. The traffic light in the Stones
> camp is yellow, red just around the corner.....


Mickbrain may be on to something. I think its the lack of a great studio album that has the light turning yellow. The Stones went through this right before Some Girls and Some Girls changed everything.

ABB stinks- excepts for a few songs- I just can't understand after 8 yeasr this is what we get. They have a ton of stuff in teh vaults. I would prefer soemthing like Tattoo You.

don't give me that ole one two, one two three four

Hmmm. People were saying all the same things on this board before the U.S. tour...and it ended up being the biggest tour in history with the Rolling Stones at NUMBER TWO on FORBES list of the biggest entertainers of 2005 (no small feat...they even came in ahead of billionaire Oprah Winfrey who is considered God incarnate here in the U. S.).

I've said it before and I'll say it again...if I had to judge from the posts on this board, I'd say that the Stones have the worst, whiniest fans of any band or performer in history. EVERY time they tour, it's the same old thing..."they're not selling out, the stadiums will be half-empty, the album stinks, they're done, the ticket prices are too high, what a sad way to end it..." Why SHOULD they do anything for the "hard-core" fans...no matter what they perform or record, there's nothing but complaining.

What a sad lot.

After seeing 10 shows this tour all I can say is get ready Europe to get your ROCKS OFF !!!! I'll see you in Milan.

The light may be turning yellow because 43 years have passed since they started.

It's not over until the fat lady sings. And Anita ain't much of a singer these days!

I am on my way to Milan. Suddenly posts are popping up HINTING that the rest of Europe this year will be cancelled. Where in the hell is this coming from? Other than fans on the boards, I have read nothing that theratens the remaining dates.

They are starting later than schedulled. They have handeled the PR of the cancelled shows abysmally, tho in the end I will bet the decisions were made on sound business ( read as the best way to loose the least money). I am sure the band members are not overjoyed with what has happened, but I also wish that they seemed a bit more concerned abou their audience.

However, just a few weeks ago, there were posters on alll three major boards assuring us that NONE OF THIS SUMMER WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. There were conspiracy theorists abounding implying Keith was nearly a vegetable ( Keith is the egg man koo koo ka joob). Others were telling us that because of his "brain surgury he was not going to get on a plane for 90 days. A handful had him hiding in New Zealand ( with Elvis, Marilyn and JFK?) and denied that he ever went home. Many of these people stated these things with absolute authority, they did not suspect, THEY KNEW, but of course could not reveal their sources. So my questions is this; when they take the final bow in Milan on July 11, will any of you step forward on this or any other board and say, "Excuse me, I was wrong, I guess the plan to play some more."

Europe small in Area as Debra wrotes?

????

Europe : 10,500'000 km2 / 704'525'000 inhabitants
USA: 9'600'000 km2 / 295'735'000 inhabitants

Don't forget that the iron curtain does not exist anymore since over 15 years.

Strange, but I don't care at all about sales. All I know is that I saw the Forum, and I saw Saitama, and they cut everyone else to pieces. That must count for something.

ROPENI Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World are
> finishing their career in a truly sad way, Yes
> Keith's accident was part of it,but cancelling
> 2007 shows, not being able to sell out shows, not
> even in England, Ronnie in Rehab, Charlie with
> cancer,many long time true fans upset, by the lack
> of communication from the band, total uncertanty
> as to whether the shows that are suppossed to star
> in
> July will actually happen, overpriced tickets,
> ect.
> l mean this is a mess lets hope that somehow they
> will be able to pull it off at least for the sake
> of fans from Europe and the rest of the world.
> But in reality, l think that we may not see the
> Rolling Stones as a band ever again. "What A
> Shame"



Do you talk like this in real life too, or just on the net?

For the most part, BEAST, tickets in Europe are alot cheaper than in the USA! England is typically priced to match USA prices. I can't imagine WHY onstage seats would be $600 but here they were OVER $350.

I've seen the Bigger Bang shows in Vegas and LA and I must say that those were amongst the very best I've attended (My first was Rdam 82).

Accidents will happen. Shows have been cancelled before. I remember Keith injuring his finger in the 90s where some shows were cancelled, including at least one Dutch show.

I don't believe cancelling 15 or more EU shows has anything to do with ticket sales but only with Keith's injury.

Debra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For the most part, BEAST, tickets in Europe are
> alot cheaper than in the USA! England is typically
> priced to match USA prices.

comparing prices from country to country is a pretty irrelevant statistic if you dont compare wages as well. A $450 ticket for someone in New York may be an expensive night out. In some countries its a couple of weeks salary!

I personally DONT find the ticket prices in continental Europe THAT expensive (although in the UK theyre scandalous - plus they decided to make the shows all-seated solely in order to hike the prices up).

However, I think what has put so many people off from buying them is the fact that in many case theyre around DOUBLE what they were in 2003. Even if people can afford that with a bit of belt-tightening, theres certainly a feeling that its an unreasonable price hike in the space of three years - which is why so many people voted with their wallets and stayed home.

The argument many people use when justifying ticket prices is that "they price them according to what the market will bear". In this case, they have quite obviously severely misjudged the market and the public's acceptance of these price hikes - especially when you see the slow sales in two countries which were until a couple of years ago generally accepted as being the most pro-Stones markets in Europe - Holland and Germany. In late 1997, the Stones announced shows at the Amsterdam arena and tickets sold so fast (250,000 in 3 hours) they had to play five shows - they added another show later that summer in the Hague in front of another 80,000. Now they cant fill one night in the same stadium in Amsterdam. Quite a change and its not that hard to see why.

At the end of the day, with ticket prices that you would normally expect to pay for a top act, the Stones could have sold out every stadium in Europe this summer. I have no doubt about that. People go to a Stones show and enjoy it and will generally want to come back. However, by trying to transfer the same pricing formula from the US tour to other overestimating the gullibility of the general public for whom the Stones arent as big a 'way of life' as the rest of us.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-29 15:27 by Gazza.

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
A $450 ticket for someone in New
> York may be an expensive night out. In some
> countries its a couple of weeks salary!
>

and china (where they played earlier this year) it's the average person's yearly salary! it was nice to see them thinking of their "chinese fans," wasn't it?

Yeah, those things sound always very dramatic if you compare them.
But you have to take the exchange rates and the costs of living into account. Then you'll see that Chinese people are not that incredibly poor. Still very poor compared to US/Europe, but it's not as bad as it seems.

Also if you look at statistics that also take into account the purchasing power and the GDP per capita, you will see that many European countries are in fact "richer" than the US.

So, I think that prices are higher in the US because that's the price people are used too. That acceptable price is simply lower in Europe.


Belgrade-Bucharest-Budapest-Brno



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-29 15:34 by Lorenz.

Anyway, saying they're quitting is just sheer speculation.

true Lorenz - plus Stones concert audiences in America are also in general older than in other markets, and therefore are more likely to have a larger level of disposable income



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-29 16:16 by Gazza.

Plus greater income differences over there.
Probably a great load of tenth or hundreds of millions
that cant afford to see a Stones show, even in the US of A.

Debra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> .......... and it's not a big deal, and we pay a hell of alot more for
> tickets!

Perhaps Debra my dear you're referring to those $350 tickets for the Albany/NY show that you were endeavouring to sell for ................. what was it now that you were asking for them ? Do please remind us !

And as Beast has pointed out, 600 is a larger figure than 250, and $600 plus is what ONSTAGe tickets are priced at over here. Admittedly, other tickets in UK/Europe do not appear to have reached the dizzy heights of $450, which was the face value of a large proportion of the States shows' tickets.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-30 16:22 by paulywaul.

LONG LIVE THE ROLLING STONES!

PAULYWAUL please do not take my words out of context! The " not a big deal" was in reference to distance travelled, not ticket price! I am not a FAN of paying $450 per ticket and I have lots of company on that point. As Gazza pointed out, the hard core fans feel the Stones are a lifestyle, a huge part of our lives but for the general casual fan, the importance level drops considerably!

um this is the stones were talking about. they dont do anything with a wimper.

Some Girl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ROPENI Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World
> are
> > finishing their career in a truly sad way, Yes
> > Keith's accident was part of it,but cancelling
> > 2007 shows, not being able to sell out shows,
> not
> > even in England, Ronnie in Rehab, Charlie with
> > cancer,many long time true fans upset, by the
> lack
> > of communication from the band, total
> uncertanty
> > as to whether the shows that are suppossed to
> star
> > in
> > July will actually happen, overpriced tickets,
> > ect.
> > l mean this is a mess lets hope that somehow
> they
> > will be able to pull it off at least for the
> sake
> > of fans from Europe and the rest of the world.
> > But in reality, l think that we may not see the
> > Rolling Stones as a band ever again. "What A
> > Shame"
>
>
>
> Do you talk like this in real life too, or just on
> the net

Some Girl, whats your point?

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"