With tickets going on sale for such big names as Madonna, Pearl Jam, Rascal Flatts, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pollstar tries to predict summer ticket sales. Unfortunately, the view is too foggy from this far out.
"It's a little early to say," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry magazine, Pollstar, "but the primary difference (from last summer) is that we don't have the kind of huge attractions we saw then, like U2, and the Stones, and (Paul) McCartney. There are plenty of acts out there touring, but the only one that would border on the kind of attention those acts got, media-wise, is Madonna."
Stories like this seem to be at odds with the goals of the concert industry: namely to create more big-ticket arena filling shows. While the days of big-arena rock may be winding down (due as much to the fact that newer artists don't like the places, as to sky-high ticket prices), I can only hope potential concert-goers aren't reading these articles and feeling like the only bands worth paying for every year are Rolling Stones and U2.
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When I look at the acts listed above, they all seem, well, old. It might be interesting to imagine what newer bands might eventually ascend to arena status, if they stay successful long enough and their fans grow into larger incomes. Are we going to see Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party arena shows in ten years? As you say, newer acts don't like arenas, so maybe the concept will be extinct soon. Will anyone other than boomers and U2 fans miss it?
It's not only interesting, it's essential to the survivial of this industry. The older acts are fading away and the last ten years should have been devoted to developing younger acts, but agents, promoters, and venues were too busy riding that baby boomer revival wave. Now they are scrambling to adequately package a sea of young bands and coming up short. The only young band that they can truly get behind is Coldplay.
It's looking like festivals and large clubs are going to emerge as preferred venues for the next generation, much to the chagrin of the big houses. But it's important to remember that arena rock was only a few decades. It was a bit foolhardy to put so many eggs in that basket without making sure that the arena rockers would always be there to fill seats.
Do you think it's possible to actively "develop" and act to the point of arena shows? That seems to imply that it's simply a matter of audience size. Even if some of these young bands eventually built up a mass audience, other than Coldplay, I can't think of one with the kind of show and stage presence to fill an arena, visually and sonically speaking. I can't imagine a Bloc Party concert with an elaborate computerized light show, jumbotrons, and multi-level stage platforms. Is it possible that a certain kind of arena-ready music just doesn't exist anymore? Or do you think that a steadily growing audience eventually puches a band to arenas whether they like it or not?
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