Coachella Prioritizes Fans Who Go Whole Hog

(Via Desertsun.com) In order to ensure that fans looking to buy 3-day pass are prioritized, organizers of Coachella have discontinued sale of one-day tickets but won't say the event is officially sold out. With Red Hot Chili Peppers headlining Saturday Night and a Rage Against The Machine reunion planned for Sunday, tickets for individual nights were flying, so event planners claim they had to stop the flow.

Tickets for the full three-days are $249 and single-day tickets are going for $85 or $90 at the door. According to organizers, in past years even when the event was announced as sold-out tickets were still released at the door on the day-of.

What Else? More Changes at LN.

(Via PRNewswire) Everyone's fave concert promoters is delivering on their promise to focus more and more on the music. To this end they have reorganized North American Operations. Here are the main changes:

* Bruce Eskowitz (former President of Global Venues and Alliances) has been promoted to the newly created position of Chief Executive Officer - North American Music

* Live Nation's North American concert promotion, venue operation and sponsorship and alliances businesses are now all under a single division: North American Music

* Jason Garner (former COO, Amphitheatre Programming) has been promoted to the position of President of North American Concerts, replacing Charlie Walker, who left to take the helm of C3 Productions (which I reported about earlier today)

* Russell Wallach (former President of National Alliances) has been named President of Alliances, overseeing all national and local sponsorship activities.

* Don Watson (former VP of Operations at House of Blues) has been named Executive Vice President of House of Blues, overseeing the HOB-branded clubs and expansion.

* David Shuman has been named Executive Vice President of North American
finance.

* The Live Nation music business is now comprised of four major divisions:
(1) North American Music, led by Mr. Eskowitz
(2) International Music, led by Carl Pernow (International) and Paul Latham (UK)
(3) Global Touring, led by Arthur Fogel, who is also Chairman of Global Music
(4) Global Digital, led by Bryan Perez

As always, I am keeping an eye on the next steps...

BRIEF: Charles Attal Heats Up With Merger

While this week brought the unfortunate news of the closing of V2, the merger of Capitol and Virgin, and the uncertain news of changes at Live Nation, we also have the very exciting (but not all that surprising if you know the history of CAP) announcement that Charles Attal (producer of Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza) have joined forces with sports management company Capital Sports and Entertainment's music division to form C3 Presents. In addition to the two aforementioned (and top-grossing) festivals, they will also be producing a large country music festival.

While Charles Attal may not be my favorite promoter, I am excited about anything that gives Rapino and the gang some healthy competition.

Full article here.

BRIEF: Live Nation Partners with Live FM

In their further march towards world domination, Live Nation has now linked up with music social networking site, Last.fm (a website I still haven't figured out/don't understand the point of), to distribute concert information and links to ticket purchasing. The site will be using users' music preferences to deliver information about upcoming concerts by their favorite artists.

"Our objective is to make LiveNation.com the world's definitive online live music destination where fans can search for concerts, buy tickets and connect with other fans. Partnering with Last.fm is an important step in pursuing this goal," (says) Bryan Perez, Live Nation President of Digital Distribution.

Not much to say just yet except I hope that with the new partnership, Last.fm might be able to---at least--spiff up their site.

Full article here.

BRIEF: Franz Ferdinand's Kaparanos Tasting and Touring

Click here to listen to an NPR interview with Franz Ferdinand lead singer, Alex Kapranos, who recently released, Sound Bites, a compilation of his food reviews. The artist was commissioned last year by the Guardian newspaper to blog about the interesting and sometimes wacky meals (deadly Japanese blowfish, anyone?) he had whilst on the road. The book has received accolades for the thoughtful reviews and Kapranos' dry wit.

In his NY Times review, Dave Itzkoff even went so far as to jokingly query:

Why Kapranos continues to waste his time performing for crowds of ecstatic, devoted, nubile fans when he’s already found his true calling is anyone’s guess.

Festival Renaissance

(Via Monsters and Critics)

Following the trend enjoyed by--well, everyone else in the world- the US concert industry has decided to expand its focus on festivals. With the recent success of Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and many others, this sector has proven too profitable to ignore. According to the article, the big four festivals grossed a combined $40 million, and the Virgin Festival (which was held for the very first time only last year) grossed $3.5 million.

"There is a real market for an event built around a number of solid artists," (Peter) Luukko (of Philadelphia's Global Comcast) says. "I think we could put together events and have many artists, price it properly and go all day. I really feel there`s a market out there for that."

In addition to the aforementioned festivals, many other big events are planned for this year such as an AEG produced country-music festival on the Coachella grounds (AEG's Goldenvoice group produces Coachella), the second annual (Live Nation produced) Bamboozle festival, and possibly a festival on the grounds of Churchill Downs racetrack in Kentucky. The Churchill Downs space would come equipped with many of the facilities festial producers normally have to order in, such as toilets, food stands, and running water. These facilities are always a costly overhead and it is for this reason, and for reasons of stability that Boonnarroo producers , Superfly Productions, moved ahead this week with plans to purchase their own fairgrounds. According to a January 10th press release,

"We are really excited about making this investment," Superfly's Jonathan Mayers said. "It's an incredible property that can lend itself to many different kinds of events and gatherings. Our hope is that this will become one of the premier event sites in the world. We plan to work closely with all local officials as we determine what types of events will be a good match for this site. We are very open-minded about working with anyone interested in using the property," Mayers continued.

While no acts have been announced for this summer's Bonnarroo, the festival's first allotment of tickets sold out lightening fast in December. As Bonnarroo seems to be leading the festive pack, we can expect to see many other promoters following suit. More producers and promoters working hard to create truly great fan experiences can only be a good and FUN thing.

BRIEF: Preg Stefani Keeps Tourbus Rollin'

While countless rock and pop stars have woken up the morning after a show woozy and sick, it is usually due to a wild night of partying. In the case of pop-diva Gwen Stefani, her sickness in the morning was actual morning sickness as she discovered she was pregnant in the midst of a big tour. She decided to carry on undeterred and soon discovered the limits of jumping and gyrating with a (secret) bun in the oven.

"I would be seriously crying before I went onstage," she recalls. "I didn't know how I was going to get through the tour, putting on nine costume changes on a stage in front of 12,000 people every night. And I didn't want people to know (I was pregnant). I didn't want to become the Gwen Freak Circus Show -- 'Watch it grow onstage.'"



Full article here.

The Police Alert: Another Oldy but goody eyes touring

(Via ITV) According to a myriad of sources, it appears that 80's hitmakers, The Police, may be looking to reunite. 2007, will mark the 30th anniversary of their chart-topper, Roxanne, and according to their label and singer, Sting's, website, some sort of reunion will take place. However Sting is still uncertain as to the ""depth of the band's involvement". While the other players have been keen on a reunion, Sting (the most successful ofthe former members) has reportedly been reluctant. Will stay tuned....

BRIEF: Petty Words Recanted

After a stellar year touring (despite ticketing complications) in 2006, Tom Petty has decided to keep his options open for touring.

The singer was quite as saying:

"You never know how things are going to turn out, and I didn't see this year coming. Maybe next year will be even better."




Full article here.