New trends in concert venues?

[ForeverAutumn]

I was talking to BarryL yesterday about a few shows that are coming to town and the venue choices for these shows.

I've noticed a trend of bands no longer playing Toronto venues but instead choosing venues outside of the big city. For example, Alice Cooper is playing shows in three cities (in different directions) that are each about 45min - hour drive outside T.O. instead of one night at a larger venue in T.O. Great Big Sea (who have sold out 15,000 seat venues here) are doing the same thing. The Who are playing a large venue an hour away. This is becoming more common.

We were speculating that promoters are choosing these venues because they would be cheaper to rent. It used to be that bands lost money on tours to make it up on records sales. But nowadays bands don't make money on music sales, they make it on tours. So the bottom line on the cost of the tour becomes a much bigger issue.

Do any other RRers see this trend in their part of the world?

[PDN]

We strongly prefer attending concerts and performances outside the big cities out in the burbs and that is what we do. We're in central NJ and there are plenty of theaters and concert halls in the smaller cities throughout the state and even over into PA. So much easier and far less hassle. These include the McCarter Theater Princeton, State Theater in New Brunswick, NJ and Easton, PA, Keswick Theater in Glenside, PA, Community Theater in Morristown, NJ etc. Of course it all depends on how large an audience the performer attracts but we will not attend those humungous festivals and will avoid downtown NYC or Phila if we can help it.

[3-LockBox]

Depending on the act, smaller venues could be a lot less hassle for the audience...maybe the a$$holes will stay home if the seating is more intimate and the prices are high. Besides, at today's ticket prices, who can still fill those big venues?

[ForeverAutumn]

Depending on the act, smaller venues could be a lot less hassle for the audience...maybe the a$$holes will stay home if the seating is more intimate and the prices are high. Besides, at today's ticket prices, who can still fill those big venues?


I would agree with you if ticket prices were high, but they're usually lower in these venues. Blue Rodeo plays a 15,000 seat outdoor venue in Toronto every summer. Tickets average about $80 each. We're seeing them in a couple of weeks at a small hockey arena east of Toronto, that holds a couple of thousand people. Tickets are only $42 each. I think that the place will be filled with more a$$holes because of the lower prices. I know that we wouldn't be going if tickets were $80...not that we're a$$holes. ;) Of course the sound will probably suck in there.

But you may be onto something with your comment about filling the larger venues. Lower rental cost = lower ticket prices = more tickets sold, perhaps. It may be that somebody finally realized that people don't want to, or can't, pay $100 a ticket.

[3-LockBox]

I haven't been to a big concert in years - not in an arena anyway. I think I paid $50 for the monsters of rock tour back in '88(89?), and that was VH, Scorps, Metallica, and Kingdom Come under one roof. I paid $20 to see Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time tour. Sure, Blue Rodeo in a small venue for $42 is a good deal, but I'm not about to take out a second mortgage to see Genesis, The Stones, or even Led Zeppelin.

I think that the large arenas and huge crowds gave the big collection of social misfits a false sense of anonimity, you know...the mob mentallity. Klaus Mein gets nailed in the throat with a shoe, and while some may repel from such behavior, there were those who were jealous they didn't think of it first. Hell, I've heard stories of that kinda behavior in a Madonna concert! I think small venues tame that mob mentallity a bit. Sure, there's still a jerk or two everywhere you go, but not hords of them.