$150 to see Roger Waters...

[ForeverAutumn]

I don't think so. Even if he is going to play the whole Dark Side of the Moon.

He can kiss the dark side of my moon before I pay that kind of dough to see him.

(Gawd I wish I were a guy sometimes...that was such an unladylike thing to say ).

[Duds]

What is going on these days? I just dont get it. Gilmour wanted $175 a ticket. Maybe ticket prices go hand in hand with the price of a barrel of oil?

I don't think so. Even if he is going to play the whole Dark Side of the Moon.

He can kiss the dark side of my moon before I pay that kind of dough to see him.

(Gawd I wish I were a guy sometimes...that was such an unladylike thing to say ).

[GMichael]

I don't think so. Even if he is going to play the whole Dark Side of the Moon.

He can kiss the dark side of my moon before I pay that kind of dough to see him.

(Gawd I wish I were a guy sometimes...that was such an unladylike thing to say ).

Sure. I agree. He can kiss my darkness too. The stupid thing is that it will sell out anyhow.

You're still a lady to me. Nothing wrong with speaking your mind. But if you like, we'll ask Sir TTT to dub you as an honorary man for a day so you can let it all out.

[JohnMichael]

That explains why I go to fewer rock concerts and go to more local symphony performances.

[BradH]

He can kiss the dark side of my moon before I pay that kind of dough to see him.

Now that's funny!

Waters at $150. Gilmour at $175. And they're hardly the only ones. It's great isn't it? You pay all that money to see artists pull down a major load from the nearest power plant to sing songs about the evils of capitalism and how man is raping the planet. HAHAHAHA!

Rock is dead.

NP: Brand X - Is There Anything About?

[Dusty Chalk]

That explains why I go to fewer rock concerts and go to more local symphony performances.

Symphonic performances are cheaper? Not where I'm from...

[3-LockBox]

He can kiss the dark side of my moon before I pay that kind of dough to see him.

[ForeverAutumn]

The stupid thing is that it will sell out anyhow.

Maybe. We'll see. I think that people are getting tired of pay astronomical prices for concerts. Last summer, The Rolling Stones tried to get $400 a seat for floors at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. On the day of the show, 3/4 of those seats were still available.

Now $150 is far from $400, but I think that in terms of mass popularity, Roger Waters is far from The Rolling Stones.

It's too bad. I might have considered going if I could get good seats for a third of that price.

[GMichael]

Maybe. We'll see. I think that people are getting tired of pay astronomical prices for concerts. Last summer, The Rolling Stones tried to get $400 a seat for floors at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. On the day of the show, 3/4 of those seats were still available.

Now $150 is far from $400, but I think that in terms of mass popularity, Roger Waters is far from The Rolling Stones.

It's too bad. I might have considered going if I could get good seats for a third of that price.

It's a good thing I got that concert going thing out of my system back when tickets were $8 to $12 each. The most I ever paid was $25 and I thought that was over the top back then.

Now they can all just... Well... you said it best. I can't top that.

[Dave_G]

I like RW a lot, too, but those prices are way too high for my wallet.

Hell, Kansas is playing here in a few weeks and I can get 2 tickets for 100 beans and I'm hedging on that even!

Dave

[richmon]

Was reading an article in Rolling Stone that with record sales being in a funk, bands like U2, Stones, McCartney, Aerosmith etc are finding the big bucks are to be made in touring, not record sales.

The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour led all other concert tours in 2005 with $162 million in gross receipts.
The average Stones ticket was $133.98. The tour sold around 1.2 million tickets.

U2 generated the second most gross receipts, $138.9 million, with an average ticket price of $96.92. The Irish rockers' Vertigo 2005 tour sold the most tickets, around 1.4 million

McCartney's tour earned $77.3 million in gross receipts, with the average ticket selling for $135.46. The tour sold around 570,000 tickets.

Ka ching - Rodger and David are just riding the gravey train.
Did anyone else see Gilmour on Jay Leno last week? He didn't look like he enjoyed performing at all.

No thanks on these megabuck geezer cashing in tours - $105 for 10 bands Nearfest is more to my liking.

[BradH]

The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour led all other concert tours in 2005 with $162 million in gross receipts.

I'd be curious to see what everyone's net is after paying for those huge tours, especially U2. My guess would be less than half the gross. Still not bad. My beef is that some of these guys sell themselves as populists when, in reality, they're increasingly becoming an elitist endeavour.

[richmon]

I'd be curious to see what everyone's net is after paying for those huge tours, especially U2. My guess would be less than half the gross. Still not bad.

Doesn't Budwiser, and all the other concert sponsers defray a big piece of the tour cost?
During Gilmour's Leno appearance, Toyota banners were all around the stage, surely they paid dearly for that.

Apparently the merchandise receipts also add a few cool mil to the till. You can get a coffee mug with the stones tongue for $15, a mouse pad for $20 etc etc. Not to mention the boost it gives to the back catalog sales.
Wonder what U2 gets for a knockoff pair of those Bono shades?

[BradH]

Doesn't Budwiser, and all the other concert sponsers defray a big piece of the tour cost?

That's what they say. Some people say that only drives the price higher but I'm not entirely sure I buy that. Touring can still be expensive as hell if you're hauling a big set like U2 or the Stones.

I don't mind the coffee mugs and tour programs. At least it's optional unlike the "conveniance fee". I guess they charge it because it's convenient.

I also don't mind anyone making money from music as long as they don't give me that "brotherhood of man" bs while security is guarding the vaunted VIP seats. Then you get guys like Waters who rail relentlessly against Western society while jacking his ticket prices just under the "pain threshold", one of the oldest standard practices in capitalism.

[Finch Platte]

Every time I read it it, I see: I'd rather stay here with all the madmen,
than penish with the sadmen roaming free.

Did you ever get the CDs I sent you? I musta sent 'em 2 weeks ago at least.

fp

[ForeverAutumn]

Every time I read it it, I see: I'd rather stay here with all the madmen,
than penish with the sadmen roaming free.

Did you ever get the CDs I sent you? I musta sent 'em 2 weeks ago at least.

fp

I think that you need glasses my friend. Either that or a visit with Dr. Freud. Maybe you're just suffering from penish envy.

No, I haven't received any CDs yet. But now that I know you've sent something, I'm looking forward to whatever it is. I've been listening to and enjoying Dogs Die in Hot Cars a lot lately. A rec that I can thank you for.

What else you been listening to lately? Have you checked out Matchbook Romance, Voices? Thats one that you might like. Dusty described it as Hard Pop and I think that's a pretty good description.

[Finch Platte]

NP: Brand X - Is There Anything About?

Brand X. And I thought I was the only one...

fp

[Troy]

He can kiss the dark side of my moon before I pay that kind of dough to see him.

There is no dark side of my moon, matter of fact it's all dark . . .

[Troy]

Now that's funny!

Waters at $150. Gilmour at $175. And they're hardly the only ones. It's great isn't it? You pay all that money to see artists pull down a major load from the nearest power plant to sing songs about the evils of capitalism and how man is raping the planet. HAHAHAHA!

Rock is dead.

LOL Too true.

[Troy]

Sooooo . . . how come he's not touring his new opera?

Brad's right, this guy is SO out of touch with his fans and the public at large.

[BradH]

Brad's right, this guy is SO out of touch with his fans and the public at large.

Maybe The Wall was about something he never intended to tear down.

Here's my UTOR (Unified Theory of Roger): Starting with Dark Side of the Moon, he began a recurring cycle of big-stage-production-rock-tour, followed by post-tour egalitarian guilt over the money involved, followed by therapeutic, angst-ridden studio project, followed by big-stage-production-rock-tour, followed by...well, you get the picture. Rinse and repeat. His disdain for the fans grew to the point on the Animals tour that he lured one audience member close to the stage with smiles and groovy rock star posturing - then he spat on him. Roger refers to this as his "breakdown". That's right, he saw himself as the victim. What's more, he saw everybody as the victim. Gilmour, workmanlike as ever, said he didn't notice anything special about the show. The bootleg I have of that night doesn't markedly differ from the rest of the North American tour. But Roger used that incident as creative fuel to write about The Wall between the performer and the audience. Then, of course, they mounted a huge stage production. Irony in action, performance as commentary on performance. Rinse and repeat. Waters used the rock star Pink to reveal his own modus operandi. The Wall wasn't just about The Wall, it was an expose on how Waters mines his own creativity. It's a self-referencing blueprint somewhat like The Who singing about a quadrophiliac mod as metaphor for The Who.

The Wall. Whiney? Pompous? Self-absorbed? Pretentious? The ultimate whine-fest of the Boomer rock era? Yup. Is that a bad thing? Some critics have said the same about DSotM, which I think is PF's masterpiece - musically and lyrically. Oh, well, all true art is self-indulgent, anyway. Otherwise, it's dry and utilitarian. Besides, you can dance to parts of The Wall.

Bottom line: I don't mind irony. Townshend and Steely Dan made good work of it. But Waters took it to gross excess. "Look at me, I'm suffering because I feel guilty because you're paying to see me suffer." We've seen this circular, hermetically sealed logic before in his comments about Gilmour's songwriting skills. It's a gift, you see. You've either got it (like Rog) or you don't (like Dave). If you're not a songwriter, you can't start. And if you can't start then you're not a songwriter. If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

The point is, we may be seeing some uptight, twisted thought processes that make Robert Fripp's numerology obsession look like a good time. But hey, Roger is working it out. You can even pay to watch him do it. (I won't.) And if the whole thing seems contradictory and hypocritical, just remember: the fans are part of Roger's art project, they're part of the irony. In fact, without you, the fan, there can't be a wall.

[Dusty Chalk]

Damn. Just...damn.

Don't agree with the "victim" part. Yes, he called it a breakdown, but at least he recognized that he had done wrong (and we all know that the first step in fixing a problem is recognizing it).

[Troy]

Look at Brad with the big brain . . . !

I can't fault a word of it.

[BradH]

Look at Brad with the big brain . . . !

"Hey, babe, lemme tell ya another theory.

Hey...HEY, WAKE UP!!"

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Maybe The Wall was about something he never intended to tear down.

Here's my UTOR (Unified Theory of Roger): Starting with Dark Side of the Moon, he began a recurring cycle of big-stage-production-rock-tour, followed by post-tour egalitarian guilt over the money involved, followed by therapeutic, angst-ridden studio project, followed by big-stage-production-rock-tour, followed by...well, you get the picture. Rinse and repeat. His disdain for the fans grew to the point on the Animals tour that he lured one audience member close to the stage with smiles and groovy rock star posturing - then he spat on him. Roger refers to this as his "breakdown". That's right, he saw himself as the victim. What's more, he saw everybody as the victim. Gilmour, workmanlike as ever, said he didn't notice anything special about the show. The bootleg I have of that night doesn't markedly differ from the rest of the North American tour.

I have heard that the show to which you refer was in Montreal, is that true? I was at the show in Olympic stadium, and though I was waaayyy too far to see any spitting incident, he did stop in the middle of the accoustic guitar intro of "Wish You Were Here", to tell us to "shut the **** up, this is a quiet song."