Summer concert season is promising
Although CD sales have declined in recent years, the concert industry has soared. Touring revenues in North America hit an estimated $2.5 billion last year -- an all-time high for the fifth consecutive year and nearly 20 percent more than the 2002 peak, according to the trade magazine Pollstar.
With the summer concert season on the horizon, common sense might dictate that this year would see a drop, as top-grossing acts such as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Paul McCartney, and the Billy Joel/Elton John double bill are not touring.
But optimism still reigns among promoters, agents, and venue operators, who are pinning their hopes on summer tours by Madonna, Prince, Christina Aguilera, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, John Mayer, Kenny Chesney, Incubus, Norah Jones, Rush, Dave Matthews Band, a Sting/Annie Lennox bill, Snoop Dogg, probably Eric Clapton, and possibly Simon & Garfunkel again.
"The business has been tremendously resilient," says Richard Krezwick, president of the FleetCenter. "Every year we question how the industry is going to have a great year, but the inventory is always there."
"I'm more optimistic than I usually am," says Dave Marsden, who books many of the large arena and amphitheater shows for the Boston office of Clear Channel Entertainment. "The big shows are doing fantastic, and a lot of non-superstar shows are doing great." He gave Rod Stewart's recent FleetCenter sellout as an example.
High ticket prices remain a concern for fans and promoters -- which explains why some of the top-earning acts are going indoors. Acts can make more money in arenas because balcony seats command a higher price than lawn seats at an amphitheater. "You can't charge $125 to sit on a piece of grass," says John Peters of MassConcerts, Clear Channel's chief rival in the Boston area.
One act going inside is Sarah McLachlan, who plays the Worcester Centrum Centre Aug. 14. The Centrum also might land Madonna ("We're in the hunt," says Centrum general manager Sandy Dunn), partly because the FleetCenter will be tied up several weeks this summer with the Democratic National Convention preparation and festivities. "The Convention may be good business for the FleetCenter, but we hope we can get a show or two that they might have had," Dunn says.
Stadium tours appear to be slim, though there is talk of a Toby Keith show at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough late this summer and of Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band at Fenway Park for two shows. Buffett has said he really wants to do them if he can secure the proper permits, as Springsteen did last year.
The Tweeter Center should be hopping again -- Ozzfest, Britney Spears, Rod Stewart, and No Doubt with blink-182 are already on sale, and look for Sting, Fleetwood Mac, Linkin Park with Snoop Dogg and Korn, Aguilera, Matthews, and Lollapalooza. FleetBoston Pavilion will be busy, with Dido and expected dates with Jones, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, and the Gipsy Kings. And the South Shore Music Circus and Cape Cod Melody Tent will be humming, with Linda Ronstadt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tony Bennett, Jonny Lang, the Doobie Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Vince Gill, and George Thorogood & the Destroyers, among others.
"A lot of acts are touring. And we continue to see many acts playing for us for the first time," says Vince Longo, general manager of the Music Circus and the Melody Tent.
"Barring the unforeseen, I think it's going to be a healthy concert summer," says Rob Light, a managing partner of the giant Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles, which books acts from Sting to Barbra Streisand. "The economy is OK, and I think the quality of the packages is going to make it a good summer. Hall & Oates and Michael McDonald are touring together. . . . I think the Sting/Annie Lennox package is going to blow people's minds."
There's been speculation heavyweights such as U2 and Pink Floyd might tour this year, but no plans have been made. There's also no whisper of Springsteen, the Who (which played two Tweeter dates last year), or Bon Jovi, which drew 47,000 fans to Gillette Stadium last summer. And don't look for Metallica or the Eagles, both of which played last year.
Though most promoters are confident that this season could rival last year's record pace, Peters of MassConcerts is cautious. "There are not a lot of super-big acts out there," he says. And of the overall ticket grosses registered by Pollstar, he says, "Don't forget that a Rolling Stones tour could be 10 percent of the ticket volume in a year. That really puts it over the top."
But the sheer volume of acts should be impressive. Other performers include Gloria Estefan, Yanni, Jessica Simpson/
Nick Lachey, and Dashboard Confessional. Dashboard Confessional will play Lowell's Tsongas Arena, a 7,000-seat venue that has averaged close to 20 shows a year for the past three years (it had only 18 in its first two years combined). "This phase of my life has been selling records . . . but maybe I would have been better off in the touring business," Danny Goldberg, president of Artemis Records, says. "Despite video games and shopping malls and so many other distractions, there's a certain time when people just want to hear live music."
Most encouraging for the touring business is not just the past two years' record-setting revenues, but the fact that overall attendance is up as well. When ticket prices started to rise in the '90s, attendance began to dip, but that trend has turned around. Some acts have even cut their ticket prices. And the Tweeter Center is now offering some $10 lawn seats.
"Last year was a record at the Tweeter Center in terms of the gross, but also in terms of the average tickets sold per show," Marsden says. "We averaged over 14,000 people per show [capacity is 19,900], which we'd never done before. That was big news for us -- and I think this summer will be similar." 