Pop-music concerts raked in $3.9 billion in North America last year, but the struggling U.S. economy is fanning fears among event promoters of a summer tumble and winter fallout.
Associated Press
Adam Duritz of Counting Crows will make a stop in Chula Vista for which discounted tickets will be available.
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“The impact of the economy on concerts is the biggest I've seen in my 17 years here,” said John Wojas, vice president of AEG Live San Diego. “We're seeing lower attendance at every show across the board, from Latin and adult-contemporary to alternative rock.”
Wojas, whose company books the San Diego Sports Arena, Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay, Valley View Casino and other venues, said he doesn't see things getting better until spring or next summer. “It's a real concern.”
Live Nation, the world's largest concert and live-events production company, is hoping for a quick fix. It's determined to lure money-pinched music fans now, at a time when national ticket prices average $62, an increase of 5.9 percent from 2007.
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Discount concert tickets
Here are the 11 concerts in San Diego County produced by Live Nation for which discounted, $10 tickets will be sold tomorrow only, “while supplies last.” The tickets will be available from 10 a.m. to midnight at all Ticketmaster outlets and by phone: (619) 220-TIXS. Tickets also can be bought at ticketmaster.com and livenation.com. The $10 ticket price does not include service fees, which will apply.
July 24: MercyMe, David Crowder Band, SDSU Open Air Theatre
July 26: “Comedians of Comedy,” featuring Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford, Spreckels Theatre
Aug. 14: Vans Warped Tour 2008, with Angels & Airwaves, The Academy Is, Gym Class Heroes and more, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 6: Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, The Expendables, SDSU Open Air Theatre
Sept. 12: Alejandro Fernandez, Cox Arena
Sept. 13: Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Augustana, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 24: The Raconteurs, The Kills, SDSU Open Air Theatre
Sept. 25: My Morning Jacket, SDSU Open Air Theatre
Sept. 27: Third Day, Switchfoot, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Jars of Clay, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 30: Santana, The Salvador Santana Band, Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Oct. 3: The Swell Season, Iron & Wine, SDSU Open Air Theatre
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For 14 hours tomorrow, Live Nation is offering discounted, $10 tickets to more than 40 upcoming concerts, including 11 in San Diego County, “while supplies last.” The Los Angeles-based company didn't say how many tickets would be available.
Live Nation yesterday cited the “escalating transportation costs” faced by audiences for its decision.
“We thought this would be a fun thing to do for our fans,” said Nick Masters, president of Live Nation/Southern California. “We tried it in another part of the country and it woke up the market to what shows were happening there.”
The 11 local shows feature such artists as Santana, Counting Crows, My Morning Jacket and Alejandro Fernandez (for whom currently available tickets range from $59.75 to $178.75 on livenation.com).
Local venues for the concerts include San Diego State University's Cox Arena and Open Air Theatre, downtown's Spreckels Theatre and Chula Vista's Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, which Live Nation owns.
Even tickets for the Vans Warped Tour date, which are priced at $24 each, are being slashed to $10.
Live Nation today will announce the 30 shows in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire for which it will also offer $10 tickets tomorrow.
“So far, in spite of the economic situation affecting the country, our ticket sales this year have been very good for all types of shows,” Live Nation's Masters said. “We are looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Others aren't.
“We have a looming disaster,” said Los Angeles entertainment attorney Bob Lefestz. “We have new acts nobody wants to see and old acts that have been touring, ad infinitum. Mix in $5-per-gallon gas and the results are predictable.”
But the live-music market can be volatile even in better economic times.
“We saw the bottom drop out of the concert market in 2004 – for no apparent reason – when all genres took a dive, and the worry is that's about to happen again,” said Gary Bongiovanni, publisher of Pollstar, the concert industry's leading trade publication.
“We have to be careful going forward, because a lot of forecasts predict that as bad as things are now, they are going to get worse. And a lot of the summer concert tours were planned earlier, when gas prices weren't as bad and the economy wasn't as dicey.”
One concert-goer, SDSU junior Faryar Borhani, 20, is already cautious.
“Last summer, I went to four or five concerts; this summer, I've only gone to one,” he said. “Because of ticket and gas prices going through the roof, I won't be going to any more.”
George Varga: (619) 293-2253; george.varga@uniontrib.com
