VH ticket sales

[danielc]

I was wondering how did the Van Hagar tour go in '04 as far as ticket sales? Another thing is that the tickets are so freakin' high. I paid $350 for mine and my wife's tickets which are on the lower level. The cheap tickets-which were $50 ea sold out b4 we could get them. And how the hell does Hannah Montana out sell VH?

[PlexiBrown]

I was wondering how did the Van Hagar tour go in '04 as far as ticket sales?

Most arenas were a little over half full.

[Greenbuds]

Here's a sampling of news stories from 2004 Van Hagar reunion:

http://www.yahoo.com/

Forum staff reports, The Forum
Published Tuesday, November 30, 2004


The Halloween Van Halen concert proved to be a frightful event for the
Fargodome.

Not only did the show not generate any money for the dome, it ended up
costing the facility $25,000 to pull off. That money was paid to the
promoter, Joe Fletcher Presents, to offset his loss.

Fargodome General Manager Rob Sobolik said the promoter, who fronted the
money to bring the act to the dome, will lose about $250,000 on the dismally
attended concert.

The $25,000 came from an event promotion fund in the 2004 dome budget.

"It (the concert) just didn't work," Sobolik said at a Fargo Dome Authority
meeting Monday night. "I learned a lesson about what people are willing to
pay for a ticket."

Van Halen tickets ranged from $40 to $84.50. Ticket prices are set by the
promoter and the act. The Fargodome even tried slashing ticket prices for a
short time period, but that didn't do much for overall sales. The Van Halen
concert had 4,618 paid attendees.(It seats 27,900)

Despite the disappointment, the Fargodome still had a strong October with
concerts like the Gaither Homecoming, Alabama and Rain.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=1870374

5/15/04
Van Halen Tickets Still Available

Tickets for the Van Halen concert went on sale Saturday morning. But just
like the election, turn out was surprisingly low.

There are many seats still available for the concert. Prices are $92.50 and
$62.50.

http://www.indystar.com/

Concert promoters play let's make a deal
To drum up business, several shows discount tickets.

July may be the busiest month of the year for live music, and concert
promoters really would like to see you at one of their shows.

Deals for customers are coming fast and furious as some of music's
biggest names struggle to sell a profitable amount of tickets.

But the aggressiveness to fill the venue for Van Halen's current reunion
tour may be unmatched.

Tickets for the band's Thursday show at Verizon went on sale May 8 for
$92.50 in the pavilion and $40.50 on the lawn.

On June 3, Clear Channel discounted lawn seating to $25, with all parking
and ticket service fees included. A $10 food voucher also is
part of the deal.

Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of concert industry magazine Pollstar,
wasn't surprised by the move.

The Van Halen offer, Bongiovanni says, draws attention as an extreme
bargain.


"Van Halen could be the poster boys for blockbusters gone bust." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


"Some huge tours are out there. Madonna is not coming here, but her shows
are selling out and pulling down $2 million a night. Prince is the other
tour this year with a string of sellouts (including one sold out and one
nearly sold out at the Pepsi Center), bringing him nearly $1 million a
night. But even the heavily touted Van Halen reunion show has been on sale
for weeks, yet fans can still get tickets in the lower bowl of the Pepsi
Center, 14 rows from the stage. "We may well see a few more tour
cancellations before the summer is over," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of
Pollstar magazine." - Rocky Mountain News


"Some big tours are doing great, Madonna, Prince and Simon & Garfunkel,"
says Peter Grosslight, worldwide head of music for the William Morris
Agency. But he adds that many traditionally strong shed artists are
"drastically underperforming." Several other tours are experiencing
less-than-projected sales, including treks by such popular acts as the Dead,
Incubus, Dave Matthews Band, Gloria Estefan, Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Kiss
and Norah Jones, according to sources." - Billboard

Billboard shows only 4 sellouts for the first 50 concerts:

http://www.billboard.com/billboard/images/pdf/2004_Billboard_Top_25_Tours.pdf

And the clincher -
"Van Halen could not sell enough tickets to meet the high guaranteed
payments the band demanded and lost money for promoters." - Rolling Stone magazine



---

"I think Roth’s fucking washed. I feel bad for Roth, 'cause I don't think he has a career anymore. Unfortunately, he never crossed over as an artist, he was always a showman. Now, he has to be a clown his whole life or be a gossip monster, that's why he's writing that book: to sell dirt. If Dave comes back, it's going to be the ugliest reunion in the history of rock 'n' roll. I mean, with “Running With the Devil” and “Jump,” people would have been happy for about twenty minutes. But then they would have said, “Okay, what about ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’? What about ‘Dreams’?” - Sammy Hagar

"You know what's gonna happen, Howard? The shows are gonna go out. They're gonna sell out in five minutes, we're gonna go out and be the greatest rock-n-roll band in the world, and everybody's just gonna go, 'Wow. No wonder they're doing it. It's great.'" - Sammy Hagar

[danielc]

Good stuff. I didn't realize it was that bad. Thanks for the info. 5 stars 4 u!

[RogueHorseman]

[i]...people would have been happy for about twenty minutes. But then they would have said, “Okay, what about ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’? What about ‘Dreams’?” - Sammy Hagar

*wait for it*

[RogueHorseman]

[i]...people would have been happy for about twenty minutes. But then they would have said, “Okay, what about ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’? What about ‘Dreams’?” - Sammy Hagar

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

[m_dixon1984]

Touring around a single like Throw Up My Breakfast...what would you expect??

M

[Jim Shetterlini]

Not sticking up for VAN GAYGAR, but Iwent to 4 shows: MSP, Omaha and both nights in Tucson (last 2 of the tour) and they were minimum 90% full..... That being said I guess I also got to see 2 or 3 nights of Ed playing pretty well especially MSP, he was spot on that night as well as Omaha... but Tucson the last night was absolutely terrible. Of course it sucked ass when it came to vocals all 4 nights.

[binnie]

Originally posted by PlexiBrown
Most arenas were a little over half full.

It's good to see that most people have a modicum of taste :D