{ Thursday, January 12, 2006 }
Insomniacs make for accomplished web surfers. I was up til 2 helping a friend with a Flickr problem, and then up til 6 unable to sleep, so I got cracking!!
• Through Hack a day I went back to Gavin Miller's snake robots site (that Paul told me about a couple years ago.) They're quite beautiful, I wish we had videos. Dr. Miller does other stuff too.
• On Cool Hunting I found Transmaterial
• And on Wonderland some lovely Post-it note Marios and Space Invaders a lunch room prankster puts up after everyone leaves to go back to work .
• Now wot's this here on Essays & Effluvia? The top-grossing shows of 2005?
1. U2 ($260M)
2. The Eagles ($117M)
3. Neil Diamond ($71M)
4. Kenny Chesney ($63M)
5. Sir Paul Mccartney ($60M)
6. Rod Stewart ($49M)
7. Elton John ($45.5M)
8. Dave Matthews Band ($45M)
9. Jimmy Buffett ($41M)
10. Green Day ($36.5M)
Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Most of the people on this list are senior citizens. I haven't a clue who Kenny Chesney is, but of the ones I recognize the only people on here under 40 (50?) are Green Day. And where are the women? Didn't Madonna tour? She's in her 50s, and so would qualify for this list. Gwen and Britney were having babies last year. Christina? I wish (I wish I wish) we'd gotten a photo of that headline that was in the Globe and Mail: EAGLES FIGHT TO STAY RELEVANT. Oh it made us laugh.
What do you think? Why are Baby Boomers the only ones having big shows? Don't kids these days go to concerts? Is the audience for stadium spectaculars dwindling? Is everyone making their own MP3 and uploading them to MySpace, having concerts in their basement?
OK so someone told me this story. They're out at Bungalow 8 or somewhere and they're having drinks and suddenly this old lady walks in and everybody in the place goes wild! The old lady goes up to the VIP lounge and everyone goes swarming back there and everyone's craning their necks trying to see, and so my friend wonders Who is this old lady?, so she gets up to peek...and it's Mick Jagger.
LINK | 1:20 PM | TB
Kids go to "shows" not concerts, at least not as much. The big concerts aren't nearly as interesting to kids anymore. The like the small, intimate feeling of shows with only 1000 or less antending. Even "major" new rock stars are playing smaller venues.
Samuel Sidler | January 12, 2006 5:03 PMOMG, how can anyone surf into 6 AM?
To comment on the top grossing shows...
it may be in the numbers (alot of us boomers) or that we started the mega venue concert thing,
but I cannot resist the overwhelming feeling of love
for the music I "grew up" with.... I'd still pay and go today. We were just lucky to have that music at that time.
I keep telling my girls (ages 13 and 19!) that they should forget about dropping $70 for a an arena concert (albeit not hosted by "classic" rock icons. More like Hillary Duff or The Killers) and start supporting local bands for $7 or $10. "But we don't know the songs" says the younger." Yeah but you'll have way more fun" says I "when you can actually talk to the drummer!".
Ewan McNeil | January 12, 2006 8:39 PMI saw Gwen late last year. (I didn't pay for my ticket.) She r-r-r-rocked. Jumping up and down in five inch heels late in her first trimester. The harajuku/b-boy dance show was terrific, too.
Is it boomers or corporate expense accounts driving those prices? Couldn't tell you based on my sample set: At the Gwen show, the gender ratio was five-to-one female to male, and about two-thirds of the audience was under 24.
Jordan | January 13, 2006 7:34 AM"I haven't a clue who Kenny Chesney is"
I was going to say that myself, so now that you've said it, which one of us is going to bother googling him?
By the way: "U2 sold more tickets, but the Rolling Stones made a "bigger bang" in 2005 on the road. The wizened British rockers, all of whom are in their 60s or late 50s, sold 1.2 million tickets and raked in $162 million during their 42 North American shows last year, breaking the record (set by themselves, in 1994) along the way, according to industry trade magazine Pollstar."
Boomers invented stadium rock, for better or worse, they came of age going to massive concerts, there are still more of them than any other age group, therefore, they still dominate the big shows.
As others mentioned, younger generations came of age after punk, where smaller shows are the norm. Of course, U2 are still in their 40s and appeal mostly to Gen X and their slightly older siblings.
Regarding Kenny Chesney, ignorance is bliss.
the patriarch | January 13, 2006 3:01 PMSamuel's right, the kids go to shows at smaller venues to see newer bands. In one week I went to see U2 (expensive tickets, older crowd, very large venue), Death Cab for Cutie (affordable tickets, youngish crowd, midsized venue), and Broken Social Scene (cheap tickets, young crowd, mid/small venue). DCFC and BSS will never be on a list like this playing small venues with cheap tickets.
Also fyi - Madonna's only 47 (dob 16 August 1958) and I know her album came out last year but I don't think she toured enought to compete with the bands on the list. And Gwen's baby is due this summer (2006) and she toured a lot last year so I'm surprised she didn't make the list either. Her tickets were probably too cheap. Finally you should read People magazine more (at least in line at the grocery store) because then you would know Kenny Chesney is a country singer who was also married to Renee Zellweger.
Heidi | January 13, 2006 4:42 PMCaterina, you obviously don't listen to country music. Kenny Chesney is the best thing in country music since Garth Brooks and has the staying power of a Johnny Cash. You should pickup his new album, I'll bet you'll like it.
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{ Post a comment }
Baby Boomers are the only ones able to afford (at least justify the expense of) tickets to see those acts!
As your fans age they can spend more, so long as you set the ticket prices according to what they are willing to pay to see you then you can climb higher up the list. And these are once a year ticket buyers, I'd bet, not people who see shows every couple of weeks.
Tom | January 12, 2006 4:20 PM