Jump to content
Jambands.ca

LOLLAPALOOZA cancelled!!!!!


scottieking

Recommended Posts

This sucks!! I was so stoked for day two. From the official website:

LOLLAPALOOZA, 2004 CANCELS ALL DATES

Los Angeles, CA - June 22, 2004 -- Even with what has been touted as the best line-up since its inception in 1991, with such eclectic and respected artists as Morrissey, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, and The Flaming Lips, among others, and the most competitive ticket prices in the marketplace for a tour this size, it was not enough to counter the weak economic state of this years summer touring season. Therefore, it is with the utmost regret that due to poor ticket sales across the board, the Lollapalooza, 2004 tour has been cancelled. This morning, tour organizers and concert promoters faced with several million dollars of losses, made the very tough decision to pull the tour.

Perry Farrell, tour organizer, stated with his sincerest regrets, "My heart aches along with the bands, and all of our employees, whose hard work developed one of the most exciting and important tours that this nation was to see. My heart is broken."

Marc Geiger, co-founder of the tour stated, "I am in utter disbelief that a concert of this stature, with the most exciting line-up I've seen in years did not galvanize ticket sales. I'm surprised that given the great bands and the reduced ticket prices that we didn't have enough sales to sustain the tour. Concert promoters across the country are facing similar problems. Many summer tours are experiencing weak ticket sales."

Alex Hodges, Executive Vice President of HOB Concerts, commented, "In real terms, it's been a tough summer. Ticket sales have been mixed and often inexplicably soft. There are a number of contributing factors, and, as a result, many tours have been cut-back, rerouted or cancelled."

Fans who have supported the tour and who have bought tickets nationwide will be given full refunds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Low Roller

Oh shit. I hope this doesn't mean that the Wilco -> Sonic Youth -> String Cheese Incident run in Ottawa will be cancelled as well!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We should have seen it coming. Here's a story from yesteday's Rolling Stone regarding poor ticket sales this summer:

Summer Tours Slumping

Concerts take a hit from high ticket prices

A month after promoters declared the concert industry healthier than ever, big summer tours such as Ozzfest, Fleetwood Mac, the Dead and Lollapalooza have run into a concrete wall of slow sales. "Ticket sales are mixed, and in some cases they appear to be substantially off from the past," says Alex Hodges, executive vice president of House of Blues Concerts, one of the three major U.S. promotion companies.

The summer's success stories so far are big-buzz superstar events such as Prince and Madonna, plus low-cost packages including the long-running Warped Tour, Alanis Morissette/Barenaked Ladies and No Doubt/Blink-182. Also, the three-day Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, recently scored its third annual sellout, with 90,000 tickets. Otherwise, sales have been universally slow.

Promoters and agents list several reasons for the unexpected ticket-buying malaise: Once fans spend their summer-entertainment money on Prince and Madonna, they have little left over for Kiss or Ozzfest; some of 2003's biggest draws, such as Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith, have already toured several summers in a row at high prices; and the core baby-boomer audience is finally getting tired of amphitheater lawns.

"What consumer wants to sit out at night in Phoenix, Arizona, in 105 degrees to watch Daryl Hall and John Oates?" says Dennis Arfa, president of Writers and Artists Group International, an agency representing Metallica, Rod Stewart and others. "People don't have an unlimited amount of funds. In the amphitheater business, there is some concern."

Nobody's panicking -- yet. In early 2003, promoters expressed similar gloom, until Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles and others barnstormed the country. Says Seth Hurwitz, whose company, I.M.P. Productions, books the Merriweather Post Pavilion near Washington, D.C.: "Over the last ten years, I've heard 'This is the worst yet' every year."

STEVE KNOPPER

(Posted Jun 21, 2004)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah but did any of you (besides Jaimoe and Mikey) actually purchase advanced tickets?

I didn't, but in my defence, the show is in august and I couldn't tell by the website which bands would actually hit toronto--I wanted to make sure the bands I wanted to see were actaully going to be in Toronto for the show. Some bands were only going to be at certain venues--it was a bit confusing. Disappointed non the less.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't buy either, it was going to be a last minute lawn ticket kind of thing... I'm not really all that torn up, but I am kinda pissed kung will have to miss SCI... I was really interested in what his review was going to be...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It does suck as I was looking forward to seeing (in order of personal importance to me) Wilco, The Flaming Lips, Gomez, SCI, The Polyphonic Spree.

But there is a reason for everything so now I'm going to go to Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson at Cooperstown, NY (the home of the baseball hall of fame!) to perform at one of the first ballparks in history, Doubleday Field on Friday August 6th.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't intend that as finger pointing, just curiousity. Obviously advanced sales are the only guage a promoter has.

I didn't think you were pointing fingers, no worries there.

I did, however, want to point out the strange line up thing where only some bands were playing certain venues...but you couldn't, by the way they set up the site, really tell who was playing where. Maybe a little "unorganized promotion" going on there. I hate to put down Perry, but they have got to take a bit of the fall here too. I've been to tonnes of shows where the turn out has been less than supportive...but the show went on regardless.

This sucks either way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...