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from hip hop to (tom petty and the..) hipbreakers.


jefleppard

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the mods may find this off....off ...way off...topic but...the industry is about players and they certainly promote the gibson name and we, as consumers, show no signs of losing our appetites.. so here goes...for anyone who finds this type of stuff as interesting as i do...(my apologies if you do not)

pollstar reports that cd sales continue to fall - 16% for the first 6 months of '08 but digital downloads are up 34% for whole LPs and 30% for individual songs - which is huge since the growth has continued to grow every year, thereby outdoing itself and finding way to redefine itself and eat the old model.. so, don't cry for me, i say, the companies are finding ways to adapt to the consumer's changing needs and stay rich/viable. however, on the concert front, it blew my mind to see who is at the top of the list for gross revenues. 7 out of the top ten are older artists having their roots in the 70's and 80's. the rest of the list being hipsters, thus my thread title.

if you'd like to see the list here it is ...

http://images.pollstar.com/adverts/pollstar/2008MidYearTop100Tours_limited.pdf

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it's about time the record labels quit their b*tching and got with the new paradigm. last week i sold 75% of my vinyl that i'd been lugging around for 30+ years. i kept only the hardcore jazz and classical that i think i'll still enjoy in that format. i'm in the process of downloading the balance of all my cds as well and will jettison them as well as i finish. guess where the money from these sales goes! the only music i buy now is via the internets.

 

as far as the number of "heritage" acts in the top drawing / highest grossing tours well, let's face it, the baby boomers are the ones with the disposable income right now. they, for the most part, are the only ones who are so desperate to recapture those halcyon days of yesteryear, that they'll fork over $100+ for a ticket. even in this economy. when boston comes to town and the only original member is tom whatshisname and their guarantee is 100K and they sell out in advance (2200 seats), well, something is out of whack. i'll stick with the hipsters. they typically avoid gouging their fans on ticket prices and, by comparison, have something more interesting to say musically. if i never see the stones, springsteen, et al, again, it'll be ok with me. been there, done that and it's stale. but hey, that's just me. btw, i hear foreigner has a new album coming out. can't wait.

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I don't know if it's the same over the pond, but the big stadium shows e.g. Led Zep etc do tend to get pitched to the corporate market. Consequently, the ticket prices are high.

 

I'm guilty of this as I recently organised a corporate trip to see Eric Clapton. 4 tickets, no frills, beer and burgers and I ensured the 3 guests were genuine music fans. We all had a great time but I'm not sure I would have paid the £90ish myself.

 

There's such a demand that the big names can get away with it. I echo what JG says about the Stones in particular - saw them about 5 years ago at Twickenham and it was the worse gig (for sound) I've been to - and that includes mine! So I'm not at all bothered. I will do more corporate stuff though as for all the rights and wrongs, it works.

 

As for vinyl, I just can't seem to bring myself to dispose of one of the few things which have defined my life, so far. But itunes and ipods are so easy. I will have to invest in a large external hard drive though!

 

Now come on Cunk, which one is you in the avatar. The uncertainty is killing me!

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!

 

Now come on Cunk' date=' which one is you in the avatar. The uncertainty is killing me![/quote']

 

i would pay $$$ to see led zed. i had my ticket money order in the mail to see them at the pontiac silverdome in michigan when bonham died. i was that close. page was my idol and i was crushed. i'll go in a heartbeat now, even though i can't stand jason bonham. wrong guy for the job. dave grohl would have been a better choice.

 

oh, and to you, AJ....i'm the one with the bad hair.

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i don't begrudge anyone whatever makes them happy nor do i fault these acts for touring and getting out of it whatever they can, financially. for most of them, finances are the sole reason. and for a lot of these acts, to tour on the scale that they do, is hugely expensive. what i don't get is how many of my generation seem completely stuck in time. there's nothing wrong with revisiting the music of one's youth but, to inhabit the past to the total exclusion of anything that came after seems foolish to me. i blame radio for much of this. and intellectual laziness. i recently had dinner at a friend's house and the sound track to our meal was an old jethro tull lp. i'm thinking to myself, wtf? this is the best you've got? what is this, 1972? i'm quite happy to plunk out the tunes of my youth on my guitar these days. i would prefer to do that as opposed to forking over 300.00 to witness the decrepitude of my former heroes live in concert and be reminded of just how old i'm getting. besides, i could be spending that money on a really nice guitar!

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points well taken, jg. i was of similar opinion about the rockers with walkers set until the new stones movie changed my opinion slightly. for the first fifteen minutes i was horrified. the camera caught every wrinkle - and there were many. keith looks like a 95 year old french whore. mick looks like a pug. i didnt get it. scorcese wants you to not get it. 60-somethings dancing around, mick especially, like kids? hard to watch. my hand was over my mouth, cringing. but through a series of well placed clips from past interviews the director establishes a belief that these guys A) love what they do B)know nothing else and C) don't wish to change for it is who they are. i think that's ok. do they need the cash? i don't know but these guys were having great fun up there and that is testimony enough. the old addage - show me a guy who loves his job and i'll show you a man whose never worked a day in his life - comes to mind. i'm jealous, quite frankly.

on another note, definitely not a great idea to be stuck in time/stagnant. my music tastes are as current as ever. i'd even dare to call myself hip but my kids would offer another opinion. (insert cringing emoticon here) and dinner with jethro tull. arrgh. i couldn't even handle a drive-thru with them. my condolences.

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The deal where I live is that the concert sells out in four minutes. Half of the tickets go corporate and the other half go to Ticketmaster, from whom they were originally purchased. Then, Ticketmaster puts them on Kijiji and scalps them for 150 - 200% over the printed price.

 

The few tickets that do actually land in the hands of people waiting online for 9 a.m. to hit all go to American Express preferred client card holders.

 

I wish I were joking. Welcome to Nova Scotia where you last name determines your place in the line.

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