Somebody Please Hit Me With A Shovel

by | Dec 17, 2007 | Music

A while back Idolator posted some year-end lists from this year’s music tours. Two of those lists caught my attention.

Top 10 Selling Tours of 2007 (Based on total dollar volume of tickets sold)
1. Hannah Montana
2. The Police
3. Bruce Springsteen
4. Van Halen
5. Justin Timberlake
6. Kenny Chesney
7. Jimmy Buffett
8. Dave Matthews Band
9. Bon Jovi
10. Genesis

The Hannah Montana thing is par for the course. Each and every year, there’s a new teenybopper show that all the kiddos have to see. You’ll also see something a little stomach churning in the list below, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Is there a recurring theme going through your mind as you explore the list above? How about 6 of the 10 on the list being acts whose true glory years were laid in the late 1970s or 1980s? What does this say? I guess it says one or two things: people my age are spending a lot of money on concerts and people younger than us aren’t (other than the Hannah Montana thing……and we’ve removed that from this analysis). Seeing this list has actually made me sad. The big beacon for me here is that there is no such thing anymore as one truly popular band that transcends it all. For me, back in high school it was U2 and in college it was Nirvana. Who are the flag bearers today? Nobody. The music business has ruined music. There is one benefit, though – much of the bands I love still play intimate places. Nothing better. Although something tells me that seeing Band of Horses in a sold out arena would be nothing short of sensational.

Highest Average Tour Ticket Prices (For tours that sold over 3,000 total tickets)
1. Celine Dion – $347
2. Elton John – $260
3. Hannah Montana – $257
4. Eric Clapton – $253
5. Bon Jovi – $239
6. Bruce Springsteen – $226
7. Van Halen – $217
8. Genesis – $210
9. The Police – $209
10. Michael Buble – $195

This list disgusts me on many levels. That Hannah Montana’s business folks are charging an average of $257 per ticket makes me want to puke. This means if you and your spouse want to take your two daughters to see the show, it’s $1028 just to walk through the turnstiles. Add another $25 for parking, at least $50 for food/drink and another $17,000 for TicketMaster fees and you’re looking at a loan just to see a 15 year old teen exercise her 15 minutes of fame. Ouch. Shame on pretty much everyone on the list. And who the hell is Michael Bubel? I’ve never heard of him. But listening to the song that pops up on his website, it feels like Christopher Cross for the oughts.

There, I’ve finally worked Christopher Cross into my blog. Mark the date.

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Now playing: The Zombies – Changes
via FoxyTunes

You Kick The Bucket, I’ll Swing My Legs

by | Oct 5, 2007 | Music

It was my “triumphant return to rock,” as my friend Kristin put it. She was referring to last Friday night’s visit to The Orpheum in Boston, where she and I saw the fabulous Kings of Leon. It was my first live show, really, since last October, when I saw Built to Spill.

I don’t really believe the whole story behind the Kings Of Leon (brothers/cousins who spent their youth traveling with their parents as part of a church group or something), but it’s a good gimmick. All that matters is that they can play. And they are bad-ass. Once again, the mark of the band is a very distinct voice – one that sounds much more weathered and old then the 23 year old throat it’s coming out of. They’ve now released three pretty terrific albums and I think they’re here to stay. Live, they were tight, loud and tremendous. At some point during the show, I even shouted to Kristin, “They are ALL business!”

I found this on YouTube, a live clip of one of my favorite KOL songs, “The Bucket.” Just watch it. It’s only 2:18 long. Enjoy: