Fewer club shows selling out?

If you look at the list of upcoming shows at tickets.com, not a single show is currently sold out. In the past, I can remember seeing at least a dozen upcoming shows being sold out at any given time.

Is this because of lower-demand acts, or because of the economy?

higher ticket prices  ;D

Actually, tickets.com sometimes keeps links up to buy tickets even though the show has sold out. Click on the "Buy Tickets" link for Alice In Chains, for example. You'll see that the show is sold out. Weird glitch, but doesn't mean every 9:30 show has tickets available.

Nonetheless, there really isn't that much show-wise on the way that looks THAT appealing.

AIC is sold out, both Guster Shows and YYYs are sold out.

Ticket prices are really weird this year.  While I feel like a lot of shows at the club are WAY over priced, SO many of them seem to have sold out this year, even for shows that I thought were outrageously expensive.  I think the higher prices means that shows take longer to sell out, but in the end I feel like even more shows than normal are sold out these days.

Prices definitely are playing a role.


Last night, for instance, would've sold out if it were priced at around $35-40 instead of $55.

I can tell you in general shows are not selling as well.. this may not apply to IMP though because Seth is really doing a great job of booking the bands people want to see..

But there's a reason a few weeks ago if you bought two hamburgers at the Nats ballpark you got a free Depeche Mode tix.. or that there were - yesterday- $10 all in tickets for Crue Fest…

Ticket sales are down…. People overall are not spending unless its specific segments/show types..

There's a lot of factors at play. One, though, that cannot be dismissed is the fact that 930 Club is no longer being propped up by Baltimore and Richmond residents who no longer have to drive to the District for natural Baltimore and Richmond shows.

que?

Julian, wrote:
There's a lot of factors at play. One, though, that cannot be dismissed is the fact that 930 Club is no longer being propped up by Baltimore and Richmond residents who no longer have to drive to the District for natural Baltimore and Richmond shows.

Best running joke on this board since the Birchmere food thing.

azaghal1981 wrote:
Best running joke on this board since the Birchmere food thing.

Still lags FAR behind the halcyon days of BEN'S CHILI BOWL in 2006.

i'm not sure if the premise is true, but even if it is, its tough to make any general statement.  there are always natural lulls . . .generally followed by boom times.  September/October is usually prime time.  And ticket sales will reflect the underlying music product.

Looking at Cruefest and Depeche Mode is more an indictment of the Live Nation model of trying to sell brand names way past their peak (i.e. the quality of their show has diminished or their fanbase doesn't care anymore) as commodities in soulless environments at inflated prices.  What can you conclude from that??  If people aren't eating as much at Applebee's and TGIFriday's is it an indictment on the restaurant business - or a positive development??

Leonard Cohen sold out Radio City and drew very well at Merriweather with tickets costing as much as $300 b/c it was worth it.  

It seems that there are fewer bands emerging and at the top of their game . . . and the ones that are will draw well . . .Phoenix would sell out the club . . . less established (or quality past their prime) acts shouldn't be expected to sell out but its good the Club supports these acts and gives them a top quality place to play

as someone who who has booked a 300-cap venue and a 140-cap venue in the past few years, i can say that the economy is definitely affecting the amount of people coming to shows.  people are not buying presale tickets like they usually do, most likely because they want to be sure they can afford going to a show and buy drinks and merchandise.  the numbers aren't as down as they could be – people need to be entertained, even in the roughest economic times – but they are a bit down.  at johnny brenda's, many of the national bands i booked in the spring and summer drew considerably less than they did last year or the year before.

I'm sure there are industry numbers (Pollstar?) that will demonstrate that ticket revenues are down in this recession.


Unfortunately for the flat earth society on this board I'm not going to waste my time proving the obvious.

Who in this thread has stated otherwise?

hutch wrote:


Unfortunately for the flat earth society on this board I'm not going to waste my time proving the obvious.

azaghal1981 wrote:
Who in this thread has stated otherwise?

hutch wrote:


Unfortunately for the flat earth society on this board I'm not going to waste my time proving the obvious.

First of I know the 930 is selling out a lot.. so lets keep that in mind..

Look peace and love peace and love but the idea that ticket prices are the reason ticket sale revenues are down will not stand up to the evidence. Neither will the idea that there are natural lulls or that the problem is Live Nation's crap model (agree its crap but it was crap last year too!).

In fact high ticket prices for the primo shows are arguably the reason that ticket sale revenues haven't gone down further in the industry… they're squeezing more dollars out of you on the hot shows to which we must go regardless… The shows that are meeting resistance are seeing ticket giveaways and tons of reduced rate tickets whether its Live Nation or that beloved mecca of fine music in Richmond (buy one ticket get one free!, etc.)… the ones which are hopeless are being cancelled outright or moved to smaller venues.. now DC lets remember has weathered the recession better than most..

Anyways i gotta run..

I dunno, probably the best running joke was the show that Rhett reviewed that he didn't even go to.  That thing had legs.  While I'm at it, did I ever tell you about the time that blue haired girl in London gave Rhett a free Pixies ticket?

Oh yeah.

That fucking thing ruined my Dino Jr. thread there for a while last week.

chaz wrote:
I dunno, probably the best running joke was the show that Rhett reviewed that he didn't even go to.  That thing had legs.  While I'm at it, did I ever tell you about the time that blue haired girl in London gave Rhett a free Pixies ticket?

chaz wrote:
I dunno, probably the best running joke was the show that Rhett reviewed that he didn't even go to.  That thing had legs. 

I'd put that 3rd behind BEN'S CHILI BOWL and food at Birchmere. I mean, as far as quality, yes, I  completely agree with you, its my favorite too; but from a pure quantity standpoint, we hit those 2 so much more than any of the others.

And the band was Broken Social Scene. My favorite part was that even after he was figured out, he defended the entire thing by saying he saw the opener (Stars) and since they had shared members it was entirely justified.

A couple months ago, there were a few weeks that 930 had sold out shows 5 days in a row. Lately, it may be that many are traveling in the few weeks of summer that remain?
I would guess that obviously the economy is playing a part. Increase in prices is definitely not helping things. Earlier this year, I spoke to someone at IOTA and they told me the recession was definitely hurting them. I definitely don't buy merch / music, and limit my food / drink. I have gas to buy, and sometimes parking, so on top of the increased cost of a ticket, plus FEES, I have cut down my concert attendance.

(Oh, where is Rhett? Is that a whole other thread topic?)

Rhett was jettisoned into the abyss by the powers that be.  That power being thatguy.