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- From: disseldo@sunburn.sli.unimelb.edu.au (Andrew Disseldorp)
- Newsgroups: aus.music
- Subject: Re: Achtung! I need a U2 tour....
- Date: 22 Dec 1992 02:35:40 GMT
- Organization: University of Melbourne, Dpt of Surveying and Land Information
- Lines: 46
- Distribution: aus
- Message-ID: <1h5utsINN7qs@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU>
- References: <1h3gfnINNpn7@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU> <summer.724983074@murillo>
- Reply-To: disseldo@sunburn.UUCP (Andrew Disseldorp)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: sunburn.sli.unimelb.edu.au
-
- In article <summer.724983074@murillo> summer@mullian.ee.mu.OZ.AU (Mark Summerfield) writes:
- [stuff about manipulating the world media and fans in general deleted]
-
- >But let's not get too enthusiastic. Bear in mind that the reason we may
- >never get to see this spectacular show in Australia is that U2 (and/or
- >their management?) claim that they can't make it pay. If the message is
- >so important, then surely they can afford to make a small loss? What
- >about their fans over here? (This is U2, not TISM -- the abuse of the
- >fans is *not* all part of the act!) In any case, it is hard to measure
- >the impact of a tour in financial terms, because it sells albums -- not
- >just the current one, but previous and future ones as well.
-
- The band will only play outdoor shows - so that they don't get
- stuck playing 9 indoor shows in the one venue, getting bored.
- Hey you can understand that. However to play stadium
- tours, they will now only hide behind the whole visual kaboodle. They
- will not go back to having a video screen echoing whats going on stage
- for the people in the cheap seats. Its like me changing from my nice
- work car to my buzzbox escort. It takes a while to adjust to the
- different responses. Could you imagine trying to keep 50,000+ people
- happy while adjusting to having less to hide behind?
-
- The message might be important, but look at it from Paul McG.'s
- point of view. A country of 17 million people, that is really remote,
- and has huge problems with allowing an outdoor concert to go ahead. Is
- it worth the effort? No, especially when it will return a loss.
-
- Tickets will probably cost more then $50, which is a lot of money
- for your average teenage fan to spend. These teenagers might not be the
- bands main audience, but a lot of them will attend, and take the bad seats,
- for the "I was there" boast factor. Tapping into this market will be
- vital for any outdoor U2 show to even get close to break even point.
- So what do you go for? Average ticket prices ($45 - $48) or price
- tickets at cost of provision levels ($55 - $65???)
-
- Unfortunately for an established act like U2 future album sales
- are really a minor contributor to the overall bottom line of a tour.
-
- >On the basis of the special, I would almost be prepared to plan an overseas
- >trip around seeing the show -- if I were planning an overseas trip anyway.
- >Which I'm not.
-
- Anyone want to go to Portugal this May/June ?
-
- Andrew
- (disseldo@sunburn.sli.unimelb.edu.au)
-