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Capitalist Woodstock - How Rock in Rio became the biggest entertainement event in the world.


Mal'Akh

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classicrawker, on the US X SA thing I really don't know. :shrugs:

I mean... GNR played 13 concerts in Canada on small venues, and 15 in Latin America in big, sometime huge venues. So I don't know...

You do know that Canada and the US aren't the same country don't you?

Should I? Do you know that Peru and Brazil aren't the same country?

And I get what you mean classicrawker, you may be right.

Edited by Mal'Akh
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This is where the money is so I doubt a band would chose South America over the U.S. to tour...

I don't know. If I had a band and I was succesful in Europe and/or South America I don't think I'd bother too much about USA. Comparing the costs with the expected benefits it doesn't look like a great investment. You have to put massive efforts to get noticed, you need continuous big advertisement. And even then, you compete with a million others who keep trying to one-up each other in shock value (as a shortcut to success). The spoils get spread too thinly. And forget about establishing a large loyal fanbase because consumers have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimer's.

But then again, I'm not American. I think a lot of American bands would like to be successful there because it's their home market.

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This is where the money is so I doubt a band would chose South America over the U.S. to tour...

I don't know. If I had a band and I was succesful in Europe and/or South America I don't think I'd bother too much about USA. Comparing the costs with the expected benefits it doesn't look like a great investment. You have to put massive efforts to get noticed, you need continuous big advertisement. And even then, you compete with a million others who keep trying to one-up each other in shock value (as a shortcut to success). The spoils get spread too thinly. And forget about establishing a large loyal fanbase because consumers have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimer's.

But then again, I'm not American. I think a lot of American bands would like to be successful there because it's their home market.

Bands are going to go where the money's at. I think they also have to look at the types of bands that are going to be playing, because people have to choose. Some bands announce their summer tours in Feb/Mar because the concert calendar for summer venues are usually still being worked on. Some of those venues people have already paid to see x amount of shows but haven't picked which ones.

On the promotion end, I don't know if they depend on continuous big advertisements. Social media is pretty cheap and fast. Most of the time people don't know what to ask their celeb idols, but then you start firing away on Twitter a bunch of questions and either they answer or they don't. Or in the forums. I think it's been a good way for bands to screen their fanbase and get demographics on their audience, including location. I've heard abt bands have booked places they've never considered playing before b/c they discovered they had a following there.

Someone can put a song out and get immediate feedback.

That's why "street teams" exist, we do a better job than a radio ad would at spreading the word.

Usually they go on late night TV and play a couple of songs though, or use an awards show to promote their tour.

Just because they're from the US doesn't make them obligated to play the US. The only thing I can say is that people would fly to go see GNR, but would be a little bit nervous that they'd fall through and cancel the show. But I also think that's why Vegas is a good place for bands to play, because it's a tourist destination and will never be the same audience. Why tour when they can just book a bunch of shows in one place through the year? Axl would be home in his own bed in an hour after the show. It wouldn't work in any other city.

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Great for the country. I'm sure the people of Peru are very proud of their festival; but I'm going to go out a limb and say, most Americans don't care about this.

Peru? Whut?

See what I mean.

Well, having an american father and being brazilian, I can say that in Geography brazilians and americans are equal, they're fucking stupid. No big deal here, don't known why you brought this subject.

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classicrawker, on the US X SA thing I really don't know. :shrugs:

I mean... GNR played 13 concerts in Canada on small venues, and 15 in Latin America in big, sometime huge venues. So I don't know...

They just can't draw here anymore Manets. The last couple of U.S. tours many of the shows were half full so I don't blame Axl for touring where his fan base is as it is smart business.

In the U.S. just about every major city has a football and or Baseball stadium and at least one large indoor sports arena. They also have outdoor amphitheaters which hold 15K plus fans. Many small cities have indoor sports arenas and many big colleges have their own football stadiums and indoor arenas. I live 15 minutes from Worchester Mass, which is a small city and it even has a 15K sports arena but does not have a Major League sports team. I saw Guns there during the UYI tour..

For bands who are still popular here, like AC/DC, Metallica, U2, Bruce Springsteen etc., they could do 50 - 100 shows in large venues here in the U.S. alone and sell them out. No other part of the World can compete with the sheer volume of large venues and ticket sales here.

In the past Bruce Springsteen sold out 10 consecutive shows in old Giant Football Stadium at 50K tickets a show so he sold close to 500K tickets in a couple of weeks near NYC alone..What other country can complete with that?

It is not about whose fans are better, but for the big name bands the U.S. is where the big money is..The Stones have known this for years which is why they started their tours here in the U.S. as they make huge money here touring the Footbal Stadiums and indoor Arenas..........

To be fair - it's not only Guns that can't draw anymore. Alice Cooper/Rob Zombie were playing to half empty amphitheatres last summer. So was Megadeth/Slayer. STP, with a new album, wasn't even selling upper deck tickets. Guns would easily outdraw those. And I'm talking major markets. Last year was the worst year for concerts in ages. Read some of the industry trades on the topic - tours were cancelling shows left right and center.

The American economy is in the dumps. People do not have the money for shows at the prices today's gigs cost. GN'R puts on a very expensive show to produce (remember even the Illusions tour barely broke even). This is likely playing a large part in why you haven't seen the band out yet.

What shows have been announced this year? Rammstein is playing a 10 date limited North American tour. Major markets only.

A Perfect Circle is doing a tour, not a very big one, and since they haven't toured in ages, they'll get some notice, but they're also doing several festival gigs on that tour route ensuring they'll do decent business.

Foo Fighters is touring, with a new album - we'll see how that goes.

Motley Crue made hypocrites of themselves and are touring with Poison - it will sell tickets for nostalgia reasons only.

Korn are touring with Disturbed - not selling all that well (at least the date here, well, Guns outdrew them with no major support act)

You claim Metallica can sell out 100 shows but they didn't sell out every show on their last tour in the U.S., and they're still pretty huge.

What else is even announced for this year in the rock world? Bands are very wary of the US market right now. There's more money to be made in Europe and elsewhere. All this talk that "America has the most arenas" means shit when you can't fill them because people are broke. Europe has an amazing transportation system, which is why you saw the band tour there - they've got lots of arenas as well and if you really get down to it, the countries are just geographically smaller than America, but add them all up and it's pretty even. Then Canada, who were toured likely because the economy is in better shape than the US, and South America where the band is huge.

Really what Guns should do this summer, if they don't do the US (and don't get me wrong, I hope they do) is go over to Germany, Ukraine, Poland, and the other European nations they missed last year and do some gigs as a warm up before Rio.

In any case the days of America being the first choice for shows are coming to an end. It's just economics.

Edited by kyrie
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