[CANCELLED] 29-May-2009: Toyota Pavilion, Scranton, PA, USA

[Lore]

what an awesome idea :cheesy:

[fakfak]

"They've been lowering prices and adding extra tickets for a lot of the shows though...I think maybe they've over done it."

 

In actuality, ticket sales for the upcoming CP shows haven't been that poor. The bottom has pretty much dropped out of the concert market this year, and I'd venture to guess Coldplay is holding up as well as anyone. Even huge veteran acts lole U2 are experiencing slower than normal ticket sales of late. The live music bussiness is in a tough time right now.

 

In addition, I think it's worth noting that many markets played on this upcoming tour are much smaller than those played last year, hence demand will be reduced. Hershey in particular is a huge venue in a relatively small market, and I can't imagine Scranton (again a smaller market) is much better. Just my two cents...

[Ebs757]

I feel bad for the boys :( there are still a lot of Alpine tickets available too, especially the Lawn GA

[The Joker]

oh no. if hershey dosn't sell enough tickets does this mean they might cancel the show?

[Mimixxx]

"They've been lowering prices and adding extra tickets for a lot of the shows though...I think maybe they've over done it."

 

In actuality, ticket sales for the upcoming CP shows haven't been that poor. The bottom has pretty much dropped out of the concert market this year, and I'd venture to guess Coldplay is holding up as well as anyone. Even huge veteran acts lole U2 are experiencing slower than normal ticket sales of late. The live music bussiness is in a tough time right now.

 

In addition, I think it's worth noting that many markets played on this upcoming tour are much smaller than those played last year, hence demand will be reduced. Hershey in particular is a huge venue in a relatively small market, and I can't imagine Scranton (again a smaller market) is much better. Just my two cents...

 

Well good. I hope so. If they're selling at the same rate as other artists then good! I'd hate to think of them under selling because they've overdone it.

[Ebs757]

Well good. I hope so. If they're selling at the same rate as other artists then good! I'd hate to think of them under selling because they've overdone it.

 

Exactly how I feel. While following the U2 sales last week, they had some GA tickets for sale almost 24 hours after going on sale for their second night in Boston. That might not seem like a lot but seeing that the show in Chicago had those tickets for sale for literally only 5 seconds it shows the fluctuation with the market. I just hope this doesn't effect the future of Coldplay coming back to the states:\

[Mimixxx]

I'm sure by the time they actually tour the venues will be almost full. And I'm sure once they release another album they'll be straight back the the US.

 

I think this leg was just really poorly thought out, hopefully they'll learn from it.

[fakfak]

"there are still a lot of Alpine tickets available too, especially the Lawn GA"

 

Alpine has a huge GA capacity (even by amphitheater standards) and it is extremely rare for it to sell out completely. Coldplay only managed to fill it to capacity in 2005 (which btw was slightly smaller than the current capacity) by not playing in Chicago that year, thus combining their audience from two markets. More generally, it is fairly rare for outdoor amphitheaters to fully sell out their lawn seating, as there is usually a ton of it, and it is not exactly popular with fans. Looking on the LiveNation website now, it seems as though all pavillion seating for Alpine Valley is sold (which if memory serves is about 10,000 seats), so I'd say the tour is doing ok.

 

EDIT: Also, there's nothing about the tour doing poorly sales wise is any of the trade papers in the concert industry (billboard, pollstar etc.) and given the fact that they all usually jump on such things with extreme fervor, I'd say that's a good sign...

[Ebs757]

"there are still a lot of Alpine tickets available too, especially the Lawn GA"

 

Alpine has a huge GA capacity (even by amphitheater standards) and it is extremely rare for it to sell out completely. Coldplay only managed to fill it to capacity in 2005 (which btw was slightly smaller than the current capacity) by not playing in Chicago that year, thus combining their audience from two markets. More generally, it is fairly rare for outdoor amphitheaters to fully sell out their lawn seating, as there is usually a ton of it, and it is not exactly popular with fans. Looking on the LiveNation website now, it seems as though all pavillion seating for Alpine Valley is sold (which if memory serves is about 10,000 seats), so I'd say the tour is doing ok.

 

EDIT: Also, there's nothing about the tour doing poorly sales wise is any of the trade papers in the concert industry (billboard, pollstar etc.) and given the fact that they all usually jump on such things with extreme fervor, I'd say that's a good sign...

 

There are still a few seats available for the pavilion and I just checked and Phish and DMB Sold out 2 nights each already for shows at alpine this summer.

[fakfak]

"Phish and DMB Sold out 2 nights each already for shows at alpine this summer."

 

Jam bands tend to have slightly different crowds, as a large number of their fans go to multiple shows, whereas most other bands play to an audience that tends to go to 1 show per tour. Even among the "hardcore" CP fans you're probably talking more like 4-5 shows as opposed to the 10-20 (or more) some DMB fans I know attend each tour.

 

Regardless, my central point was that both Hershey and Alpine Valley are two of the largest venues on the upcoming tour, and I think it's a bit premature to brand the whole tour a finacial failure at this point...

[professa95]

i hope hershey isnt like half full the day of the show or thatll suck

[Ebs757]

"Regardless, my central point was that both Hershey and Alpine Valley are two of the largest venues on the upcoming tour, and I think it's a bit premature to brand the whole tour a finacial failure at this point...."

 

Never said it was:)

[fakfak]

"Never said it was"

 

True, you didn't. However, that did seem to be the central thrust of the original article/post which is really what I was responding to. I've attended shows at alpine that drew 15,000-17,000 strong crowds and the place was still only about half full, yet those numbers are solidly within the range of a normal arena or amphitheater show, Alpine is really like a small stadium in terms of capacity. (for that matter, Hershey is a small stadium) I'd be more interested to know the sales percentages for the more average sized venues.

[Dfit00]

I guess that if more than 70% of the tickets are sold, it is unlikely that they'd cancel the show. If it is less than that, then there's risk.

[polkahard]

Three days until this was to have gone down. RIP Scranton show. Still hoping Scranton sees Coldplay at some point or another!

[SlaskWroclaw18]

Three days until this was to have gone down. RIP Scranton show. Still hoping Scranton sees Coldplay at some point or another!

 

I was to be an attendant of this show but I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the Hershey show. It would of been awesome if I could go to the Hershey show and this show. But I definatley hope someday Coldplay comes play at our fair area. The Pavillion is a very nice venue.