Author: Bob Allen

Farm Aid Puts American Farmers Front and Center

FROM A SEED: John Mellencamp performs at the first Farm Aid in 1985 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. (Getty Images) LIVE! LANDMARKS Among fall’s many live entertainment traditions, Farm Aid has been one of the most prominent for the past 35 years. The multi-artist concert was organized in 1985 by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp as a benefit for America’s farmers and, in most years, has occurred in either September or October in U.S. markets stretching from Washington state to Washington, D.C. The first concert, on Sept. 22, 1985, in Champaign, Ill., was staged to raise awareness of the importance of family farms in the American culture as well as raise money — about $7 million that year — to help farmers remain in business during tough economic times. Along with the organizers, the first show featured more than 50 entertainers, generally musicians from country, folk and… Continue Reading Farm Aid Puts American Farmers Front and Center

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An Arena Horns In on the Drive-Ins

LIVE! ROUNDUP On a Hot Tickets chart dominated by outdoor drive-in performances, the sole indoor arena event leads the pack with the highest gross among reported shows during July. The socially distanced engagement featuring contestants on the Spanish televised talent competition “Operación Triunfo” is No. 1 with a box office take of $246,187. Madrid’s WiZink Center hosted the event, attended by 4,690 fans with two shows each July 25 and 26. The 2020 edition of the competition marked the show’s 11th season and kicked off Jan. 12. Even though the coronavirus pandemic forced delays in scheduling and ultimately virtual participation, the season finale aired June 10. Finalists from the show, appeared at the live event in Madrid. Ranked second on Hot Tickets is the top grosser among the drive-in shows, a three-night event staged in the City National Grove of Anaheim’s parking lot. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness drew fans… Continue Reading An Arena Horns In on the Drive-Ins

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Live! Roundup: A New Normal for Now

With the North American public eager for live entertainment in this pandemic-stricken year, artists, promoters and other concert industry professionals have had to look outside the box to create opportunities for live performing. The most prominent avenue for staging a live show this summer has been the drive-in concert. This month we are able to provide a Hot Tickets chart with the 20 highest-grossing concerts that occurred during the August issue’s reporting period (June 1-30), and 14 of those were staged either in actual drive-in theaters or venue parking lots with an audience watching the show from their own cars. Comedian Bert Kreischer scores the three highest grosses on the chart with June shows from his “Hot Summer Nights” drive-in tour. His top-ranked event was a two-show stint in Indianapolis at Tibbs Drive-In with box-office sales of $143,401. Attendance there totaled 2,842 on June 26. In most drive-in situations, ticket… Continue Reading Live! Roundup: A New Normal for Now

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Lilith Fair Reset the Bar for Tours

MORE THAN FAIR: Sarah McLachlan (left) performs with the band Luscious Jackson during a Lilith Fair show in 1999. (Getty Images) Among the trails blazed by women in entertainment throughout the years, the late-90s all-female touring festival Lilith Fair stands out as a shining moment in live performance. It was the first time that only women or bands fronted by them made up a tour, in an era when conventional wisdom said putting more than one woman on the bill would kill ticket sales. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities for women on package tours and concert lineups, Canadian pop star Sarah McLachlan conceived the idea of a new touring endeavor featuring artists from various genres, multigenerational and fully female, crisscrossing North America with hopes of enough fan support to keep the bills paid. And, as it turned out, the fans came through. The payoffs were substantial, to say the… Continue Reading Lilith Fair Reset the Bar for Tours

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Artists Set Bar High With Multiple-Show Runs

PURPLE REIGN: Prince announces his 21-show engagement at London’s 02 Arena in 2007. (Getty Images) Of the landmark moments in live performing recorded in the box-office archives, one of the most exclusive categories is the handful of concert performers who have played 20 shows or more at one venue for a single concert engagement. We will profile six of those acts who made history with runs of 20 shows and beyond. Among the notable artists in this group, Prince stands out as the only one who topped the 20-show mark at an arena: his record-setting series of 21 performances staged at The O2 in London in 2007 just weeks after the arena opened. Prince kicked off his engagement, promoted as “The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London,” on Aug. 1 and continued performing intermittently during the next seven weeks, wrapping the run on Sept. 21. With 351,527 tickets sold, overall… Continue Reading Artists Set Bar High With Multiple-Show Runs

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