Rolling Stones Tour Reportedly Facing Slow Ticket Sales
Could the days of Rolling Stones concerts instantly setting box office records be numbered? While the Stones have always enjoyed robust sales on their prior tours, the Guardian is reporting that tickets to the group's highly anticipated '50 And Counting' tour aren't moving quite as fast as the group may have hoped.
The Stones' 17-date tour is the band's biggest run of shows in the last six years. They were greeted by a full-house at a recent performance in Los Angeles, but only after the price of tickets were slashed in the days leading up to the show. Last week, the group released additional seats for that show for a (relatively) modest $85 each via their website. (A limited number of tickets were initially made available at that price.)
So what exactly is to blame for the seeming decline in audience interest in the Stones this time? Some insiders believe that the ticket prices are the primary culprit. Standard seats at their shows are reportedly selling for $170 each, while premium seating is running above $600 per ticket. That doesn't include people paying upwards of $2000 for the VIP experience.
"Price does matter," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry publication Pollstar. "The market is speaking."