Maybe you've noticed that this summer's concert schedule has blown up. Jannus Landing recently announced nine new dates. A variety of venues, from the State Theatre to Skipper's Smokehouse to Ruth Eckerd Hall, are hummin' to one degree or another. The St. Pete Times Forum is bringing in the Dixie Chicks, Mariah Carey, Korn, American Idols and a double bill of Poison and Cinderella. Hell, even Raymond James Stadium gets into the act with a country throwdown headlined by Kenny Chesney.
This year's slate of shows represents a notable increase over 2005. So much for Florida's summer doldrums.
Easily the biggest player in this boom is the Ford Amphitheatre, which has roughly doubled the number of concerts from last year. They range from the pop-classical act Il Divo to country star Brad Paisley to dirt-rocker Sammy Hagar. And, says Ford Amp marketing director David Harb, "We still have a number of shows to roll out."
What's driving all the activity? Ford Amphitheatre, which in concert-industry argot is called a "shed," changed hands in January. Media conglomerate Clear Channel sold its concert division (including more than 30 sheds throughout the country) to Live Nation, a Los Angeles-based outfit that concentrates solely on presenting live entertainment. "We've definitely become more aggressive," Harb says. "There seems to be a rebirth of morale. We're down to the fundamentals of what we do again, which is to provide live entertainment. It's more beneficial to do it on our own than under the umbrella of a major media company."
At first glance, some of this summer's bookings at the Ford Amp, which holds 20,000, look like head-scratchers. KC's Boogie Blast starring disco retreads KC & the Sunshine Band, Gloria Gaynor and Tavares? 311 with The Wailers? Counting Crows/Goo Goo Dolls? These are bills that would be fortunate to sell 7,000 tickets.
"Amphitheatre operators will book shows that they'll be tickled to death to get 5,000," says Gary Bongiovani, editor of Pollstar, a concert-industry trade magazine. "There's nothing wrong with that. For some shows, they won't sell lawn tickets."
Six of Ford Amp's shows this summer — Steely Dan/Michael McDonald, KC's Boogie Blast, Il Divo, John Fogerty/Willie Nelson, 311 and Counting Crows/Goo Goo Dolls — offer covered reserved seating only.
Ford Amphitheatre works under a different business model than independent concert promoters. Because Live Nation owns its sheds, it does not have to pay venue rent on a show-by-show basis. Further, the company has worked deals with a number of tours to play all of its amphitheatres this summer, giving it buying power. And perhaps most important, Live Nation's revenues are not strictly bound to the number of tickets sold. Each show generates income via concessions, parking and other ancillary revenue streams. In the final analysis, although Live Nation is certainly risking some poorly attended shows this summer, it's better than the venue being dark.
There are those in the concert business who see Live Nation's booking frenzy as little more than throwing shit against the wall and seeing what'll stick. Industry murmurings portend a rollback in live offerings down the line. "It's not just Tampa; across the U.S., many markets are being impacted by the huge, huge volume of shows," says Jon Stoll, whose South Florida-based Fantasma Productions is one of the few large independent concert firms in the country.
One of the biggest fears is that a glut of concerts will lead to an industry practice known as "papering" — discounting tickets or giving them away once it becomes evident that a show is going to tank. Historically, amphitheatres have been prone to this gambit, the idea being that it's better to get people in the seats and sell them beer than to leave those seats empty. Artists are usually OK with giveaways because they'd rather play in front of more people than less.
Papering, while it may produce short-term benefits, can backfire if potential ticket buyers become accustomed to waiting for freebies. It also engenders resentment among paying customers if they find out that gratis tickets have been made available.
On the issue of papering, Harb says. "That's not in our business plan. We want to sell tickets at an affordable price. We're not in business to cannibalize ourselves."
Over the last 10 years, ticket affordability has been a major issue in the concert biz. Reserved-seat prices have risen dramatically as acts have tried to make up for falling CD sales by treating live shows as their biggest source of revenue. In recent years, lawn seats at sheds had crept past $50, which caused a consumer backlash. Lawn ticket sales were way down last year.
That's changed this year, says Harb. Lawn admission for Sammy Hagar is $10, for Chicago/Huey Lewis it's $20.75, for Reggae Sunsplash, $15.
Dropping lawn-seat prices was something that "artists had to be willing to accept," says Bongiovani. "It looks as if they've come around, that it's better to sell them at 20 bucks than at 65 and have the lawn empty."
Ford Amphitheatre's summer of plenty unfolds as the controversy over noise complaints at the venue is ostensibly put on hold. As part of an agreement with the county's Environmental Protection Commission, Live Nation has until Sept. 30 to erect a permanent wall to stifle noise going into nearby neighborhoods. In turn, the agreement exempts the Amphitheatre from EPC noise violations until Dec. 31.
Thus far, the loudest of the loud shows (Ozzfest, Korn) have not been booked into the Ford. "We want to be good neighbors," Harb says. "But we're not holding back on programming because we're afraid to bother somebody."
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2006.