Posted on 06/07/2006 10:32:12 AM PDT by beansox
June 07, 2006, 10:30 AM ET Chicks' Ticket Sales Below Expectations
By Ray Waddell, Nashville
DIXIE CHICKS
Out-of-the-gate ticket sales for the Dixie Chicks' upcoming Accidents & Accusations tour are far below expectations and at least three dates may have been cancelled.
Initial ticket counts for the 20-plus arena shows that went on sale last weekend were averaging 5,000-6,000 sold per show in major markets and less in secondaries, according to sources contacted by Billboard.biz. Venue capacities on the tour generally top 15,000.
In contrast, the band’s new album, “Taking the Long Way,” sold 526,000 units its first week, according to Nielsen Soundscan, down from their last album debut week for “Home” in 2002 (780,000 units), but still the third largest sales week of 2006 (Billboard.biz, May 31).
Despite the strong album sales early ticket sales are clearly not meeting projections. The plug was pulled on public on-sales for shows in Memphis (Sept. 27), Houston (Sept. 30) and Oklahoma City show (Sept. 26) because of tepid pre-sales in a national promotion with Target stores. The Memphis show has been pulled off the route and the status of the shows in Houston and Oklahoma City remain uncertain.
Early ticket sales for this tour are in marked contrast to the Chicks’ last proper tour in 2003 when a national on-sale moved some 867,000 tickets the first weekend, and second shows were added in several markets (Billboard, April 21, 2003). The Chicks ended up as the top-grossing country tour of 2003 at $62 million.
But not all shows on this tour are below projections. “We’re happy (with our on-sale) and comparatively seem to be ahead of most,” says John Page, Global Spectrum COO and GM at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, where the trio is booked for July 25. A second date was added for the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, where the first show sold out in eight minutes. "Canada loves the Chicks," says ACC booking director Patti-Ann Tarlton.
After two shows in London, the U.S. tour is set to begin July 21 in Detroit and is promoted by AEG Live, with the exception of Minneapolis and Chicago, promoted by Jam Productions (which reports sales as “good” for both shows), and Sacramento and Oakland in California, which will be promoted by Another Planet Entertainment.
With ticket sales below expectations, it is possible the route and capacities may be further reconfigured. The Chicks are managed by Simon Renshaw and booked by Rob Light at Creative Artists Agency, both of whom declined to comment.
Their album sales go to eleven...
Canada don't give a rat's ass about the Chicks.
I suspect that has a lot to do with the "excellent" initial CD sales.
File this under "Too Effin' Bad".
Ummmmmm.....
So long Dixie Chicks. Used to love ya. Now I couldn't care any less. I prefer pro-American singers.
I'm just thankful that I never paid for any of your CD's.
Watch the DNC or some PAC offer a Dixie Chicks CD with every donation above $100 or so. I'm guessing that's where about 426,000 of those "units" went.
Awwwwwwwwwww...where's my violin...it's blues time.
POSTPONED:
DIXIE CHICKS
"THE ACCIDENTS & ACCUSATIONS TOUR"
Due to the overwhelming demand for the Dixie Chicks in Canada, England and Australia, this concert date must be rerouted and the on-sale will be postponed until the fall. Check back to the Savvis Center website for more information as it becomes available.
Stars just don't get it. We don't care about who you really are. We don't want to know what you really care about. STAR means unreal...an illusion, a creation much as an actor creates a role.
That is who you are to us....that is what makes you "famous". That is all that makes you famous. You are not a neurosurgeon or an astronaut or an Einstein. You have a little bit of "entertainment talent". That is it.
Sooooo..when you blow the image. Its over. We can never see you the same way again. Years ago the movie studios knew just how stupid stars were...so they kept them under wraps.
Maybe they won't have to be ashamed they played here and got "Texas" dollars.
It's a shame, because I really like their music. But if that is how they want to play it, good riddance to bad rubbish.
I'm deeply troubled.......
2 Kings 17:15
And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.
Job 15:31-35
31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
32. It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35. They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Job 35:13
Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
Psalms 12:2
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
Psalms 94:11
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Psalms 144:4
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanityof vanities; all is vanity.
It's not that their fan base is shrinking.... it's just that it's becoming more selective.
"More selective"? In what way?
Well, there's always Iran, Syria, Somalia, Venezuela, Cuba....
bump for publicity
When being confronted about their falling concert seat sales, and this was their intellijented reply.
It tied in with "their sales going up to eleven" post by petronski.
Rent the dvd, Spinal Tap. It's actually 3 movies. The original, the actors commentary, and the outtakes. It will give you an hillarious insight into the rather small and feeble minds of modern entertainers.
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