My Poor Brain

For a huge lover of music, I have not been to many concerts. I either get to busy or they are just too far away. But recently I have been trying to change that. I went to see the Raconteurs in Boston recently and that was an amazing show. The venue was even better. We had seats that were pretty much close to the back, but it wasn’t really THAT far away. The venue was a perfect size. That got me thinking about all the times I’ve tried to get tickets to see the Foo Fighters and I have gotten stuck with tickets that are in high heaven. I never ended up buying those tickets because I’d be better off watching the live DVD at home. Only about a third of the people who go to arena shows get good seats or the floor.

Being a musician I hope to go on tour one day. Now I know I won’t have to worry about arena shows for quite a while, and quite possibly I may never make it to that level of fame to where I can sell out to an arena. But if I was to put myself in the shoes of some of my favorite, more mainstream, bands like the Foo Fighters or Green Day, I would do things differently. This is mostly just an idea, I know nothing about touring and how venues work but I don’t think this is completely out of the question.

Here’s the situation: I am in a band that has just hit the big time after years of hard work and touring and album promotion (self-promotion of course). And now my band has the fanbase to fill up an arena. Since I have been touring for many years, with little breaks in between, why stop? I know there are a good share of bands and musicians out there that are hardcore year round touring bands (Dave Matthews is the only one I can think of for now), but there are also a fair share who tour for 6 months to a year and then call it quits for a while.

The Boston Pavilion that I went to see The Raconteurs at held 5,000 seats. The average arena holds probably anywhere from 15,000 to 30,000. I’ll guess that 5,000 of those seats and the floor area go from amazing to pretty decent in what kind of show you see. The rest of those people get to watch the screens and just listen, or squint to see the tiny people on stage. I’d say watching a live DVD with tons of camera angles and a great sound system is better then those far away seats. You essentially get the same live sound, better view of the band, and no obnoxious people sitting with you. If you are in one of those good to amazing 5,000 seats than you are getting the full concert experience of smelly loud kids and pot smoking teenagers and music blasting out your ears and you get to SEE the band. I think anything else just sucks.

Here’s the solution: My band, with a huge fanbase that could sell out arenas, would not play arenas. I would find venues with a seating capacity of around 5,000. Using the Pavilion as a reference again, they have a decent schedule of performers lined up. But there are gaps that go anywhere from 1 day to a full week without any performances. I would play that venue for 3 nights in a row, give 15,000 a great show, rather than 5,000 a great show and the rest an alright listening experience. Now I know that I know nothing about the touring business, but I do know that those smaller venues wouldn’t mind filling up those gaps in their week with a band guaranteed to bring in a sold out crowd for 3 nights in a row.

Now the question is: how long do I tour? Well let’s say, for averages sake, that I’m a fucking superstar and will play each venue for 3 nights in a row. Then leave 2 days in between each venue for touring and break, in one year of straight touring I can hit 73 venues. That sounds like a good amount of places to me, and not only that, but everyone got a fantastic show. And not only that, the touring company gets to set up one day and then rest for two days before taking it down. And not only that, the band get the chance to walk check out the town or even set up a meet and greet in each place without a time crunch.

It is quite possible there are already bands practicing this schedule of touring, but apparently none of the bigger bands I like are doing it. Now I just have to remember to look over this 10 years down the road, and see if I am in that position and put this plan into action.