Extravagance and Eye Candy
“The show will be filled with many musical surprises in terms of the performances. This show will not be as theatrical as the last tour; I like to refer to it as a brilliant performance show. Extravagant, yes, but more in line with how shows used to be and scaled back but filled with plenty of eye candy.”
“I am not expecting sticker shock – Madonna is one of the few artists who gives a performance worthy of every cent spent. I am basing ticket prices on the going rate and knowing the show she is preparing to give.”
This is Madonna’s manager, Caresse henry, in an article published today by Ray Waddell for reuters/Billboard.
Read the full article that includes more on Madonna’s upcoming re-INVENTION Tour with comments by Caresse Henry, Clear Channel Entertainment touring division president Arthur Fogel and John Page of Comcast-Spectacor, operator of the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.
Producers of Madonna‘s upcoming tour believe that a focus on her classic material, even if it is “reinvented,” should be worth the $300 top-end ticket price to her fans.
The re-Invention tour will consist primarily of North American arena stops. An international leg includes 12 dates in Europe — a concert at Slane Castle in Dublin is one of them — and shows in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The trek begins May 24 at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. There will be no supporting acts, and the set list will tilt toward a career retrospective, according to Arthur Fogel. He is touring division president for worldwide promoter Clear Channel Entertainment and is overseeing the tour.
The ticket price puts Madonna in the upper tier of touring artists, a status her handlers believe she has earned.
“I am not expecting sticker shock – Madonna is one of the few artists who gives a performance worthy of every cent spent,” says her manager, Caresse Henry. “I am basing ticket prices on the going rate and knowing the show she is preparing to give.”
Fogel adds, “Madonna is a unique and major-league act. Whenever she works, it’s a true event, and I don’t see it being any different this time.”
Cher has toured extensively during the past two years, Bette Midler has been out, Britney Spears is currently on the road and Janet Jackson has tentative plans to tour this fall. But even if the marketplace is jostling with iconic diva types, Madonna tends to rise above the competition, according to Fogel.
“She has a way of captivating the marketplace,” Fogel says. “Any time Madonna tours, it has been hugely successful.”
In 2001, Madonna grossed $75 million from 47 sellouts on her Drowned World Tour, according to Billboard Boxscore. CCE also produced that tour, which focused far more on material from then-current release “Music” than the artist’s hit catalog. Its ticket prices topped out at $250.
This time around, fans apparently can expect a degree of familiarity — good news when the ticket range is $45-$300.
Some fans complained during the previous tour that Madonna didn’t perform enough of her classic hits, a fact not lost on the artist.
“That was one of the major complaints, and thus came to the conclusion that it was time to perform more of her entire repertoire,” Henry says.
John Page, senior VP for Comcast-Spectacor, operator of the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, does not expect any price resistance to his July 4 Madonna show.
And because the Republican National Convention will be occupying New York arena Madison Square Garden in July, the Philly show’s draw should expand into New York and central New Jersey, Page believes.
“Based on the business we did two years ago with Madonna, we anticipate adding a date,” Page says. “From what we’ve seen, people aren’t really resistant to as long as there are only a few of them. People like U2, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones have shown that it’s really about what the market will bear.”
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Production elements are still being determined. “The show will be filled with many musical surprises in terms of the performances. This show will not be as theatrical as the last tour; I like to refer to it as a brilliant performance show,” says Henry. “Extravagant, yes, but more in line with how shows used to be and scaled back but filled with plenty of eye candy.”
Source: Reuters/Billboard