I have two issues with
this. The first is that when I went on line just now to discover the price of
the tickets for the show in London’s Hyde Park – as ever unmentioned in the ad
– I learnt from Ticketmaster that the cheapest were slightly over £100, rising
to almost £200 for those in areas closer to the stage. The capacity for shows
there is 65,000 so if all the tickets sell quickly, which they no doubt will,
for the London show alone promoters Live Nation will bank in excess of
£7,000,000, and you can add a few more million on top of that for the smaller
arena shows in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. I know interest
rates are low these days but I find it iniquitous that concert promoters can bank
all that money up front, nine months before the shows take place, and earn
interest on that sum – well in excess of £10 million quid – in that time.
The second issue is more
an observation on the ironies of ‘classic rock’ in the 21st century.
Pink Floyd ceased collective endeavour on the death of Richard Wright, a fact
highlighted by the title of their V&A show – Pink Floyd: Their Mortal
Remains. The good news for fans, however, is that now we seem to have two Pink
Floyds, one led by Roger and the other by David Gilmour, whose most recent
concerts relied heavily on Pink Floyd material. Those attending would no doubt
have demanded their money back had it been otherwise. Indeed, a recently
released live double album from the tour, Live
At Pompeii (another Floyd reference), consists of eight songs from Gilmour's solo
albums and 14 Pink Floyd songs, and like Waters they are from DSOM, The Wall and WYWH (but no
Animals). No doubt this time next
year a live Rogers Waters album will be available with a similar PF track
listing.
Poor old Nick Mason,
whom I always liked, must be feeling a bit left out.
3 comments:
I've seen Waters solo a couple of times and he does put on a fantastic show. The set list is 80% Floyd, but then that's what the fans want, and if you're asking £100 a ticket it's probably best to give the people what they want.
The alternative approach would be what Paul Weller did when I saw him earlier this year - three Jam songs, two Style Council, and about 22 dull solo efforts. Not what the people around me wanted at all.
When Weller supported The Who in Hyde Park last summer he bored the word to tears with songs from his most recent album. The set only came alive when he did a couple of Jam songs, and the crowd responded accordingly.
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