The Boston papers today (06/23) carried lengthy stories about the
cancellation of something called the "Lollapalooza Alternative Music
Tour" due to lack of demand.  The Boston Globe's pop correspondent Renee
Graham described it as "once the jewel of summer music festivals".  She
quoted a tour organizer as being in "utter disbelief that a concert of
this stature, with the most exciting lineup I've seen in years did not
galvanize ticket sales...given the the great bands and the reduced ticket
prices." The Boston Herald radio and entertainent writer, Dean Johnson,
also brought up the mediocre sales of events sponsored by Boston powerhouse
radio stations WBCN and WXKS-FM.  He quotes a director of Mass Concerts
that "Lollapalooza" contacted him about promoting the Greater Boston
appearances, but when he balanced the requirements of the presenters,
and the likely ticket sales, he said he'd be crazy to take it on.  Clear
Channel Communications apparently is the entity that will take a bath,
and they get about as much sympathy as Wal-Mart (probably for the same
reasons).  I see on artsjournal.com that a summer classical music festival
near Chicago has DOUBLED its subscriptions for this year (they're moving
into a new performance venue designed by the unstoppable Frank Gehry).
I checked the Boston Symphony's website to see if any Tanglewood
performances are SOLD OUT yet but that would probably be a stretch
except for the LvB 9th which undoubtedly be a tough ticket for walkups.
Admittedly the performance venue for the Rockport, Mass.  chamber music
festival is small, but they had several sell-outs this year, and the
concert I attended came close (the Boston Trio playing Brahms and Ravel).
I think it will be interesting to see how the summer festivals by
orchestras and opera companies do this summer.  The major ones, Tanglewood,
Ravinia, Glimmerglass, etc aren't cheap, so the observation that pop and
rock show foundered due to high ticket prices may be counteracted if the
aforementioned and other classical festivals do well in spite of the
exalted ducat prices!

Laurence Glavin
Methuen, MA