More on the Disney Block Party cancellation...
Live Daily reports a bit more, though without any details. It does note that the dates that remain are a benefit set of dates; maybe they decided the positive PR would help justify?
A Hartford TV station has this report noting the sad fact of people showing up to an empty field, and that Disney refused comment.
Speculation: It's hard to imagine there are really any unforeseen circumstances except "we didn't sell many tickets." Anyone who attended other dates -- were they crowded? Empty? Even at $36 a pop, they were going to need to sell a lot of tickets to break even, I'd think. I can't find any good crowd pictures from other dates (and it amuses me that the Google image search for "Disney Block Party Tour" largely features pictures from this site).
Update: Gwyneth reminds us in the comments that she has pictures up. Yeah, that doesn't look like enough people to pay all those acts, the venues, the sound people, the ads, etc., though it's hard to tell. This one looks like there were maybe a few hundred people there; let's say 500 at $36 a shot is about $18,000 in revenue (plus obviously sponsorships, etc., but still). It's hard to make that math work with that many headline-level bands.
Ah well. Again, glad we weren't planning to go. Two fun grownup shows this week (New Pornographers [with Neko!] Thursday and TMBG Saturday). Oh, and! I went to see the Avett Brothers last Saturday. My heavens, they were terrific.
Permanent link • Posted at 7:06 PM
6 comment(s)
6 Comment(s):
That news story was weird. I can't imagine why no one is putting out a real statement. It makes me wonder if there was something more than just sluggish ticket sales.
I think you can see in my photos that the venue was not empty, but I wouldn't say it was particularly crowded either.
I don't know why the people thought they would see Mickey there. Was Mickey in some promo somewhere? I never thought that we would see Mickey at DMBP. And we didn't.
As for the photos, well, google is just plain ole missing out on the best ones :) Probably doesn't help that I have a robots.txt on our website...
One photo of the crowd
1. I've recently started getting into Neko Case. So I'm jealous.
2. that photo #78 was taken during the LAST song of the LAST performer, so not a good representative. Most people had already started to leave.
I wish I had taken a shot from the bleachers during TMBG; the best I got was this one.
I do agree though, that I have trouble picturing how money was not being lost on this event, even with the ticket prices as high as they were. Too bad. I wonder if there is some way to make it work?
Yeah, I went with 500 figuring that there were some people there at various times that weren't in that picture, and some off at the various events. But even if it was 1,000 people, the math is hard.
The way it could conceivably work, it seems to me, is to not have all big names. A couple of artists from each range -- two big names, say, two mid-sized names, and some up-and-comers. Sort of what Kidzapalooza and AKL do, though they don't really have the first category...
Hi Bill, Can't say I'm not please about the fate of the Disney tour. I let out a little snicker at the news and the way they are handling it.
Avett Brothers are absolutely amazing. We just say them at the Newport Folk Fest on Sunday. Totally blown away by them.
I would not be pleased with ANY kids music tour failing, even if the Mouse is sponsoring it.
It just ignites a flare telling promoters that "KIDS MUSIC TOURS DON'T WORK!" And that if Disney can't make them work, how can an independent promoter, let alone Clear Channel/Live Nation, etc.
We have tickets to the Nassau Coliseum show (Saturday). I guess that since those are the "New York" market shows, they managed to sell enough tickets to break even. Either that, or they have to pay a flat fee to all the talent and tons of merch to sell and decided to keep those last dates.
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