Booking A Tour/Venues (PJ related)

jets521

caught this on rollingstone.com and thought it related to Pearl Jam and a potential/rumored spring summer tour. since we have been hearing random dates/venues recently.

this is what billy joel had to say regarding rumors that a summer tour with him and Elton John had been scrapped..

Though the duo are currently performing together on their recurring Face to Face tour, these shows — which swept up the West Coast, and continue until March 11th in Buffalo — are make-up shows, rescheduled from canceled 2009 dates. Joel insists that rumors about 2010 summer tour were leaked by insiders at certain venues around the country. He explains, “There were a couple stories that came out that we were supposed to play Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, and I think Pittsburgh was mentioned. Booking agents hold real estate. They like to research what’s available when, to see if they can put together a series of dates. Then they’ll come back to the artist and say, ‘Look, if you wanted to, you could play such and such and such.’ These rumors probably came from somebody at one of those venues who had to be a big shot and call the local newspaper and say, ‘Hey, Billy and Elton are going to play here this summer.’ ”

FenwayFaithful

Sooooo....Pearl Jam is playing Fenway???

cincybearcat

FenwayFaithful wrote:

Sooooo....Pearl Jam is playing Fenway???

Yep...Billy Joel AND Elton John are opening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CB1279

I don't understand why Billy Joel and Elton John scrapping a tour has anything to do with a Pearl Jam tour. Maybe I'm missing something?? I heard Dave Matthews Band are playing 2 September shows at Wrigley Field, so maybe that's what the Joel/John show got canceled for there.

jets521

CB1279 wrote:

I don't understand why Billy Joel and Elton John scrapping a tour has anything to do with a Pearl Jam tour. Maybe I'm missing something?? I heard Dave Matthews Band are playing 2 September shows at Wrigley Field, so maybe that's what the Joel/John show got canceled for there.

.....both PJ and BJ/EJ have had rumors of both DATES and VENUES pop up in the past few weeks.

“There were a couple stories that came out that we were supposed to play Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, and I think Pittsburgh was mentioned.

-Rumored stories of Tampa, Texas, State College, Scranton, MSG etc etc

Booking agents hold real estate. They like to research what’s available when, to see if they can put together a series of dates. Then they’ll come back to the artist and say, ‘Look, if you wanted to, you could play such and such and such.’

-these "dates" that keep popping up are simply venue holds.....maybe or maybe not initiated by PJ management. it can just as easily be booking agents plotting out potential tour dates for a very bankable concert draw.

These rumors probably came from somebody at one of those venues who had to be a big shot and call the local newspaper and say, ‘Hey, Billy and Elton are going to play here this summer.’ ”

-same thing for rumor shows involving PJ or any other act. no substantial proof of a date. just because there is a PJ hold on a tentative schedule issued to employees of an arena (PSU)..it doesnt mean the band/management has ANYTHING to do with it.

---

that was way more detail then i wanted to get into. i just wanted to use this article as a way to illustrate how tours are potentially planned and how rumors start. the booking agents/venues play a huge role. that was all iwas trying to get across.

Better Dan

Very interesting and informative post Jets. Thanks for posting!

primussucks

Booking agents hold real estate. They like to research what’s available when, to see if they can put together a series of dates. Then they’ll come back to the artist and say, ‘Look, if you wanted to, you could play such and such and such.’

-these "dates" that keep popping up are simply venue holds.....maybe or maybe not initiated by PJ management. it can just as easily be booking agents plotting out potential tour dates for a very bankable concert draw.

These rumors probably came from somebody at one of those venues who had to be a big shot and call the local newspaper and say, ‘Hey, Billy and Elton are going to play here this summer.’ ”

-same thing for rumor shows involving PJ or any other act. no substantial proof of a date. just because there is a PJ hold on a tentative schedule issued to employees of an arena (PSU)..it doesnt mean the band/management has ANYTHING to do with it.
[/quote]

Sorry but I dont agree with this at all. Why not just put a general hold on a venue or any hold at all for that matter? Why put a specific name to it? So your saying it is just coincidence that State College and Scranton have both the exact same band and exact same date on hold? There is a specific name because obviously pj management contacted the venues. Why else put a specific name? As to Billie Joels comments, since booking of shows typically needs to take place months in advance, Joels and Johns management likely did begin contacting venues prior to Joel informing John he didnt want to play this summer. John was obviously under the assumption they were going to keep playing. Granted nothing was officially booked but it is very likely the venues were contacted by their management about possible shows.

Better Dan

At this point, how likely is it that there will be shows in 2 months? Has there ever been this small of a window between a show announcement and date before?

Laf9124

Jets, I saw that same article last week and thought the same thing. Booking agents probably booked some south/sw dates and then some east coast/pa dates and presented them to PJ as options for a small tour. As the Jazz Fest has stated, PJ was supposed to kick off their spring tour with that show, but that tour was scrapped. So clearly, they had dates and arenas booked for that venture.

Just looks like we'll get Jazz Fest, the Euro tour, and then probably a few shows around the 20th anniversary. They've never given this short of notice for shows, so I doubt anything is going to happen before fall at this point.

Jeff Murray

Maybe they will announce a show within short notice to allow the "hometown" fanclub members a better shot at good seats, hoping that small window will keep the traveling fans to a minimum. Just a guess....

helplessdancer

march 1st

what is going on?

you would think if may was the month that time has almost run out

maybe i'm wrong?

am i holding onto nothing?

Better Dan

There was an article a while back that said PJ had scrapped its Spring tour. I was wondering why people thought that to be false?

helplessdancer

I don't know what to believe,
Sometimes I even forget

jets521

DS114969 wrote:

There was an article a while back that said PJ had scrapped its Spring tour. I was wondering why people thought that to be false?

amen to that. i was one of the few people around these boards that thought that was true. i now count you with me in the minority

helplessdancer

jets521 wrote:

DS114969 wrote:

There was an article a while back that said PJ had scrapped its Spring tour. I was wondering why people thought that to be false?

amen to that. i was one of the few people around these boards that thought that was true. i now count you with me in the minority

so lots and lots of rumors were false, and yet 1 article was absolutely true?

was it a direct quote from someone in the band/management?

link please

Kloddz

cincybearcat wrote:

FenwayFaithful wrote:

Sooooo....Pearl Jam is playing Fenway???

Yep...Billy Joel AND Elton John are opening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard Elton John was replacing Boom on the keyboard for this tour... He'll just have to grow his hair until then.

elevation622

To the OP, thanks for posting this as I had no idea how touring works. It sheds a little more light on it for me. Now I can see a two month window for a short tour, but yeah hope is fading fast. Hopefully they'll come around in the fall.

jets521

elevation622 wrote:

To the OP, thanks for posting this as I had no idea how touring works. It sheds a little more light on it for me. Now I can see a two month window for a short tour, but yeah hope is fading fast. Hopefully they'll come around in the fall.

no problem! figured it would spark some spirited conversation while shedding a light on the touring industry.

Luckytwn1

jets521 wrote:

just because there is a PJ hold on a tentative schedule issued to employees of an arena (PSU)..it doesnt mean the band/management has ANYTHING to do with it.

That may be one of the more absurd statements ever on this board and it is not how it works. You think someone not affiliated with a particular act can call up Madison Square Garden or any other arena and put a date on hold for that act? Are you serious?

Every act has a booking agent and only that agent can book dates for the act. Any dates put on hold are by that person (or agency) and Billy's answer is being taken in the wrong context. Acts put holds on venues all the time and what he is referring to is someone at the venue, leaking the hold to the media. Then the act decides not to use the hold and it looks like they have canceled a tour, which was never officially announced in the first place.

jets521

Luckytwn1 wrote:

jets521 wrote:

just because there is a PJ hold on a tentative schedule issued to employees of an arena (PSU)..it doesnt mean the band/management has ANYTHING to do with it.

That may be one of the more absurd statements ever on this board and it is not how it works. You think someone not affiliated with a particular act can call up Madison Square Garden or any other arena and put a date on hold for that act? Are you serious?

Every act has a booking agent and only that agent can book dates for the act. Any dates put on hold are by that person (or agency) and Billy's answer is being taken in the wrong context. Acts put holds on venues all the time and what he is referring to is someone at the venue, leaking the hold to the media. Then the act decides not to use the hold and it looks like they have canceled a tour, which was never officially announced in the first place.

well, im preety sure there have been more absurd comments posted on this board. :roll:

maybe the use of the caps on "anything" caused you to take statement out of context, that is my mistake.

what i was trying to say is that this "third party", booking agent/agency etc...not the band or its management and not the venue is putting these holds on the venues. obviously there is a relationship between the booking agent and the band.

of course i cant call up MSG and place a hold for The Rolling Stones in July.


PJ and its management puts out the feelers to the agency..."hey we are thinking of a spring tour in the northeast". Agent/Agency says, ok lets see what we can do. they put holds on a string of dates/venues and report back to the band.

I doubt that PJ says to the agency..."hey we want a northeast tour in the spring that goes through state college and scranton". Except in special situations like an MSG or Spectrum Shows. Or a tour that would fit into the logistics of a festival appearance.

itsbeen3days

Come on bands can book venues only weeks in advance if they want to and yes they may very well have had the dates on hold. Foo Fighters in 2007 decided last minute they wanted to play some smaller venues before a big fall tour and booked 4-5 venues and announced only 2 weeks in advance. Scranton, Binghamton, Glens Falls,Ny of all places. It was great! to see a huge group like that in a half empty hockey arena, GA show. Dave Grohl made fun of it and had a great time with the 3000 fans but it does show if bands want to hit the road before a big summer European Tour, PJ can pull it off and announce it easily within next 2 months. Matter fact FOO played Lettermen just before all the added shows. Maybe PJ will do the same after SNL. Between May 1 and June 22nd Dublin show seems to be plenty of time to announce whatever PJ wants. Come on its PJ for crying out loud!