In Consideration of Small Club Shows

djklambake

Let me preface this by saying there are fewer places in the world is rather be than in a big arena with all my PJ friends while the best band in the world plays two to three hours for us.

Wanted to propose something within our little online community to see if the following is something we'd dig in the future:

Pearl Jam Tours Small U.S. Clubs

I'm listening to No Code with noise canceling headphones and, 20 years on, im still in awe of the intimate studio vibe the guys created for this record.

We all know what Pearl Jam sounds like in the massive arena setting, but man I'd love to hear them play in some more intimate spaces... Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, AZ, comes to mind. I wanna know what Pearl Jam playing the smaller space sounds like.

We all know they've got the rockers to blow the roof off an arena, and we've all heard them dozens of times, but what about "In My Tree" in a small club... A small stage and a small space... Total intimacy - a rarity for Pearl Jam because they've been so big for so long

It's another reason I'm excited to hear their surprise set at Third Man Records

Tix would be tough, but whaddya say?

2-feign-reluctance

I have a recurring dream where they play The Blue Note in my hometown.

Sarah

Love small clubs, love Pearl Jam. Would love for this to happen more often, although I'm sure I'd be shut out of tickets somehow.

pjalive21

Im all for this but I think demand for tickets are as high now as ever and it would be damn near difficult to get a seat unless they kept it straight 10c like they did with The Vic, which was an amazing show

Zod

I'm a bit biased because I've already seem them do a bar show (I was lucky enough to be at the Commodore in Vancouver 2000). That being said, I think a club tour would be mostly disappointment for the fan base. It's already damned hard to get tickets for PJ shows. If they did a bar tour it would next to impossible. If your a fan of Pearl Jam playing closing to you and not being able to go (or spending thousands of dollars for a ticket), then sure, why not

I also can't seen the band doing it. They can't be making much off albums anymore. We mock them for the wierd merch stuff they sell, but even that is usually limited runs. By the time 10c takes there cut and the band members get their cut it can't be that much. I think they still make they're money on touring. They seem to have found a balance with how many shows to play a year. I dunno, wouldn't doing club shows be almost like working for free? Instead of selling 16000 to 20000 tickets you're selling less than 1000?

mschostok

I think small clubs are a bit of a pipe dream, but I've always thought it'd be so cool (and possibly realistic) if the band did shows at venues holding around a couple thousand. First couple places that come to mind are the Chicago Theater, the Metro, Aragon Ballroom, and Vic in Chicago. Seeing the band at any of those smaller theaters would be sick.

djklambake

How about club show one night, then arena show next night? :-)

That'd kick some serious ass.

Alexana

Once a band reaches a certain level the costs of touring need to balance out with venues. Typically people like techs get "stay pay" during periods when a band is not actively touring. This could be as high as 50%. Bands like PJ, or of that caliber of being able to sell out stadium shows,will tour for a couple weeks, take a couple of weeks off. The economics of travel make playing smaller venues net loss events. One or two sprinkled in make sense but once you get into an extended club tour it is really hard to make it make sense.

I think PJ is a band that hasn't done the cash grab tour (Tool for example has been touring on the same albums for what??? 10 years?). I think with the way the music industry is, touring is the best way for a band to make money and who thinks with the flat rate pricing and 3 hour sets that they aren't getting their money worth?

I love small venues but I would take a fairly priced stadium show any day.

djklambake

Alexana said:

Once a band reaches a certain level the costs of touring need to balance out with venues. Typically people like techs get "stay pay" during periods when a band is not actively touring. This could be as high as 50%. Bands like PJ, or of that caliber of being able to sell out stadium shows,will tour for a couple weeks, take a couple of weeks off. The economics of travel make playing smaller venues net loss events. One or two sprinkled in make sense but once you get into an extended club tour it is really hard to make it make sense.

I think PJ is a band that hasn't done the cash grab tour (Tool for example has been touring on the same albums for what??? 10 years?). I think with the way the music industry is, touring is the best way for a band to make money and who thinks with the flat rate pricing and 3 hour sets that they aren't getting their money worth?

I love small venues but I would take a fairly priced stadium show any day.

Pearl Jam fans are a lucky bunch. We could all be paying upwards of $300 per seat for an arena show (I mean, look at the Bad Boy Family/P Diddy tour right now... You're paying $500 for floor seats - it's insane!) and the band plays for 3+ hours - THAT'S FUCKING AMAZING! We're extremely lucky, and the band is very kind to cater to its fans the way they do.

That said, I'd still probably pay top dollar to see the band rock out in a small venue... just for the experience and the intimacy...

FrankieG

Demand is way too high. They are selling out baseball stadiums and you want them to play for < 2,000 ppl? There would be no way I could get a ticket living in the North East.

myoung321

Time for a Ten Club Only show

myoung321

djklambake said:

Alexana said:

Once a band reaches a certain level the costs of touring need to balance out with venues. Typically people like techs get "stay pay" during periods when a band is not actively touring. This could be as high as 50%. Bands like PJ, or of that caliber of being able to sell out stadium shows,will tour for a couple weeks, take a couple of weeks off. The economics of travel make playing smaller venues net loss events. One or two sprinkled in make sense but once you get into an extended club tour it is really hard to make it make sense.

I think PJ is a band that hasn't done the cash grab tour (Tool for example has been touring on the same albums for what??? 10 years?). I think with the way the music industry is, touring is the best way for a band to make money and who thinks with the flat rate pricing and 3 hour sets that they aren't getting their money worth?

I love small venues but I would take a fairly priced stadium show any day.

Pearl Jam fans are a lucky bunch. We could all be paying upwards of $300 per seat for an arena show (I mean, look at the Bad Boy Family/P Diddy tour right now... You're paying $500 for floor seats - it's insane!) and the band plays for 3+ hours - THAT'S FUCKING AMAZING! We're extremely lucky, and the band is very kind to cater to its fans the way they do.

That said, I'd still probably pay top dollar to see the band rock out in a small venue... just for the experience and the intimacy...

I agree 100% $300+ for GNR...really? really?

Zod

myoung321 said:

djklambake said:

Alexana said:

Once a band reaches a certain level the costs of touring need to balance out with venues. Typically people like techs get "stay pay" during periods when a band is not actively touring. This could be as high as 50%. Bands like PJ, or of that caliber of being able to sell out stadium shows,will tour for a couple weeks, take a couple of weeks off. The economics of travel make playing smaller venues net loss events. One or two sprinkled in make sense but once you get into an extended club tour it is really hard to make it make sense.

I think PJ is a band that hasn't done the cash grab tour (Tool for example has been touring on the same albums for what??? 10 years?). I think with the way the music industry is, touring is the best way for a band to make money and who thinks with the flat rate pricing and 3 hour sets that they aren't getting their money worth?

I love small venues but I would take a fairly priced stadium show any day.

Pearl Jam fans are a lucky bunch. We could all be paying upwards of $300 per seat for an arena show (I mean, look at the Bad Boy Family/P Diddy tour right now... You're paying $500 for floor seats - it's insane!) and the band plays for 3+ hours - THAT'S FUCKING AMAZING! We're extremely lucky, and the band is very kind to cater to its fans the way they do.

That said, I'd still probably pay top dollar to see the band rock out in a small venue... just for the experience and the intimacy...

I agree 100% $300+ for GNR...really? really?

It's $250 + s/c for GNR (so around $280). I guess that's moot. I can't seen GNR pulling off those prices for more than 1 tour. They have the luxury of not having played together (slash/duff/axl) in over 20 years. Once everyone's seen it, the ticket prices should come back to sanity FM (assuming they stay together that long). I also assume they wouldn't be able to do another stadium tour once the novelty wears off. If they manage to stay together I imagine we'll see cheaper arena tours in the future.

Spiritual_Chaos

They should do a 10c-only show for every leg they do. Could be at a smaller place.