The Black Keys, Dublin, August
Oh yes. The Black Keys, whose “El Camino” album was one of last year’s big highlights, play Dublin’s O2 on August 22. Tickets go on sale next Thursday at €39.05 (plus TM charges) a pop.
On The Record »
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Madonna plays Dublin in July
OTR strikes again. As predicted here three months ago, Madonna plays Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on July 24. Tickets for this one range in price from €54.65 to €141 (plus Ticketmaster gravy) and go on sale next Tuesday.
It’s been funny to watch folks get their smalls in a twist over the gangsta Nancy Sinatra, especially when the original of the pop star makey-up game is back on the pitch. This, friends, is how you get coverage. Boom! There’s Madonna quite literally on the pitch at the Super Bowl final in Indianapolis last weekend playing to 114 million TV viewers. Boom! That’s Madge in the cinemas with her W.E. flick. Boom! Here’s our material girl announcing another world tour to keep her in the style to which she has become accustomed.
No-one has played the pop reinvention game with as much smart swagger as Madonna over the years. When there’s a new album or tour to sell, she knows what to do. You don’t go around snogging pop singers half your age unless you’ve something to plug.
But there comes a time when even a queenpin like Madonna looks like she’s trying too hard. For instance, we know exactly what angles she’s trying to cover by having Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. (whose own tiresome antics are also highly predictable at this stage), Cee Lo Green and LMFAO onstage with her, while the new single doesn’t have as much zip or zing as her back-catalogue.
Then, there’s her unrecession-friendly quote about people grumbing about high ticket prices. “People spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags”, she told Newsweek. “Work all year, scrape the money together, and come to my show. I’m worth it.” I’m sure those who saw her at Slane a few years ago might have a quibble with that one.
Even grandstanding, blockbuster, best-selling one-offs like Madonna eventually lose their way. The trick is what they do to get back on the tracks so what’s next for Madonna?
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Shabazz Palaces, Dublin, May
Boom! Shabazz Palaces bring one of the best albums of 2011 “Black Up” (streaming in full below) to Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on May 18. I saw them live at Transmusicales in Rennes last December and they were just so damn good. Tickets for this one are €16 and €14. On a related note (they’re Shabazz cohorts), the ace THEESatisfaction play the same venue on April 19 (tickets €10 and €8) to plug their Sub Pop debut album “awE naturalE”.
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Colin Stetson, Dublin, Nov 2012
One of the best acts I saw at the excellent Transmusicales festival last year was Colin Stetson and he’s coming to Dublin later this year. He plays the Twisted Pepper on November 9 and tickets are now on sale at €16 and €14 a pop. Aside from his own releases (current album “New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges” is amazing), Stetson has worked with Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Feist, LCD Soundsystem, The National, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, David Byrne and many more.
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Coming soon to a venue or field near you
You know it’s MIDEM weekend when the newswires are full of Paul McGuinness giving out yards about the internet. Yesterday, McGuinness used the annual gathering of record label big-wigs in Cannes to do some fuming and feather-spitting about Google. We have been here before, so there’s little new to see or hear. It would be far more interesting if McGuinness talked about U2’s future plans on the back of their ker-ching tour.
But if the MIDEM-going sector of the record industry has long since ceased to be a relevant cog in the wheel, you also have to wonder about the current state of the live music beast, U2’s performance aside. Remember that old chestnut from a half-decade or so ago about how the live industry would take up the slack and replenish the lost profits from the record side? While there’s some spotty gloom and doom around the festival sector – the decision to cancel The Big Chill in the UK, for instance (though Big Chill’s change in direction probably contributed to that state of affairs), or Oxegen sitting out 2012 at home – such a downcast forecast has to be seen in the greater context. And that ain’t a pretty picture.
Let’s start with something you may already have noticed: it’s damn quiet out there in venues at the moment, isn’t it? Sure, there’s lots of action at entry-level as bands attempt to squeeze through and make a splash, but go up a few levels and it’s tumbleweed time. Acts just aren’t breaking through in the same numbers as before which is causing a shortage further up the line. I’ve never seen a gig calendar as quiet at the one on offer from the various promoters at present. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark and we don’t just mean the O2 sitting largely dark down on the docks.
When you delve a little deeper, you can cop some reasons for the malaise. Promoters are worried. Promoters are looking at the changing trends in gig-going habits and don’t like what they see. As punters leave it later and later in the day to get their tickets (bar for those event gigs which sell out in the blink of an eye – pace Azealia Banks at Whelan’s in Dublin), promoters are beginning to wonder how much distressed ticketing inventory they’re going to have left with on their hands when the doors open on the night.
They’re setting mounting costs – costs which include many acts now seeking payment in sterling or dollars rather than the euro – against the fanbase’s shrinking disposable income (even a shrinking fanbase, as emigration continues) and are deciding to sit some shows out. You may wonder why Ireland is missing out on many touring acts at present and it comes down to the promoters deciding that the audience just isn’t willing any more to take a chance on some acts at those ticket prices. The fact that the acts are still demanding fees which have not descreased significantly since the good old days is not helping matters either. The days of promoters pushing fees up by wildly and blindly bidding against each other are well and truly over (for now). No-one has the spare cash for that aul’ rubbish any more.
And yet, there are still some gigs on the calendar which have you scratching your head wondering what is going on. Guns N’Roses may once have had a dedicated rural-metal fanbase, but are they really going to see the Axl Rose pantomine after what happened the last time? Does anyone out there really think Roxette are worth (or were ever worth) a night at the O2? And while Aslan playing Tallaght Stadium has all the makings of an event show in this, the Dublin band’s 30th year of operations, it’s still a bit of a stretch (though the band don’t seem to have as many hometown shows booked between now and then as is usually the case).
There are also, of course, some gaps on the calendar which require filling. There’s been a surprising lack of annoucements for MCD’s Phoenix Park jamboree but we’re still hearing Florence & The Machine, Rihanna and Lady Gaga as possibilities. There will be – you may need to sit down for this – a Coldplay show in Ireland this summer, though the venue for this yoyos between the Aviva Stadium (the band’s crew have ran the rule over the old Lansdowne Road), Phoenix Park and Slane. There is also mention of Foo Fighters for the latter gaff. And, as we wrote last week, you’ll have The Cure heading to Stradbally and Wilco taking a stand in Kilmainham. Plus, of course, the huge number of Irish fests which have become firm favourites in the last few years like Sea Sessions, Castlepalooza, Indiependence, Vantastival, Body & Soul, Knockanstockan, Dublin City Soul Festival, Belsonic et al will be returning in 2012 (one early change to note is that Cork X Southwest is moving to the August Bank Holiday weekend).
There will be plenty of events to go round this summer, yet there’s anecdotal evidence that even more Irish fans will be heading abroad for their festival kicks in 2012. Sources at the Benicassim and EXIT festivals have noted a marked increase in Irish ticket sales and we know what that’s down to. With no Oxegen on the agenda for 2012, those who want to go to a multi-day, multi-stage festival with camping in July are heading to Spain and Serbia. While no doubt some of that post-Oxegen audience will hang around for the Electric Picnic, most want to go to a festival with their mates in the weeks after they finish their exams and, as there’s no Oxegen, they’ve decided to decamp abroad. Live music business nerds will note a sweet irony in all of this as Dinny Desmond’s decision to shutter Oxegen means a bump in sales for his longtime rival Vince Power’s Spanish hop.
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Wilco to play Forbidden Fruit festival
Word from our Windy City sources last night that Wilco will play on the Monday night at the Forbidden Fruit festival in Dublin over the June bank holiday weekend (June 2 to 4). They join the previously announced Factory Floor (who also play Dublin’s Banquet club at Tripod on Saturday week) and Grimes on the bill. Full line-up and ticket information to be announced next week.
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The Cure for Electric Picnic?
No doubt many of you have been keeping an eye on The Cure’s website over the last few weeks where they’ve been having the crack announcing European festival shows for summer 2012. An Irish show is definitely on the cards and, according to a source close to the band, is slated for “late summer”. This rules out a night at the Phoenix Park (licence only covers shows from July 5 to 26) leaving us with Slane (nah, can’t see enough Cureheads making it worth Lord Henry Mountcharles’ time to open the gate on his field with a bit of a hill in it – anyway, we’re hearing rumours about Coldplay or the Foo Fighters for Co Meath), Marlay Park (always possible) and the Electric Picnic. Seeing as the band are playing festivals rather than headline shows, we’re going with The Cure as the big headliner at the Electric Picnic this year. Mark this one as #gigileaks and come back to us when the Picnic announces its line-up in a few weeks.
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Eurosonic 2012 – Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon
The hits kept coming at Eurosonic on Friday. After chairing the Irish music in Europe panel – which came to the conclusion that Irish acts need to work harder and smarter (and get a few lucky breaks) to make a splash in Europe – it was time to get on the bike and hit the road again.
We started with Hauschka playing at the gorgeous Stadsschouwburg music hall (the German composer’s prepared piano pieces were the stuff of wonder and made us appreciate his last couple of albums all the more) and ended a couple of hours later with the haunting, twitchy, slo-mo hypnohouse of Stay+ at Simplon. There were a couple of duds encountered inbetween – buzz bands like Citizens!, Zulu Winter and especially the risible Tribes (the world’s first Razorlight tribute band fronted by Bryan Adams’ fans) didn’t quite zing as much as their champions hoped – but you could quickly move on to the next venue and experience something much better.
Acts earning a mention in the OTR despatches include Honningbarna (our band of the weekend turn out to be a bunch of Norwegian brats playing fast, fierce and furious punk rock. You won’t forget their intense, wild-eyed frontman in a hurry, especially with that blue jumper and how he wielded his cello like a machine-gun), Iceage (menacing, thrilling and edgy punk rock from the Danish teens behind the bracing, brave “New Brigade” album) and New Build (the latest Hot Chip offshoot played their fourth ever live show and impressed with spacey, vibey disco jams).
We also had mad love for Philco Fiction (sweet, dreamy fjord-pop from the Oslo-based trio Philco Fiction whose current album “Take It Personal” is full of graceful, striking, off-kilter pop ideas), Vondelpark (the act named after an Amsterdam park turn out to be four-strong in number, all the better to embelish their deep, dreamy, snowblind, slo-mo shoegaze beats and abstract Night Nurse bleeps), The Cast of Cheers (on the evidence of new songs like “Animals”, album number two from the now tighter than a mosquito’s tweeter Cast of Cheers is going to blow a lot of minds) and Jennie Abrahamson (dark, spry, hugely likable pop sounds from a member of Ane Brun’s touring band).
Niet stoppen til je genoeg: Daughter (this must be what Other Voices is like as Elena Tonra’s beautiful, hushed, bare-bones, melancholic folk-pop caused goosebumps all round in a lovely atmospheric old church), Cashier No 9 (a band whose swagger is really coming on apace and no wonder given the strength in depth of their “To the Death Of Fun” album), Emeli Sande (we finally clicked that our favourite ex-neuroscience student reminded us of Tasmin Archer), Funeral Suits (a band who are getting better and bolder with every passing show – all eyes now on their debut album which, the band say, will be released in April) and Toby Kaar (corking electronic grooves, bright ideas and smashing new tunes)
Saturday is Noorderslag day in Groningen when the Dutch pop and rock acts come out to play and the vast majority of the non-Dutch visitors leave town. But there was one last act to catch and that was the amazing Lefties Soul Connection playing an afternoon store at a downtown cafe. I’ve known about the Amsterdam band through their stonking version of DJ Shadow’s “Organ Donor” (see video below). Live, they were smoking, throwing down an alluring mix of Hammond organ swing, Daptonetastic soul (especially with soul belter Michelle David out front) and meaty, gritty funk. A big ol’ good time hit.
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Eurosonic 2012 – it’s the new rock’n'roll
If it’s January, it must be Groningen and time for OTR to return to the lovely Dutch city for the annual Eurosonic festival. For a couple of nighrs. festival bookers, radio programmers, agents, promoters, media folk and your ordinary decent music fan run around the city to try to see as many of the acts playing as possible. OTR has decided to be at least 21 per cent more productive this year by hiring a bike to get around. Now, that’s the new rock’n'roll.
2012 is the year of the Irish at Eurosonic as Ireland becomes the festival’s focus country. There are 21 Irish acts playing – 22, if you count the Irish-born and Bristol-bred 2:54 (a lot of twos in there) – as well as various Irish-themed events in the convention (I’m moderating the We’re Not At Eurovision Now, Dorothy panel later today). You can’t avoid the Irish this weekend, bud. It will be interesting to see, though, what effect this Irish exposure will have overall. The main way to guage a band’s success at Eurosonic is in the amount of summer festival bookings received afterwards, which is one of the main props of the European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP). Given the amount of festival bookers in attendance last night, I’d say God Is An Astronaut will be in clover afterwards, while Lisa Hannigan’s name has come up several times already.
Highlights from the first two nights zipping around the city include the aforementioned 2:54 (spellbinding, bootgazing swirlscapes from the Thurlow sisters with hues of Belly and The xx in the mix) and God Is An Astronaut (“Remembrance Day” alone was worth the price of admission as the hugely under-rated band – at home, at least – instrumentally rocked out with great aplomb). It was also hugely significant to see James Vincent McMorrow in one of the biggest rooms at the festival, especially as he played one of the smallest rooms here last year. McMorrow also won an European Border Breakers Award to cap a great year for him – and that album campaign ain’t over yet either.
Others to check out from sightings include Francois & The Atlas Mountains (alluring bang of Beta Band and Animal Collective from these merry pranksters who also specialise in Kraut-fro grooves and oddly sweet synchronised dancing), Theme Park (lovely breezy tropical pop with “Wax” as the hit tune of the night), Lianne La Havas (stunning songs and perfectly pitched performance from one of the brighest tips for 2012) and Boy (cute-as-a-button new-school pop from a German duo armed with a fine band).
More from the despatches: Tove Styrke (name-drop clanger alert: it was Lykke Li who tipped me off to this Swedish popster already turning out some wild songs like “Million Pieces” and “Call My Name” at this early stage), Rocketnumbernine (incandescent improvtronica and renegade soundwaves with the oomph factor from the Page brothers), Thulebasen (hat tip to from Lizzie Newton from SXSW for alerting me ages ago to these Danish freak-scensters with oodles of out-there notions to their filthy synth jams) and Spector (bespoke crombie-indie with dashing hooks and interesting stitching from the sharp-dressed men).
Proof of 21 per cent increase in OTR productivity this year: Redinho (soulful, grimey cuts and bleeps from the Numbers-affiliated dude who may well “do a SBTRKT” but without the mask), Jessie Ware (old-fashioned soul with new-school footing from one of the finest new voices you’ll hear right now) and, leaving one of the best till last, Madeon (17 year old Nantes’ producer tearing up the gaff with crazily addictive pop-dance hooks and big-room bangers. Hit!)
More reports to come. You’ll find a full list of acts playing here and if you want to recommend some non-Irish and UK acts (I’m up to speed on those ones), please do so below.
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Gigroll: Azealia Banks and Grimes for Dublin shows
Oh yes. Azealia Banks, the lady behind “212″, our tune of 2011, plays Dublin’s Whelan’s on February 6. Tickets €15 plus TM fees on sale tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the excellent Grimes, who was one of our hits from SXSW 2011 and whose forthcoming album “Visions” is one we can’t wait to hear, is one of the acts who will be playing the Forbidden Fruit festival in June. As previously posted here, Factory Floor have also announced that they’re playing the festival. See here for full tour details for Grimes.
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Details on MCD’s Phoenix Park concerts
Big thanks to OTR reader Brian Daly for uncovering this info-dump from MCD’s licence application for a series of Phoenix Park shows next summer.
We can expect a minimum of three and a maximum of seven shows at the Ashtown site in the Park between July 5 and 26.
Capacity for each event is 45,500 plus 2,500 stewards and guests.
The site will feature only one stage and the age demographic is described as “16 to 65″. One act is named in the document and that’s The Stone Roses.
There will be two bars in operation and 28 concession stands. Licence indicates that there are plans to run shuttle buses from Custom House Quay to the site. Other useful info: 228 female WCs, 47 male WCs, 182 urinals and 3 disabled access loos. Per Brian, “no mention if these are Olympic standard loos”.
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Oxegen cancelled for 2012
The elephant in the room has finally made an announcement about its future plans: there will be no Oxegen in 2012. Per MCD PR supremo Justin Green, “Oxegen, like Glastonbury, is taking a year off in 2012 and will be back July 2013″. Sadly there was no mention of our old friend “unforeseen circumstances”, which has had a quiet year when it comes to getting togged out to provide excuses for this kind of thing. As regular OTR readers know, we predicted this back in July.
Six questions to mull over about this news: will the cancellation have any effect on the thousands of Stone Roses and Red Hot Chili Pepper tickets still on sale? Will MCD get to put the second Stone Roses’ gig they’re believed to be holding for the Phoenix Park on sale or have to yank it (by the way, the capacity for the Phoenix Park shows now turns out to be 45,000 not the 36,000 initially mentioned)? Will MCD schedule another camping festival for 2012 or will the Oxegen kids have to find other ways to amuse themselves next year? Are there any friendly UK or US agents who’d like to let us know if any of their acts are on hold for such an event? Does this news mean some other promoter might jump into the breach or is it too late to book a rake of acts for summer 2012? And finally, will Oxegen return to Punchestown or even return at all? We’ll miss it….won’t we?
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5 things we learned this morning about The Stone Roses and Irish gigonomics
(1) Not even reformed Manc baggy legends can buck the Irish recession. The era of instant sell-outs for big outdoor shows and festivals is well and truly over – unless you’re Take That. People are leaving it closer to the date to buy tickets for shows, though they might still do the Ticketmaster 8am waltz for indoor gigs where there is a finite capacity and they feel the show might sell fast.
(2) One of the most consistent questions asked prior to the Phoenix Park show going on sale related to the capacity of the field. Gigs at the Phoenix Park can range in capacity from 40,000 to 100,000 so a lot of punters felt they were buying a bit of a pig in a poke as there’s a huge difference between a 40k and 100k show. The only figure I heard was 36,000 which Paul McLoone mentioned twice or three times on his Today FM show last night. Emails and tweets to MCD asking about capacity for the show have gone unanswered to date.
(3) It’s going to take more than organising radio competitions and generating press hype from promoter-friendly journos to shift tickets. Promoters are going to have to actually learn how to promote shows and this means more than just sending out press releases, taking out ads and lining up interviews with the band’s drummer. Time for some innovative thinking, gig promoters.
(4) Are The Stone Roses really that much of a big deal anyway? A handful of decent albums and live shows which went from amazing (well, at the beginning of their career) to downright appalling (the rest of their career) may not be enough in the end to sustain a big show in the Phoenix Park.
(5) Maybe they’d have done better on day one if they had put a decent bill together. But such a support cast is going to cost cash which may not have been budgeted for to begin with. Speaking of which, was Noel Gallagher always in the frame for the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ show in Croker or is that a touch of desperation for a show which is not yet sold out (he’s not doing any other show on the tour)? Amanda Brunker, get emailing Dinny, you might get another gig yet.
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The festival wishlist for 2012
The year may be winding down, but the plotting and planning for next summer’s Irish music festivals is in full swing. With early bird tickets already on sale for a rake of fests – including the Electric Picnic, Castlepalooza, Body & Soul and the Sea Sessions – we can expect announcements early in 2012 about who will be playing these events.
There are, though, some elephants in the room. The first is Oxegen. While there has been no confirmation of any sort about dates or venues for next year’s event – we’re still waiting patiently for promoters MCD to respond to our tweeted query a few weeks ago– there is little doubt that there will be some class of Oxegen-like camping festival last year.
Even though Oxegen is not as good or as popular as it once was, there are always a couple of thousand kids each year eager to pop their festival cherry. To add grist to the mill, a number of UK agents have indicated that they’ve received queries from bookers about acts for such a festival.
Another elephant in the room is Ireland’s involvement in Euro 2012. If the team have a good run, this will have an effect on gigs and events in June, with people leaving ticket purchases later and later.
The third elephant in the room, up to this morning, was the one wearing a pair of flares and a floppy hat. But we now know that The Stones Roses will play Phoenix Park on July 5 next with tickets going on sale next Tuesday at a pricey €65.50 plus Ticketmaster charges per ticket. That puts paid to the rumours and hearsay about the band playing Oxegen and Slane.
Add in the ongoing recession and the slump in live ticket sales and you’ve the makings of another interesting year.
Feel free to tell us what acts you’d like to see playing Irish festivals in 2012 below.
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Sleigh Bells, Dublin, February 2012
Via Nialler9, the awesome Sleigh Bells play Dublin’s Academy on February 27. Tickets are €17.50 plus Ticketmaster add-ons. Looking forward to hearing new album “Reign Of Terror”.
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Factory Floor to play Forbidden Fruit 2012?
I was lucky enough to see Factory Floor a bunch of times in 2011 at Primavera, Great Escape and Trans Musicales. The band have yet to play Ireland, despite the best efforts of various promoters to bring them in for shows (including Electric Picnic, Mogwai supports and another show). However, it looks now as if they’re on their way per a tweet from band member Nik Colk earlier talking about an appearance at next summer’s Forbidden Fruit festival. Thanks to Thomas Lennon for the heads-up
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The Magnetic Fields, Ireland, April 2012
Hat-tip to Irish Times’ colleagues Charlie Taylor and Elaine Edwards for spotting these dates. The Magnetic Fields play Dublin’s Olympia on April 28 (tickets €30 and €25, per band website) and Cork’s Opera House on April 29 (tickets €29).
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Hey Rosetta!, Dublin, April 2012
The rather excellent Hey Rosetta (who we caught playing a hometown show in Newfoundland two years ago) are heading to Dublin. They play the Sugar Club on April 12 and tickets go on sale at €12.50 each (plus Ticketmaster charges) from Friday.
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The French way of doing things
Why aren’t there more winter music festivals? While no-one is obviously hankering for music gigs in the open air or tents on nights like these (unless you’re a reindeer or a polar bear), it’s a surprise that more promoters don’t go for city-based multi-venue, multi-night affairs later in the year.
Of course, there are a few which buck the trend – such as Eurosonic, which will be taking over Groningen in Holland again in January with the cream of new European acts, including nearly 20 Irish ones – but there’s still room to maneouvre for any promoter looking for an angle and a competitive advantage.
Anyone intending to hit that road should first head to Rennes in France to sample Trans Musicales. Established in 1979, Trans Musicales has been pulling punters from far and wide with a bespoke, smartly curated selection of French and international acts ever since. It’s been going this long because they know what they’re doing.
What’s remarkable about Les Trans is that there’s not a headline act on the bill to pull in the punters. Instead, 30,000 people pay their cash and trust in the curatorial abilities of the bookers who, in turn, have spent their budgets on new acts and superb production instead of overpaying some superstar act.
OTR came back from Rennes with a long list of acts to check out (see Now Playing and New Music for some of these), a few extra pounds in weight thanks to the city’s many crepes’ cafes and a new-found appreciation for festivals which go against the grain.
As the queues outside Rennes’ city-centre venues by day and the happy hordes who roamed between the various halls in the Park Expo outside the city by night demonstrated, audiences sometimes appreciate festivals which go against the grain.
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OTR’s music story of the week: Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the euro crisis
Sometimes covering the music business beat is a bit like Groundhog Day with the same old issues coming up in new guises. You’ve technology stories, record-labels-are-bad-lads stories, record-labels-are-numpties’ stories, live music bandit stories, Ticketmaster stories and artists getting huffy stories. There are a couple of other regulars but, really, that’s how the cookie crumbles.
Three cheers, then, for Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and especially their manager Cliff Burnstein for providing us with this fascinating insight into how the euro crisis is causing very rich rock stars to panic about their European tours. If you and I are worried about whether the euros in our pockets will actually be worth anything once this weekend’s extraordinary events are over, that’s nothing compared to Metallica and the Chili Peppers, who believe that the impending gloom and doom in the old world may mean ruin for their pension plans.
Both bands were originally not scheduled to tour in 2012, but brought forward their plans when the euro crisis began so ensure that the money they got paid would actually be worth more than a hill of beans. Which is why you have the Chili Peppers playing Croker next summer (how’s that one selling, Dinny?) and Metallica’s “European summer vacation” calling at Germany’s Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring festivals (no sign of the band bringing Lou Reed with them, which is a good thing).
Per manager Burnstein, “over the next few years, the dollar will be stronger and the euro weaker, and if that’s the case, I want to take advantage of that by playing more of these shows now, because they will be more profitable for us. We’re a US export the same way Coca-Cola is. We look for the best markets. And you have to ask yourself, what’s the best time to be doing what, when and where”.
Those Yanks really do fear anything that’s not the dollar – and with good reason. The piece mentions former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan who “once unwittingly spent $40,000 on expensive suits in Italy because he didn’t realize how much his purchases—then in Italian lira—were worth in dollars”. McKagan now runs Meridian Rock Capital Management, a wealth-management firm for rockers. At least, he’ll be able to advise clients if we go back to the lira, drachma and punt.
It’s not the first time that rich rock stars have mused on the economy in recent times. Three years ago, Counting Crows cancelled an European tour, with the band blaming the credit crunch and currency fluctuations. Sadly, few promoters seized the opportunity to use “credit crunch” instead of “unforeseen circumstances” as a reason for cancelling poor performing shows.
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