CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? There may be plenty of anecdotal evidence and chit-chat pointing to a difficult summer for those selling tickets to entertainment events, but the promoters themselves tell a different story.
When asked about ticket sales, they come across as the happiest campers in the land. After all, they’re the ones who get the daily sales tallies from ticket agencies and the ones who have to pay the bills when it’s all over, so they must know the score.
“Everything is selling well,” says Peter Aiken from Aiken Promotions.
“We’re up eight or nine per cent compared with this time last year,” is the word from the Galway Arts Festival.
“We’re very happy with how Forbidden Fruit and Body Soul have gone,” says John Reynolds from Pod Concerts.
The biggest live music promoters in the country, MCD Concerts, issued a terse 13-word statement in response to a number of questions about ticket sales: “All good, will sell the same number of tickets this year as 2010.”
BUT WHEN YOU DELVE a little deeper, a different picture emerges. Like every other sector of the economy, much has changed here since the good times and the live entertainment sector is certainly not recession-proof. While some shows such as Kings Of Leon at Slane and Take That at Croke Park were hot tickets, there are few instant sell-outs when it comes to the big shows in 2011.
Instead of huge numbers jostling online to buy tickets the day the show goes on sale, people are waiting until nearer the event to purchase.
“The late purchases trend keeps repeating across everything, from theatre and sport to music,” says Aiken. “People are buying their tickets later and later. I see it again and again with our gigs.”
Galway Arts Festival artistic director Paul Fahy has seen this trend magnify in recent years. “In 2008, we had a very high box office and everything was selling out two weeks in advance,” he says. “In 2009, it changed drastically and things you expected to sell out were selling out two days in advance. Last year, things were selling out two minutes in advance.
“People are a lot more cautious about when they make their choice. They’re definitely spending much later so you have to have nerves of steel and confidence that you’ll get there. But that’s the reality, people are holding on longer before they book.”
“Ticket income is disposable income and that’s the first to go when things get tough,” says Pod’s John Reynolds. “But it’s not unique to Ireland, it’s happening in Britain and America as well. Things are tightening up.”
Prices now play a large part in how audiences respond to events. It even applies to the GAA, which quickly reduced ticket prices for the remainder of this year’s championships matches in response to falling attendances at games so far this year.
Cillian Stewart, promoter of Castlepalooza festival in Tullamore at the end of July, says: “We launched with weekend tickets which were €59 and were on offer for 59 hours and they sold very well.
“But this is the toughest year out of the six years I’ve been doing this. People are going to choose one festival, spend whatever they have at that one and then leave the rest.
“You hope they buy early because you need to rely on the pre-booked tickets to gauge where you’re going to be. Thankfully, we’re priced right with €89 for the weekend with camping or €74 for the two days. That’s the cheapest two-day ticket we’ve ever had.”
Pricing is also a consideration in Galway. “Traditionally, one of our key things has been a very competitive price structure,” says Fahy. “Our prices start at a tenner and the most expensive ticket is €29.50 and if that was in Dublin, you’d end up with an extra tenner on top. We’ve always been keen to keep ticket prices as low as we can.”
Stewart believes the festival market has peaked.
“You can see from photos and people talking that there have been a few festivals this summer where they didn’t get the numbers”, he says.
“It’s a real test this year and there will be a lot of festivals that won’t happen next year as a result. You won’t have any new ones either. The market is now saturated. There’s plenty of choice, which is great, because you can go to a festival every weekend if you want, but at this point, there’s just too much.”
Meanwhile, some high-profile acts are staying at home rather than embarking on tours that might not sell well.
“I’ve seen some acts waiting for a year or two to tour to see what will happen,” says Aiken. “We were offered other acts this year and we just didn’t fancy them to do the business. Touring wise, I think you will have a quiet second half of this year and first half of next year, not just in Irelandm but everywhere.”
Aiken doesn’t believe some acts have overplayed their hand with constant touring. “There will always be an audience for Bob Dylan and Neil Young because you’ll always have young kids coming up who haven’t seen them before who want to see them.”
The slowdown means promoters have to become more inventive and actually work at selling the show. The days of putting tickets on sale and sitting back as the money rolls in are over. You have to do more than just sticking on radio ads for your gig morning, noon and night.
“We promoted Forbidden Fruit by giving away apples on the Luas and Dart for a competition in conjunction with Phantom FM, and we got a massive reaction from that,” says Reynolds. “Having the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at the Electric Picnic last year was also a big story. It’s still tough going, but you have to try new angles.”
All promoters are keen to talk up the gigs that are working. Aiken points to the 160,000 tickets sold for Take That at Croke Park last weekend (a gig his company ran with MCD) and the 60,000 fans expected for Bon Jovi at the RDS next week.
Reynolds expects healthy sales for Prince at Malahide Castle next month (“it’s moving along now that we’ve got over the scepticism about what happened last time around”) and the Electric Picnic (“it will do well in the last five weeks when it’s on people’s radar because it’s a great line-up”).
At the Galway Arts Festival, Fahy says the big movers so far are Enda Walsh's new play Mistermanstarring Cillian Murphy, the Propeller season of Shakespeare's works, Mike Bartlett's Love Love Loveand the Big Top gigs.
“We have an advantage in being a festival in that we’re only on for a short period of time,” Fahy says. “If there’s something on that people really want to go to see, they will. If there’s a hot ticket like the Enda Walsh and Cillian Murphy play, people know it will sell out and that creates a buzz.”
Of course, one factor which also impacts hugely on the Irish summer festival season is the weather. If it’s a typical Irish summer, there will be a lot of promoters on the edge of their seats.
“People deciding late in the day to come [often] depends on the weather and if you don’t get it, you’re in serious trouble,” says Stewart.
“The weather is key for outdoor shows in this country,” agrees Reynolds. “If you get it, it’s a fantastic lift for your sales. A sunny weekend for your festival is almost like another headliner. It’s like having Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Frank Sinatra on the bill.”
Festivals then and now
SELL-OUTS
Tickets for Oxegen 2006 and 2007 sold out on the day they went on sale, but it took a couple of months for the festival to sell out in 2008 and 2009. By 2010, Oxegen tickets were still on sale when the festival began.
DEPOSITS
In the good times, fans had to pay for their Oxegen tickets in full. A deposit scheme was introduced for the 2009 festival under which cash-strapped fans could pay for their tickets in installments.
The Electric Picnic introduced a similar deposit scheme for this year’s festival. This is also the first year when day tickets (for Sunday only) are on sale for the festival.
PRICES
Tickets for Neil Diamond’s Croke Park show in 2008 ranged in price from €69.50 to €114.50. A ticket to see Diamond (and Mary Byrne, as we know from the radio ads) at the Aviva next week costs €65.70 to €99.50.
In 2008, a general admission ticket for Bon Jovi’s Punchestown show was €79.50. This year, Jon Bon Jovi is charging €81.25 to see his band in action at the RDS.
When Take That played Croke Park in 2009, tickets were priced from €59.50 to €79.50. Tickets for last weekend’s show at the same venue (though with Robbie Williams back in the fold) ranged from €70.70 to €99.50.
A three-day ticket with camping for Oxegen has remained at €224.50 since 2008, while the price of a weekend ticket for Electric Picnic has remained at €240 since 2008.
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All ticket prices quoted do not include Ticketmaster fees)
