Rock News: New Year's Eve - No Big Deal?
Editorial by Rock n World Editor- Keavin Wiggins.
What's the deal with New Year's Eve? This
isn't just any other New Year's Eve, were talking the end of the century.
So why are so many people not planning on doing anything special this year?
One could be cost. Promoters are charging
outrageous prices for many of the New Year's festivities going on around
the U.S. Some events are charging upwards of $2500.00 a ticket. I don't
know about you, but I'm not shelling out that kind of money for any show.
Not even the Beatles reunion where they resurrect John Lennon.
Perhaps these promoters got carried away.
Thinking most people will want to end the century with a bang? Turns out
they are wrong. According to a poll conducted by Yankelovich
for CNN-Time a staggering 72 percent of Americans are not
planning to do "something special" on New Year's Eve.
Some big productions have already feel
victim to the over zealous expectations of promoters. Most notably, Celebration
2000 Party of the Century in New York has been called off. It was to feature
Sting, Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocelli, Enrique Iglesias, Chuck Berry,
Tom Jones, and others. But the ticket prices ranging from $1,000 to $2,500,
most people decided they could do without the Party of the Century. Organizers
expected to sell between 20,000 to 25,000 tickets, they fell far short
of those numbers. They still hold out hope, they are looking for a smaller
venue to host the show in, with scaled down prices as well.
Would you pay $100 to celebrate New Year's
with Jewel? Apparently not. Jewel has called off her New Year's Show in
Alaska when only 1000 tickets were sold.
Time indeed are changing. One New Year's
Eve Tradition also goes by the way side this year. Dick Clark will not
be hosting ABC's New Year's Rockin Eve.
Meanwhile, plans for shows in Detroit and
L.A. are still going strong. Metallica's headlining show in Detroit with
Ted Nugent, Creed and others is still on. The Red Hot Chili Peppers took
a different tack for their Los Angeles show. They asked the promoter, what's
the lowest price we could possibly charge for this show? So fans can see
them play the Great Western Forum for between $25 and $55 dollars. Now,
that I'd pay for.
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