Jim Carrollon music
Business of bling taken to new high
If you were one of those indignant at the notion of paying €551.75 to see Barbra Streisand in concert this summer, look away now. The Social is a five-concert series which will take place in New York's East Hamptons this summer featuring shows by Prince, Billy Joel, Dave Matthews, Tom Petty and James Taylor. The cost of tickets for this series of soirees? A cool $15,000 (€11,100).
There are no tickets available for individual shows, so your $15,000 will get you a passport to what the organisers are billing as an "exclusive" event.
Besides the headlining heritage acts, there will be art exhibitions, a kids' area with PlayStation bars, gourmet cook-outs and luxurious seating. You can also bask in the knowledge that some of your money is going to help a local school, albeit a sponsorship fund for a school in the very well-heeled Hamptons.
Most of all, though, potential concert-goers can rest assured that they are surrounded by their own kind. The Wall Street Journal reckons the audience will consist of "Wall Street executives, Hamptons socialites and the ultra-rich". It is as far from the Irish festival experience as you could possibly imagine.
For the acts involved, it's all about the pay-cheque. After all, many are already cashing in regularly on the private party circuit which first emerged in the 1980s. George Michael made a reputed $3 million (€2.3 million) for a New Year's Eve show for a lumber tycoon in Russia, while Christina Aguilera (below) became the $1.5 million (€1.1 million) wedding singer in 2005. Others who have made out like bandits on the private party circuit include Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and 50 Cent.
The Social is part of a growing trend amongst live music promoters to target high-spending audiences with VIP packages and exclusive deals. Here in Ireland, besides Streisand and her unfeasibly large ticket prices, there's the 02 Point Club which allows 100 VIPs a range of "membership privileges" at the Dublin venue for an annual fee of €9,500.
However, few have been as brazen as the Social when it comes to pumping ticket prices sky high. Other promoters will be keeping a close eye on what happens in the Hamptons this summer and, should the series prove successful for all concerned, expect plenty of copycat events to follow.
Right up your Alley
More from the returns department: Marble City giants Engine Alley will be playing their first Dublin show this century in June.
A mainstay of the Irish music scene during the early and mid-1990s with their theatrical approach to Bowie-pop, the Alley went their separate ways in 1996 after a couple of well-received albums and a lot of eyeliner.
While the band have played a couple of hometown shows in the last few years, their date at Whelan's on June 9th marks the Alley's first excursion in the big smoke in some eight years.
Ready for a Thrill-seeking summer
Two Irish EMI-signed acts are preparing to remind local live audiences that they're still very much in business in the coming weeks.
Cathy Davey spent 2006 writing songs for a new album which will see the light of day over the summer. She begins a tour in Cork's Cyprus Avenue tomorrow night which ends at Whelan's in Dublin on June 20th.
The Thrills release their third album, Teenager, on July 20th. To promote it, they're going on a tour of "small intimate and up-close venues" in July and August. They're also playing Oxegen, which could never be described as small, intimate or up-close.
Foot on the gas for music merger
It's squeaky bum time for EMI label employees and acts at the moment. The decision by the EMI board to recommend the £3.2 billion (€4.7 billion) takeover offer from private equity firm Terra Firma means Coldplay (right), The Beatles and Gorillaz are set to be in the same investment shopping basket as German petrol stations Tank & Rast, the Odeon cinema group and Northern Ireland's Phoenix Natural Gas.
While there's unlikely to be any short-term changes, Terra Firma will likely take a more practical and less sentimental view on the music company's talent punts.
There's much potential for additional value to be extracted from EMI's back-catalogue, but it's how the new owners will approach acquiring and developing new talent which will be the most telling. For example, will bands who still have not recouped on their advances and costs get to make a second album any more? Interesting times ahead.
