Archive: 2003

Fans shelled out $115.9 million to “come on up for the rising,” making Bruce Springsteen the number one concert draw in North America in 2003.
Springsteen and the E Street Band played 47 concerts, including 13 stadium shows in the New York area alone, making New Jersey’s favorite son one of the biggest money-makers in concert history, second only to The Rolling Stones’ 1994 total of $121.2 million. This year, Mick and the boys pulled in $38.5 million in North America, ranking the original bad boys of rock & roll in the 14th position.
Pollstar editor-in-chief Gary Bongiovanni predicted 2003 will be the fourth record-setting year in a row with around $2.4 billion in concert business, mostly because fans have become accustomed to higher ticket prices for big-name acts. Four acts in Pollstar’s top 10 earners for the year – Celine Dion, the Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel and the Billy Joel-Elton John double bill – charged more than $100 per ticket, on average. Among those raking in the loot: Celine Dion finished second to Springsteen, earning $80.5 million for a one-city, 145-date “tour”: her residency at a Las Vegas casino. “If you’re wondering why Elton John is considering camping there for a while – that’s why,” Bongiovanni said. “You can make a lot of money and you don’t have to travel.” Country had five of the top 20 tours for 2003, with Kenny Chesney’s $35.76 ducats the lowest ticket price of all the tours that placed in the top 20. The Dixie Chicks, despite being dogged by controversy over a remark made about President Bush, had the most lucrative country tour of all time with a $60.5 million total. Other acts in Pollstar’s top 20 for 2003 include Phish, Tim McGraw, Fleetwood Mac, and Pearl Jam.
Source Pollstar.com .

From their beginnings in the South Bend area. through a few lineup changes and some ups and downs, Umphrey McGee’s success and level of performance has grown over the years due to hard work and continuous road testing of their compositions and style. And, although many would have a good case to argue that Umphrey

Henry Rollins likes to speak his mind. Next year, he’s saying Shock And Awe My Ass. Yup. Rollins is getting ready to give audiences an insight into his mind as he embarks on another speaking tour. It’s going to be a packed six weeks for the musician-turned-author as Rollins launches the afore-named outing in mid-January.
Right around the time he’ll be in Portland, Maine, Rollins’ “Live At Luna Park” DVD will hit shelves. The DVD features material culled from his two-month stint of weekly speaking performances at the West Hollywood nightclub in March and April of 1999.
And if all that weren’t enough to keep a person busy, the former Black Flag frontman has also just released a new book, “Broken Summers,” and a CD of spoken word, Nights Behind The Tree Line. The former features material taken from his books and new, unpublished works. Speaking of – several more of Rollins’ works are slated for reissue in 2004.
Source and dates visit pollstar.com.

Phish has announced that effective Jan. 1, the group will donate net proceeds from its personal digital download service, LivePhish.com, to the Mockingbird Foundation. The organization was founded by Phish fans to promote music education for children. According to the band, LivePhish.com has generated more than $2 million in sales of live concert material.
“Playing live music has always been a source of indescribable joy for me, and everyday I count my blessings that I’m able to make my living doing something that I so deeply love,” says Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. “It’s exciting then to think that a person can come to a Phish concert, and know that all the profits from the subsequent downloads of our music will go directly into children’s music programs. The fact that the Mockingbird Foundation was created by Phish fans makes it all the more inspirational to us.”
Source Billboard.com.

The Who, David Bowie and Stereophonics are confirmed to headline the 2004 edition of the U.K.’s Isle of Wight Festival. Stereophonics will play June 11, followed by the Who on June 12 and Bowie on June 13. Ticket information can be found on the event’s official Web site.
The Who are no strangers to the Isle, having played a legendary 1970 concert there that was immortalized on the live CD/home video “Live at the Isle of Wight.” It is not known if the group — which now features sole surviving members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey — has further summer gigs on the horizon, but the act will play a previously announced March 29 concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
This will be the third Isle of Wight festival since the event returned in 2002, with a lineup that featured Robert Plant, the Charlatans and Starsailor. This year’s festival was graced by Iggy Pop, Paul Weller and the Darkness, among others.
Source billboard.com.

Fox is rapping the holidays with an early pickup of a comedy starring Method Man and Redman. Based on an idea by Method Man, the untitled project will star the two rapper/actors as themselves as they move into a big house in a predominantly white New Jersey suburb. The good times are rolling for the twosome, who wreak havoc upon the neighborhood until Method Man’s mom moves in with them and straightens things out.
“It is a very traditional fish-out-of-water story, but Meth and Red really bring a lot of charm and their particular brand of charisma to it and make it very appealing,” Regency TV senior VP if comedy development Erin Simon Berenson said.
Frequent collaborators Method Man and Redman have appeared together in such movies as “How High” and “Scary Movie 3.” The two also are attached to topline an untitled comedy at New Line Cinema described as an urban version of “The Producers” and Miramax’s remake of the South Korean comedy “Jail Breakers.”
Method Man, of Wu-Tang Clan fame, next appears in MGM’s comedy “Soul Plane” and Miramax’s “My Baby’s Mama.”
Source billboard.com.

Dave Matthews and some of his friends came to Hartford and gave
everyone an early present for the Holidays – a joyous, energetic sho. Moving from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, Dave and his friends mixed originals effortlessly with covers ranging from Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Sly and the Family Stone, Bob Marley and The Band.

Rhino/Elektra is celebrating the career of 10,000 Maniacs with a two-disc set compiling the band’s best songs and a slew of rarities. Slated for Jan. 27 release, “Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings of 10,000 Maniacs,” spends one disc collecting 17 of the band’s best-loved songs, including “These Are Days,” “Trouble Me,” “What’s the Matter Here?” and its cover of “Because the Night.”
The second disc includes previously unreleased demos (“Noah’s Dove,” “Circle Dream,” “Eden”), alternate versions of some songs (“Circle Dream”) and several covers, including the band’s takes on Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train,” Jackson Browne’s “These Days,” Morrissey’s “Everyday is Like Sunday,” David Bowie’s “Starman” and the Carter Family’s “Wildwood Flower.”
The latter disc also features vocalist Natalie Merchant’s duets with ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne on Iris DeMent’s “Let the Mystery Be” and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe on “To Sir With Love.”
“Peace Train” was included on the original pressing of 1987’s “In My Tribe,” but was removed from later pressings after the media reported that Stevens, now known as Yusef Islam, supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s February 1989 proclamation that author Salman Rushdie should be put to death for writing his controversial “The Satanic Versus.” Islam later said that he was misquoted, paving the way for the cover’s return.
Merchant supervised the project and designed its packaging. She includes liner notes, as does guitarist John Lombardo, keyboardist Dennis Drew, bassist Steven Gustafson, drummer Jerome Augustyniak and music critic Anthony DeCurtis.
Source billboard.com.

Green has spent the last two decades focused on a more gospel platforms, preaching to the congregation rather than the clubs. Returning to his roots, Green

Those that had New Years Eve plans to see Jane’s Addiction and Mareilyn Manson at Madison Square Garden might want to make new plans. Rumors started late Wednesday, December 17, that the Jane’s Addiction Marilyn Manson co-headlining tour was going to get the ax. Band representatives at Capitol Records that the tour has indeed been canceled. No reasons were given, although there is speculation that ticket sales were less than enthusiastic. Only a handful of high-profile shows were actually planned however.
Source Pollstar.com.