NKOTB will play Kelowna but won’t go east of Quebec.
What a piss off.
Even if they ever manage to actually come here some day I’m not going. Fuck you, NKOTB, FUCK. YOU. I’m done with you. Go shove your “face time” up your ass Donnie Wahlberg.
KELOWNA? You’ve GOT to be fucking kidding me.
—Finding a new band to have childhood memories about.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2009.
Why would you waste your money anyway.
Childhood memories?
I’d go if they came. I was obsessed with them when I was a little kid.
Excuse me while I retch…and retch…and retch…
The OP doesn’t understand the music biz. See, why would NKOTB come here and only get 9000 people to show up? That make no sense. Ozzy Osbourne only got 9000 people. The Rolling Stones, an infinitely more popular band than NKOTB, only drew 15000 if we’re lucky. For example, I went to see AC/DC in 2000 in Quebec City (beautiful city by the way)and they drew 10000+ over three days in the Colisee. They drew twice that in two days in Montreal. I know that I’m comparing Rock acts to Pop acts, but we need to look at the numbers (which is all the concert organizers care about). 30000-60000 people vs. 9000. If you want major acts to take us seriously we need a large stadium to do concerts in and we need to show the interest. Even when we have an area large enough (the Commons) people whine about the damage it does to it; not to mention that it’s only viable 4 months out of the year to use the Commons. For us to draw large acts, we need to be able to draw 10000+ people regularly and in a space that doesn’t rely on the weather, and we need to show that we can show up to these shows and draw more than 9000 people to a major, international act. Until we do that, we’re small potatoes.
Actually, Dr. Fever, I was intrigued as to why NKOTB would go to Kelowna and not Halifax so I looked up some stats and Kelowna has 1/3 the pop’n as HRM and their venue only has 6800 seats MAX…where as HMC can hold up to 13,000 for a full capacity concert.
And there’s also the possibility of people coming from other parts of NS (Valley, South Shore, CB, etc…), NB and even PEI.
So, as a childhood NKOTB freak (I was in grade 2 ok? lol), I’d like to know myself why they won’t come here, but will play Kelowna!
It just happens. They feel that there isn’t enough money in it for them, they’ve heard bad things, the promoters are sitting on their asses.
When I lived back in the U.K, in a major city, I worked on the inside of the music biz. I sat in the offices, doing paperwork, sending faxes, doing research, and the like with the others working with me to try and entice bands to the venue. Yes, the city I lived in is bigger than Toronto, but there’s a lot of work involved no matter the population and potential income for the acts.
I’m kinda annoyed also that Halifax doesn’t draw major acts, but missing out on NKOTB doesn’t bother me too much, but I can see your point. I’m interested in seeing how this KISS thing will turn out, and I’ve heard rumour that Moncton is in talks to bring ACDC to the Maritimes. This is what Halifax needs to do. Get off their asses and promote the city, rather than wait for someone to come to them (highly unlikely to happen). Perhaps my opinion is biased, and I was spoilt with choices at the venue I worked at. Twice a week there was a major act rocking the walls.
But look what can happen; the Stones, Elton John, Lenny Kravitz. It’s a start. I’d love to see Madonna get on stage in Halifax, she’s just announced more dates to be revealed, and I doubt Halifax is one. Same with Britney – why not bring her? Not every act is going to appeal to everyone living in the Maritimes, but the big acts would be sold out and promote the city to more and more people. How about U2 or someone like that?
Promotion of the city has got to happen.
Ah, but think about WHERE Kelowna is located. They’re located in SE BC. They draw from all over that region, and it’s a major tourist destination for people in both Alberta and it’s the hub of eastern BC. Indeed, it is a bit odd that they would go to a small area, but I imagine the local government is probably giving them a hefty incentive too, with help from the provincial government too, which is something I don’t agree with.
Doesn’t change the fact that there are pretty much half as many seats in that venue than the HMC 😛 But yes I see your point, Dr. F. Disappointing none the less, but I’m sure I’ll live (unlike the OP who I worry’s going to pop a major artery or something).
…now I know I’m going to get flamed up the ass for this, but I will admit that I actually flew to Toronto to see the NKOTB in September. It was their very first concert on their tour and I had a great time. I had front row seats. heh. I have family there so I didn’t break the bank on hotels and food and all that, but…I’d like to see them again because it was a great show, and would definitely get some tickets if they ever happen to come to Halifax. I mean as much as people think going to a NKOTB show is a waste of money and lame, think about this: they sold out the ACC three nights, pretty much in a row (a sold out Montreal show was in between) and the ACC is fucking HUGE. So there is still a HUGE following out there (and trust me, a NKOTB concert is a great place to pick up women: there were like 3 guys at the concert I went to and thousands of horny young ladies so the odds are definitely in your favour, guys :P)
I’m not going to go to such extremes as the OP, but it’s kind of funny how we get all kinds of big acts now coming to Halifax, and an act like NKOTB will go to Kelowna and a bunch of bum fuck towns in the states and even London, Ont (similar size as HRM, maybe slightly bigger) — OP intrigued me to check out their other tour dates — but not come east of Quebec…
Not to mention too, the average income of someone living in BC is twice that of here, so they can probably afford to pay an inflated ticket price to bring them to a small venue. Whereas in Halifax, we struggle to pay 100.
Tickets in Toronto were 75+fees and ended up being 90 bucks…but think of all the students here who spend more than that every weekend on booze 😛
BUT! Elton John tickets were what? 140 or something and he sold out (25 thousand tickets!) in 25 minutes or something like that…
hahaha yah I know, NKOTB isn’t Elton John…but still! I can still hold out hope, can’t I?
And yes, I realize how sad I sound.
We need a new venue…no,,,Actually we need ANOTHER Venue. It needs to be bigger,20 to 25,000 seats & it needs, really , really, really, needs PARKING ! ! ! The Hell with putting it in downtown Halifax…pick a place beside a HIGHWAY…you know so vehicles can get in there & out of there EASILY ! Think of a place like the old Shannon Park. There are old crumbling mouldy apartment buildings there now doing nothing but rotting, lots of room & a highway (the circ), bridge access, bus access. IT isn’t rocket surgery, but does anyone think for a second that the political types actually care about any of that ? they get limo’d & free passed to any event they want, while we wait & hope to be able to get a F^(&!# ticket.
Haha, rocket surgery.
I think we need an opera house style of venue. Something big and tall, so it wouldn’t take up as much land, but could hold a large amount of people balcony style. Lots of bigger bands would come here over other maritime venues if ours was cooler and fancier. I also think that they should build it where penhorn mall is being torn down. Huge lot, plenty of parking and busses.
Yeah, good thought. An actual stadium would be a good idea too, leaving the Metro Centre as is (good location perfect size for most uses) but maybe shrink the stadium size down to 15000 because our population doesn’t support 20-25 K people events (think: that’s the size of the ACC and the Bell Centre. Toronto and Montreal barely fill those seats and stay profitable) Shannon Park is more central, most folks out here in Halifax’s larger residential area (the west end and the north end) don’t wanna spend 2 hours on a bus to go to Penhorn… getting to Shannon Park would be infinitely easier for the greater part of Halifax, not to mention most of Bedford and Bag-Town.
To Dr. Fever,
Actually, The Rolling Stones drew around 50,000 people(give or take a few thousand) – not 15,000, as you said; Also, Ozzy Osbourne played to a lot more than 9,000 people, playing TWO nights at The Metro Centre, the first of which was sold out and the second of which, by all accounts, was pretty full, if not sold out. That means Ozzy sold roughly 20,000 tickets or more; someone’s already commented on how many tickets and how fast Elton John sold out for two nights at The Metro Centre. That venue saw a lot of concert action in 2008. Meanwhile, local and national acts continue to find their way into local venues, from Gus’ Pub to The Rebecca Cohn Auditorium(my personal favourite venue), despite the loss of numerous other live-music venues in the last few years. I’ve lived in Halifax for most of the last twenty years and, as a frequent concert/gig-goer, I can say with some authority that the live music scene in Halifax has never been better. This isn’t to say that we can become complacent about it and that there isn’t room for improvement, but let’s face it — Halifax is not a big city, nor should it be. It’s relative size is what attracts many people here in the first place and encourages people like myself to stay. In fact, given this city’s size and somewhat remote peninsular location, it does pretty well to attract as much business as it does.
So lighten the fuck up.
I think the real question is:
why the FUCK would you care?
There are a lot of reasons why concerts never materialize. Bands make money from touring, much more than from CD sales, and will play anywhere if there is a promoter willing to pony up the dough. It’s almost never a case of the band not wanting to play a particular city.
The main reason concerts do not happen is logistics. NKOTB play Kewlowna because there is an open date on their calendar and a promoter willing to bring them in. Major touring acts do not play for ‘half of the door’ like bar bands do. Their money is guaranteed and advanced. It’s the promoters that are taking the risk.
It’s quite possible the bands’ available dates and the Metro Centre’s available dates prevented a contract from being signed. The MC is a busy place. There are major hockey and basketball tenants. There is also a steady stream of convention/industry shows that are not open to the public but are definitely booked and paid for. So many times promoters just can’t make the available dates work because of venue commitments.
Even though the talent can fly to their next destination the road gear travels by tractor trailer. It’s a long haul from QC to HFX or Boston to HFX. To make it profitable, particularly because the venues are small, they would realistically need to book shows in SJ and Moncton too. Again, arena availability becomes an issue. So even if a promoter can make it work for Halifax if they can’t get the extra shows in SJ and Moncton it’s no longer worth it financially.
No question a new 15-18,000 seat arena would be fantastic. Promoters who are just not sure if they could turn a profit on a 10,000 seater would be more dilligent in bringing in talent to an 18,000 seat venue.
It sucks, even for NOKTB fans. As a self proclaimed concert junkie I have had to travel to other cities to see my favourite bands. It sure would be nice if this region could have an arena capable of handling today’s more popular touring acts.
Backstreet Boys played here HOW many times? lol
And in the summer too when the student crowd was pretty much gone the last time they played (which was their demographic at that point since their “teen” fans had grown up and were in their early 20s).
*sigh*
I don’t think we need another venue besides the HMC. I mean we don’t get THAT many big acts, and from the descriptions provided from the comments already posted regarding the demographic of the area, it’s not worth it. the Metro Centre should be sufficient for most events. I doubt Halifax would ever really fill a venue like the air canada centre unless it was a HUGE act like Elton John (as we’ve seen)….and since we don’t get A LOT of those types of acts coming, just booking two night/two concerts should suffice.
Put the money into clearing the ice off the side walks in the winter. I almost fell and broke my ass last night on Inglis street.
Fuck that, when’s Prism coming to halifax!?!
People want CFL teams, big stadiums, and rock shows but we have the freakout crowd having a shit whenever we go to improve an antiquated commuter network or put up a new building. I think once Halifax gets meds for its bi-polar disorder we might make some progress.
Don’t worry Cranky…. that freakout crowd is only about 10 years away from dying off, so we just need to patient.
NOKTB fans? I’m speechless……