2015 DMB Attendance & Gross figures

[podiumboy]

As much as I hate to say it, doing "full album shows" would be a good way to draw old fans in. Each night you're guaranteed to hear one of the BIG 3 albums, plus a sprinkling of of other tunes thrown in. Play BTCS, 11 songs, then take a break. Then come back and do another 10 songs, take encore break, then a 2 song encore. That's a 23 song set, similar to what they do now.

[AlexK79]

Cheaper lawn tickets would be a HUGE help.

Offer deals like a 4-pack of lawn seats for $100, stuff like that. They did something close for Alpine this year, but they didn't discount the tickets at all, they just gave you $60 in 'concert cash' if you bought a 4-pack. The casuals who are mostly there for the part don't want to fork out $50 + fees for the lawn. Keep the price under $50 with all fees included (say, $30-$35 face value) and I think you'll see a pretty nice spike in lawn sales.

[pmag78]

I think focusing on the weekend and back during the week might draw more people in. Try some new venues in markets that aren't doing well. I am close to St. Louis and always hit that show b/c of the proximity. Busch Stadium was packed when they did it years ago and I think people came out just for that reason. I would say try a place like Fox Theater. Mix up indoor and outdoor venues. Hearing that sound indoors is something I miss and luckily got to hear that this year when they played Des Moines.

[coldengrey12]

Yikes. Some of those are pretty sad.

Way to show up, Alabama and Arkansas. Only sell outs in this batch of figures.

As a Bay Area guy, I'm curious to see how Shoreline turns out. I'm surprised they're back there after how awful the boxscore was in '13. They sold out all three nights at the Greek in Berkeley last year, too, so I'm a little surprised they didn't just go back there.

[pmag78]

Originally Posted by podiumboy

As much as I hate to say it, doing "full album shows" would be a good way to draw old fans in. Each night you're guaranteed to hear one of the BIG 3 albums, plus a sprinkling of of other tunes thrown in. Play BTCS, 11 songs, then take a break. Then come back and do another 10 songs, take encore break, then a 2 song encore. That's a 23 song set, similar to what they do now.

I have always said they should do an album start to finish to try something new. I guarantee you might bring back older fans if they heard you got to hear Crash or BTCS start to finish.

[pmag78]

Originally Posted by AlexK79

Cheaper lawn tickets would be a HUGE help.

Offer deals like a 4-pack of lawn seats for $100, stuff like that. They did something close for Alpine this year, but they didn't discount the tickets at all, they just gave you $60 in 'concert cash' if you bought a 4-pack. The casuals who are mostly there for the part don't want to fork out $50 + fees for the lawn. Keep the price under $50 with all fees included (say, $30-$35 face value) and I think you'll see a pretty nice spike in lawn sales.

Another solid point. $85 for reserved seats to multiple shows can get pricey and there are times I'll go for the lawn. You offer $25 lawn seats guaranteed to get people out there.

[monizzle145]

Originally Posted by trd1610

Yeah and I think the attendance numbers at a place like Hartford would shoot back up of lawn didn't cost $50 at this point. With a lawn that size id rather pay $30 more for a pavilion seat. If they were $25-$30 lawn tickets I think they could push up back above 20,000 each night easily.


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the price would certainly help. ironically country shows the whole crowd wants to be in the lawn and on a secondary you will see day of the show last min casual fans that just want to party paying for for a lawn ticket than a mid level pavilion seat. Part of the reason lawn tickets have gone up is due to the high demand at country shows. But you're right for DMB the price should be slightly lower especially on Hartford's 25,000 person lawn.

The other thing about modern dmb shows is in Hartford the Saturday show sells much more on the lawn than friday. If they did a saturday show this year you maybe have 3,000 more people easily. Saturday would have gotten more drunk 16 year olds that mommy and daddy gave the keys to the BMW to get wasted at the meadows i mean go to dmb.

If you put hartford 2 night lawn numbers from 2012-2014 on another venue they would overflow every venue but the gorge. I admit my personal conflict on interest wishing to get 2 shows. Nevertheless its a shame they canned the 2 nights in hartford. not many other venues could have 2 dmb shows and fill a 25K lawn.

[AndySlash]

Originally Posted by AlexK79

I think the 4th of July weekend was originally intended to be Alpine and they made an adjustment once those Dead shows got announced.

Certainly not to say that means that SPAC couldn't be over the 4th again, I just don't think that was their original intention this year.

there's absolutely no way that this ISN'T exactly what happened. in addition to your points, alpine had been on the 4th weekend the last few years they were there, and the tour schedule this last week would have been toronto->montreal->spac which also makes a lot more sense logistically. fare thee well torpedoed these plans, clearly.

unless they felt spac on the 4th weekend this year was a better fit than alpine had been on the 4th weekend previous years, i don't see them going away from the alpine on the 4th at all in the future unless they seriously overhaul their touring schedule. it seems they've settled into a relatively consistent date pattern these last few years, and only the late addition of fare thee well forced a minor adjustment.

[moccasin]

Reasons for the decline:

1) Shrinking fan base....They are irrelevant to the 15-25 age group.

2) Overexposure..........They need to stop touring for a few years.

3) Stale product...........The 2 set thing is a gimmick that hasn't worked.


Their future concert success hinges on their ability to realize the place they occupy in today's concert market; the nostalgic market.

All the following have higher ticket sales, and mostly higher average ticket costs (reducing ticket prices is not the answer.)

The Rolling Stones
Garth Brooks
Fleetwood Mac
U2
Neil Diamond
Elton John
Bette Midler
Rush
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Billy Joel
Shania Twain
Barry Manilow

They can't compete with the Taylor Swifts and Maroon 5's, or the hot country and hip hop artists. They have an aging fan base who pays to see nostalgic acts because it takes them back to a simpler time in their lives....The End

[coldengrey12]

Moccasin nailed it.

[trd1610]

Originally Posted by moccasin

Reasons for the decline:



1) Shrinking fan base....They are irrelevant to the 15-25 age group.



2) Overexposure..........They need to stop touring for a few years.



3) Stale product...........The 2 set thing is a gimmick that hasn't worked.





Their future concert success hinges on their ability to realize the place they occupy in today's concert market; the nostalgic market.



All the following have higher ticket sales, and mostly higher average ticket costs (reducing ticket prices is not the answer.)



The Rolling Stones

Garth Brooks

Fleetwood Mac

U2

Neil Diamond

Elton John

Bette Midler

Rush

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Billy Joel

Shania Twain

Barry Manilow



They can't compete with the Taylor Swifts and Maroon 5's, or the hot country and hip hop artists. They have an aging fan base who pays to see nostalgic acts because it takes them back to a simpler time in their lives....The End

See I disagree. And maybe I'm just youthful and ignorant but I don't think they need to be a nostalgic act. They clearly want to continue to make new music, no it isn't the big 3 or tLWS/BS, but there are definitely songs I enjoy. And no the sets or songs may not be to YOUR tastes, but for better or worse this band has picked up different types of fans along the way with how they have changed and evolved their music over the years. They've debuted their last 6 albums at number 1 in the charts and all but AFTW (yes the most recent) have gone platinum.

When the new album comes out people are going to buy it. No they can't and won't compete with Taylor Swift but they don't have to be megastars to be successful and put on a good show. And I'm sure whatever product they put out will appeal to some fans and others won't like it. But as long as this band is touring I'll probably attend 2-4 shows a summer.

I recently graduated college and one of my best friends is from SC and I'm from CT and before meeting each other had both seen multiple DMB shows and have since seen some together. My point being that two kids from completely different backgrounds and areas had this band in common, that's how we became friends.

I got into the band when I was a freshman in high school and since then I have taken multiple friends to their first, second, and third DMB shows.

Sales are absolutely declining, numbers don't lie. But a lot of the thoughts and suggestions that have come up around here about playing smaller venues, multi night stands, getting rid of the ladies, etc. are things that could absolutely improve the act and the numbers.

June 2013 moving forward had great sets and the band was playing well. 2014 brought the acoustic sets and songs like I'll back you up and PFWYG. The frequency with which songs like Pig, JTR, and Captain need to improve. But in 2015 shake me and jimi haven't been played to death. The acoustic sets have been awesome, and the non LL electric sets have been good too. I can be critical of the band and will absolutely admit when they produce a shit product (see Be Yourself). But the potential is definitely there to play shows that "on paper" all fans can enjoy. Regardless, from an actual performance stand point the band sounded really impressive from the shows I saw.

Hoping next year is even better.


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[AllifromOhio]

Those numbers look really low.

[willndmb]

Originally Posted by hailtopitt

the bolded just isn't true



yea it was really weird, the venues are less than 2 hours apart and were separated by a month...



agreed, its outrageous

What venue isn't selling out reserved seats?
Every place I go is sold out in reserved
Those that do not should be cut if that's the case

[illinifan]

Originally Posted by willndmb

What venue isn't selling out reserved seats?
Every place I go is sold out in reserved
Those that do not should be cut if that's the case

In St Louis lots of acts don't sell out the seats at Hollywood. Dirks Bentley, fallout boy, and Darious Rucker come to mind and that was just July. I was there and each was about half full in the SEATS.

[illinifan]

I will also add that I just looked at the Tim McGraw stop in St Louis coming up. There are a TON of seats available still. DMB sold seats better at this point and McGraw has a Sunday gig. My point is, as much as we look at the negative numbers, they still draw better than a lot of acts out there. I listed some pretty big names in country music and it appears they still sold better then those bands, at least in St. Louis.

I agree with a lot of previous posts that lowering lawn prices would help. I also think a solid opening act would help too. See OAR at Riverbend? several years ago. They drew well for that show.

[John Kelly]

Originally Posted by willndmb

What venue isn't selling out reserved seats?
Every place I go is sold out in reserved
Those that do not should be cut if that's the case

Unless you are getting a paycheck from the band, why should you care where they choose to play? Sure, it's sad to see the decline in attendance, but it doesn't affect my concert enjoyment. Making 4/5ths lets say what they once did is a lot better than sitting at home.

[monizzle145]

Originally Posted by moccasin

Reasons for the decline:

1) Shrinking fan base....They are irrelevant to the 15-25 age group.

2) Overexposure..........They need to stop touring for a few years.

3) Stale product...........The 2 set thing is a gimmick that hasn't worked.


Their future concert success hinges on their ability to realize the place they occupy in today's concert market; the nostalgic market.

All the following have higher ticket sales, and mostly higher average ticket costs (reducing ticket prices is not the answer.)

The Rolling Stones
Garth Brooks
Fleetwood Mac
U2
Neil Diamond
Elton John
Bette Midler
Rush
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Billy Joel
Shania Twain
Barry Manilow

They can't compete with the Taylor Swifts and Maroon 5's, or the hot country and hip hop artists. They have an aging fan base who pays to see nostalgic acts because it takes them back to a simpler time in their lives....The End

But ticket sales are not the end all be all. Yes scarcity sells out but I like the fact i can get a dmb ticket through the warehouse for a decent price. I know being 24 i will never see what my uncle who is 41 saw when he saw dmb in his college years in their heyday. But at the same time its a good time for me.

I saw billy joel this year and was happy he did more shows at msg so i could get a face value 20 rows back floor seat during to onsale for like 140ish versus 2014 when they were like 800 on secondaries and sold out.

The reason i finally saw rush this year was cause a buddy had an extra face ticket from the onsale and i could see them for a decent price.

I am sick of the scarcity and higher prices of these nostalgia acts. It is destroying the idea of going to a concert at a decent price and enjoying what matters the most which is the music.

There are 2 realities

1. The attendance will stay the same or fall even if they play monkey man last stop people people etc etc. This is because the fanbase is older and some people may never come back especially the retired 90s bros that are now having mid life crises and never were into the music. I work in connecticut and have talked to a few people who were at the riots. The reason they sold out 3 nights was due to fans there just for the party not the music.

2. The issues with the band will not be solved with less touring. They have had larger gaps in recent years between tour legs and they still had a lack of variety or the same amount of song variation after a few weeks between coasts.

[spoot388]

Originally Posted by coldengrey12

Yikes. Some of those are pretty sad.

Way to show up, Alabama and Arkansas. Only sell outs in this batch of figures.

As a Bay Area guy, I'm curious to see how Shoreline turns out. I'm surprised they're back there after how awful the boxscore was in '13. They sold out all three nights at the Greek in Berkeley last year, too, so I'm a little surprised they didn't just go back there.

there is nothing impressive about selling out a 8,000 seat pavilion when they used to sell out 2 nights at 25,000 seaters not that long ago. cut every other venue down to 10,000 seats and the entire tour would be sold out. the fact that they can't even sell out 1 night in a place like mansfield anymore is horrible.

[podiumboy]

There are 3 ways to start selling more tickets;

1. Release a new album that has a hit single, maybe 2 hits. Get people into the band again. Bring in some new fans, bring back some old fans.

2. Go the nostalgia route. Advertise the full album shows, but only the big 3. This doesn't mean they can't play stuff from newer albums also. Springsteen has done this in the past, and he still managed to throw in a lot of other material, new and old.

3. Don't tour every year. Eliminates the "eh, I'm too busy, I'll see them next year" attitude. I had that thought this year. Do I regret? Yes, I sure do.

Dave is approaching 50. The likelihood of having a hit single at that age is very low. The Acoustic/Electric thing was interesting to try for a couple years, though I personally wasn't a fan. They need to try something else now. Next year will obviously be a new album year, hence it will dominate the setlists. It NEEDS to be a good album that connects with a lot of people.

[bartender_man]

5 years til they playing the State Fair

[davem#36]

Originally Posted by pmag78

I have always said they should do an album start to finish to try something new. I guarantee you might bring back older fans if they heard you got to hear Crash or BTCS start to finish.

But what they do in a live setting is completely opposite of that. Yea the sets can be repetitive but they still have an element of surprise where with an album that goes right out the window but at least I'll know when jimi starts to go get a beer.

[davem#36]

Originally Posted by spoot388

there is nothing impressive about selling out a 8,000 seat pavilion when they used to sell out 2 nights at 25,000 seaters not that long ago. cut every other venue down to 10,000 seats and the entire tour would be sold out. the fact that they can't even sell out 1 night in a place like mansfield anymore is horrible.

Meh its bama and Arkansas on week day nights. Still good too sell those out.

[stlbluespower]

they'll be at it 25 years next year, correct? I'm surprised at the surprise in some people's posts. given all the factors, they are still pretty relavent and have been hanging in there pretty well.

[illinifan]

Originally Posted by stlbluespower

they'll be at it 25 years next year, correct? I'm surprised at the surprise in some people's posts. given all the factors, they are still pretty relavent and have been hanging in there pretty well.

[DMBzilla]

Originally Posted by stlbluespower

they'll be at it 25 years next year, correct? I'm surprised at the surprise in some people's posts. given all the factors, they are still pretty relavent and have been hanging in there pretty well.

The thing is they should really only be compared to themselves.

They were at 18,000+ as recently as 2012 and have now dropped off by 3,000 a show. While there are several factors at play, the quality of the shows is so much bigger than anyone wants to admit.

[bokenboy]

Originally Posted by podiumboy

There are 3 ways to start selling more tickets;

1. Release a new album that has a hit single, maybe 2 hits. Get people into the band again. Bring in some new fans, bring back some old fans.

2. Go the nostalgia route. Advertise the full album shows, but only the big 3. This doesn't mean they can't play stuff from newer albums also. Springsteen has done this in the past, and he still managed to throw in a lot of other material, new and old.

3. Don't tour every year. Eliminates the "eh, I'm too busy, I'll see them next year" attitude. I had that thought this year. Do I regret? Yes, I sure do.

Dave is approaching 50. The likelihood of having a hit single at that age is very low. The Acoustic/Electric thing was interesting to try for a couple years, though I personally wasn't a fan. They need to try something else now. Next year will obviously be a new album year, hence it will dominate the setlists. It NEEDS to be a good album that connects with a lot of people.

this is what its all about. end of story. they havent put out great music since 2000. 15 freaking years! I am still hanging onto music that was created 20-24 years ago. However, less and less people continue to hang on. Springsteen put out the Rising around 50 years of age and has since had some good albums/songs. Another DMB album next year? yawn. I cant stand bands like Train. But you know what? they put out catchy tunes that people like. Same with OAR. If youre going to sell out and make 3-4min pop tunes, at least make them catchy. Mercy, If only, Funny, American Baby, I did it...come on.

Best touring major act out there right now is ZBB. I dont even like country but they play plenty of their hits and the others are catchy. No one bitches about setlists because everyone hears what they came to hear.

[AlexK79]

Originally Posted by stlbluespower

they'll be at it 25 years next year, correct? I'm surprised at the surprise in some people's posts. given all the factors, they are still pretty relavent and have been hanging in there pretty well.

Very much this. While they do not draw what they drew 15 years ago, this is still a major touring act. People saying that they should start playing theaters or state fairs? Come on.

The last true radio hit this band had, IMO, was Where Are You Going. I know American Baby, FTWII, etc have had some success but that was the last song that was truly in heavy rotation on the radio, MTV, etc. And yet, here they are in 2015 still playing amphitheaters, for 2 nights in some markets. There's a lot of bands out there who would kill to sell 80% of over half a million available tickets over the course of 2/3 or so of a summer tour.

Bands peak, both musically and as a live draw. DMB peaked as a live draw in the early 2000's when they were doing back to back nights in stadiums. They'll never reach those heights again, regardless of what they do with their setlists or tour format or ticket prices.

People make too much of whether a show was a "sellout" or not. Being able to say you sold out a venue looks great in press releases and on venue marquees, but their goal is simply to turn a profit. Just because they don't sell every available ticket at a venue doesn't mean they're not making money hand over fist. Where did they make more money, selling out Tuscaloosa at 8,000 people, or only selling half of St. Louis at 10,000 people? St. Louis. Mansfield is a failure now because there were 300 unsold tickets? The lawn at Alpine N2 was only half full...probably around 20,000 in attendance. At most other venues on the tour that's a sellout or close to it. Almost 41,000 tickets sold in Indy. Over 43,000 at SPAC. Probably well over 50,000 at Alpine (my guesstimate having been there is probably 34,000 N1, 20,000 N2 - we'll see.)

The current average attendance for the tour is around 1,000 less than last year....but also remember the numbers shared here don't include Alpine, WPB, The Gorge, etc yet. When all is said and done the average will probably be almost exactly what it was last year.

So yes, the numbers don't lie. DMB isn't the draw they once were. But they're still one of the most successful touring bands in the US, despite touring every summer like clockwork. They're never getting back to the heights of 14-15 years ago, but reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated, IMO.

[crashintonickdm]

2sets was designed to freshened things up amongst hardcores. people who think this format makes them stale/unoriginal are idiots. it is a great idea, and IMO has freshened the overall feel of the concert. the problem is what its always been prior to this. awful setlists, bad song writing, Rois death, and people growing up.


kids in high school these days don't give DMB a chance. more than ever DMB doesn't fit in with pop country, and shit like ariana grande, demi levato and other crappy commercial music which rule the day with younger folk.

[crashintonickdm]

can't forget the ladies too. them being apart of the show the last year and a half are why these tours have failed. and it has nothing to do with the format of the shows, though some will make that the cop out.

[crashintonickdm]

Originally Posted by stlbluespower

they'll be at it 25 years next year, correct? I'm surprised at the surprise in some people's posts. given all the factors, they are still pretty relavent and have been hanging in there pretty well.

they're relevant to us just because.

overall? numbers speak for themselves