Gary Bongiovanni Quotations

Tom Petty kept his price very low compared to his contemporaries. Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire did, too, when they paired up for a tour, and it was very successful.

McCartney and the Stones alone really helped drive up ticket prices.

Neil Diamond's fans aren't coming to see him just because he may have a record coming out. They know that the guy's been around a long time, and he's always going to put on a good show. It's the same with Springsteen. Just because you've seen him before doesn't mean you don't want to see him again.

I would be surprised if they (Bon Jovi) go and do sellout business in every arena they play.

Business (nationwide) is actually up substantially compared to the first quarter of last year.

He goes back and plays the same markets repeatedly and just develops a good, loyal following. It's an organic development, not based on MTV or radio hype, and that's the best kind of artist development.

I think it's a great event that can help bolster Chicago's reputation as being a great music town.

I think there's a pretty widespread understanding now that we've pushed the upper limits of the ticket price and the public has pushed back.

I think everyone was surprised. I don't know that anybody expected the Pixies to be bigger today than they had ever been.

Part of it is going to be how you define jazz.

Part of it is fate and just random, but it's also fueled by the fact that last year was such a bad year for the industry. This year, a lot of acts were reluctant to go out right away,

Some of the deals guaranteed (performers) a sellout, ... That's a dumb way to run the business.

That's very good business. Bruce Springsteen is grossing a similar amount of money, but he's playing smaller places at twice the ticket price.

You have to figure that's not a healthy sign for the industry overall.

Tribal-operated casinos have realized that that's a very good way to bring in traffic to their casinos. They're looking for people to come in and spend money on gambling, not just go to a concert.

You don't normally see three huge acts like that out touring in the same year. McCartney and The Stones alone really helped drive up ticket prices.

We keep pushing the envelope on ticket prices and I think it's finally gone beyond the pale a little bit. Consumers are voting with their wallets and they're keeping them in their pockets.

Traffic, access, noise, residential protests are problems with outdoor amphitheatres, especially those like White River that are built in rural areas. The traffic issues have to be resolved because ultimately, it's the customer experience that determines whether White River is successful in the long term.

The public has shown they will pay a big premium for artists they really want to see.

Whats going to happen when theyre gone? Its a legitimate concern in the industry, ... Theyre a huge percentage of our business.

What's going to happen when they're gone? It's a legitimate concern in the industry. They're a huge percentage of our business.

Florida tends to be one of those places that people like to play in the winter,

There's nothing in the wings that I'm aware of that hasn't been announced. I don't know if there'll be any more Cream dates.

The stigma of playing in casinos is long gone. They've improved over the years.

Ten or 20 years ago, the acts that sold a lot of records were also the big concert ticket sellers. You don't see that correlation today.

That's not bad, not bad at all. Most amphitheaters don't sell out.

You're not getting (Madonna), but Fresno is. It shocked me as much as anybody.

You're benefiting from the explosion of the casinos. They give artists chances to be seen in new markets, and the casinos can pay a good amount of money to bring in these acts.

There's certainly jazz there, but you've got Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett and everything else there.

It's easier to sell 10,000 seats if you're in Philadelphia as opposed to 10,000 seats in Grand Forks because you're surrounded by millions of people.

It's not that much of a stretch to be advertising on the PGA.

It's almost like the business went off a cliff and it has not come back yet.

It looks like they may have stretched some on the top side in Pittsburgh.

It makes sense to try to take care of your loyal fans, but it's a fine line before that moves over into just a way to up the ticket price.

Its success will depend on how it is perceived by the public. Artists don't want to come across as overtly ripping people off.

The baby boomers really continue to support and fuel the concert business.

It used to be that there was a pretty good relationship between a big-selling concert act and big sellers on the charts. But over the last 20 years, there's been a real divergence.

There was a period of time when all anyone wanted to do was play outdoors. That's not the case anymore,

These older acts are the gravy train, but someday that train is not going to run anymore, and no one really knows what to do when they're gone. Of the young acts, you have someone like Coldplay who does quite well, but where will it be in 10 years? That's hard to say.

If (Des Moines) supports the shows and they do well, it's all good for the reputation of the arena and the market.

The Killers are exploding. They're going to be an arena act by the end of the year.