Ray Waddell Quotations

With the smaller shows, it's a more intimate experience, so people don't seem to balk at that. You pay more to get closer to the artist.

Just as you do with the jam bands, the only way you can get turned on to this music is to seek it out. It's not on the radio. You have to seek it out and go see it live to experience. . . . Ozzfest fans are extremely plugged into the scene and dedicated to it.

Ozzfest is successful for the same reason Warped is successful - they stay true to what they do.

Ozzfest and Warped don't try to be all things to all people. Some fests that didn't last tried to force people to broaden their horizons.

There is no substitute for the live experience,

The Rolling Stones are far and away the most successful touring entity in the history of mankind. The Stones have written and rewritten the book on touring. The things they have brought have been pioneering, from being the first to use credit cards at merc stands to a one-promoter global tour. They are the kings.

The Stones have written and rewritten the book on touring.

Rap is simply more compelling in a club or on disc or video. I don't want to be too harsh on them, but how exciting is it to see a guy with a microphone onstage with video behind him and a few guys walking around? It's not like having a band up there with guitars and drums.

Promoters have learned a lot of valuable lessons.

Promoters are providing more value. Rather than discounting, they're trying to get the pricing right.

As Clear Channel goes, so goes the business.

As long as these guys can work, they'll sell tickets. But at some point, biology will take over.

A lot of bands go to Europe and play the festivals.

The most affluent fans are driving the business in many ways.

It's the first time they've toured in a while,

It's making a huge difference. That new arena has put Charlotte back on the concert A-list, and it's a honeymoon that should run for a good while longer.

It's always been a conundrum why hip-hop, the top CD seller, hasn't translated into ticket sales.

It's what they do. If you're a welder and all of the sudden you're not the most popular welder on the block, are you going to quit welding? It's the same with any other occupation. Nobody should expect them to quit doing what they do.

In the first half of last year, you had a lot of the big tours early - Madonna, Prince, Bette Midler, Simon and Garfunkel. This year it's backloaded . . . that's just the way it worked out.

For the last three or four years, rock at the club level has made a real comeback.