2015-05-18 - Saint Louis, MO - The Pageant

[Rik]

2015-05-18 - Saint Louis, MO - The Pageant

[Suffer_Long]

Just got notification from Ticketmaster that this show is cancelled.

[NickLorenza]

Was a reason ever given for this show being cancelled?  Issues with the venue?  Low ticket sales? Illness?

[Suffer_Long]

Not enough tickets were sold.

[Flyingmerpa]

Not enough tickets were sold.

Is this only the beginning?

[Drew06]

Not enough tickets were sold.

Is this only the beginning?

Thankfully he doesn't have that many more shows booked. Most of the one's that are left are festival type of gigs. Dude needs to chill out and rest for a few months.

[Flyingmerpa]

.

[NickLorenza]

I suppose we could speculate all we want as to why there weren't enough ticket sales.  Sure it could be all the bad press he's gotten as of late, but in reality I bet those tickets have probably been on sale for a while now.  People have had plenty of time to buy them and it could also be that he just wasn't selling well in that particular market.

If nothing else, it should be a wake up call to him that his name doesn't hold the value it once did to an entire market of people.  If people cared the tix would have sold.  Maybe Flyingmerpa is right, maybe this is the beginning of people finally showing him they've seen enough antics.  I don't know.

Maybe it's all just a fluke. Just part of a perfect storm of poor promotion (IE: people not even being aware of the Wildabouts' existence), a bad market (as in maybe more of St. Louis' residents prefer country?), and bad press in recent months being the cherry on top.  There could be way more I'm missing too.  Like maybe he's even competing with another big show or event tomorrow.  People can only be one place at a time ya know....

I don't know what the rock scene in St. Louis is like, in fact I don't even know too much about what the rock scene is like anymore here in Chicago for that matter.  I'm so checked out of it all....  I know that in recent history there was a period of time in Chicago that we didn't even have a modern rock FM radio station to inform people of new mainstream rock bands and singles.  Considering the state of rock music these days I guess it's not impossible that St. Louis could potentially be in that boat too.  I'm sure someone from there could tell us if they have an FM station that plays modern rock music and if the Wildabouts get any airplay. 


All in all, it is hard for me to believe that he'd sell enough tickets in places like Nebraska, Alabama, Louisiana, or South Carolina, but not St. Louis. 

[NickLorenza]

And here's another thing I want to point out while I'm at it....

If they didn't sell enough tickets and they had to cancel the whole event that means the sales were not just weak, but REALLY bad.  Usually when a band can't come close to filling a venue they are booked at the promoter will move the show over to another venue that they book at where the actual sold tickets are closer to the capacity of the venue.  They do that all the time here.

This happened to STP once in fact.

In September of 2012 STP was going to play the Riviera Theatre in Chicago.  Then it must have been about a week or 2 before the show the venue was suddenly changed to the much smaller Vic Theatre.  Someone had told me that move was made because the ticket sales were really weak for the Riviera.  I wasn't planning on going to see them at The Riv because I was still feeling really burned about what I had witnessed in Rockford a year earlier.  It was when a buddy told me about the switch over to the Vic that made me think about how cool it would be to see those guys in such a small place.  I'm glad I chose to go because it was the last time they came through town with the original lineup. 

You would think if The Wildabouts couldn't fill the venue they were booked at that they would want to at least try to play someplace smaller just to be able to sell some merch and maybe collect on cash from any potential m&g they could be offering.  Anything is better than cancelling the city altogether.

[Jim The Stimulator]

I'd just like to point out that the Toronto show was completely sold out.  So he's not having this problem everywhere.

[pakurt]

Another possible reason: Joey has left the band to do a few shows with Blast, and to tour with EODM in June. I think Mike Avenaim is the replace.

[Strat]

Another possible reason, Pageant's minimum seating is 1000, max 2300. That's larger than many of the stops on this tour. A place that size is probably more expensive to operate and requires more sales for the venue to break even.


Why not reschedule at a smaller venue? Short notice, cancellation was only announced a few days ago. Or, maybe they decided to rest, they've been playing a lot of shows.

[Suffer_Long]

The Pageant was just too big a venue for them to book.  There are still plenty of rock acts that sell out The Pageant and fill the local amphitheater, so I don't see it as a St. Louis issue.  However, I didn't see or hear any promotion for the show, and the local rock stations aren't playing anything from Blaster to my knowledge.  Still, there are smaller venues they could have initially booked or moved to after seeing the low sales.

The band did stop at Vintage Vinyl on Sunday for an appearance.  However, I found out about it too late in the day and didn't make it.   

[NickLorenza]

You guys all made awesome posts here.  There was some great information there.  Just as I was suspecting, a perfect storm of things came together.  It sounds like lack of promotion played a role here for sure.  Without the help of the local rock radio station how are casual fans even going to know his band exists, let alone know that they're playing in town.  If the local FM rock station isn't giving Blaster any attention then that puts Scott just about right on par with any of our own bands when it comes to chances of selling tickets. Kinda sad actually.


I mean look at SLDD as a model.  That there is a perfect example of what happens when there's a lack of promotion and radio support.  Things go unnoticed. 


I didn't know Joey had gone on to do other things for now.  I do hope he returns because he fits them so well.


I also am shocked to hear the capacity of that venue.  In Chicago they played Double Door which is essentially a medium size bar with a stage.  They sold out here but the capacity is nowhere even close to 2300.  And yes, I too still don't understand why this show wasn't just moved to a smaller venue.  That kind of thing happens all the time.

[Pingfah]

Hey cool Avenaim played drums on 4 tracks from Blaster, and co-wrote Amethyst as well.

His stuff on the album is better than Thompson, and he probably should have been in the band all along.