Despite Everclear?s national recognition, the Louis Alexander Palestra did not fill to capacity on Thursday?s concert, in spite of predictions that the concert would sell out.
?The show did not sell out.We had about 100 tickets left, which was okay,? Associate Director of Student Activities Ann-Marie Algier said. ?Whenever we do surveys, students say that they want to see large national acts on campus, so when we had the opportunity to bring one, we went for it. We knew when we booked the show it would cost us a lot of money because our venue is so small,? she said.
Initially, this was seen as a problem because the band cost $42,500, which is significantly more expensive than most acts. ?There are also the expenses of commission, security, stage, tech, catering, etc. and we are still getting all those bills in, but it will bring the total well over $50,000,? Algier said.
The fall concert, however, only cost $15,000. ?Since [They Might Be Giants] cost us less than usual, we had a little more to lose for Everclear,? Algier said.
Most acts usually cost between $25,000 and $30,000. The Roots, who played the fall 1999 concert, cost $25,000, while Fiona Apple, who played at Eastman for the spring 2000 concert cost $35,000.
Out of the 1,700 tickets that would fill the Palestra, somewhere between 1,500 to 1,600 were estimated to have been sold for the Everclear concert, although the final totals aren?t yet in. This meant that UR Concerts took in roughly $30,000.
Regardless if the concert sold out, however, ?all the tickets equaled up wouldn?t have made as much money as the band cost,? senior and business manager Andy Locke said. Because the Students? Association subsidizes UR Concerts, the amount of money lost is not actually a large cause for concern. This means that the failure or success of preceding concerts, such as the spring D-Day concert, will not affect future concerts.
One of UR Concerts? biggest concerns is figuring out why the Palestra consistently does not sell out and what musical groups students really want to see.
The concert was heavily advertised both on campus and off. Tickets were sold not only at the Common Market and Record Archive, but also on www.tickets.com. UR was mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine as being the first stop on Everclear?s national tour and advertised on the radio station The Nerve.
?We can?t seem to sell out the Palestra for some reason,? senior and president of UR Concerts Rakib Azad said.
He felt that one of the reasons for this is that the concerts don?t attract many people from outside the UR community.
?The inaccessibility of UR definitely prevented a sellout show considering how popular the band is,? he said.
?It?s hard to gauge
