Event producers and venue managers are facing some competition from what might be considered an unlikely source.
Casinos.
More and more casinos are creating concert venues and booking some pretty heavy-hitting talent. It could prove detrimental to festivals and other concert events as the casino competition could create a circumstance where the performance within a certain radius in a certain number of days clause in many performance agreements kick in.
See, many artists have a clause in their agreements or as a general rule that they will not perform a show at a venue within a certain distance of another venue in a certain number of days. Most of the time, it's 50 miles and 30 days. Sometimes the distance is pushed to 100 miles or so.
What this means is that if a particular artist ... say, Aerosmith ... plays the Superpages.com Center in Dallas Aug. 1, it won't book a show in Fort Worth in 30 to 45 days. It would separate the possible audience ... particularly if there is a discrepancy in ticket prices.
This becomes especially true for festival venues. The community/regional events (not the Bumbershoots, Austin City Limits, Lallapaloozas or Bonnaroos of the world) feature a low ticket price. At the Real. Texas. Festival. it's been $5 to $10.
Well, people will pay $35 or $40 to see Randy Rogers Band at House of Blues (if not more). If they can see RRB for $10 at Real. Texas. Festival., the logic is they won't pay $40 to see RRB at House of Blues two weeks later.
Personally, I don't think that's true. Fans of Randy Rogers Band will go see that group whenever they can wherever they can.
Anyway, with casinos now getting into the concert production game, those distances could encompass yet another series of venues.
The Real. Texas. Festival. could possibly be impacted the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. It's 92.2 miles from Mesquite, Texas, the home of the Real. Texas. Festival., to Winstar. If the distance requirement for a certain artist is 100 miles, the RTF might have difficulty booking an artist who plays at Winstar 30-45 days before the festival.
On the other hand, it might be benefit for the festival in that 92.2 miles is an easy travel distance between shows. Tour managers are often looking for routed shows to pick up -- meaning if someone is playing in San Antonio Thursday night and is expected to be in Thackerville at Winstar on Saturday night, the opportunity to play the Real. Texas. Festival. on Friday night would be attractive is it is right on the way ... straight up I-35.
Interesting stuff ... particularly when playing Casinos used to be associated with some kind of cheesy Vegas lounge act -- performing elevator music covers of pop and rock hits.
Not so ... not any more. The August and September concert calendar at Winstar features the likes of Heart, Martina McBride, Billy Squire, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey and Kelly Clarkson.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Got a favorite cover band?
I've been fascinated in recent months with the fascination with the various tribute and/or cover bands that are out there ... and by "out there," I mean in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and I should probably apologize for the overuse of the word "fascination."
I found it interesting -- or, dare I say it ... "fascinating" -- (sorry, that's the last time. Swear to God!) that the 2009 Richardson Wildflower! Festival's Sunday concert line-up was predominately dotted with cover bands.
There was Swan Song (the tribute to Led Zepplin), Bebe Le Strange (the tribute to Heart), Badfish (featuring the music of Sublime) and a couple of others.
If you take a look through the concert calendar for Dallas and Fort Worth on any given weekend, you'll see all sorts of cover bands out there. Some of them are really, really good. In fact, the Real. Texas. Festival. is considering a tribute band or two to invite to perform on one the two main concert stages for 2010.
Anyone out there got a personal favorite? If so, let us hear from you and we'll see what we can do to book them.
I have a couple I've heard that I really enjoy. Back in Black ... the tribute to AC/DC is just excellent.
It's one thing to feature the music of a particular group, but folks like Back in Black and Swan Song take it the extra mile. They even look like the bands to which they are they are paying tribute. Swan Song folks look just like Robert Plant, Jimmy Page et al. The lead guitarist from Back in Black plays the same Gibson SG and wears the same schoolboy suit that Angus Young has made famous.
I also like Hard Night's Day (Beatles), Queen for a Day (Queen), Petty Theft (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Naked Lunch (Steely Dan).
I've also heard of a new tribute band that's forming and rehearsing, preparing to unleash itself on the masses -- Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac).
There's also a couple of ZZ Top tribute bands that are pretty good ... Tres Hombres and Eliminator.
So, if you've got a favorite cover band that you'd like to see at RTF, or any place else for that matter, let us know. We'd like to see if we could book some of these tribute bands that are out there and that seem to be riding a great wave of popularity right now.
E-mail us at info@realtexasfestival.com.
I found it interesting -- or, dare I say it ... "fascinating" -- (sorry, that's the last time. Swear to God!) that the 2009 Richardson Wildflower! Festival's Sunday concert line-up was predominately dotted with cover bands.
There was Swan Song (the tribute to Led Zepplin), Bebe Le Strange (the tribute to Heart), Badfish (featuring the music of Sublime) and a couple of others.
If you take a look through the concert calendar for Dallas and Fort Worth on any given weekend, you'll see all sorts of cover bands out there. Some of them are really, really good. In fact, the Real. Texas. Festival. is considering a tribute band or two to invite to perform on one the two main concert stages for 2010.
Anyone out there got a personal favorite? If so, let us hear from you and we'll see what we can do to book them.
I have a couple I've heard that I really enjoy. Back in Black ... the tribute to AC/DC is just excellent.
It's one thing to feature the music of a particular group, but folks like Back in Black and Swan Song take it the extra mile. They even look like the bands to which they are they are paying tribute. Swan Song folks look just like Robert Plant, Jimmy Page et al. The lead guitarist from Back in Black plays the same Gibson SG and wears the same schoolboy suit that Angus Young has made famous.
I also like Hard Night's Day (Beatles), Queen for a Day (Queen), Petty Theft (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Naked Lunch (Steely Dan).
I've also heard of a new tribute band that's forming and rehearsing, preparing to unleash itself on the masses -- Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac).
There's also a couple of ZZ Top tribute bands that are pretty good ... Tres Hombres and Eliminator.
So, if you've got a favorite cover band that you'd like to see at RTF, or any place else for that matter, let us know. We'd like to see if we could book some of these tribute bands that are out there and that seem to be riding a great wave of popularity right now.
E-mail us at info@realtexasfestival.com.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Derelict in my duties
I feel I must apologize to everyone in blogger land ... especially to the followers of this particular blog.
Both of you.
In fact, I probably have to reapply for my official status in the blogger's club of the Americas for simply not posting enough entries. I started out with a lot of vigor and things got in the way. I got busy. No excuses.
However, I'll do better. I pledge to update and post blogs pertaining to the greatness of the Real. Texas. Festival. periodically. At least once per week until we get closer to the event (which, by the way, is April 23 and 24, 2010). We'll post twice per week or even daily as we get closer to the time.
Let's see ... a lot has happened since our last blog effort.
Michael Jackson died. You guys hear that? I heard people were sad.
Enough of that stuff ... what else has happened?
How about the festival having it's best year ever? Let's talk about that for a bit.
Nearly 25,000 people (23,000 to be more exact) turned out to hear Kevin Fowler, Los Lonely Boys, Jay Perez, James Otto and others tear it up on the main stage.
In just the third year of its existence, the RTF is really establishing itself as one of the premier music events in North Texas.
And, there' s no turning back now. Even though it feels like we just finished this thing, we are already starting planning the next one.
On July 13, 2009 ... we're 9-10 months out from the event and I swear, I'm gonna look down at my piece of paper here and when I look back at the screen, it will be March 31 and we're almost there.
It will be here before you know it.
We have lots of great plans for 2010. The format will continue ... particularly the All-Texas music jam. We are prospecting for headliners now and we'll be releasing more information on that toward the end of this month and the first of next.
For those who haven't heard, the Mesquite Championship Rodeo is under new ownership and management. We are looking for some outstanding synergies to be generated with the new owners and it will only help take the festival forward.
Speaking of rodeo, I must take umbrage with something I saw on a Web site recently. The Texas Stampede advertises itself as the first and only professional rodeo and concert event in North Texas.
Well, they may be the first, but they are certainly not the only. The Real. Texas. Festival. is also a professional rodeo and concert event in North Texas.
And a pretty darn good one if I do say so myself.
Both of you.
In fact, I probably have to reapply for my official status in the blogger's club of the Americas for simply not posting enough entries. I started out with a lot of vigor and things got in the way. I got busy. No excuses.
However, I'll do better. I pledge to update and post blogs pertaining to the greatness of the Real. Texas. Festival. periodically. At least once per week until we get closer to the event (which, by the way, is April 23 and 24, 2010). We'll post twice per week or even daily as we get closer to the time.
Let's see ... a lot has happened since our last blog effort.
Michael Jackson died. You guys hear that? I heard people were sad.
Enough of that stuff ... what else has happened?
How about the festival having it's best year ever? Let's talk about that for a bit.
Nearly 25,000 people (23,000 to be more exact) turned out to hear Kevin Fowler, Los Lonely Boys, Jay Perez, James Otto and others tear it up on the main stage.
In just the third year of its existence, the RTF is really establishing itself as one of the premier music events in North Texas.
And, there' s no turning back now. Even though it feels like we just finished this thing, we are already starting planning the next one.
On July 13, 2009 ... we're 9-10 months out from the event and I swear, I'm gonna look down at my piece of paper here and when I look back at the screen, it will be March 31 and we're almost there.
It will be here before you know it.
We have lots of great plans for 2010. The format will continue ... particularly the All-Texas music jam. We are prospecting for headliners now and we'll be releasing more information on that toward the end of this month and the first of next.
For those who haven't heard, the Mesquite Championship Rodeo is under new ownership and management. We are looking for some outstanding synergies to be generated with the new owners and it will only help take the festival forward.
Speaking of rodeo, I must take umbrage with something I saw on a Web site recently. The Texas Stampede advertises itself as the first and only professional rodeo and concert event in North Texas.
Well, they may be the first, but they are certainly not the only. The Real. Texas. Festival. is also a professional rodeo and concert event in North Texas.
And a pretty darn good one if I do say so myself.
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