Is Lilith Fair having trouble selling tickets?
It has been eleven years since the “celebration of women in music” super-tour Lilith Fair has graced the stages of the United States. During that break concert ticket prices have soared and the 2010 tour has seen lagging ticket sales and unhappy grumblings from fans balking at the higher prices.
From an interview with Billboard tour co-founder Sarah McLachlan defended Lilith Fair and what she feels like is unjust scrutiny of the ticket prices:
“There’s about 300 seats out of 16,000 or whatever that are $250,” she says. “Then there’s 9,000 that are 25 dollars, so come on. We’re working our hardest to have reasonably priced tickets so it can be accessible for everyone and that people will want to come. We might get slaughtered, I don’t know, but I kind of have blind faith in the fact we’re putting on a really great show and we always have, and that will bring people in the end.”
Just for reference I checked out ticket prices as they are currently listed for the show happening in Atlanta GA on August 8th, 2010. There was a confusing array of options with prices ranging from $756.00 down to $33.00. For $756.00 you get what they call the “Lilith Universe Diamond Package” that includes front row seats, meet and greets with select artists and access to VIP areas and tents. For $33.00 you get a lawn seat off in the distance and a free hippie chicks on herbs dancing show.
The “decent to good” seats start at $77.50 plus a convenience charge of $14.90, totaling $92.40. That’s almost 13 hours of minimum wage work, not including income taxes and social security!
If you’re not intimidated by the ticket prices you can check the changing lineup of performers for each date via the Lilith Fair website. Here are just a few of the impressive acts that will be a part of Lilith Fair 2010:
Beth Orton, Carly Simon, Cat Power, Emmylou Harris, The Go Go’s, Loretta Lynn (picture above), Mary J. Blige, Miranda Lambert, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, Suzanne Vega, and The Bangles.
Despite the less-than-enthusiastic ticket demand (tickets were available for Atlanta in all sections when I did my search) McLachlan’s manager and Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride told the Advocate that they plan to continue the tour outside of North America:
“We’re definitely thinking 2010-2011,” McBride said. “And then we’re expanding it outside of North America. We’re going to Australia in September and the first week of October. We’re going to the UK marketplace indoors in late October. Then over to Japan and Asia in March. Back into North America for the summer of 2011.”
Sarah McLachlan is set to release a new studio album titled Laws of Illusion on June 15th. For a little trip down memory lane check out this great video performance by Shawn Colvin performing her hit Sonny Came Home from 1997’s LF tour.
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