Roger Waters touring "The Wall"

UPDATE: I am told by a reputable live music biz source that the ticketing agency holds these funds. To me, this is almost more insane. Unless they are somehow giving a kickback to the band/management, then I see no reason for the artist to be selling shows this far out. I understand the need to book this far out, especially for a tour of this size, but to put tix on sale seven months in advance seems crazy except to line tickets.com pockets. If it's not somehow lining Roger's pockets, I'm seriously confused.

UPDATE II: In response to my obvious question, "Why?!", I received this answer: "You want to sell the tickets as soon as you can before people find other things on which to spend their money." I feel no better or really, any less confused.


This morning I purchased tickets to see Roger Waters perform "The Wall" at Wrigley Field. "The Wall" is my least favorite of the Pink Floyd Mk II albums, mostly because, well, even to a high schooler its metaphor is wafer thin & the music bombastic. In addition, it was unavoidable while I was in high school and college. I think it's the first Pink Floyd album that I never bought. Like "Nevermind," I never needed to. It was omnipresent. (I've since purchased "Nevermind." Not so "The Wall.")

The last time I saw Roger play, in Austin in 1987, he was tremendous. He played classic Pink Floyd and selections from his solo work to a 1/3 full Erwin Center. A few months later, the reformed, but Watersless, Pink Floyd toured, playing to sold out arenas. First, we drove to Houston and saw them at a sold out Astrodome. Then they played a full Erwin Center for two nights, and we caught one of those shows.

Tough it's not my favorite Pink Floyd album, "The Wall" at Wrigley promised to be a spectacle, so I'm in.

The tickets I purchased are for next June.

That's right, JUNE 2012.

The presale for such a distant concert date got me thinking.

I am unsure of the Wrigley field capacity for a concert. A baseball game is about 41,000, but for concerts they lose the bleachers but gain field seating. Let's round down to 30,000. Prices range from $35 (a few), more for $75, many for $125, and the field seats are all $250. If we take an average ticket price of $125, Roger and the promoter are grossing $3,750,000 from this one show eight months before the concert. Like McCartney, they will undoubtedly add a second show.

Looking at his website, Roger has dates booked from January through July 14. Looks like an average of 17 shows a month = $382,500,000 gross. Even if I am off by a factor of ten, twenty, or fifty, that's a lot of money. A lot of advance money.

A page on Roger's website asks, "Why 'The Wall' Now?" Why indeed.