Kid Rock Delivers More Bang For Fewer Bucks

Despite an increase in ticket prices across the board, there has been a declining interest in attending these shows over the last half decade as concert attendance appears to be on the downslide and yet prices keep going up every year. Even a C-grade economist would tell you this is not a positive trend and something should be done, yet nothing is being done. Now it would be one thing to have prices go up and have nary a ticket in sight, but the reality is that almost every show I attend has empty seats but there are fancy accountants who still find a way to make these shows sell-outs for the Billboard Boxscore chart. A perfect example of this was a few weeks ago for the Jay Z and Mary J. Blige concerts in Chicago where the total attendance over two nights was less than 20,000 and yet somehow it was deemed a sell-out for two shows in an arena that holds twice that number on true sell-outs. Now why not let some less than fortunate or financially challenged people get tickets for $10 and experience the show? I've been told that it is said to be a sign of weakness and will "hurt the stock price" of certain companies the artists associate themselves with to admit a show is "not selling well". So let's get this straight, you would prefer to play to a half empty house because you don't want to send the promoter's stock price into a windfall? That's messed up. I'm happy to say there is one artist out there who doesn't give a rat's ass about anything other than filling seats and giving his fans the best damn show on the planet�Kid Rock.

During the intermission to Rock's two-hour plus rock n' rap extravaganza in Chicago a few weeks back, I struck up a conversation with a fresh-faced, wide-eyed 22-year-old, Sheila. She was in town visiting her boyfriend who both recently graduated from college just two weeks earlier and neither has any job opportunities lined up. She's cool and collected but in her eyes I can see a glimpse of terror. Hell, if I had looked deep enough into anyone's eyes at the Sears Centre (just outside of Chicago) on this night, they'd all express the same revealing unrest at the state of our nation. However, our conversation quickly turns to how we both came to be at the show. Her brown eyes widened and her shoulders perked up as she says "The price!" Ditto for me. Now, I'm sure Kid's management would not want me to write this and they aren't advertising it, but his latest stop in Chicago wasn't a immediate sell-out like his previous visits to the city in '04, '06 and just last November. He still has among the cheapest and most fairly priced tickets on the planet (with only Garth Brooks trumping him), yet when tickets went on sale for the show, only about half of the 11,800 building sold. Why? Let me tell you, it has nothing to do with his latest album, celebrity antics or overplaying a market. It has everything to do with the diminishing economy. So what did Kid Rock do? Most other acts would cancel the show, drape curtains over the balcony or point fingers wanting to lay blame on someone else. Not so for the son of Detroit, he put his money where his mouth is and discounted tickets to $15�with service charges included.

In a day and age where most tickets crack three-figures without service fee's this was a wildly refreshing move on his part. Just two-months ago I witnessed Bruce Springsteen perform to 8,000 empty seats in Indianapolis. Why wouldn't the so-called voice of the blue-collared worker reduce his tickets to $15? Hell if he had only sold half of those empty seats it would have meant another $60,000 gross and that's not counting concession sales and more importantly the hope that at least a handful of those people become entranced by the performance and become life long fans. This is something every act on the planet can not wrap their head around. All they can see is dollar signs and they are missing the big picture. Springsteen hasn't grown his audience at all in the last few decades as a result. What better way to entice those who are less fortunate and more importantly, a younger generation who will have expendable income in the coming ten to fifteen years?

Behind me sat a boy, Devon who was 8-years old and full of unabashed youthfulness and excitement. I ask him is he was a fan of Kid Rock and he just gives me a giddy smile. He tells me "My Mom took me to see the REV!" I smile and asked if she told him anything about Rev and he shyly looked away but came back and said "She said he's a pioneer". I look over at his Mom and show her an impressed look on my face. She goes on to tell me "I grew up with Run DMC and their music was so important to me that I wanted to share it with my son and his friends". I look over and she had brought four of his friends with them for an evening of entertainment. I told her she was a "cool Mom" and she smiled back and said "I'd take all of them to more shows if they were this cheap". As those words sunk into my head, it was almost as if she had been reading my mind. My press credentials did not come through for the show but when I saw that the $15 ticket price included the service charges, I grabbed a pair. Hell, I would pay for all of the concerts I attend if they were $15-$20 with service charges. Now, they did attach a $4.50 processing fee and the arena sucker punched everyone with $20 parking, but still two tickets with charges and parking cost me $56 total.

As my wife and I arrived to the arena, we noticed that merchandise was priced appropriately so that any teen who saved up their money could afford a ticket and a T-shirt for under $50 combined. As we sat down everyone around us buzzed about the $15 tickets. No one had anticipated on coming to the show but was swayed by the rock bottom prices. No one was more impressed with the prices or the show than my wife. I had taken her to Rock's 2004 show and she walked away transformed. Since then she has seen north of one-hundred concerts and when the questions arises "Who was the best?" she always manages to mention Kid Rock's name next to Prince, David Bowie and Paul McCartney's names. That's no simple feat, we've seen some incendiary performances and yet she always goes back to that explosive 2004 show. I'll write more in depth about the show at a later time, but each and every night that Kid Rock hits the stage, he doesn't just deliver, he blows the audiences mind with most people heading out of the arena saying "I had no idea he could be that good which is exactly what the college couple said to me at the show's conclusion and when I looked over at the mother who took five kids, they were all buzzing and Devon shot me a thumbs-up. As I walked out everyone was gasping at the awesome display of force, magic and purpose Kid Rock had on that concert stage. I overheard comments like "I'll see him every time he comes through Chicago" to "I'm heading to the T-Shirt stand now to support him since tickets were so cheap". Why was everyone in such a good mood? It's simple, Kid Rock knows what customer service is and when he thanked the crowd for coming out despite the messed up nature of our economy, I believed him unlike every other artist who claims to be thankful but have tickets auctioned for upwards of over $1000 on auction sites. His words were real, genuine and provided an injection of faith to the bloodstream of those in attendance. For once the consumer felt empowered.

As we strolled to the car, I turned to my wife and said "So what did you think?" She turns to me with the million dollar smile of a giddy child and said "He's such a genuine and extraordinary performer, I would go and see him anytime�but I have to tell you, I kind of missed the pyro and strippers". I laughed and knew exactly why I married her. I looked at her and responded "Yeah, I missed the strippers and pyro too, but in this economy it appears that even rock stars have to make sacrifices".

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

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