KISS PRODUCES BIGGEST IMPACT AT BOX OFFICE : BAND'S TOUR WAS YEAR'S TOP EARNER.Byline: David Bauder Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. It wasn't a particularly good year for people in the concert industry - unless you happened to breathe fire, spit blood and wear a lot of greasepaint. Kiss' reunion tour was the top money-earner for 1996, taking in $43.6 million and beating acts like Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond and Rod Stewart, the concert industry trade publication Pollstar reported Wednesday. Consumers spent an estimated $1.05 billion on concerts during 1996, Pollstar said. That's up slightly from the $950 million in 1995 but not approaching the record $1.4 billion set in 1994. The increased dollar volume was largely due to higher ticket prices and masked a particularly weak showing for many veteran artists out on the road, said Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar editor. Kiss was the spectacular exception. The band reunited its original members, donned the cumbersome costumes and used truckloads of special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. for 92 dates - leaving sellouts in their wake. ``Probably everybody except (Kiss member) Gene Simmons For the actress, see Jean Simmons. For the rockabilly singer, see Jumpin' Gene Simmons. Chaim Witz (חיים וויץ), (born August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel), better known by his stage name Gene Simmons was surprised by how strong that was,'' Bongiovanni said. The summer's other high-profile rock reunion - of the Sex Pistols - didn't even register in Pollstar's top 50 concert draws. The concert circuit was flooded this summer with stars of the 1970s - Styx, Kansas, Steely Dan, Steve Miller The name Steve Miller might refer to:
``The '70s acts didn't work, except for the Eagles and Kiss,'' said Jim Koplik Jim Koplik is a concert promoter who has produced shows by The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Billy Joel and Elton John, among others. A resident of Stamford, Connecticut, Koplik works through Jim Koplik Presents, his Wallingford, Connecticut-based of Metropolitan Entertainment, one of the Northeast's top promoters. ``The '70s, I think . . . are over. There were a lot of '70s acts out last year and I think most promoters will stay away next year.'' Artists demanded increased guaranteed payments to perform this year, Bongiovanni said. That forced promoters to raise ticket prices, turning off all but the acts' most fanatic followers, Bongiovanni said. It's been a down year in general for the music industry. Compact disc sales are flat and many in the business wonder if any artists will emerge to lift them out of the doldrums. On the plus side, a number of new acts established themselves as solid - if not spectacular - concert draws this year: Alanis Morissette, Oasis, Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, Phish and Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. She is married to English sound engineer Mark Hawley. Together they have one daughter, Natashya "Tash" Lórien Hawley, born on September 5, 2000. in particular, Bongiovanni said. Phish's ``Clifford Ball,'' for which 70,000 fans overran o·ver·ran v. Past tense of overrun. an abandoned Air Force base in upstate New York Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. It has a population of 7,121,911 out of New York State's total 18,976,457. Were it an independent state, it would be ranked 13th by population. , was the summer's biggest event. The H.O.R.D.E. festival, led by acts like Blues Traveler and Natalie Merchant, supplanted Lollapallooza as the summer's biggest traveling festival. H.O.R.D.E. took in $18.1 million to Lollapallooza's $15.9 million, Pollstar said. TOPS ON TOUR The top acts on the concert circuit in 1996, with their estimated total gross in concert tickets, according to the industry trade publication Pollstar. Kiss: $43.6 million. Garth Brooks: $34.5 million. Neil Diamond: $32.2 million. Rod Stewart: $29.1 million. Bob Seger: $26.3 million. Jimmy Buffett: $26.2 million. Reba McEntire: $26.1 million. Alanis Morissette: $23.2 million. Hootie & the Blowfish A secret key cryptography method that uses a variable length key from 32 to 448 bits long. It uses the block cipher method, which breaks the text into 64-bit blocks before encrypting them. : $21.4 million. Ozzy Osbourne: $21.3 million. CAPTION(S): Box Box: TOP ON TOUR (See text) |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion