David Bowie bucked many trends in his lifetime and one of them had to do with live music. The perceived wisdom is that musicians have to tour to make money these days. Even musicians with blue-chip back-catalogues and storied histories hit the road because recorded music does not make the kind of money to keep them in the style to which they have become accustomed.
But Bowie’s last tour was in 2004 and, apart from a handful of guest appearances, he shunned the live circuit for the rest of his life. After his last-but-one album The Next Day in 2013, there was a lot of babble around the prospects of a tour and, as he did so often in his life, Bowie ignored the obvious and stayed home.
In the week when Bowie’s death dominated the discourse, it is rare to come across other artists at that level who would consciously seek to emulate his non-touring model.
Health considerations obviously played a part in Bowie’s decision to stay off the boards, but there are many acts with health issues who force themselves to tour because of the money.
And by money, we mean lots of money. Music trade publication Pollstar published its annual ticket and tour round-up this week and the stats make good reading for the industry’s bean-counters and chief financial dudes.
In terms of the macro picture, the top 100 tours grossed $4.71 billion worldwide, up 11 per cent on the previous year but still off the $5 billion record of 2013. Maybe that’s due to the fact that the average ticket price is down, a reduction of 4 per cent on 2014 to $78.77.
In 2015, there were 10 tours, including ones by U2, Kenny Chesney, Ed Sheeran and Garth Brooks, that grossed more than $100 million apiece, with Taylor Swift and One Direction topping the poll with $250 million and $210 million respectively.
Irish audiences contributed handsomely to the pot with promoters MCD and Aiken Promotions selling 1.3 million and 549,000 tickets respectively in 2015. Irish venues such as Live at the Marquee, Marlay Park, the 3Arena and the Olympia also feature in various charts. We could well be the best small country in the world to go gigging in.
Over the past decade, the year-on-year figures continue to show that the live sector is where the real action is in the music business.
Yet for all that, the sector still leans heavily on the traditional record industry to come up with the new blood who will tour and tour and tour until they drop. The number of acts who can credit their breakthrough to touring and touring alone remains small, with one-man-band Ed Sheeran the most prominent of these outliers.
There’s little doubt that touring will remain the way of the walk for the majority of acts. Blanking the live circuit worked for Bowie, but there will be very few other acts brave enough to stay off that particular merry-go-round.
You’ve got to hear this . . .
David Bowie - Blackstar
Right to the end, Bowie was following his own star and produced work of sublime genius. An artist who has challenged and influenced us for decades.
Etc . . .
Irish jazz players, listen up: the closing date for this year's 12 Points Festival is January 30th. This year's event will take place in the current European Capital of Culture San Sebastián/Donostia from July 20th to 23rd. As the previous nine outings have shown, 12 Points has become an essential guide to who's who on the new European jazz scene. 12points.ie
