As Clay Aiken’s Tried and True Tour has past the halfway point, there is no doubt that the tour has been successful.
Each review has praised Clays beautiful voice, his quick wit and wonderful rapport with the audiences. All reports seem to mention the top musicians that are backing Clay during this tour. Each musician brings a special talent to the show and helps to make the concert an amazing event.
In this time of economic turmoil, it is important that we realize how lucky we are to have Clay touring. Ticket sales are improving as word of the successful show gets out, but as with many top musical stars, Tried and True must be crunching the numbers.
On Monday, February 28th, the problems with concert tours made many headlines. Live Nation Entertainment reported Monday that its annual loss nearly tripled as concert attendance dropped. The concert promoter and parent of Ticketmaster lost $228.4 million.
According to the Associated Press, concert attendance at shows promoted by Live Nation fell 9 percent and the arts and theater category decreased 12 percent. Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation blames the economy and “industry specific problems.”
The decline is obvious when you realize that there were many major tours from major artists (U2, the Eagles, Christina Aguilera, “American Idols Live!” and the revived Lilith Fair tour) had many cancellations and postponements. The company has been dropping prices in order to encourage sellout crowds.
And with all of this, Clay Aiken is out on tour. He didn’t put it off and he didn’t cancel any scheduled stops. And even though the tour is not selling out venues, in my eyes, the concert tour is successful.
Live Nation is based in Beverly Hills, California and has been buying out different companies in hopes of being the world leader in live events. They are connected to Ticketmaster, Clear Channel Communications, and House of Blues. They own 117 venues and the rights to book 33 additional venues.