"'host six shows every year that have a ticket price'. I'm counting between nine and eleven, but some of the ones listed above probably don't count."

Dude, that's a lot of qualifiers. And at the end of summer, Summerstage doesn't turn into Autumnstage.

Bilk, bilk, bilk.

So then these will be free:

6-23 - Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone
6-25 - Feist, Jason Collett, Buck 65
7-02 - Seu Jorge, Jose Gonzalez, Alex Cuba Band
7-16 - Amadou & Mariam, Daby Toure
7-23 - Konono No. 1

not bad.

$50 for Apple, Rice, Garza! ouch....

what's up with the two prices for 8/3 and 7/20???

I just updated the post with more info. CYHSY and Moe go on sale the same day as the other 4, and the quote J quoted no longer exists, but the point is still the same.

None of those shows are worth what they cost...

Well, the idea was SUPPOSED to be that the "benefit" shows paid for all the free ones. But there seem to be fewer and fewer free ones.

Big onsale tomorrow: Guy playing saxophone next to Washington Square Park fountain! Only $65. Act now!

Don't pay for these "benefit" shows. They are run by Clear Channel. Feeding the monster. Plus it's pretty yucky out there in the rain and they don't allow re-entry. Sit + wait + get wet...

with CMJ so late this year, probably unlikely that they'll have a "summer"stage show like last year, don't you think?

I like the artists, but the shows this year are $$$. I'll be sitting out in the field where I can hear the music for free and bring my own beer. Who's gonna bring the frisbee?

birdboy, you're misinformed. Summerstage costs $2,000,000 to run every year (i know because i worked there). They have to pay hundreds of salaries, insurance, maintenance, and tons of other hidden costs; most of that comes from city funds. The rest comes from donations and benefit shows. You associate Clearchannel with Summerstage because Ticketmaster sells their tickets, but you don't take into account that Ticketmaster has a monopoly on online ticket sales. they own ticketweb, also.

I associate ClearChannel with Summerstage because last year when I was at a Fountains of Wayne benefit show and it was raining and my kid was crying and wanted to leave for a few minutes, the head of security came over and said we could not leave even to let her ride the merry-go-round for 15 minutes if we wanted to get back in. I asked her who she worked for and she said ClearChannel Promotions.

That's why I associate ClearChannel with Summerstage, and I stand by this. I respect Summerstage's need to raise money, but this has been my experience more than once and I am done with paying for these shows. I am used to being treated a lot better by organizations to whom I donate my time and money.

New Pornographers:

Last year @ Maxwell's
$15 x 200 ppl capacity = $3,000 gross

This year @ Summerstage
$35 x 5,000 ppl capacity = $175,000 gross

(holy $#!+)

The Fountains of Wayne show last year was a benefit for Sing For Children, a charity that serves to protect poor and homeless new york city children, and was not a benefit to raise money. my friend's family is active part of this charity, and every year she plays a major role in organizing it. The show was not a benefit for the summerstage shows.

But yeah though you are right, summerstage is more or less a clear channel venue, despite what one else says. if i'm not mistaken, aren't most of the shows presented by ron delsener?

it is a little disconcerting that there are twice the number of paid shows as free shows. in theory a handful of overpriced but good shows to support the cause of free shows for the rest of the summer is alright. but at this point what is the point of saying it is for the cause of free shows. summerstage might not be turning a profit, but it is certainly not about free concerts. i might stick to river2river and celebrate brooklyn this year.

Maxwell's pays its 'security' guards (read: door guys) $50 per person per night. Summerstage probably pays thousands per show for security. Gross profits aren't a point of comparison for live shows.

Also Maxwells pays its artists much more of the total gross at the door than other clubs of similar size do. The average for a lot of touring bands is 50% or so, but at Maxwells it's 80%. Of course I would imagine that many of the bigger names that play Maxwells have contracts with guarantees and riders and what not. I know that many of the artists who play there get fed there as well (it has a restaurant/bar section) because I've seen many of them eating before shows there. And furthermore, The New Pornographers played that show at Maxwells last year several months before Twin Cinema came out and a few days before their show at Prospect Park Bandshell drew something like 8,000 people. Admittedly, that was a free show, but my point is that their popularity was already quite high at that point. So, in essence, the Maxwells show was a warm-up show.

"Gross profits aren't a point of comparison for live shows."

why the heck not? that's the whole point of behind the concept of gross.

I totally realize overhead for summerstage is gifreakingnormous compared to rinkydinky maxwell's. So how's this:

80% of Gross from maxwell's ($3,000) = $2400

Gross from Summertage ($175,000) - Overhead $172,600 [Security $50,000; Barricadeness $50,000; Ron Delsner $70,000; Alcohol for band $2,600] = $2400

RE: Fountains of Wayne show --

I am aware that this was a benefit for Sing for the Children, not Summerstage; but the treatment of the fans by the staff there was identical to my experience at all the Summerstage benefits, so my main points are true in either case; and, if I am not mistaken, Ron Delsener Presents (and LiveNation) are just ClearChannel with another name.

It wouldn't be such a problem if Summerstage did not suck so bad. I hate going to shows there. They treat you like shit and its always too quiet. All of these bands will be back in the Fall in better venues for less money.

at this point, it's like if bowery presents threw a couple free shows a year, and then acted like it were a charity.

Who is headlininng the Frames/NP/Calexico show?

How is Summer Stage set up for the shows that cost money? Is it all fenced in? Is it possible to sneak in without tickets since it's a park? Thanks
(A) <3

not too bad