Live Nation Inc., the world’s largest concert promoter, is opening the summer season with a promotion today that eliminates some ticket fees, the surcharges that have caused fans to revile its soon-to-be merger partner, Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.
Live Nation is scrapping fees for U.S. amphitheater lawn seats this summer in a 24-hour sale on its Web site starting at 12:01 a.m. in every local time zone. Fans will save around $9 to $12 on a ticket that typically costs $20 to $25.
Artists playing at the 43 Live Nation venues covered by the promotion include Coldplay, Phish and Kid Rock, while the local shows include some big-name talent at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre (Aerosmith/ZZ Top, Motley Crue, All American Rejects, Def Leppard/Poison, Toby Keith, New Kids on the Block, Nickelback, Rod Stewart and Marilyn Manson/Slayer) and Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Jackson Browne, Depeche Mode, Rise Against, Sasha/John Digweed, STS9, Rise Against/Rancid, Nas/Busta Rhymes, Judas Priest and Celtic Woman). Five million tickets are up for grabs today.
For example, lawn seats for Rod Stewart at Fiddlers on July 30 have a face value of $29.50. On Monday, a fan would have paid $45.75 online and $41 at the box office. Today, a lawn seat can be had for a total of $35.50. The additional $6 was labeled “facility charge.”
The company plans to continue the promotion, though on a smaller scale, every Wednesday this summer.
“We know people hate fees,” said Live Nation’s chief executive of global music, Jason Garner. “We just want to have one day to say to fans, ‘We’ve heard you loud and clear and appreciate your support. Escape and enjoy a great show.”‘
Despite the recession, the company said in May that ticket sales for its summer concerts were ahead of last year’s pace. Still, there’s room to sell many more tickets. Live Nation says about 40 percent of all concert seats go empty.
And for a typical summer concert, more than half of the 13,000 lawn tickets at a 20,000-capacity venue are left unsold.
Denver Post staff writer Ricardo Baca contributed to this report.
