http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/arts/music/12price.html?ref=music
12, 2007
Star Turns, Close Enough to Touch
By MIREYA NAVARRO
LOS ANGELES, July 11 - This was how close Prince was: You could see
the glitter on his sideburns.
And as he blithely strutted around the room (guarded by two burly
guys in dark suits), disappearing into the standing-room section or
weaving through leather couches and mahogany-wood tables to dance a
step here or play a guitar solo there, Leigh-Ann Jackson grabbed a
shoulder.
"To go from seeing him on a jumbotron to touching his shoulder pad,
how many people can say that?" said Ms. Jackson, a 29-year-old
mother and baby-T-shirt designer.
For a top-draw artist like Prince, an intimate concert took on new
meaning when it came to his sold-out performances last month at the
Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, where he played to euphoric audiences
of 200 to 300 people. Such coziness with a music superstar is
usually reserved for benefits, an impromptu club appearance or a
tycoon's private party. But Prince is among several performers this
summer getting close and personal with fans for a premium price.
A Prince concert in the Roosevelt's Blossom Room, followed by a jam
session into the wee hours of the night in the hotel's historic
lobby, went for $3,121 per couple for reserved seats and dinner. No
single tickets for the V.I.P. package were sold, but 70 standing-
room tickets for the concert only went for $312.10 a person. (The
prices were a nod to his 2006 album "3121.") And Prince goes on to
East Hampton, N.Y., on Saturday to play the first show of the
Hamptons Social @ Ross, a five-show concert series on the grounds of
the Ross School that will later feature Dave Matthews and Tim
Reynolds, Billy Joel, James Taylor and Tom Petty and the
Heartbreakers.
The price tag? $15,000 for all five shows, including food and drink,
with only 1,000 tickets being sold for each concert, and those
mostly by invitation, said Joe Meli, the concert's promoter. (The
total audience for each show would max out at 1,500, with press and
other guests.)
The $3,000-per-show ticket is advertised as buying a 90- to 120-
minute music set, parking, open bar, food by "famous chefs,"
luxurious seating in lounge chairs, couches and ottomans, sidebar
entertainment by performers like the magician David Blaine and the
chance to hobnob with "world-class guests." "This is about bringing
a level of service to the live event business," Mr. Meli said,
declining to say how many tickets have been sold or how much the
performers are earning. In May high ticket prices may have caused
protests in Italy, where consumer groups deemed shameful the up-to-
$1,200 tickets for a Barbra Streisand stadium concert. (Promoters
later canceled the event, citing production delays.) But fans in the
United States seem to have gotten over any sticker shock when it
comes to live music, people in the concert industry say. These are
times of the $1,000 V.I.P. packages in arenas, the $400-plus premier
seat on Broadway and whatever-the-market-can-bear prices through
ticket brokers.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that promoters are now offering
the extremely expensive concert experience with V.I.P. treatment,
although the market may be too small to make them more than
occasional, said Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of the trade
magazine Pollstar. "Certainly it's a great experience to see a
superstar in a small place, but again, how many people can afford
that?" he said.
Prince's concerts at the Roosevelt, fashioned after his after-hours
parties at his Beverly Hills home, attracted a thoroughly mixed
crowd of not only high rollers and celebrities but also doctors,
teachers and purple-clad longtime fans willing to splurge this one
time.
For Robert and Silvia Faris, a schoolteacher and a retired deputy
sheriff from Orange County, the experience included Prince prancing
into their booth, as if he were playing in their living room.
"He was dancing in front of us," Mr. Faris, 52, said. "Ten years
from now I won't remember how much the tickets were, but I'll
remember the experience."
For Ms. Jackson, the T-shirt designer, and her friend Martha Moore,
a 38-year-old stay-at-home mother, it included being plucked from
the standing-only section and brought to the front to dance at the
foot of the stage, in the domain of Jessica Biel, Eve and Chris Rock.
"It was like some '80s movie where the homely girls come out on
top," Ms. Jackson said.
Those left standing in the back, but still only about 40 feet away
from the stage, said they didn't miss out on much.
"You get to see facial expressions," said Laura Gowen, 40, a
consultant to nonprofit agencies who came with her husband. "You get
a sense of the band as people. It seems less like corporate rock."
Intimate is, of course, relative. If the performer usually plays to
audiences of 20,000, some concert promoters noted, a concert for
2,000 or so would be downright chummy. Declines in attendance at
stadiums and big halls and changes in the record industry, they
said, are leading artists to look for options to reach fans and a
trend toward smaller concerts.
The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, for example, recently opened
the Pearl, a 2,500-seat theater where music fans can see the likes
of Gwen Stefani for up to $250 for reserved seats or from skyboxes
with their own bars and bathrooms that seat 15 to 20 people and go
for up to $5,000.
"Across the country people are looking for a unique experience,"
said Andrew Hewitt, a concert promoter who is booking acts at the
Pearl after introducing a similar concept at the Joint at the Hard
Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
But such experiences take the right artist and a huge financial
commitment, usually with a corporate sponsor. (Verizon Wireless
presented Prince at the Roosevelt; Miller Lite is a sponsor at the
Pearl.) Some shows may lose money, leaving the concert presenters
mostly with the cachet of having their names associated with the
star.
"The goal is to make money, or come as close to breaking even as
possible, but it's not a perfect science at all," said George
Maloof, owner of the Palm, adding that the artists usually charge
their arena rates.
Even among the most thrilled to pay the top prices, there can be
some disappointments. Some in the back at the Prince show thought
they should have gotten free water. And Mrs. Faris said a goodie bag
would have been nice. "I thought for the price you'd get a CD or a
sample of his perfume," she said.
No matter. They were among the more than 100 faithful hanging on
until early in the morning, when Prince came back for a jazzy, all-
instrumental jam session. At 3:39 a.m. he made his exit, and his
band said good night shortly after. But some fans were not ready to
call it a night.
"Is it over?" the actor Michael Rapaport, 37, asked as the crowd
dispersed at 4 a.m. "It was like watching Picasso paint a painting."
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