Kid Rock has an idea he thinks fans will like — eight shows at the DTE Energy Music Theatre near his hometown Detroit, played over the course of 12 days, all for the price of $20 a ticket.
The sold-out shows will draw more than 120,000 fans, all paying just a fraction of what other tour tickets cost. In the first half of 2013, the average ticket for top 100 touring acts ran at about $70.91, a record for a mid-year average.
The artist said he wanted to offer the $20 tickets as a way to combat runaway prices in the music industry. Kid Rock said he wanted to stand out against the “highway robbery” of acts like Jay Z and Justin Bieber who charged north of $200 for tickets.
But that’s not all Kid Rock is offering concertgoers. He’s slashed T-shirt prices, charges $4 for beer, and gives fans free Jimmy John’s sandwiches on the way out of the concert.
It’s all part of the Best Night Ever tour, which is seen by some as a new model for summer concerts that are something less than blockbusters.
“I could see it working in the right kinds of situations,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar magazine. “There are artists who are not in the heat of the moment, and Kid Rock would probably fall under that category. He’s not red hot at the moment. But he’s an established artist, and he’s out competing in a very crowded environment during the summer. So one way to really stand out is to offer something that fans recognize as a great deal.”
The idea seems tailor-made for Kid Rock, with his appeal to blue-collar fans in a blue-collar town.
“That’s the thing: If Kid Rock is winning, it’s because he’s looking out for fans,” said Fielding Logan of the artist management firm Q Prime. “Clearly, he has a large blue-collar fan base, salt of the earth. Twenty dollars really speaks to them.”
[Image via Harmony Gerber / Shutterstock.com ]
