Gary Bongiovanni Quotes (32 Quotes)

Part of it is going to be how you define jazz.

I think it's a great event that can help bolster Chicago's reputation as being a great music town.

There was a period of time when all anyone wanted to do was play outdoors. That's not the case anymore,

It's not that much of a stretch to be advertising on the PGA.

I would be surprised if they (Bon Jovi) go and do sellout business in every arena they play.

This is a very good marketing strategy.

If (Des Moines) supports the shows and they do well, it's all good for the reputation of the arena and the market.

He did good business last time.

Tribal-operated casinos have realized that that's a very good way to bring in traffic to their casinos. They're looking for people to come in and spend money on gambling, not just go to a concert.

Whats going to happen when theyre gone Its a legitimate concern in the industry, ... Theyre a huge percentage of our business.

The baby boomers really continue to support and fuel the concert business.

Neil Diamond's fans aren't coming to see him just because he may have a record coming out. They know that the guy's been around a long time, and he's always going to put on a good show. It's the same with Springsteen. Just because you've seen him before doesn't mean you don't want to see him again.

These older acts are the gravy train, but someday that train is not going to run anymore, and no one really knows what to do when they're gone. Of the young acts, you have someone like Coldplay who does quite well, but where will it be in 10 years That's hard to say.

Florida tends to be one of those places that people like to play in the winter,

Some of the deals guaranteed (performers) a sellout, ... That's a dumb way to run the business.

You're benefiting from the explosion of the casinos. They give artists chances to be seen in new markets, and the casinos can pay a good amount of money to bring in these acts.

I think everyone was surprised. I don't know that anybody expected the Pixies to be bigger today than they had ever been.

That's very good business. Bruce Springsteen is grossing a similar amount of money, but he's playing smaller places at twice the ticket price.

It's almost like the business went off a cliff and it has not come back yet.

There's certainly jazz there, but you've got Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett and everything else there.

I think there's a pretty widespread understanding now that we've pushed the upper limits of the ticket price and the public has pushed back.

The stigma of playing in casinos is long gone. They've improved over the years.

It's easier to sell 10,000 seats if you're in Philadelphia as opposed to 10,000 seats in Grand Forks because you're surrounded by millions of people.

Traffic, access, noise, residential protests are problems with outdoor amphitheatres, especially those like White River that are built in rural areas. The traffic issues have to be resolved because ultimately, it's the customer experience that determines whether White River is successful in the long term.

Ten or 20 years ago, the acts that sold a lot of records were also the big concert ticket sellers. You don't see that correlation today.

He goes back and plays the same markets repeatedly and just develops a good, loyal following. It's an organic development, not based on MTV or radio hype, and that's the best kind of artist development.

Business (nationwide) is actually up substantially compared to the first quarter of last year.

You have to figure that's not a healthy sign for the industry overall.

It used to be that there was a pretty good relationship between a big-selling concert act and big sellers on the charts. But over the last 20 years, there's been a real divergence.

It makes sense to try to take care of your loyal fans, but it's a fine line before that moves over into just a way to up the ticket price.

Tom Petty kept his price very low compared to his contemporaries. Chicago and Earth, Wind Fire did, too, when they paired up for a tour, and it was very successful.

They're being more conservative this year.