Traga



Big



Zanda

Boom's future

YES!! You guys have a term for what's been bothering me the most the last few years. The Patron Saint of the PRAMG:

Pre-Bosley Bono?

Bono got Bosley? Interesting.

One of the groups vying for the chance to redevelop Seattle’s KeyArena has the blessing an unlikely source it hopes will give it an edge.

The manager of Pearl Jam is advising a bidding team that includes concert promotion giant Live Nation Entertainment Inc., now owner of the Ticketmaster unit that the grunge-rock band unsuccessfully sued more than two decades ago for monopolistic practices, but which has been ticketing the band’s tours since.

The group, which also includes Madison Square Garden Co. MSG -0.42% and venue-management company Oak View Group, wants to turn the 55-year-old Seattle sports arena into a venue that would specialize in concerts, with sound enhanced by features such as plush, theater-style seats and a lack of glass surfaces.

The music-focused model is based on that of the Forum arena in Inglewood, Calif., which MSG bought five years ago and renovated for more than $100 million. Since it reopened in 2014, the Forum has become one of the country’s highest-grossing venues, doubling the number of arena shows each year in the Los Angeles area.

“Music is a bigger league than any of the other [sports] leagues,” said Irving Azoff, a music manager who owns Oak View Group with Anschutz Entertainment Group’s former chief executive, Tim Leiweke. Mr. Azoff added that he expected his group’s proposal could turn KeyArena into one of the country’s top 10 moneymaking music venues while doubling or tripling the size of Seattle’s touring market and still potentially luring sports teams. KeyArena last year ranked 44th world-wide in concert-ticket sales, according to concert-industry publication Pollstar.

AEG is among others interested in renovating the venue, which was home to the National Basketball League’s Seattle SuperSonics until 2008 and still houses the WNBA’s Seattle Storm and Seattle University’s Division-I men’s basketball team.

Pearl Jam’s manager’s involvement—which Mr. Azoff said will give his group credibility with the city of Seattle—highlights intensifying competition in the booming concert business between Live Nation and its allies MSG and Oak View Group on one side, and AEG on the other.

Seattle is just one of many cities where the two camps are tussling for territory: AEG recently bought New York promoter Bowery Presents and launched a music festival on Randall’s Island in New York, making inroads on MSG’s home turf. Meanwhile, Mr. Azoff recently announced that some of the acts he manages—the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac—would headline a new classic-rock-themed event aimed at the same older fans as AEG’s inaugural Desert Trip festival last fall in Indio, Calif., which was headlined by Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. The rival groups have competing arena projects in Las Vegas as well.

Pearl Jam’s manager, Kelly Curtis, said he joined the KeyArena bid after the supergroup Temple of the Dog, which includes Pearl Jam musicians, played Madison Square Garden in November. He said they marveled at how much better the acoustics were compared with their hometown’s KeyArena, which “has kind of always sucked.”

“We dread playing it,” said Mr. Curtis, who would sit on KeyArena’s advisory board if his group wins.

MSG’s executive chairman, Jim Dolan, who plays guitar in a band called J.D. & The Straight Shot, said he was making investments in sound technology at venues around the country including the Beacon Theater and Radio City Music Hall, and others that were built for sports and treated music as an afterthought.

Mr. Curtis said he had no issue joining with Ticketmaster’s corporate parent despite the 1994 antitrust suit in which the band alleged that Ticketmaster was price gouging fans after acquiring its competitor Ticketron. Mr. Curtis said Ticketmaster has been ticketing Pearl Jam’s shows ever since the congressional investigation into the complaint was closed in 1995, and Ticketmaster’s 2010 merger with Live Nation fused it with concert promoters to whom Mr. Curtis said he and the band are loyal.

“We like doing business with the people we’ve always done business with,” Mr. Curtis said.

Corrections & Amplifications
Jim Dolan is the executive chairman of Madison Square Garden Co. An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified him as chief executive. (April 12, 2017)

$250 for a pair of 10C seats

wtf.

really questioning going to more than one show now.

I'm questioning doing the Montana thing now. Probably still will, but damn

i really am put off by the prices. is this the new norm? is it because they're in stadiums? is it because they're doing 7 US shows all year? i know PJ fans will plop down tons of money to travel and see them live, but would love to know answers as to why such the drastic increase in just 2 years.

what were prices for the Wrigley shows in 2016?