STORY:
Concert Seats Still Available

Tickets for hot New Year's Eve concerts are still available, still pricey

Billy Joel is playing at Madison Square Garden in New York; tickets are still available for $375 and $299. How about a Jimmy Buffet party in Los Angeles? Tickets are available for $500. How about the Eagles, Jackson Browne and Linda Rondstadt together in Los Angeles? You can still go if you want to pay $350- $1,000 a ticket. Even teen stars N’Sync can’t sell out their Hawaii party with tickets costing only $65.

That’s just a small sampling of the tickets available and the big names fronting the shows that they can’t sell out. It appears people got discouraged early on when they got sticker shock and never came back to see if the prices have changed. In some cases they’ve come down, in other cases concerts were cancelled due to lack of interest.

Celebration 2000, the so-called "Party of the Century’ in New York with stars like Sting, Aretha Franklin and Enrique Iglesias attracted such low ticket sales the entire party was cancelled. The $1,000 - $2,000 ticket prices for the all night rock party proved to be too high and the whole event was scrapped. That’s not the only party that fizzled. Jewel cancelled her Alaska concert and Michael Jackson canned his double show in Honolulu and Sydney, Australia. All those big plans turned into big flops.

According to a recent Time magazine poll 72 percent of Americans are making no plans this New Year’s Eve. The majority of us are staying home. We may have decided the astronomical ticket prices were too high, maybe Y2K fears kept us grounded or maybe we just didn’t fall for all the hype surrounding the New Year. Whatever the reason, the rock and roll stars are finding themselves without work. Looks like they will be home like the rest of us ringing in the New Year with close friends and family.

One superstar is breaking records for sell-out crowds and ticket show costs at the same time. Barbara Streisand is the only big name star pulling in an audience and pulling in thousands of dollars per person in the process. Babs is playing in Las Vegas on New Year’s eve. Her tickets cost between $1,000 and $2,500. The cost didn’t deter Streisand’s fans at all. In fact, a second concert on New Year’s Day is practically sold-out as well. The second concert was added when tickets to the first show sold out in less than 24 hours.

So sit back enjoy your night at home and remember you’re not alone. 72 percent of your peers have chosen to ring in the New Year just as you have, from your living room recliner chair.

DATE: 12/15/99

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