Sweden!

Tero wrote:

Despite my poor wording, that is exactly what I meant... The average tickets for the Queen concert cost as much as the most expensive tickets for those other tribute acts!

OK, then I see what you mean. I still don't agree with you, though... :)

But then again, that wasn't the main point I was trying to make earlier today. It was that the casual listeners won't travel for hours or pay thousands (of your currency) to see a "Queen tribute band".

But since there are almost 2.000.000 people living in "Stor-Stockholm" ("Greater Stockholm") only, and since there are Queen fans - and, yes, I see this as Queen, not a tribute band, not matter how many times you repeat it :) - from other Scandinavian countries coming, I'm still a bit surprised that they've only sold 2-3000 tickets. I really think that poor advertising has something to do with it. More to do with it than the ticket prices.

"But since there are almost 2.000.000 people living in "Stor-Stockholm" ("Greater Stockholm") only, and since there are Queen fans - and, yes, I see this as Queen, not a tribute band, not matter how many times you repeat it :) - from other Scandinavian countries coming, I'm still a bit surprised that they've only sold 2-3000 tickets. I really think that poor advertising has something to do with it. More to do with it than the ticket prices."


Under normal circumstances, and with some other artist, I would agree with you that 2,000,000 people is more than enough to sell out an arena of 16,000 seats... After all, acts like Anastacia can sell 20,000 tickets even in Helsinki!

Blaming it on the marketing is just a convenient excuse... I don't know about advertising in Sweden, but for major Arena concerts in Finland there is no more than one run (about 30 times) of TV spots for the less known acts, or a handful of newspaper ads for major acts on the weekend before the ticket sales begin.

The best "advertisement" that artists can hope for is an article or a column in a major newspaper, where the ticket sale is conveniently announced, and almost any concert is (nearly) sold out within days without the need for any paid advertisement.
But this of course applies only to those bands that still are current, and have something the people actully want to see...

(In case you're wondering, I am actually going to the Stockholm concert myself... But I have no illusions about it being a Queen show.)

Tero wrote:

Blaming it on the marketing is just a convenient excuse... I don't know about advertising in Sweden, but for major Arena concerts in Finland there is no more than one run (about 30 times) of TV spots for the less known acts, or a handful of newspaper ads for major acts on the weekend before the ticket sales begin.

I've seen ads in some newspapers, but all of them were on the day the tickets were released (and on that day the concert was on the top of Ticnet's sales list), but since then: nada.

I haven't seen any TV ads (we don't usually have them).

The best "advertisement" that artists can hope for is an article or a column in a major newspaper, where the ticket sale is conveniently announced, and almost any concert is (nearly) sold out within days without the need for any paid advertisement.

The articles in the papers have been scarce, to say the least. And I don't know what you mean when you say that most concerts are sold out within days: there seems to be quite a lot of tickets left for Fogerty, Weslife and Destiny's Child.

The lack of interest in Queen seems to be mainly a northern thing, since most of the other shows around Europe are sold out.

(In case you're wondering, I am actually going to the Stockholm concert myself... But I have no illusions about it being a Queen show.)

You see it as an illusion, I see it as a fact.

I should have been more clearer again... Most of the shows in Finland are sold out very quickly, so there's no need for advertisements.

Major concerts where I have been recently (R.E.M., David Bowie, Sting) were only advertised on the main newspapers around the Helsinki area, and were virtually sold out on the day of release.
Those concerts that aren't immediately sold out receive a television campaign... Like John Fogerty, who's sold only half of the tickets for his second Finnish show. Or Michael Jackson's second stadium date a few years ago.


I would like to think that the Scandinavian (and Finnish etc.) reluctance to buy the "Queen" tickets is indicative of the general attitude towards performing without Freddie.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your favourite band member Brian? Because it's a lot easier for his fans to accept the personnel changes than for the general public who identified Freddie with the band.

Tero wrote:

I would like to think that the Scandinavian (and Finnish etc.) reluctance to buy the "Queen" tickets is indicative of the general attitude towards performing without Freddie.

But it seems not only Queen are having trouble selling tickets, since the aforementioned artists seem to have a lot more to sell to make it a full house.

Of course, if Freddie were alive, I also think that the tickets would have sold much faster, but why is the reluctance so much bigger here in Scandinavia, than it is in other parts of Europe? Surely Fred was as popular in, say, Holland or Germany, as he was here in Sweden.

I wonder if it might have something to do with the Swedish press focusing only on Freddie (and not even when he were alive were Queen very popular in the Swedish press). When Brian May performed on the top of the Buckingham Palace I bet most of the British general public knew who he was. I bet that very few here in Sweden would have known.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your favourite band member Brian? Because it's a lot easier for his fans to accept the personnel changes than for the general public who identified Freddie with the band.

In my opinion (and this might seem a bit like a contradiction) Queen were a four-piece band, where all members played an equal part, but I've always thought that the major part of Queen's sound were Brian's guitar playing in combination with, above all, Roger's drumming. That's why, to me, Brian's solo outings sounded like Brian May, but, in contrast, things like 'No-One But You' or Queen's performance on the Buckingham Palace gig, sounded like Queen (and therefor, in my opinion, were Queen).

Danne wrote:

But it seems not only Queen are having trouble selling tickets, since the aforementioned artists seem to have a lot more to sell to make it a full house.

Of course, if Freddie were alive, I also think that the tickets would have sold much faster, but why is the reluctance so much bigger here in Scandinavia, than it is in other parts of Europe? Surely Fred was as popular in, say, Holland or Germany, as he was here in Sweden.

I wonder if it might have something to do with the Swedish press focusing only on Freddie (and not even when he were alive were Queen very popular in the Swedish press). When Brian May performed on the top of the Buckingham Palace I bet most of the British general public knew who he was. I bet that very few here in Sweden would have known.

Maybe that concert should have been played in Helsinki, since there seems to be more interest in here...

One thing that is a definite disadvantege is the distances between the concert sites. A German or British Queen fan could go to as many as half dozen different concerts for the same price as it takes a Nordic fan to see one concert.
It would only take 10,000 dedicated fans to sell out all the Middle European or British ... But there just aren't that many fans in the Nordic countries.

I wouldn't go think it's the press's fault, as it's natural for almost any band to have the vocalist represent the entire group. He's used to being the centre of attention on the stage, so he's going to be that outside the concert halls as well.

Danne wrote:

In my opinion (and this might seem a bit like a contradiction) Queen were a four-piece band, where all members played an equal part, but I've always thought that the major part of Queen's sound were Brian's guitar playing in combination with, above all, Roger's drumming. That's why, to me, Brian's solo outings sounded like Brian May, but, in contrast, things like 'No-One But You' or Queen's performance on the Buckingham Palace gig, sounded like Queen (and therefor, in my opinion, were Queen).

I couldn't tell the difference in sound between Caroline Corr or Roger Taylor, so it's hardly a surprise that I don't think of him or Brian as that integral a part of Queen sound.

On a completely different note... Do you happen to know if the festivities on the weekend of the concert are going to cause any major changes in the city? I was hoping to do a bit of sightseeing as well, since I'm going to pay a fortune for the show.

(I finally found the quotes!)

Tero wrote:

I wouldn't go think it's the press's fault, as it's natural for almost any band to have the vocalist represent the entire group. He's used to being the centre of attention on the stage, so he's going to be that outside the concert halls as well.

But Freddie seldom represented Queen, in interviews etc. It was more often than not Brian and/or Roger who handled the interviews, etc.

I couldn't tell the difference in sound between Caroline Corr or Roger Taylor, so it's hardly a surprise that I don't think of him or Brian as that integral a part of Queen sound.

*shock, horror!* So you tell me you hear no difference between Freddie's solo albums and Queen? I think it's a huge difference (not only in quality, but in sound).

I think it's strange how you can listen to a band, and not spot the differences between, say, Roger Taylor and Caroline Corr, because the differences is almost as huge as between Freddie Mercury and Andrea Corr! (although maybe not as obvious, if you're not used to listening to drumming). A good example is listening to/watching The Corrs together with Roger, when they performed at the 46664 concert. Try to guess which parts of the drum solo are Roger and which are Caroline, and see if you're right! :)

And don't get me started on Brian's guitar sound... :P

On a completely different note... Do you happen to know if the festivities on the weekend of the concert are going to cause any major changes in the city? I was hoping to do a bit of sightseeing as well, since I'm going to pay a fortune for the show.

I don't think anything extreme will happen to the city. Some partying, and teenagers beating eachother up, I guess, but nothing serious... :)

How reliant is that number of sold tickets (2-3000) ?? So it seems they might not even sell it out by due time.. for the majority of reasons you brought up here earlier on..

Im planning to buy my tickets tomorrow, so I dont need to worry they might sell out overnight :D

Im from Finland too and I think also they should have performed here.. since its been much longer they were last here than in stockholm..

Sicmot wrote:

How reliant is that number of sold tickets (2-3000) ??

I don't know. It was Geir who first mentioned the number. It might have increased by now. I tried to e-mail Ticnet, but they said they don't have that information.

Im from Finland too and I think also they should have performed here.. since its been much longer they were last here than in stockholm..

When were they last in Helsinki?

an you call to ticnets callcenter and ask??
the number is +46 77 170 70 70

Sicmot wrote:

an you call to ticnets callcenter and ask??
the number is +46 77 170 70 70

They said that it's only the promoter who knows, which would be EMA, I guess.

Danne wrote:

When were they last in Helsinki?

The last (and only time) Queen or any of its member played in Finland was back in '74. They played at the 1,500 seat House of Culture which is a few hundred metres from where I live.

Danne wrote:

But Freddie seldom represented Queen, in interviews etc. It was more often than not Brian and/or Roger who handled the interviews, etc.

Yet Freddie is the one whose pictures are presented in newspapers whenever they mention Queen... Strange isn't it?

Danne wrote:

*shock, horror!* So you tell me you hear no difference between Freddie's solo albums and Queen? I think it's a huge difference (not only in quality, but in sound).

I think it's strange how you can listen to a band, and not spot the differences between, say, Roger Taylor and Caroline Corr, because the differences is almost as huge as between Freddie Mercury and Andrea Corr! (although maybe not as obvious, if you're not used to listening to drumming). A good example is listening to/watching The Corrs together with Roger, when they performed at the 46664 concert. Try to guess which parts of the drum solo are Roger and which are Caroline, and see if you're right! :)

And don't get me started on Brian's guitar sound... :P

I could probably tell the difference between Freddie's solo work and the regular Queen albums, but that's only because of the choice of instruments. If Mr. Bad guy had been recorded without electric drums and synthesisers, there's a good chance I wouldn't know it from a Queen album. :P

You're right that I don't listen to drumming... I like to listen to songs as a whole instead of individual instruments. It just happens to be that vocals stand out in almost any pop or rock music.

Danne wrote:

I don't think anything extreme will happen to the city. Some partying, and teenagers beating eachother up, I guess, but nothing serious... :)

That's good to hear... I think. Maybe it's better that the concert is in Stockholm instead of Helsinki, or we would be knee-deep in brokes bottles and vomit. :P

Tero wrote:

Yet Freddie is the one whose pictures are presented in newspapers whenever they mention Queen... Strange isn't it?

No, not really. Freddie was such a charismatic front figure, that people couldn't help but notice him (and maybe only him). That doesn't mean he was the only, or the only important, member of the band.

I could probably tell the difference between Freddie's solo work and the regular Queen albums, but that's only because of the choice of instruments. If Mr. Bad guy had been recorded without electric drums and synthesisers, there's a good chance I wouldn't know it from a Queen album. :P

:) Well, each to his/her own, I guess...

To me, Brian's solo albums have always been more "Queeny" than Freddie's, due to the guitar sound, I guess. But I hope you don't deny that the other members of Queen were vital to the success of the band...

It's very easy to believe that Freddie "saved" Brian and Roger, when they formed Queen, but, in my opinion, they were a lot closer to success than he was at the moment. It was the mix between their different styles and personalities that created the core foundation of Queen.

You're right that I don't listen to drumming... I like to listen to songs as a whole instead of individual instruments.

Obviously not. If you would listen to the whole how could you avoid listening to the drumming! :)

It just happens to be that vocals stand out in almost any pop or rock music.

You don't think that Brian's guitar solos stand out?

Danne wrote:

It's very easy to believe that Freddie "saved" Brian and Roger, when they formed Queen, but, in my opinion, they were a lot closer to success than he was at the moment. It was the mix between their different styles and personalities that created the core foundation of Queen.

I don't think either of them would have been succesful individually. Smile was a dead-end because none of the three members had a real singing talent, and Freddie needed a better backing band.

Danne wrote:

Obviously not. If you would listen to the whole how could you avoid listening to the drumming! :)

You don't think that Brian's guitar solos stand out?

LOL

I would agree with something I've read... That drums and bass are working as istruments if you DON'T pay attention to them. They're forming a base obviously, but they aren't really meant to be listened. :/

Brian's guitar work is fine if it's limited to less than ten seconds at a time. Then again, I don't really like any guitar solos.

If there is a 10-minute Brighton Rock solo on this tour as well, could you come and wake me up when it's finished? :P