Queen and Paul need to fire their PR team

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Fenderek wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I saw 7 gigs. Cost me about 300 pounds for tickets and for all transport I paid 100 pounds. With teh programes and beer and t-shirts- if I spent 600 pounds that's about it. Now I was able to six 5 of those shows from first rows, because of general admision.[/QUOTE]

Well..let's see..I'd say we are spending roughly $650 on hotels and gas and about $1200 on tickets for 6 gigs. This, of course, isn't including the $500 we spent on plane tickets to NJ and the ridiculous amount of money we flushed down the toilet on those VIP packages. (I won't go there, though!) ;-) Of course, there is merchandise and food costs to add to all of that.

We have good seats, sometimes great!, for every show, BUT we had to upgrade tickets a few times because better ones became available. We are on the sides in Chicago. I couldn't swing the $200 on those tix, so settled for the $125. Really would love to be by the catwalk every time, though. If it was general admission, I WOULD be.

If Queen had not come to North America we'd all be bitching about them not coming.Screw the attendance if they come back I'll go see them again and I don't give a shit if it's a half full arena .Bottom line I want to see them.By the way Toronto was close to a sell out,if they come back I hope they hit my city again.(they should do some more Canadian dates.)

Another thing too,this is really Rodger and Brian with Paul Rodgers,no Freddie or John Deacon ,and I think they're still pulling in some good crowds .let's keep thing's in perspective here it's not the original Queen.I think they're doing just fine.

I agree with zone - the tour was never going to be perfect and it has been far from it. Yes, the PR has been bad and yes the attendance could have been better at some of the shows. Queen fans are not used to Queen being much less than at the very top, and perhaps its hard for some to accept them doing "just ok". BUT let's not lose perspective of the important things - they're touring North America for the first time in 24 years, they're touring at all, the music has been amazing, the band is playing tremendously well, they've played some terrific gigs over here, and we all got to live out a dream by seeing them (and some of us several times). So let's not overlook the good while focusing on the not-so-good, because there's an awful lot of good! My schedule and finances won't permit me to see them again on this tour, but I hope everybody who sees the second half of the tour has as much fun as I did. Short of going out for drinks with the band, I could not be happier about my experiences. Its been an amazing ride for me and even if I did pay for the experience myself, I really appreciate the guys schlepping over here and giving up 2 months of their lives to make this happen - even if it wasn't perfectly planned and coordinated. Its too late to worry about it now. Just go and have a good time.

I just have to say one thing...especially to any European fans. We have been denied this band since 1982. Brian played some solo gigs here but it was nothing compared to the city total he did in Europe. Same thing with Roger only he didn't bother to come. First of all, it's damned expensive to tour North America because of the distance from place to place and that came straight from the horse's mouth years ago. I do think their PR has been insufficient. We had dinner at a restaurant only one black from Buffalo Arena and when the host asked who was playing the show and we said "Queen", he was blown away. He didn't know it, he hadn't heard anything and he's a fan from way back. "Real" fans aren't only the ones that visit the band websites on a daily basis. All it would take for the band to get a few more seats would be radio PR. I'm sure that "the boys" knew ahead of time what publicity there would be - they are on top of everything else. It is Queen, after all. Hasn't anyone noticed the sound of these shows? They're the best you'll ever hear because they take the time to hire good equipment and that follows through with most aspects of their show so I don't think it can be blamed on whoever is in charge of PR.

I still think the cost of the shows are ridiculous and that probably doesn't help sales either.

It's a lot of things. I love Queen, and as we all do, know everything about them. However, in North America, Queen doesn't have the same cache as The Who, Zeppelin, Stones, Beatles, Van Halen, etc. Unfortunately, over here they're regarded in the same group as bands like ELO, stars but not superstars of rock.

Queen basically had their greatest creative period from '73-'77 from a ROCK RADIO perspective. After that, they didn't have a lot of songs that found their way onto the playlists where they would find their most faithful listeners. So if you knew Queen as a rock band, you'd see them almost 30 years removed from their peak, with a new singer, and playing a lot of songs you'd never heard. Not too appealing. They should have played smaller venues for a first tour. Ultimately, I think the blame falls on band management, you have to know your market.

They have a PR team?

BHM 0271 you should have thrown in Journey and REO Speedwagon so I would drive my car off a cliff.

I think Canada is a different market than the U.S.to bad they don't do a Canadian tour.I think a Canadian tour might do pretty good.We Canucks love to be entertained ,maybe through in a hockey game at the end of the concert.

zone, you seem too kind so I kept those names off the list!

BHM, the Beatles, the Who and the Stones were essentially the pioneers of rock and of course their status may be construed to be a higher level but putting Queen in a grouping with ELO, even Van Halen, is ridiculous. I'm not sure what your background is but Queen is every bit as instrumental in the rock world as any of the other dinosaurs of rock mentioned above.

Whoa! Delilah posted something! ;-)

Ticket prices definately hurt. For instance Billy joel is only charging $89 for his top ticket for the MSG shows. he sold out 12 shows. If they were $200 a tick he would of played half the dates. Its no promotion + ticket prices which hurt the tour!

I agree with everything you said Delilah. What I or you know about Queen is neither here nor there. That's why I cap locked ROCK RADIO. The diehards in North America probably got on board at SHA or ANATO. The average person knows Queen for their anthems, or AOBTD. I live in Toronto, and the local classic rock station plays maybe 10 Queen tracks compared to 30 or 40 AC/DC, Zep, Who, Stones. And Toronto is a big Queen city. Compare that to the southern US and Queen probably has the equivalent number of known songs as Styx, ELO, Kansas, Journey and REO Speedwagon. That's how I'm making the comparison, and those songs are 30 years old like the groups mentioned. I can't state that number is definitive as I don't live in thsoe markets, but Queen is not regarded the same in America as they are in the rest of the world or even Canada for that matter.

I don't agree with you BHM and I can't stand it when people downplay the importance of Queen in the music world. Perhaps you shouldn't speak in such general terms. Perhaps in the midwest of the U.S. or Timbucktoo (*sp?), Queen can be spoken in the same breath as Journey, but not where I come from (hey, I live in Toronto too).

I still maintain that this tour has been hindered by lack of promotion and whether it's the band's doing or a disinterest from the media, it's hurt the ticket sales.

It was good to see the full arena in Toronto though. When I walked into the Buffalo show, I couldn't believe the lack of tickets sold.

Yeah Erin, I can post..... :)