As great as it is for Wichita that Cirque du Soleil is coming to the Kansas Coliseum in March, it was even better how the public responded to the news — by making the March 14 performance of the acrobatic “live music concert” a sellout in only 90 minutes, prompting promoters to add a March 13 performance. That the sales went so well, despite ticket prices of $39.50 to $99.50, is another encouraging indicator of the improving local economy. This and October’s successful Rolling Stones concert should remind us that if you book big stuff, big Wichita crowds will come.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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34 Comments
I think Rhonda lives in a dream world. The arena will fail and take all of our hard earned money with it. I just want to live in Wichita, I don’t need to be entertained. I find my own entertainment and it doesn’t have anything to do with any old arena.
Gosh, did I miss the subliminal message in Rhonda’s post, I can’t see where she mentioned the new Arena at all.
She said bring good acts to Wichita and the people will come… Not rocket science, exactly.
I see the negative naysayers are starting early…gotta agree with Steven, where did Rhonda say anything about the Arena? The Stones were at WSU, Cirque du Soleil will be at the Coliseum.
Her statement is a POSITIVE about Wichita–something we don’t see much of, especially here. A majority of posters here are almost always negative about everything.
Thanks, Rhonda, for a POSITIVE commentary!
Another thing to note is that the company promoting this Cirque du Soleil tour and bringing two shows to ICT is none other than “Live Nation.” That name should sound familiar because that is the exact same promoter that brought Wichita the Rolling Stones. Coincidence? I think not.
“I just want to live in Wichita, I don’t need to be entertained.” You must be on the city council.
I, too, am glad this show sold so quickly and that another was added. My wife saw the Vegas version of their act a few years back and she said it was great.
I got tickets for the “second” show which will be held a day before the first.
Raptor is right, this is good news for Wichita.
I’m telling you people. Wichita is a great community. We’re ready for great entertainment and proof is in the numbers.
This isn’t your daddy’s Wichita of the 1970’s who feed you negatisim brought in by years of Unionization and employment cycles of the aircraft industry. This is where most of the negativism of the people in Wichita that express it. They live in the past. The rest of the negative, angry and CAVE people, well, they’re just plain buttholes.
Wichita with a smile! :)
“sold out”
“The rest of the negative, angry and CAVE people, well, they’re just plain buttholes.
“Wichita with a smile! :)”
Huhhh….?
Stones, Cirque – all done without the Arena.
Local entertainment – Music Theater, Symphony, etc, all have an established home in Century II. I am told they are not interested in the Arena.
CFSMWs like Joe Williams are enthusiastic about spending tax dollars and name-calling anyone who questions them.
Sounds like Live Nation is quite a promoter group; I hope to see more of them around here.
Ben Huie wrote:”Stones, Cirque – all done without the Arena.”
Very true but think how much nicer it will be in the brand new arena. The coliseum is nothing more than a glorified barn!
Stones – 30+ thousand. Cannot be in the Arena. Cirque perhaps; don’t know how much of the show would be effected by ‘physical plant’ as opposed to staging etc that is brought in.
I hope to see more of Live Nation’s efforts, too. Query: should the aforementioned group be successful in its efforts, and contines to bring “big name” entertainment to the area, at what point does the law of diminishing returns set in? I ask this, not out of malice, but based primarily upon the following: a) my belief that the success, in part, of the Stones and Cirque is due to our being ’starved’ for these types of acts; and b) my concern that this area is relatively modestly sized in population; it’s not like there are millions of folks living within easy commuting distance of Wichita, which would provide a large pool of potential ticket purchasers for varied events.
I hope I am wrong in my concerns.
Live Nation has a rather stunning track record..over 28,500 events just in 2005. It would appear that they know what they are doing with show promotion, market, scheduling, etc. They are a huge international firm with a lot of experience in promotions.
Forty bucks to watch that crap? Boy some people have money to burn.
VT, raptor – I would hope they have a large variety of show types. For example, I am totally NOT into country but a good country act might attract a different crowd than the Stones (which I AM into) did. With about a half-million people in the area this might be the key to getting around the saturation problem.
You folks haven’t even noticed that Blue Man Group is coming to Wichita on Aril 1, (no April Fool joke either). Is that a Live Nation event too? These guys will pack the big house (Coliseum), they’d have to do 4 shows in an arena.What, you guys don’t know who Blue Man Group is? The STOMP Troupe wishes they had Blue Man’s home made instruments and stage presence. Check ‘em out online. They put on One Fun performance.
Hey CAVE Trolls! This is Santa writing. All Citizens Against Virtually Everything are on my naughty list. Yes, that means you who want to govern all of the nice people working hard for their entertainment dollars and want to spend it on THEIR choice of entertainment. Santa knows what you are thinking. You’re thinking that money should go to people like you (or your causes), who claim they ‘deserve’ it and shouldn’t have to work for it.
Since you are also against the coal-fired generating plant, I will have some extra coal just for you;-o) MERRY CHRISTMAS!
To put my 2 cents in on a couple things. Finding a venue in Wichita to do shows is not tough, I work for a promotions company in Miami and we have several things planned for Wichita starting in March. I won’t say what the events are yet, but one is a Cessna Stadium show, the other is Koch Arena. In response to the country show, believe me there are TONS of acts out there right now, but their asking price is way too much. They are asking the same money as the Rolling Stones, but they only draw 1/3 of the crowd. Never fear though, we have plenty more coming for Wichita.
ID – got something special for all the CFSMWs out there too?
Live Nation is the new “kinder, gentler” name for Clear Channel Entertainment… whos corporate parent put a number of artists on it’s “do not play” list after 9/11.
Artist fees are the drive factor behind ticket prices. Artists play for a minimum guarantee against a percentage of the gross box office revenue. More seats do NOT mean lower ticket prices.
The ’seat kills’ for the Cirq production elements mean only 4,500 available tickets per performance. I think they will not sell out the second show, but who knows, it might happen. If the production could have been mounted in such a way as to make 9,000 seats available in the Coliseum, I doubt there would have been a second performance. Why?
Demographics and history. Our MSA population is under 600,000. The big promoters like Live Nation know very well how much population in specific demographic groups need to exist to sell a particular show. Such promoters also know how many tickets they have sold previously in Wichita. Those 2 factors almost exclusively influence what acts a promoter will present. How nice, pretty, new & shiny the venue is makes almost ZERO difference.
The exception is for the very few shows that cannot be physically mounted in our current arena due to the distance from the arena floor to the structural steel (the beams and girders that sound & lighting equipment and scenic elements are hung from). The width of the arena floor is also a factor, but less so than ceiling height and the load that structure will support.
That said, Live Nation and other promoters will present shows they feel they will make a profit on. If you want more choices and greater frequency of entertainment BUY TICKETS AND ATTEND MORE SHOWS.
LTB (Lions, Tigers & Bears)
Oh, and one more thing….
Wichitans gravitate mostly to the Very Big Names. The efforts expended to make a performer, athlete, or group a household name pays off. Lesser-hyped performers often play to lesser crowds.
We could fill the Coliseum OR the new area a couple of times over if we got Britney Spears… heck, we sold 5 shows for that fat boy with the cowboy hat (Garth Brooks)… But unless an act is what we call an “‘A’ National” the promoter is taking a significant gamble.
Also, if folks want to see more things come to town, I suggest they purchase tickets well in advance. Wichita is known as a “walk-up market” because we historically wait to buy tickets at the box office, the night of the show. That makes promoters very uneasy and sometimes leads to cancellations or a reluctance to bring a show that has less-than guaranteed appeal.
A quick comment about Ben Huie’s comment about Local Presenter/Producers like MTW, WSO, etc. Most arena spaces are not acoustically friendly to start with, and the intellegibility of sound is NOT an architectural consideration; quite to the contrary. Arenas are designed to amplify and project ALL sound to “motivate the teams.” The physics of this are too involved for this reply, but trying to tame arena acoustics is a very expensive endeavour, especially AFTER design and construction. FWIW, most of the large arenas built in the last 6-8 years have been spending lots of money to make their spaces smaller and more intimate… Moveable walls, heavy drapery packages.. all of which add cost and time to turning the room around for different uses.
The folks behind our new arena design (and the money that controls that) live in a delusional world based on getting a sports team franchise. Screw the other users of the space, lets make it a giant megaphone for the jocks. Even though historically in Wichita, non-sports use constitutes a majority of revenue in existing public facilities (Koch Arena is not a public facility, nor is Cessna Stadium).
I work full time in the industry of event and concert production. From what I’ve seen so far, we’ll have a nice basketball/hockey arena and a suck-ass concert venue that lacks the space to park the dozen or so 53′ semi-tractor trailers, have a loading dock that can accomdate more than 2 trailers at a time, or for that matter.. we don’t even know if the arena will have a loading dock. We know know about concourses, concessions, and VIP boxes, though… but nothing about the FUNCTION of the building. Screw up loading, truck parking, dead case/empty case storage, etc. and you have significantly increased the labor costs of presenting a show. Just something else to think about while the budget just went up $16 million.
LTB
LTB – points I ahve made a number of times. I will go for the performer/team/whatever; not the pretty building. And you are definitely right that the Arena will be useless for MTW etc. My concern is that the Arena will suck up all available tax money for its operating subsidies and venues like Century II will suffer as a result.
Lost in the discussion of the $16 million cost over-run is the fact that they had already eliminated the operating budget cushion and parking from the budget. In other words; the up-front over-runs are even worse than portrayed.
The CFSMWs are having a field day.
I have never been trolled here before. The 8:11am post is not me.
I see that ID was bestowed pretty much the same honor I was. Hmmm…
Interesting, LTB. Do you think that an arena that is privately owned, with owners seeking to earn a profit, would build an arena that is compatible with the requirements you state?
Will be using the type pad from now on. Anyone not using that but typing under my is not me.
I suspect this troll was Joe Williams. Two reasons: a) the trollish remarks follow criticism of his CAVE people comments, b) the trolling itself shows the charactristic Joe Williams eadeavors to nail two things together, that just don’t go together.
This earlier example was almost the J.W. prototype:
“The rest of the negative, angry and CAVE people, well, they’re just plain buttholes.
“Wichita with a smile! :)”
I say it is interesting how that boy’s thinking works (sic).
>>>I suspect this troll was Joe Williams.<<<
I’m keeping track, and the guy posting as Joe Williams is not the one who trolled you.
The guy who did is persona non grata on this board.
A quick click reveals that “Dave” is editor Dave Knadler. Or at least that is what the email says.
Hello Dave.
I guess he musta took out the 8:11 post. There isn’t one anymore.
Joe is a lot of things Steven. But trolling does not strike me as his style.
Who is “persona non grata”? Or was that just an opinion?
Thanks, Dave. I guess this means that many bloggers will have to watch their step. (None that I know, of course!)
I did not know there was a persona non grata list. Do you care to elaborate on that?
I would like to say that I appreciate your interest in exerting some control on this “free fire” range.
I’m inclined to agree JR – I don’t think Joe Williams is a troller.
“Joe is a lot of things Steven. But trolling does not strike me as his style.”
Agreed, JR. But the contiguity made me wonder; but then again, we all know that nearness in space/time can often have little to do with causality. Humans by instinct, I think, any way, look for connections between events. But, such can lead to very stupid conclusions; as I provided an example of this evening.
Take care, Joe Williams, and I apologize for the dumb connection.
The above was me, even though I was not signed in.
“Forty bucks to watch that crap? Boy some people have money to burn.”
Posted by: J R | December 14, 2006 at 10:11 AM
JR, Please email me. Thanks.
Cirque de Soleil has been around for about fifteen years in a variety of venues —- and Wichita is just getting around to it — so much for Visionary wichita –