July 05, 2006

Barbra Streisand: Ticket Sales Not Hopping

Poor Barbra...it seems her upcoming concert tour isn't garnering the ticket sales she was hoping for. (Will she have to start shopping at Costco?) From the NY Post's Page Six:

BARBRA Streisand may be starting to wish her last "farewell tour" six years ago truly was her swan song.

Sales for her upcoming gigs, which begin in October, have been disappointing, according to a top music industry source, who says fans are resisting ticket prices as high as $800, not including service fees. "Some cities [like] Detroit, where they wanted to do two days, are less than 3,000 sold," the source tells Page Six.

The slow ticket sales are said to be a concern for Michael Cohl and Live Nation, the promoters who paid nearly $80 million for Streisand's 20 shows with opening act Il Divo. The tour kicks off Oct. 4 in Philadelphia, continues in New York on Oct. 9, then rolls into Washington, Detroit, Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta, Atlantic City, Chicago, San Jose, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. But with promoters facing the possibility of losing $15 million or more on the deal, they're now said to be mulling offers to book Streisand in Indian casinos.

Tour spokesman Ken Sunshine said of our source's claims, "That is bull[bleep]. Tickets are going through the moon."

Another issue is that Streisand has said she plans to "donate millions of dollars in proceeds to environmental, education and women's health organizations through her own Streisand Foundation." But she won't say exactly how much - which means ticket buyers can't write off part of the whopping ticket costs as tax deductions.

Babs also faces the wrath of fans who saw her on her last tour, which ended in September 2000 with two Madison Square Garden sellouts that grossed $14.4 million.

Since then, she sang live at a campaign fundraiser for John Kerry that took in $5 million, and made a surprise appearance last October at the Andre Agassi Grand Slam for Children benefit in Vegas.

Some fans who bought tickets to Streisand's 2000 tour are threatening to sue, claiming they believed those were her last live performances. And some are apparently hesitating to buy tickets for the new tour because they suspect it won't be her last either.

Streisand's p.r. machine points out she is the music industry's best-selling female artist with 50 gold, 30 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums, and has outsold The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But the Stones have never misled fans by telling them this will be their last time.

It would be nice if the Stones would retire...seeing those geriatrics hop about onstage like they did in their 20s is somewhat frightening. But it's true that they have never said anything about retirement, only to shake off the mothballs and ask fans to shell out mega bucks for yet another "farewell" tour.

Streisand, said to be a hypocrite on topics such as fair pay and environmentalism, seems to think that the chance to hear her golden pipes are enough justification for people to open their wallets and give generously.