You mentioned two venues on my home turf. To answer your question about Merriweather Post Pavilion - it's probably the most beloved large venue in the Baltimore / DC area. People DO like going there. It's a bit of a schlep from Baltimore, even more so from DC, but parking is easy, traffic is a breeze, and it's got a great vibe.
My wife and I are going there to see The National there next week and I made the mistake of checking tickets even though we bought ours long ago. The pavilion is mostly sold out, but some "Platinum" seats are available right in front for just about the same price we paid for row M. Totally flexed pricing. What a scam! This actually upsets me much more than scalping. I checked some of the other acts who are coming and tickets were incredibly plentiful. Very surprising.
You also mentioned Slipknot at CFG Arena. CFG is the newly refurbished version of our old dumpy Baltimore Civic Center where The Beatles played in 1964. Pharell, Irving Azoff and some other heavy hitters are behind it and they did an amazing job. We're attracting acts that traditionally would have skipped Baltimore for DC and Philly. Opening weekend at CFG was Bruce Springsteen and The Eagles! It's not just legacy acts; Lizzo played there and so have many other artists that we never would have gotten in the old days. It's truly amazing how this makeover has revitalized what used to be a third tier venue.
You mentioned Slipknot. I know nothing about them except that they played CFG Arena recently. How did I know? I was at the farmer's market the day after the show and tons of vendors were wearing Slipknot t-shirts! I asked many of them how they liked the show and about their opinion on the band. It was mind blowing - they LOVED them! It was like talking to Phish or Dead fans! One even gave me a free ear of corn....
Rich Madow
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I felt compelled to write in and defend Merriweather Post Pavilion, my favorite local venue here in Maryland. It's a great spot to see a show that's spent a fortune recently on modernization, is relatively easy to get to and doesn't charge extra for parking. I'm not sure why attendence has been down there this year, but it's certainly not the fault of the venue. As a counterpoint, I took my daughter to MPP to see Mitski last week, who sold out three nights in a row. Great show.
Oh yeah, I was also at the Slipknot show in Baltimore that you mentioned. I think they tapped into a great idea this year revisiting their first album not just by playing it in whole, but replicating the entire stage performance from 1999. For someone my age who was there in '99 it made it feel like a "can't miss" even though I hadn't seen them in years.
Thanks,
Jason Vandervliet
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Re: Merriweather - "do people just not want to go to this venue" ?
It's true, they don't. For those who live in NoVA, Montgomery County MD or NW DC, getting out to Merriweather in traffic is a pain in the ass, especially when there's so many other great options -The Anthem, 9:30, even Wolf Trap, the National Park where you can bring in your own booze. Merriweather has some great history - the only place Led Zep and the Who ever shared a bill - but history doesn't make a great show today.
Brian Howell
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I follow you on most of this, but whether you know them or not, Knocked Loose is doing 2500-5000 tickets in most markets. They're a monster direct support for Slipknot. Great packaging, both exciting live shows.
Nate Dorough
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Hey Bob, I think you should look under the hood with Knocked Loose. For being arguably the most metal/aggressive band out in the market currently, they ironically broke on tiktok. I'd imagine they got the Slipknot tour because the ticket sales from their latest headline tour were so impressive. For instance, they headlined The Shrine in LA which sold out quickly which is 6300 tickets. Everyone at the show looked between 20-25. Worth mentioning they also played Coachella last year with artists like Billy Eillish watching side stage. Hell, at the Shrine show you had Kourtney Kardashian watching side stage!
All of this just proves your point in your below email but even an act that you perceive as nobody's in Knocked Loose, to me I see a band that's exploding albeit in the heavy rock world.
Jeff Geasey
REYNOLDS MGMT
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Bob — thanks for your super entertaining and engaging emails. When I think about the CMA "snub" for Beyonce…I wonder how much did she show that she actually wanted to be a part of the country industry? A cowboy hat and a couple country songs won't cut it. The industry, rightly so, nominates those who are making waves in that particular industry—tours, press, and radio station visits. It didn't appear to me that Beyonce made much of an effort to be a part of the industry, unlike Post Malone who seems to have done it all so genuinely. Heck, Beyonce didn't do much for any market with this release.
Marcus Royce
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squeeze and boy george just cancelled their only georgia appearance at the new amphitheatre in macon. i've seen squeeze 5 times in the last 15 years, they sold out the kennedy center a few years back. but a 10k seat amphitheatre is not the right venue for this tour. just like chastain wasn't the right venue for crowded house a few weeks ago. agents and promoters need to be smarter with their venue choices.
lisa henley
RE: THE SOPRANOS DOCUMENTARY
It was better than I had hoped it would be. Even better. Like everybody else, I watched the series when it launched on HBO and was enthralled. Then the pandemic and streaming came so I watched it over. In order. No more than one episode per night and only four per week. After each viewing I read about the episode I had just watched in "The Sopranos Sessions" by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall and savored the experience as I hadn't been able the first time. Now that I binged (only two episodes so no big deal) "Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos" it's all coming back in big way. It's reasonable to conclude after all the time spent viewing, analyzing (psychologically and otherwise) and discussing the series — a word that falls short of really describing what it is.. it's more of a Norsk saga set in New Jersey rather than Valhalla — this is the one of the greatest works of art ever devised by mortals. You got a problem with that?
Bob Merlis
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This is a fantastic article on an equally fantastic documentary. When it first came out, the music industry was buzzing. At the time, I was working at BMG, and my colleague Ken Levy at Arista Records was also closely following the show. We invited the cast to an Eurythmics showcase, and almost the entire cast showed up, including the producers. That marked the beginning of a great relationship between us and the show.
We started sending music to be placed in the show, supplying posters for Meadow's room, and even collaborating with some of the actors on their own music projects (like Dominic Chianese). It was a golden era for us—an amazing show, a stellar soundtrack, and a team of people who truly understood the hustle of the music business. Alex Gibney did a brilliant job with this documentary too. Thanks Bob for celebrating this bygone era. Scott Richman
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That's a different version of "Im Not Like Everybody Else" than the one on The Great Lost Kinks Album (c 1973?)
Best
Jamie Kitman
This is the live version from "To the Bone" used in "The Sopranos": www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQEoSDURdA
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David Chase's Italian name is DeCesare, I grew up with him.
Bob Zachary
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From: Robin Green
Hi Bob, I feel compelled to tell you that the scenes in the doc which were positioned to look like a writers room were not - those were production meetings and the women at the table besides me were from the wardrobe and prop departments. There was anyway at no time in my memory or Mitch's a camera recording in the writers room for the same reason we didn't have assistants in there, privacy.
Loved what you said about the doc and glad you liked it. I cud too. They really pursued me to be in it and I'm glad I sat down with Alex. But didn't I look cute 25 years ago with my bangs and little white shirts? Love, Robin
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