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Even Carbon Leaf, my favorite small time band from Virginia, is offering them now - and these guys come out to the lobby after every show and talk to fans, sign autographs and pose for pictures.

Todd Rundgren has offered them many times, stopped for a while after some serious nut-job fan incidents. This current tour (for his new album 'White Knght') offered them again. I wasn't even planning on going to a show, but my brother gifted me meet & greet tickets, so heading up to Portland, Maine today for the show. Todd said he's only doing them for this tour to make back the cost of his touring rig (lots of FX screens and stuff). Think about it - if you're usual show income (pre manager/agent's take) is $20,000, 30 m&g tickets is an extra $3000+ in your pocket. In Boston (last night's show), I know that a huge number of m&g packages did not sell, and they released the tickets at regular price a couple of days ago. Still, there were many seats to be had as of yesterday morning.
There will be m&g's for Todd during this summer's Yestastic tour (or whatever they're calling it) with the Howe/White Yes and Carl Palmer's ELP tribute band.
Are artists shooting themselves in the foot with this kind of thing or just raking in more money while they can?

the meets and greets thing might be a way to get them to listen to your stuff?..

I don't go to large concert venues because i can't see dropping huge amts of money to hear what's often very crappy sound from a 1/4 mile away.

last wk the Mrs. and drove to St. Louis to catch Joey DeFrancesco at our favorite venue...Jazz At The Bistro. it's an intimate LISTENING room that seats around 120.

after their last song....JD points over to the side of the stage and says...."if anyone wants to talk to me I'll be over there".

this place brings in the top jazz artists in the world and pretty much all of them make themselves available afterwards to schmooze and sign autographs. I had a pretty cool conversation w Pat Martino last yr there. VERY cool guy!

I'm with you on venues, Mark. I look at the massive crowds at these outdoor festivals and wonder if they are all wearing diapers.

I've chatted with Larry Coryell , Waylon Jennings and others at smaller venues. It all feels more real. It's always great to talk to folks who know more than I do. (there are so few like that! )

Talbot

Paying to meet someone in that kind of setting is like bragging about where you rank on ReverbNation, or how many views you get on Bandmix.


Absolutely meaningless.


If you want to meet a particular "star", you might be surprised at how easy it is IF you can be sane about it.

Todd Rundgren should have some empty seats because of his latest political rant "if you're a Trump supporter don't come to my show". Being a washed up old rock musician is it really wise to alienate 51% of your fans?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/singer-warns ... 12569.html

J-HALEY wrote:Todd Rundgren should have some empty seats because of his latest political rant "if you're a Trump supporter don't come to my show". Being a washed up old rock musician is it really wise to alienate 51% of your fans?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/singer-warns ... 12569.html

Haley - if 'fans' were not already well aware of Mr Rundgren's political views, then they really weren't fans at all. He has made his opinions well known for more than 30 years.

Last night's M&G - 10 minutes in a room with a bunch of other people to get a quick picture with ... It was a 400 seat venue.

I agree regarding smaller venues, I seldom go to large concerts anymore - better be someone I really want to see.