Lilith Fair Tanking Before Barely Starts

Yet one more vestige of this year's troubled concert economy.

By Fred Mills

It's no secret the concert biz is having a tough time this summer, with promoters to big events having trouble moving tickets to such an extent that they're offering all sorts of deals ranging from 2-for-1 to blanket discounts for an entire season of events at key venues.

The estrogen-charged Lilith Fair tour, which organizers Terry McBride and Sarah McLachlan decided to revive this year, has had a particularly troubled trajectory, starting when, faced with sluggish ticket sales, they decided to essentially cut prices - which perhaps had the desired effect of bringing some people to the checkout queue that hadn't yet committed, but had the undesired effect of alienating fans who'd ponied up at the outset for full-price tickets. Fan message boards lit up, with McLachlan in particularly taking heat from that latter group of concertgoers, and she didn't do a very good job of crisis management either in the way she communicated what she and the tour were trying to do, further compounding the problem with the result being fans accusing her of outright arrogance.

Unrelatedly, but unfortunately, some of the artists originally booked for the tour also backed out (among them, superstar Norah Jones, and the Go-Go's), which further angered those fans who'd purchased tickets based on the specific roster of performers, which was to change on a city-by-city basis. Definitely relatedly, and also unfortunately, was the cancellation this week of two Lilith shows, Phoenix (July 8) and Nashville (Aug. 7) shortly after the June 27 tour opener in Calgary.

The chickens came home to roost yesterday when it was announced that ten of the scheduled Lilith concerts were being cancelled due to poor ticket sales. According to a report at Billboard.com, the following shows are now giving refunds:

Usana Amphitheater in Salt Lake City (July 12); Bell Centre in Montreal (July 23); Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion in Raleigh, N.C. (Aug. 4); Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Charlotte, N.C. (Aug. 6); Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Aug. 10); 1-800 Ask-Gary Amphitheatre in Tampa, Fla. (Aug. 11); Verizon Wireless Center Birmingham in Pelham, Ala. (Aug. 12); Austin, Texas (Aug. 14); the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands, Texas (Aug. 15); and Superpages.com Center in Dallas (Aug. 16).

Organizer McBride said, in a carefully worded statement that still couldn't disguise the sting of imminent defeat:

 "We are in the midst of one of the most challenging summer concert seasons with many tours being cancelled outright. Everyone involved with the tour would like to apologize to the fans and artists scheduled to play in these markets, and express appreciation for all the support for the festival's return. Lilith remains the only tour of its kind, and we are confident that fans will be amazed by what each date has to offer."

Details: LilithFair.com.