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Pop group prices shooting up
Bob Harvey in Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada) 14 March 1969
Promoter Benny Benjamin can pick winning pop groups, even if he can’t bring them to Edmonton.
He had scheduled the Procol Harum and the Creedence Clearwater Revival for a concert here 9 March, but that was before their prices went up.
Benny explains that Northwest Releasing, which he represents locally, told him months ago that he could have the two groups for the concert.
The Procol Harum would have cost him only $2,500, and the Creedence Clearwater Revival were asking only $2,000.
Since then, both groups have hit big, and have more bookings than they can handle.
Procol Harum’s playing at the Fillmore East in New York this weekend, and Creedence Clearwater Revival will perform there the following weekend. The New York area will keep both groups busy for weeks, and at higher prices than they can get here.
Procol Harum’s asking price for a one-night concert now is about $7,500, and Creedence Clearwater Revival is asking about $5,000. [Read about the relative value of the 1969/2020 US dollar here]
At those prices, tickets for a concert by both groups in the Sales Pavilion would have had to sell for about $8 each, and few rock fans here have the money or the desire for that.
The Collectors offer another good example of the way prices rise. Benny paid them $1,000 for their first concert here, and $1,500 for their second.
And, according to Benny, the only reason he got them back for $1,500 was the group’s honesty. They had agreed to the price earlier, and they kept their word.
Benny says a Vancouver promoter offered them $3,500 for a performance around the same time as their last concert here, but was unable to get the group.
The Collectors are on the bill with Procol Harum this weekend at the Fillmore East, and their asking price for a one-night concert has risen to over $3,000.
Until Edmonton gets a larger auditorium for rock concerts, and enough fans to fill about 4,000 seats, we can’t compete for the top groups.
Eventually, however, Creedence Clearwater Revivial [sic], Procol Harum, and others may run out of new territory, and become available to play here, perhaps as part of a Western Canada tour.
Thanks, Mary, for the typing
More Procol history in print | Procol Harum eventually play Edmonton | Procol play the Fillmore East
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