A million reasons to go to the fair

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- Concerts at the Orange County Fair this summer will

offer more entertainment, thanks to a $1-million talent budget and a

decisive effort by fair officials to depart from the usual mainstream

music genres and draw a bigger and more diverse crowd.

Fair officials increased their talent budget by $100,000, or 16%, this

year, bringing the total cost for entertainment to $1,050,900, said Steve

Beazley, the fair’s deputy general manager. About $715,000 was used to

attain the scheduled roster of bands and comedians, and the remainder was

dedicated to production costs, which include lighting, seating and ushers

for the latimes.com Theater.

The majority of the budget was spent on popular, yet relatively

expensive, headlining bands, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Huey Lewis and the

News, Heart, and Styx. These bands hit sweet home with music lovers who

can relate to the melodic tunes of decades past, and most of the reserved

seats have already been bought, Beazley said.

More alternative bands -- such as Save Ferris, a native Orange County

ska band, and the OC Supertones, a Christian ska band -- are a stretch

for the fair, Beazley said.

A good stretch, he added.

“These shows are going to be great,” Beazley said. “Getting bands like

this shows that we can appeal to a large variety of people.”And though

fair officials have spent more than $1 million on the entertainment for

the fair, they expect to recover only a fraction of it in ticket sales,

officials said. At only $10 a ticket, the most any show could bring in --

if every single reserved seat were sold -- is $20,000. That leaves the

fair in the red $30,000 for a show such as the B-52s, which cost $50,000

to book, Beazley said.

But the entertainment expenses are expected to be made up elsewhere,

such as in food or ride sales, Beazley said.

The music, as a good selling point, draws people in, and then they

spend money on other things, he said.

While box office action for the lesser-known bands has been a little

slower -- about a third of the tickets for the Save Ferris show are still

available -- Beazley is confident fair patrons will pack the theater on

performance nights.

Costa Mesa resident Rebecca Dimatteo said she tried unsuccessfully to

buy tickets for two of her favorite bands, Styx and Heart, almost a month

ago. Because of the popularity of those bands, reserved seats were no

longer available.

“I really wanted to see them. That was the music I grew up on,” the

39-year-old said.

Dimatteo called the Ticket Shack in Costa Mesa to see if they had any

tickets available and was told she could buy tickets for the Heart

concert for $165. Dimatteo suspected brokers had gobbled up the “good

tickets” only to turn around and sell them for an incredible profit.

“I almost fell over,” Dimatteo said. “The fair is trying to be decent

by offering these concerts at an affordable price, and then you have

people making a killing off the tickets.”

A manager at the Ticket Shack, who declined to give his name, said his

company did not buy any tickets to fair shows but have contacts with

private parties who did. The manager acknowledged the extraordinary

increase in price but said that is what the market allows.

Beazley agreed that tickets for the larger bands could end up selling

for nearly 10 times the original price. Heart, for example, does not have

another Southern California concert this year, and therefore the tickets

are in high demand. Beazley lamented that ticket price gouging is a

common practice in the music industry.

“Unfortunately, it’s part in parcel to the concert world in general,”

Beazley said. “It is not our preference. Certainly our aim is to get [the

tickets] in the hands of people who really want to see the shows at an

affordable price.”

Availability -- or lack -- of reserved seats should not deter

concert-goersfrom attending a favorite performance, Beazley said. While

about 1,800 seats are reserved for those who pay in advance, an

additional 6,000 free seats are available on a first-come, first-served

basis, he said.

“People can still see their favorite bands, for free,” Beazley said.

“They just have to be willing to wait a while.”

For more information on concert schedules or availability, visit o7

www.ocfair.comf7 .

INFO BOX

Fair officials paid the following costs to attain some of these

big-name entertainers at this year’s Orange County Fair:

Lynyrd Skynyrd, $75,000

Huey Lewis and the News, $75,000

Heart, $60,000

The Guess Who, $60,000

Styx, $50,000

B-52s, $50,000

Linda Ronstadt y Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, $50,000

Boz Scaggs, $50,000

Weird Al Yankovic, $28,000

Carrot Top, $20,000