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
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