KGGO Summer Jam

Back home. Arrived late last night after a meeting with Ann & Nancy Wilson. We left the kids with the Grandparents in Des Moines while we experience at least one day as a couple.
Des Moines obviously has their shit together. While they have the benefit of not having to contend with a massive flood to clean up after, it’s clear that they have organizers around the city that coordinate events alongside each other and promote the shit out of said events. There wasn’t a newspaper, television, or radio station that didn’t say anything about the art festival this weekend, and in glancing through the events, who wouldn’t want to attend. The only excuse would have been the heat, which was massive here in Iowa for the past few days.
Over here in Eastern Iowa, we heard nothing of the festivities. I had similar complaints for last year’s 80/35 Festival, but that event seemed to be more about the region in general. The art festival seemed more about the community.
What I found to be funny was how you could see Collective Soul for free while organizers for Burlington Steamboat Days were charging top dollar to see the band just a few days prior. Way to go, Burlington!
KGGO apparently has created their own “Summer Jam” to go along with the art festival. On the following night is a country version, and it’s already sold out, indicating that there’s a bunch more fans of country than rock n roll out here in Iowa.
Or maybe it’s because the country night book two very popular current artists-Keith Urban and Taylor Swift-and that Iowans will flock to anything modern and popular.
That rules out KGGO’s bash which featured the headlining band Ratt, a band that hasn’t been anywhere near the charts in twenty years.
To fill out the line-up, the station booked a ton of also-rans: April Wine, Pat Travers, Great White, Head East, and the dude that isn’t Paul Rodgers that sang for Bad Company who’s touring under the name ‘Bad Company.’ As unremarkable as this line-up may seem, I could have been swayed by the ticket price-$27.50-based on the fact that three of those bands (Ratt, April Wine, and Pat Travers) have albums currently taking up space on my IPod’s hard drive. But by the time I’d heard about the show, I would have been required to spend double the price to see this event.
What the fuck?
Now, I completely agree that early birders should have an opportunity to get cheaper tickets, but at what point do the promoters just stop giving a shit about putting asses in the seats? There is one thing that has prevented me from going to this show: the price. That translates into two extra people to buy beer, merch, whatever. I have to believe that there are other people on the fence too that are now planning something else because of the ticket price increase. It seems to me that you would want to get as many spontaneous sales as possible, but like their format, KGGO is clearly out of step with the times.