Announcement coming from Dave on Superbowl..

For the first time since I can’t remember. maybe my whoe life, I didn’t watch a single second of the superbowl. Can’t say I missed it either.

@JanieVanHalen: @jeffunchained84 Obviously, I would love to see #VanHalen play the Super Bowl and then that would become my favorite performance ever.

He just sold out 3 nights here (Hawaii) in something like 45 minutes. I like his stuff for the most part and enjoyed the half time show.

mrmojohalen: I can see why VH will never do the Superbowl – the RHCP had to pre-record their performance minus vocals.

Van Halen would be better off pre-recording the vocals for Dave, and let the rest of the band play live.

PT5150: Why is the music pre recorded??

Because it’s a live show with a lot of elements that have to be pulled off perfectly in a limited amount of time with millions of people watching. Too many chances for things to wrong, switching between mixes for two different bands, a choir, fireworks etc. With a pre-recorded track, a lot of those uncertainties are removed.

If Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Coldplay are interested in playing next year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, they’d better pony up the money according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal. “In a twist this year, the league has asked artists under consideration for the high-profile gig to pay to play,” the Journal report claims, listing those three mega-acts as the National Football League’s top three choices and final contenders for the high-profile gig.

Representatives reportedly “asked at least some of the acts if they would be willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league, or if they would make some other type of financial contribution, in exchange for the halftime gig.” The Journal also notes that whomever of the three was offered the “pay-to-play” model had chilly responses.

voodoo:

It’s like the old club days when the new bands had to pay the clubs in order to play.

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There’s a club in in Springfield, VA (just outside of Washington DC) that used to be called JAXX and is now called Empire.

I’ve filmed a few shows there and really hate that there are usually several warmup bands that come on before the main act (the one I want to film). The reason I hate it is because you pretty much have to film from the front row to get a good shot because of the low stage. So you have to get there early and grab a spot in the front row – and stand there for several hours while all the warmup bands drag through their sets.

I got to wondering why are there so many warmup bands – and why would the club want to pay all those bands when the vast majority of people are only there to see the headliner? A regular at the club told me all the warmup bands were paying to play – and then it all made sense.

So it’s not just something from the old club days – it’s still happening.

My brother in laws band had a gig opening for Ratt minus Stephen Pearcy back in 2000. The club they were playing was The Webster Theater in Hartford CT. There were 4 opening bands chosen by the booking agent and the one who sold the most tickets got to play the last slot just before Ratt hit the stage. It was somewhat of a good gig for them because they had a CD of original music and didn’t play many covers which kept a lot of bars from hiring them. Anyway, they didn’t get paid to do it but did out sell all the other bands including Ratt in the number of tickets they sold. It was a pretty cool show but I couldn’t stand their lead singer at the time so we didn’t stick around. One cool thing was they were using Hagar era Van Halen road cases. They had the VH ring logo painted on them.

This shit with the NFL is ridiculous. How does some group in boardroom come up with the idea that “hey, in the past we would pay acts a ton of money to do our halftime show. How about we start charging them instead” and I assume got a round of applause from their colleagues. Granted a majority of people watch the Superbowl for the game but I am not one of them. I could care less about football but if a band I like is playing the halftime show I’ll tune in. In cases like that the halftime act is increasing viewership which in turn can increase the ratings and $$$ amount the NFL can charge advertisers.