Sade finally confirms San Diego concert
Sade is such a tease!
Six months after announcing her 2011 summer tourwould stop in San Diego, without saying when or where, the Nigerian-born singer-songwriter singer has finally confirmed the date and location. She’ll perform here Aug. 23 at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre. John Legend will open. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.; the pre-sale begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. (see below for more information.)
When Sade announced her 2011 tour last year, it came on the heels of “Soldier of Love,” her first album since “Lovers Live” in 2002. Now that the tour is approaching, she will release a “new” album, in a manner. Sade’s “The Ultimate Collection,” due out May 3, will feature three new songs, alongside 25 of her best-known songs.
In the old days -- that is, way back in the 1990s and early in the past decade -- concert tours were designed to promote new albums. Now, with album sales plummeting ever lower for even the best-known pop acts and triple-digit ticket prices the norm, tours have become potential cash cows. Conversely, albums (no matter how high their quality) have become increasingly negligible, at least commercially speaking, in an era when more and more bands and solo acts give away their music outright.
So, for some observers, it’s understandably difficult to determine the thinking behind Sade’s “The Ultimate Collection.”
Is is being released to give a boost to her concert ticket sales, while also reminding fans of songs they know and love (and, presumably, already own)? Or -- Theory No. 2 -- does Sade and her management team know something about a potential rebound by the ailing record industry that has thus far eluded other artists?
We’ll put our money on Theory No. 1, since -- according to a section of her Web site -- fans who pre-order “The Ultimate Collection” will move to the front of the line to buy tickets for her tour.
To quote from Sade’s Web site, “Fans who pre-order ‘The Ultimate Collection’ will have exclusive early access to tickets beginning March 30th for the newly announced dates in select markets.” (San Diego is, incidentally, one of the 26 “select” pre-sale markets.)
“Pre-orders receive a pre-sale ticket code for access to the ticket pre-sales. Each ‘The Ultimate Collection’ bundle entitles you to 1 pre-sale ticket code. Each pre-sale ticket code is good for early access to purchase up to 4 tickets. You will receive your ticket pre-sale code on the order confirmation page after completing your purchase.”
What if you don’t want to pre-order “The Ultimate Collection,” but also don’t want to buy your tickets on April 2 with the hoi polloi? Well, if you have a Citi credit card, you can take advantage of a separate pre-sale that also begins Wednesday (March 30). Then there are the “VIP Package” pre-sale” and the “Internet pre-sale” options. (This may help explain why all the best seats for many big-name concerts are typically gone before the public on-sale even begins.)
Otherwise, your only option is to wait until 10 a.m., April 2, and do your best to nab good seats via Ticketmaster’s Web site or charge line. Ticket prices range from $29.50 to $129.50, not including fees and service charges. Once you add on those fees and service charges, a $29.50 seat will cost you $46, while a $129.50 seat will cost $176.50. (These service charge, in turn, may help explain one reason why the concert industry isn’t doing so well of late.)
As for the aforementioned VIP Package options, well, it appears the economy has bounced back from the recession! The prices for VIP Packages in San Diego remain elusive as of this writing. But for Sade’s Aug. 30 show at the Honda Center in Anaheim, said packages are priced at $225 (“Silver Hot Seat”), $360 (“Gold Hot Seat”) and $560 (“Hospitality Package), each. (Just in case you’re wondering, none of those options include the opportunity to meet Sade.)
But maybe we’re over-reacting and these prices are a better deal than we think. What do you think? Tell us in the comments section below.
