1999 Concert Schedule Heating Up

If you have a Bruce Springsteen fan on your Christmas list, the shopping just got easier: An IOU for tickets to the tour he’s planning--his first with the E Street Band since 1989--would fit nicely in any stocking.

But if you’re buying for a Lollapalooza or Madonna fan, you may not want to make any promises until a couple of questions are answered--respectively, “What’s the lineup?” and “How much?”

Both the alternative-rock festival, which took 1998 off after failing to secure a satisfactory lineup, and the Material-turned-Maternal Girl, who hasn’t toured since 1990’s “Blond Ambition” sojourn, are expected to join a potentially strong 1999 concert schedule that will also include the Rolling Stones; Alanis Morissette; Korn teamed with Rob Zombie; Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers; and, rumors persist, Barbra Streisand.

Lollapalooza organizers are laying plans for a relaunch in the summer, while Madonna’s managers have solicited bids from tour packagers to produce a trek expected to run from July to September.

That won’t come cheap. The bidding--said to be between SFX (the company that in the past year has bought up most of the nation’s concert promotion firms and many concert venues), the Creative Artists Agency, Canadian promoter Michael Cohl and East Coast firm Metropolitan Entertainment--is apparently fierce.

This auction approach is the same that U2 employed for its ambitious 1997 “PopMart” stadium venture. Cohl won the gig, guaranteeing U2 more than $100 million for the tour.

Madonna is expected to play smaller, indoor arenas and book fewer dates than U2 did, so the overall cost will not be as high. But with expectations of elaborate staging, the per-show cost could be huge--costs that could raise ticket prices into the range of the Eagles’ reunion, with seats generally topping $100.

“I guess the question is, ‘What is her core audience?’ ” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of concert business publication Pollstar. “When she last toured, it was a lot of young girls [who couldn’t afford a high ticket price]. I don’t know if it’s true now. But she’s certainly not overexposed in the concert market, and if she’s only doing a fairly small number of shows, she can command a very high price.”

Representatives of Q Prime, Madonna’s management, had no comment on the plans.

‘PALOOZA NOOZ: The challenge for Lollapalooza, says Ted Gardner, a co-founder and director of the tour along with the William Morris Agency and Perry Farrell, is to reinvent and reinvigorate the event to make it as compelling and definitive a force as it was in the early days.

“I’d like to see a much broader package where the bill has some urgency, where we go out and find acts that are largely unknown but could have huge impact, as with Pearl Jam in 1992,” he says. “And we’re exploring ideas of how to make it more musically oriented again, a lot more bands--not so much on the main stage, but a broader spectrum on the second stage, maybe bring in a third stage as well.”

Still, many concert promoters feel that Lollapalooza’s success will depend on finding a main-stage headliner that can unite the ever-more fragmented rock audience and stand up against competition from not only such other tours as Warped, Family Values and Ozzfest, but also the ubiquitous radio-sponsored multi-act concerts. That’s tricky. The Beastie Boys, one act that could transcend that competition, already headlined Lollapalooza once and is not likely to sign up again. Another, Nine Inch Nails, is expected to do its own tour.

Two names coming up are the Offspring and No Doubt, Orange County bands that have a long association and now also share a manager in Jim Guerinot. The punk-rooted Offspring’s new “Americana” album has revived the sense of currency that came with its 5-million-selling “Smash” album, and ska-pop stars No Doubt are set to start work soon on the follow-up to “Tragic Kingdom,” which also reached the 5-million mark. Guerinot and Gardner say that no official discussions have occurred, but promoters are intrigued, especially by a potential pairing.

“That would be a strong bill with the Offspring and No Doubt,” says Paul Tollette, co-owner of L.A.’s Goldenvoice concert promotion firm. “That’s a big show.”

HOT PROPERTY: If you’re looking for a place to record top rock artists in a historic setting with some of the world’s best restaurants within walking distance and you have a bit of spare change to spend, Kingsway, the New Orleans studio owned by producer Daniel Lanois, is for sale.

Lanois, whose productions include U2, Peter Gabriel and Bob Dylan, bought the three-story mansion--at the time in shambles--in the late ‘80s, restored it to its original splendor and outfitted it with recording and living quarters. It quickly became one of the most renowned studios in pop, with Gabriel, Sheryl Crow, the Black Crowes, R.E.M., Iggy Pop and Emmylou Harris among those using it.

But Lanois, currently in Ireland producing U2’s next album with Brian Eno, shied away from Kingsway’s growing traffic and for his own production work set up shop last year in an old Oxnard movie theater.

“Dan had thought about pulling the studio out and just selling the edifice, either integrating the equipment into the Oxnard studio or somewhere else,” says the producer’s manager, Melanie Ciccone. “But he came to feel it would be a shame to pull it apart since it’s been the host to so many wonderful projects and has a place in the music community.”