CLEVELAND — Cleveland music concert lovers like Kate Tustin and Shelia Conway are wondering why some major tours have decided to skip Northeast Ohio in 2023.
The Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and more have decided not to come to Cleveland during their current tours, but Tustin said while it's disappointing, she doesn't think Cleveland needs to create more incentives to attract top musical acts.
"It’s sad, I feel a lot [of] people in Cleveland love to go to concerts," Tustin said. “Cleveland is good enough to be up there, and I think a lot [of] people underestimate us, and the people that live here, and how much love we show for them, so we don’t really need an incentive.
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Denny Young, President of The Elevation Group, which promotes the massive WonderStruck Music Festival and much more, told News 5 he doesn't believe Cleveland is being snubbed. Young said the choices made by major tours are simply an economic decision, with big tours taking a more regional approach, especially with top musical stars generally doing fewer concerts and opting for larger venues.
"If you’re mounting a stadium tour and you’re hoping to sell 60,000 tickets, then you have to draw people from the region, not from the specific city," Young said. “In the old days, artists would play 150 shows a year, and there’s very few artists that tour at that volume now, so they're hand-picking where they believe they’re going to sell the most tickets and generate the most revenue and have the most efficient opportunities on the expense side. It’s still a business at the end of the day.”
Young said it's not clear what would make Cleveland more economically attractive to the top tours, but believes Cleveland is still doing a good job bringing in top musical tours, with the Eagles, Steely Dan, Kiss, Madonna, Depeche Mode and more coming to Northeast Ohio over the next several months.
“I do think perception plays a part, and I think Cleveland gets an enormous amount of shows," Young said. "And I think the guys at Live Nation and AEG are working hard to bring live shows to Cleveland.”
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