OLP Canadian Tour Attendance and future plans?

egotist · Post by **egotist** » 3/4/2003, 8:07 am

Back in 1998 when they did their first round of Canadian Arena tours, OLP routinely played to sellout crowds across the country.

In 2000 on "The World's a Blister" tour the attendance somewhat dropped off, as did album sales.

Now in 2003, coming off their best-selling record in 5 years, OLP seem to have played to the lowest paid attendance tour they've ever had. What gives?

I'm debating how much this band scored financially off this last tour, does anyone have any ideas? Their TO show would have done pretty well for them as I'm sure Best Buy paid an assload for the promotion.

How do you all feel about OLP's next Canadian tour?

I'm thinking before they go out for another Summersault, they should release the new record, tour the US on a co-headlining platform (depending on their single and what other band is hot- like Everclear '97) and then do a similar thing in Canada doing two or three nights a city in a theatre. Then maybe a Summersault.....

ajk · Post by **ajk** » 3/4/2003, 8:35 am

Clumsy was one of the biggest Canadian Albums ever. OLP had hype like they had never ever recieved during that era. It's no real surprise that they drew so well on that tour.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but in Canada didn't Happiness..... sell more than 300 k? Which would make it a better selling album than Gravity.

As for the latest tours, i'm not sure about the east. But in the West, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton... the attendance was up. In Calgary's 00 concert there were 6000 people, there were 9000 this time around (a much better concert this time too!). In Edmonton there were 5000 in 00, and 8000 this time around. Vancouver's #'s were up too.

Gravity pretty much re-surged OLP in Canada. Even though there sales for Spiritual Machines were just as good (if not better...) than Gravity, there seems to be that hype again....

As for what they should do? I'd love to see another Summersault. But i wouldn't mind if they did the whole Matthew Good, play 3 theater shows in a city idea. That would be cool too.

areusad831 · Post by **areusad831** » 3/4/2003, 8:51 am

I think most of these were almost sell outs but I could be wrong. I dont think they will ever do another Summersault again and doing club shows would be way too crazy. Club shows are starting to sell out in New York so doing them in Canada wouldnt be a possibility if they wanted a lot of people to get to see them. I think they made a fair amount of money on this tour. :nod:

Joey · Post by **Joey** » 3/4/2003, 9:09 am

Yeah .. they made a lot of money and let down a lot of Canadian fans .. go olp

Johnny · Post by **Johnny** » 3/4/2003, 12:50 pm

Did they let you down joey?

Soozy · Post by **Soozy** » 3/4/2003, 1:27 pm

I think the capacity at Ottawa was about 6,000. It was about 9,000 in Montreal and Steve said that that was the biggest show they'd done on that tour, and the second largest he'd done after the ACC show which was 15,000. I think Ottawa sold out, but there were a few Montreal tickets still available just before the show started but they were really really high up.

I know when we spoke to Mike in September he said that they were wanting to play a few nights in theatres each place rather than playing arenas, but that obviously didn't happen for whatever reason.

egotist · Post by **egotist** » 3/4/2003, 2:06 pm

I'm convinced about your attendance estimates. GM Place, SkyReach Centre, Bell Centre, Saddledome and Corel Centre are all 15,000+ venues. I'm pretty sure that's the minimum amount for an NHL hockey team to have in their arenas.

In TO, OLP sold out Maple Leaf Gardens in a few hours, the ACC (a bit bigger) didn't sell out for the blister tour, and didn't draw a capacity crowd for a free show.

When I refer to Gravity sales, I mean as a whole. I'm pretty sure its the most successful since Clumsy when you include the US sales figures.

nelison · Post by **nelison** » 3/4/2003, 3:08 pm

In Canada they will never be able to do a club tour again. Just not possible unless they waited a long time after a record came out (say 2 years or so) and then decided to do one. They're just too big here, that's why I've had to travel to the states every time I've wanted to see them.

And in Canada they just don't do anything really special anymore. Look at the show they did a few years ago at the gardens in Toronto, followed by the show in Montreal. Now those were special, memorable shows. They just didn't do that this time around. I understand Steve doesn;t know every song OLP has ever made but the fact remains that they didn't even attempt to mix it up a bit. They even had weeks to prepare for it if they wanted to, but they didn't. As Steve said in his post on the FOTTP site, they hadn't even played together for a few weeks before their first show in Canada.

Thats the only thing that bugs me about the band, their live shows are filled with energy but they lack the creativity now. The same guitar and drum solos are performed in the same spots during every show, and it's obvious that its planned because they have the light shows going on to synchronize with the solos. Raine only plays with the lyrics during the intros to Starseed and IAH, and even those are done before the song so that way it doesn't ruin anything.

They say that they feel like a new band, and that they feel comfortable, but yet they just aren't prooving it. I'll admit the first time I saw them since Gravity came out, they blew me away. But when I saw them the next time it was like I was at the same exact concert all over again.
They can make a good first impression but they fail to give their fans a reason to come back and see them again, because they've already been exposed to it.

superrgirll · Post by **superrgirll** » 3/4/2003, 4:34 pm

J-Neli wrote:In Canada they will never be able to do a club tour again. Just not possible unless they waited a long time after a record came out (say 2 years or so) and then decided to do one. They're just too big here, that's why I've had to travel to the states every time I've wanted to see them.

why not? they did the club tour right before SM came out, and they were big then, so why not do another club tour?

Johnny · Post by **Johnny** » 3/4/2003, 5:01 pm

I saw OLP last August(my first show by the way) and then I saw them again in January. I found that both of the shows were very good. Sure they basically played the same songs, but, I surely enjoyed my self that night. Personally, I wish they would do another club tour.

superrgirll · Post by **superrgirll** » 3/4/2003, 5:05 pm

olp at the pheonix=best concert ever

finding emo · Post by **finding emo** » 3/4/2003, 5:14 pm

Club shows are better than stadium shows anyway. I'd rather go to a club show over packed house stadium anyday. It's just much more intimate. I can't wait until OLP gets back to American smaller shows...

Let me rephrase that. Can't wait until OLP comes back to America.

Johnny · Post by **Johnny** » 3/4/2003, 5:21 pm

Yeah...Americans will have them for a while. I'm lucky if I can see them once more this year.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » 3/4/2003, 7:38 pm

Johnathan wrote:Did they let you down joey?

Yes

Considering their Canadian tour didn't make it anywhere near me and consisted of 2 weeks .. I was just disappointed that's all

Mechanical Thought · Post by **Mechanical Thought** » 3/4/2003, 7:39 pm

me too.

nelison · Post by **nelison** » 3/4/2003, 8:19 pm

superrgirll wrote:
J-Neli wrote:In Canada they will never be able to do a club tour again. Just not possible unless they waited a long time after a record came out (say 2 years or so) and then decided to do one. They're just too big here, that's why I've had to travel to the states every time I've wanted to see them.

why not? they did the club tour right before SM came out, and they were big then, so why not do another club tour?

I just don't think it's feasible. They've changed a lot since then and I don't think it would do them any good. Their mind set is probably "why play clubs in Canada when we can play to thousands?" the only reason they don't play arenas in the USA is cause they aren't big enough.

starseed_10 · Post by **starseed_10** » 3/4/2003, 8:38 pm

They should releasee their album and follow it immediately with a full Canadian tour. It doesnt have to be huge arenas or a bunch of bands or anything, they should just hit a good 40+ cities over a couple months and give the fans something special *cough.comebacktowindsor.cough*

starseed_10 · Post by **starseed_10** » 3/4/2003, 8:40 pm

if i had a band i would pick random small towns that nobody's heard of and just play once in a while, I think it would get so much fan appreciation. Even if its not your town at least you know there thinking of the individual fans.

Joey · Post by **Joey** » 3/4/2003, 8:41 pm

they can't keep forgetting about us :neutral:

Penguin Josh · Post by **Penguin Josh** » 3/4/2003, 8:41 pm

Like Boston