I finally got around to purchasing tickets to see Elvis Costello next April, when the Honolulu Advertiser floats this rumor story: U2 might play Aloha Stadium in April. Holy Smoke. I’ve been wanting to see U2 for years. In fact, I was recently considering flying to either the mainland or elsewhere to catch one of their concerts when U2 goes on the second leg of their world tour next year. And then suddenly they might come here! Apparently, local promoters are trying to get them to come here on the way back from Australia. That would be awesome. And if they’re that awesome, maybe I will follow them to another venue and catch it again haha.
*sigh* The only junk part about this is it highlights a big problem Honolulu has about bringing down performing artists. A lot of people assume the problem is distance, but it’s not. It’s the lack of a suitable venue. Or, more correctly, a suitably-sized venue. We don’t have anything that really fits the needs of a headlining artist. Right now, we can fit maybe 8,000 people per night into the Blaisdell Arena, which would necessitate multiple shows in order to pay the bills and make money. (Artists generally don’t like to do this as it’s tiring, expensive and they’d really rather clean house in one concert.) The other choice is to secure the Aloha Stadium and try to pack that with as many people as possible to cover the considerable expense of converting and playing that venue. We don’t have a 20,000 seat venue anywhere on the island unless you consider throwing the concert out at Kualoa ranch on the North Shore, and that’s really out of the question for a large number of these acts. So yeah, we have a void and 20,000 people would be the magic number for a single show in Honolulu for many, many acts. Doesn’t make sense? Imagine Eminem, Gwen Stefani or Coldplay playing to only 8,000 people in the Blaisdell Arena. Too small? Ok, imagine them agreeing to play the entire weekend. No way, right? These guys aren’t the Eagles. They’re not concert bands. But what are the odds that any of them could fill Aloha Stadium either? No way. Only acts like U2 can pack the stadium. So really, it’s the venue we lack here, and because of that, we lose out on a lot of concerts. Sucks huh? But then again, Elvis Costello and U2 (possibly) in one month? Wow.