Pollstar the concert hotwire

Pollstar is "the concert hotwire." That's what their website says. It's all about live music. Any artist that's playing in concert is listed there in some form or fashion. And there's some pretty creative entertainment happening in this country, and abroad.

Pollstar Top 50 List? Too many to list here. OK, let's just consider their Top 10. If you take out all the artists who were making music 20 years ago, it leaves you with Pearl Jam, Coldplay and The Darkness. So does that mean that only old people are going to concerts? Want some bran with that T-shirt? No, seriously. Pollstar's list really makes me think about this.

But wait! That was last week's list. Let's apply the same 20 year formula, and we get: Coldplay, Pearl Jam and The Darkness. That's it! So who are we leaving out? Billy Joel - Bon Jovi - Aerosmith - U2 - The Rolling Stones - Depeche Mode and The Eagles.

Hmmm, sure looks like classic rock is here to stay, doesn't it? The boomers are rockin' and rollin' fer sure, dude!

For instance, Willie Nelson hooking up with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for a spring tour of Canada. OK, you wanna rock? The Rolling Stones are playing the Super Bowl before embarking on the European leg of their current tour. Man, I can't believe the Stones are still out there doing it! I've always loved Fred and Barney. And Betty is such a babe!


Elvis Costello will hit the road this spring with tour dates for the U.S., where he will team up with local symphonies doing orchestral dates. Now that's different!

Or how about Queen and Paul Rodgers touring the U.S. and Canada this spring? Who would have thought of putting those two together? No strings attached there!

Well, the point is, there's something for everybody in the way of live music and entertainment these days. You've just gotta know where to look. And Pollstar looks like a good starting point.

"I've got 600 miles to ride to do one more show." - LS