Geoffrey Mason

Wednesday, November 3, 2021 11:55 AM

"Bag Guarantees; Market"

Deborah Wilker
Pop Music Writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August 26, 1994

Just as some of us have found it difficult to sympathize with ballplayers and owners who say they can't make it on millions a year, we may now find it equally impossible to drum up sympathy for a millionaire rock band that got stiffed at the gate a couple weeks back.

When the British rock band Yes played a concert at the Miami Arena Aug. 10, band members expected to be paid roughly $140,000 - a set fee guaranteed to them regardless of how many tickets were sold. Such guarantees are standard in the live entertainment business, where promoters lay out the money and assume the risk.

But at the Aug. 10 show there was no huge payoff by today's cockeyed sports and entertainment standards. Only a middling box office take, doled out to band members the old-fashioned way - after touring expenses were paid.

That's because the Miami concert promoter, an old-timer named Leas Campbell who recently returned from a long retirement, pulled out of the Miami Yes concert when initial ticket sales didn't meet his expectations. Without those advance sales, he couldn't come up with the $140,000 he had blindly agreed to pay.

So instead, band members earned only what was left over at the box office after the bills were paid - about $55,000.

Not bad. Not great. Just exactly what they were worth.

What this situation illustrates most vividly is that not all rock bands and other entertainers are worth their wildly inflated "guarantees" - figures that have been ridiculously pushed up through the years by benchmarks for superstars.

Just as a right-fielder batting .175 wants MVP pay, so do most performers want the contracts of money machines like Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton.

It's absurd.

Yes attracted about 3,700 fans to its Miami concert (albeit a virtually unadvertised show) and received in return for its hard-working performance exactly what the market would bare.

If more artists and promoters worked strictly for the box office, we'd have a whole different industry. The widespread popularity of the fixed guarantee, which is agreed to in advance of ticket sales, is one of the key reasons why ticket prices are so high and why so many concert companies stupidly drive themselves out of business each year.

Though it's unrealistic to expect that agents and managers would allow the corporatized concert business to return to the free-market days of old, there's just something so fundamentally appealing about having rock stars (and maybe even ballplayers) work for the net.

Just like the rest of us.

As for Yes, its management company, the booking agent and the local promoter - they're all headed to various courts with complaints and counter-complaints that likely won't be resolved any time soon.

rich valleau

Thursday, August 22, 2019 1:14 PM

all these years later. it was a very good show.my first time hearing perpetual change. and during the encore jon sang a few bars of "purple haze".

Kurt Schweizer

Wednesday, September 10, 2014 2:08 PM

I should add that I have the full show (minus Perpetual Change) on tape and I referred to it to check for City of Love and Cinema and, sure enough, they are not there. So, my memory, my written setlist from that night and my tape all indeed match. As I say, I sure wish they had played those songs that night. I saw them do Cinema in 99, but I will likely never catch COL. But, that's ok; I have surely seen many many other great songs live from them over the years.

Kurt Schweizer

Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:59 AM

I was at this show. They did not play Cinema nor City of Love on this date. (I really like both, tough, and I wish they had. I have never seen COL in person.)

Kurt Schweizer

Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:19 AM

A.V. Batista sure has missed a lot of great shows. I saw Yes on this night and once prior and six times since. They are one of the best live bands I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot). The only act that comes close, imo, is Steve Hackett on his Genesis Revisited tours.

Jeff Blake

My memory of this show is of an inspired performance by the band in the face of a once prominent concert promoter (Leas Campbell) trying to get back in the game and forgetting to do any promotion of the show. I recall the arena being less than half full (and I heard reports later that they knew they weren't going to get paid what they had been contracted for) but the effort and energy from the band showed that they were more into playing for the crowd that had showed up than being pissed off at the situation. I have always respected them for the positive attitude and professionalism that they displayed that night.

SOUND CHASER

AV YOU WOULDN'T SAY THAT IF THIS WAS ONE OF THE 1970'S YES CONCERTS. THIS SHOW WAS 1,000,000,000,000,000 LIGHT YEARS BELOW THOSE SHOWS.

SOUND CHASER

YOU WOULDN'T SAY THAT IF THIS WAS ONE OF THE 1970'S YES CONCERTS. THIS SHOW WAS 1,000,000,000,000,000 LIGHT YEARS BELOW THOSE SHOWS.

Wurm

A.V. THEY DID NOT DO STARSHIP TROOPER AT THIS SHOW. NOT ANY ANY PART OF IT EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wurm

A.V. THEY DID NOT DO STARSHIP TROOPER AT THIS SHOW. NOT ANY ANY PART OF IT EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Wurm

A.V. THEY DID NOT DO STARSHIP TROOPER AT THIS SHOW. NOT ANY ANY PART OF IT EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

spider63

I just noticed on the setlist that Starship Trooper is not even listed. I thought they did at least part of it, but maybe I was wrong. Anyhow, this is an excellent resource for YES, getting some of that old angst out made me realize that I am glad that I did get to see them. Hopefully I will see them again someday and they will play Starship Trooper!

A.V. Batista

This was the first time I had seen them and I guess I had expected slightly more. It did not seem like they jammed as much on some songs. It seemed pretty short compared to their live albums. Jon also kept rambling on and on in between songs and then it seemed like he was making the concert seem longer than it was by talking so much between each song. Even with all of his talking it was a short concert compared to lots of other bands. Maybe two hours. Ninety minutes if you take out the talking and the walking around the stage between songs. Starship Trooper is one of my favorites and it seemed like they did it in about five minutes. That seemed to be what happened on most of their epic-length songs.

I had dozens of YES LPs, and then dozens of their cassettes, and now dozens of their CDs, and I think that they are a great band. However in concert (on this night) they really did not compare very well to many other bands. For example, I had seen RUSH only a few weeks earlier and RUSH had really put a lot of heart into their show (and I only own two of their CDs and I am not a big fan). The Arena was full, so it seemed like they really blew a chance to impress fans in South Florida. I have never gone to see YES again, and every time that they have been nearby, I have considered all the other bands that are coming through town that I know do a better Live show and then YES ends up at the bottom of the list.

Hartsdale Al

This was my last Yes show for 10 years until the recent 35th Aniversary tour. I would just like to say that I dedicate it to my old friend Chris Sanders (may he rest in peace)We attended it together and had a grand time.

Luis Perdomo

Okay,this was 8 years,ago,so i willdo my best to remember,the concert, it was half empty,and i got lousy seating, i had to stretch, my neck to get a good view;About the sets they seemed, kind of rushed,standouts:Heart of the sunrise,And you & I,and endless dream,i rememeber, vividly Jon said something, about we are all indians,or children of the stars;abig collective ?from the audience, but it was cool because it was the first time i saw them in concert.