If Australian rockers AC/DC come to Moncton this summer, they add another name to a long list of has-beens to take advantage of entertainment starved Maritimers.
Really. What do AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N' Roses and Lynard Skynard have in common? They are all throwbacks to some bygone era who wouldn't dare waste their time in the Maritimes when they were at the height of their fame. The reality is we were robbed of these artists - except for Guns N' Roses - when they were in their prime and now they're rocking their rollers into our backyards as one last hurrah, more so for themselves and their wallets than us.
In 1979 the average hourly wage in Nova Scotia was $4.05 and a ticket to see Kiss at the Capital Center in Largo, MD, was $11, less than three times the hourly wage of the working class.
Today, though, minimum wage in the province is $8.10, double what it was 20 years ago. You'd think those tickets would just be a mere $22 but instead they are a whopping $99 - to watch some relics try to recreate their youth.
Sure, Atlantic Canada should have access to prime entertainment but who's really benefiting from this zoo: you, the concertgoer, or Halifax, Moncton and the fat, old, semi-retired artists?
A smooth talking fellow by the name of Colonel Tom Parker was the first to realize this scheme. He latched on to a young, talented man named Elvis Aaron Presley and made a mint from his career. Later, when Elvis was fat, old and semi-retired he shipped his boy off to Las Vegas to perform those familiar hits of his youth for twice the money he was making then. It's only now Halifax and Moncton have realized their role as the new Vegas in this formula and have adopted it whole-heartedly.
And regardless of whether you attend any of these concerts or not, as soon as the provincial governments support these concerts your tax dollars are being invested for you. You're paying to go. You're paying not to go.
I'm getting old and bubble gum is starting to loose its flavour. But I'll tell ya, I'd rather spend $20 and enjoy today's unsigned artists than spend $100 on a memory.
Look, the elderly are on parade
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Published on
April 1, 2009
- Published on March 8, 2010
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Christopher Gooding
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