Here's the facts, Jack

[dankwiz]

Two reliable, separate sources at the MOCO confirmed that Mellencamp was booked. Cancelled 30-35 days ago due to "depression". MOCO brass scrambled and big name alternatives demanded $4 million or more.

Elton (who is in financial trouble) bailed them out at $1 million.

Ties into thier announcement to keep names secret to just before start as even they werem't sure who was going to show.

If its right, the damn MOCO should have coughed up that extra $3MM and satisfied the customers who are responsible for the lining in their pockets. I suppose though, their shareholders are more important and this year that would have meannt net income of only $577 million vs. the $580 they made.

Don't worry though, as they pick themselves up from this trip, stumble and fall, the new sportster will be their ticket to their $1 billion net income number. LOL, LOL, LOL

[jlbait]

How many tickets at $55.00 each were sold? I don't think they lost any $$$$$$$$$$!

[tomv]

Originally posted by jlbait
How many tickets at $55.00 each were sold? I don't think they lost any $$$$$$$$$$!

you really think $55 tickets were even close to paying for the 5 days of entertainment the moco provided. wake up. you pay more than that for one concert ticket today.
i think when reality strikes the complainers they might realize this was an event to remember in a place that made it memorable.

[oldhippie]

Originally posted by tomv


you really think $55 tickets were even close to paying for the 5 days of entertainment the moco provided. wake up. you pay more than that for one concert ticket today.
i think when reality strikes the complainers they might realize this was an event to remember in a place that made it memorable.

tomv, you are exactly right. We got waaaaay more than what we paid for. The entertainment was first class, maybe not to everyones liking, but first class just the same. In my rural area we would NEVER get to see some of these people without paying some outragous price, per act and traveling a long way. I had the time of my life. Everyone needs to guit bitching and enjoy.

[jwimprine]

OK. So $55 is supposed to cover the cost of the musical acts that the Motor Company had out there on Sunday. Let's take a closer look at this as I have seen some of the acts I saw last week before.

Doobie Brothers (saw them twice) - last time they came out on a renuinon tour tickets were $25 each.

Jeff Beck and BB King - last time BB played New Orleans (without Jeff Beck) tickets started at $45 each.

Kenny Wayne Sheppard - last show in town here was at House of Blues and only cost $30.

Billy Idol - just played on the Gulf Coast in Biloxi, $20 cover charge at the Casino

Tim McGrw - not my cup of tea, but a co-worker paid $40 a ticket to see him last year.

Kid Rock - last show in New Orleans tickets wer $35

and last but certainly not least

Elton John - last show he did in New Orleans the cheap seats (third balcony) were $70 a piece.

Maybe my math is screwed up, but by my count that makes it roughly $145 worth of concerts, and I didn't even mention REO Speedwagon, Styx, Kansas, Eddie Money, et. al.

Doesn't seem like too much of a rip off to me. Now the choice of Elton John may have been a poor choice for the event it was, but anybody who stayed and listened to the show knows that Elton did what he was paid to do, come out and put on a good concert. Even though at times he was obviously uncomfortable with the event he had chosen to play. If you ask me I think we all got our money's worth.

[gfyoung3]

How many tickets did the MoCo sell? I heard 600,000 + day of event tickets thursday and friday. I don't know if these are correct or not but for the sake of argument lets do a little math...

600,000 @ $50/ea = $30 million

With that kind of $ to plan a 4 day party - they could have done better.

If Mellencamp did back out - the MoCo had more than enough $$ to get someone appropriate in there.

[tomv]

Originally posted by gfyoung3
How many tickets did the MoCo sell? I heard 600,000 + day of event tickets thursday and friday. I don't know if these are correct or not but for the sake of argument lets do a little math...
600,000 @ $50/ea = $30 million
With that kind of $ to plan a 4 day party - they could have done better.
If Mellencamp did back out - the MoCo had more than enough $$ to get someone appropriate in there.

sorry...beg to differ. its not just concerts we're talking about here. the moco had an awful lot going on and you must think that the real estate this stuff was on and the labor included was all free. the scope of this celebration and party is well beyond most of our wildest dreams and experience. its not something you figure out on your pocket calculator.

has anyone even considered the cost of law enforcement and who flipped the bill? normally these expenses are passed on to party holders when it gets big like this. open your eyes people. this wasnt a backyard picnic. it was big stuff.

we were all a bit surprised by the appearance of elton john. but if youre gonna use that to summarize the entire 5 exceptional days of events put on by the moco you have issues that the moco cant help you with.

the moco doesnt owe us a damn thing. they build a fine product and we purchase and use it. its a business that went beyond where any other business in its situation has or probably ever will. its ford's 100th anniversary this year. they offered a $100 a month lease on a mustang. wake up people. a great number of us just experienced something very big that went off very well and its time to stop looking for things to complain about.

[gfyoung3]

$30,000,000 will buy a lot of stuff.

A 4 day party @ $7,500,000/day!!

The amount they paid in labor is minute compared to how much they took in. First off, I’m sure the didn’t pay one vendor to be there. Actually vendors probably paid HD to be there. Paying 5,000 workers 8 hours @ $25/hr is only is only $1,000,000.

The city probably didn’t charge them for the use of the facilities. Lord knows they benefitted the most from the party.

The point isn't whether they owed us or not. The point is they had a 100 years and our money to plan this thing and promised a big show to wrap it up. Like it or not they dropped the ball with Elton John. They hyped it way too much not to have a lot of disappointed people. They'd been better off to announce it prior and let the chips fall where they may. HD screwed this one up. Like someone said on the way out first the V-rod and now this?!! I agree the thurs thru sat was good.

Besides, who has a birthday party and charges the guests to come?

[SHendricks]

Don't we all remember the bitching ( as usual ) that went on when people heard that the dreaded demon "MOCO" had sold-out of it's $50 package tickets?. Those same tickets were the only ones that included the surprise concert on Sunday. The MOCO only sold 150,000 ( +/- a few thousand comp tickets ) for this event due to restrictions placed on the number of people expected. If my math is correct that is only $7.5 mil. They, the evil 1's at MOCO, did then also sell single day tickets to the Summerfest grounds at around $12 each and with a guess of maybe 200,000 ( guessing here ) of these that's only another $2.5 mil. And yes they got free this and free that from the city of Milwaukee and yes vendors paid to be there and my point is .......so friggin' what!!!!!!!. There is alot of little hidden costs that nobody is considering here, Insurance for 1 I bet took a HUGE chunk of change out of their pockets. The company is in the business to make money not give it away. Just because they're have a birthday party doesn't mean it has to be free to attend. If you all remember BOTH the 90th & 95th were more $ to attend. I for 1 enjoyed the festivities , well except for Elton, and am very glad I did it.

If someone else didn't have all the fun they needed or is just angry that someone else did, too bad.

If someone is mad yet again at the evil-doers at the MOCO for the party and that they possibly made a buck from it, again too bad.

Later all....Scott

[tomv]

Originally posted by gfyoung3
The point isn't whether they owed us or not. The point is they had a 100 years and our money to plan this thing and promised a big show to wrap it up. Like it or not they dropped the ball with Elton John. They hyped it way too much not to have a lot of disappointed people. They'd been better off to announce it prior and let the chips fall where they may. HD screwed this one up. Like someone said on the way out first the V-rod and now this?!! I agree the thurs thru sat was good.

Besides, who has a birthday party and charges the guests to come?

its not our money. its their money. we gave it to them in exchange for product. they arent required to have parties for us or provide entertainment.
nice to see youve got such a great handle on expensing an event like this. it takes more than the 5 days it exists to make it happen. the logistics are staggering.
again...if youre gonna measure the experience with what happened with elton john its time for an evaluation of your priorities. if you dont understand the v-rod move youre really out of touch with business survival.

just have to add...when someone can say the lowpoint of the experience was seeing elton john live on stage, mismatch or not, you gotta spend some time analyzing that.

[dankwiz]

I've been told the 150,000 ticket number is right as well. The whole event boiled down to expectations. It is absolutely impossible to crticize a "Free" concert (it was, remember, we all paid our $55 before they announced that you needed the ticket to get in on Sunday. The $50 plus shipping was for Thursday, Friday, Saturday. They alos gave away "free" tickets at the dealers in advance. I got them and gave them to my friends w/o the laminated ticket) that included Elton John, Tim McGraw and Kid Rock (hell, I've paid to see Elton on two separate occassions in the past). Their crtical mistake was not identifying them in advance. If they would have announced their line-up all of those in attendance would have wanted to be there. In that case, all of the performers would have recieved a much warmer reception. MOCO killed itself by the mystery. Fueling the anger was also the ridiculous lines for food and the fact that they ran out of beer. Asking people to stand for up to 8 hours without food or drink is unacceptable in any circumstance.

The local (milwaukee) talk radio and newspapers have really lit up this event. Harley's official position, per their announcemet, is that you cannot please everybody. While this is true, they created the monster with the secrecy. They know it, they screwed up royally but are not about to admit it.

It is unfortnate. I thought the time here was outstanding. I've talked to many bikers who enjoyed their time here and many non-bikers who live here that had a total blast just being part of the expereince . Overall, what an event !

Harley also announced their intent to have a 105th year reunion. I hope we are all around to see that one.

Dan

[DJW]

Mellencamp backed out for emotional problems due to depression? Good lord did someone finally tell him that he sucks? (sorry Ginger)

[58Panhead]

Regardless of who the band was, how much money who made, I had a great time.

[jlbait]

Originally posted by tomv


you really think $55 tickets were even close to paying for the 5 days of entertainment the moco provided. wake up. you pay more than that for one concert ticket today.
i think when reality strikes the complainers they might realize this was an event to remember in a place that made it memorable.

You need to "wake up". Harley is in the sales business, I don't think they have lost any money since 1984! Remember at the party they sold event products and charged venders to sell items, food, and drinks. I wasn't complaining, I had a great time for free as a VIP!

[wyodude]

I had a great time and I didn't go to Milwaukee