'80s Nostalgia Goes on Tour

ByABC News
May 25, 2004, 4:14 PM

June 22, 2004 -- Summer's almost here and the time is right for catching your favorite musician on the road.

With the continuing uncertainty in the music business brought upon by illegal file-sharing and sales declines, recording artists are focusing their efforts on the one revenue source they can count on touring.

Even though the record business is in trouble, the business of music is experiencing an explosive growth, thanks in part to the concert business. Concert ticket sales revenues in North America have been on the upswing for the past four years, with 2003 revenues jumping 20 percent to $2.5 billion, according to industry watchers, and there are signs that 2004 could be an even bigger year.

Last year, veteran rockers and country acts were the "hot tickets." Figures from Billboard and Pollstar show the Rolling Stones grossed $299,520,230 from 113 shows, Bruce Springsteen's tour netted $221 million from 121 shows, and the Dixie Chicks set a record for first-day sales with 790,000 tickets sold on March 1, 2003.

The list of acts hitting the road this summer is extensive and it includes artists as diverse as Fleetwood Mac, Dave Matthews, Rush, Jessica Simpson, Bette Midler, Jimmy Buffett, No Doubt/Blink-182 and Linkin Park. Perennial favorites Lollapalooza, Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest and the Warped Tour promise to give the fans a real "bang for the buck" with strong artist lineups.

Undoubtedly, the hottest tickets are for those 1980s favorites who are now hitting the tour circuit to reassert their importance in the pantheon of pop culture.

Call it nostalgia for the decade of excess, or a yearning for a time when MTV's programming consisted of nonstop videos by artists such as Haircut 100, Adam Ant, Duran Duran and a young lass from Detroit who desired to "conquer the world."