Robben Ford Discussion

[StratCat]

A question for Daved (or anyone else with insight into this)...

I'm just wondering what drives the decision to tour different parts of the world, the economics involved, and how different parts of the world compare in this regard.

Interestingly, Robben is a frequent visitor to Australia in the scheme of things (even though it's been about 5 years!). So I'm interested to know what brings players like Robben, Mike Stern, Keb Mo, Dave Weckl (crossing instruments briefly!) back on a semi-regular basis, whereas it's been many years since we've seen Lee Ritenour or Pat Metheny and Larry Carlton has all but ruled out ever touring.

Obviously geography vs population has a lot to do with it. Many of the above artists regularly tour Japan which has the opposite problem to Australia in this regard!

Thanks - Chris
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because I rock, and that's important.

[LesPaul]

ttt

[StratCat]

???
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because I rock, and that's important.

[Daved]

Chris,

The variables determaining tour scheduling vary greatly, from artist to artist, place to place, time to time.

Obviously a very big part of it is economics. Of course, everyone wants to make a profit, but those profits are not necessarily monetary only. I've known artists who lose money on some tours, but they love the country and it's people so much that they are willing to lose money just for the opportunity to visit. Other times, they may not make a profit in actual $$$ but the exposure and advertising benefits may be beneficial.

When my son's first Arista album came out, selling 'gold' in the States I found it interesting that I could not find it in stores overseas, though I could find copies of his previous band's independant Triple-X label albums all over the world. Kristian told me his label was concentrating on establishing them solidly at home first, so, other than a brief few days of personal interviews in Europe and the UK, his band never left the States. With the second album, his band, Adema, started spreading those horizon's and began touring where international markets began opening up to them.

Tour scheduling is extremely complex and, altho it is not my field or expertise, what I do know about it is easier addressed by answering more specific questions you may have.

As for Australia, yes it's been awhile since Robben was here, but he is loving it (as I ALWAYS do... beautiful country, friendly people), is having a great time, and is thoroughly enjoying his trip here.

I was suprised to find that this is Hilary's first trip 'down-under', and she is having a total blast.

Hope you make it to the show tonight and that you have a good time. Cya there!
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B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)