Next week’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show looks like it’s going to be a mess. Many of the inductees are fighting, some aren’t coming, and many aren’t playing.
On top of that, there are roughly 2,900 seats at the Barclays Center on Stubhub.com right now. Plus, on Ticketmaster, I was able to locate many good seats at face value in sections close to the stage. The 200 sections in the upper tier are at this point pretty open.
The only place tickets aren’t being sold are on the floor, where Jann Wenner is conducting his usual expensive dinner for what remains of the record business. In recent years, Wenner has start bringing in corporate friends as the record companies have consolidated and vanished.
Of the nominees, Linda Ronstadt isn’t coming at all. Cat Stevens is still considering his options. KISS won’t perform because they’re all fighting with each other. Nirvana can’t perform because Kurt Cobain is dead. That leaves Peter Gabriel, and Hall & Oates.
It does seem like Bruce Springsteen will be there to induct his E Street Band. Tom Morello will be on hand, too. So it’s likely they will all perform together.
Not coming: Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ long dead manager. I’m told his family ( he had a family) weren’t even invited. Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr could show up to induct him. Epstein is getting in this year because of the Beatles’ 50th anniversary. But Ringo’s probably miffed because he’s the only Beatle not in the Hall of Fame as a solo act.
Meanwhile, April 10th is also the opening of Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” on Broadway. Most media attention will be focused there, since the Hall of Fame doesn’t sound so promising.
You can watch the whole thing on HBO a couple of weeks later. For, essentially, free.
