Elton John's Encore Sings Volumes to Show Promoters
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Having legendary performer Elton John return to the Covelli Centre for a second show in less than four years “speaks volumes” to the entertainment industry about the venue, a message the arena’s manager says he'll use as he attempts to book other shows.
The Covelli Centre announced Monday that the platinum-selling artist -- famous for hits ranging from “Bennie and the Jets” and “Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road” to “Candle in the Wind” -- would return to the venue Feb. 1. Elton John first performed at the Covelli Centre May 1, 2010.
The Feb. 1 show in Youngstown, not yet posted on John’s website, will be his first performance in 2014. According to the site, following perfomrances today and tomorrow at Madison Square Garden in New York, John will travel to Europe for a tour that will take him, through Dec. 19, to Russia, Paris, Stockholm, Brussels, Prague and Lithuania. His next show listed on his website is Feb. 3 in London, Ontario.
“Elton John is the kind of artist who will play some smaller arenas. But quite honestly, we’re on the very small side of that. So to be able to have him back at all was a tremendous feat,” said Eric Ryan, general manager of the Covelli Centre.
“His management -- they just loved the place, they loved the crowd and I like to think we treated them right so they were willing to come back in less than four years, which is really amazing,” Ryan continued. “It really speaks volumes about we’re doing here in Youngstown that an artist such as Sir Elton John is willing to come back in such an early time period.”
The rapid ticket sales for his first concert also helped with efforts to lure the performer back to the venue, Ryan added. Having a performing artist of John’s caliber return to the Valley sends a strong message as Ryan attempts to book other national acts, he said.
“We always say, 'Tickets sell more tickets,' and the more tickets you sell, and the more people realize you’re a market that will buy the tickets when it’s a big-demand artist, bodes well for us and the community. People in the industry have noticed what we’ve been doing for the better part of the last five years,” he said. “It’s something we’re certainly going to brag about and something we should be bragging about, not only us at the Covelli Centre but everybody in our community and surrounding area, that he enjoyed his experience enough to come back again and play.”
Ryan and his production staff spent Monday working out seating for the show before tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. The last Elton John concert was the arena’s second-largest show in terms of attendance, exceeded only by the Kelly Pavlick fight because the smaller stage -- the fight ring -- allowed for more seating availability.
“This is a bigger stage so there’ll probably be less attendance. We won’t be able to fit as many people as we did the last Elton John show,” Ryan said. About 7,000 tickets should be available, he estimated.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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