The Week in TicketCity Search – Beatles, Horses & Motorcycles

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Apr. 15t
h
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 3 Paul McCartney
2 4 One Direction
3 - Kentucky Oaks
4 6 Taylor Swift
5 10 Rihanna
6 - MotoGP
7 - Kid Rock
8 7 Justin Bieber
9 - Beyonce
10 - Kentucky Derby

Paul McCartney classes up the joint at #1 this week. He dropped in at three last week and spent little time politely queuing his way to the top. The previous champs Mumford & Sons are nowhere to be found. The boys in 1D decided to slip into the McCartney motorcade and return to the #2 spot after what was their worst performance in some time last week: the dreaded #4.

Concerts couldn’t keep hold of the countdown permanently. We’re about 2 weeks out from Derby weekend in Louisville. The more economically friendly Oaks enters the countdown in the third spot. The Derby just slides into the countdown at #10. I’m sure it will be climbing up a bit over the next couple of weeks.

Epic segway time.

Speaking of horsepower… the MotoGP shows up at #6. MotoGP is a more Twitter-friendly way of saying Motorcycle Grand Prix, which is impressive because it predates Twitter by a while. The very Twitter unfriendly “MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas” is on for this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas here in Austin. For the record, the spec on a MotoGP engine calls for 240 horsepower. That’s a lot of Derbys.

Of interest on the concert side this week, Kid Rock’s latest tour has earned him the #7 spot, and Beyonce, once queen of the countdown, had returned, but at the slightly more modest #9 spot. She’s playing dates in Europe at the moment, but will return stateside this June when she will likely make a much stronger play for the top once more.

The Week in TicketCity Search – Is Famous, Was Famous, Will Be Famous

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Apr. 8t
h
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 10 Mumford & Sons
2 4 Maroon 5
3 - Paul McCartney
4 3 One Direction
5 - Rolling Stones
6 - Taylor Swift
7 8 Justin Bieber
8 - Depeche Mode
9 - Bruno Mars
10 - Rihanna

It’s only a question of when. When, precisely, you’ll be catching a concert this summer. With NHL and NBA playoffs not quite close enough, MLB opening day fever settling down, and the Derby still a few weeks off, the countdown is completely musical this week.

Mumford & Sons completes a rise to the top that took only two weeks. The London folk rockers have a busy touring schedule over the next few months, and fans eager to see them. Maroon 5 was close, but couldn’t secure the top spot.

England is well represented this week, on both ends of the age spectrum. One Sir Paul McCartney lands with a bang at #3. He’s playing a limited number of dates in May and June, driving up the usual high demand for his tickets. At one time Sir Paul was part of a group of young men in a band, similar in a certain (somewhat) vague sense to One Direction, whom he managed to dislodge from the #3 spot.

Yet another group of English band mates round out the top 5. The Rolling Stones are prepared to embark on the second leg of the 50 and Counting Tour. While 2012 was the official 50th anniversary of the band’s first gig in London, no reason not to keep it going. The Stones are known for long tours, and this one doesn’t look to be any different.

Down in the bottom five, we’re four English bands and counting, as Depeche Mode appears at #8. Having covered folk rock, pop, classic rock, we end up on synthpop. Depeche Mode’s new album, Delta Machine, arrived in March, and their tour will start up at the end of summer, moving into September and beyond.

The Week in TicketCity Search – A None-Too-Swift Rebound

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Mar. 25t
h
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 2 Taylor Swift
2 3 One Direction
3 5 Pink
4 8 Justin Bieber
5 6 Maroon 5
6 10 Rihanna
7 1 Bruno Mars
8 - Miami Heat
9 - George Strait
10 - Dave Matthews Band

Taylor Swift returns to the top spot this week, where she dominated a few months ago but was exiled when BeyoncĂ© blew away the competition. Swift’s return to the top only illustrates the staying power of 1D, who have rarely been out of the top 3 in that entire time. As each new big summer tour is announced, they’ve seen a lot of number ones come and go, but consistently remained a favorite.

At #3, Pink steadily gained ground over the past few weeks. Once milling about in the bottom five, she has, indeed, come up, thus the top five is obligated to commence partying. She’ll be taking The Truth About Love Tour overseas for most of the summer, hitting Europe and Australia before returning to the States next fall. Sad she’s leaving just as the party is getting started.

Also on the rebound, the esteemed Mr. Bieber returns to somewhat familiar territory, having spent a few weeks in the bottom five. Maroon 5 also jumps up a notch, rounding things out this week.

Rihanna enjoys a big jump as well. Looks like everyone is doing great this week. Right? Bruno? Oh…

The Heat pop in with some bad news about that whole ‘streak’ thing, and George Strait returns as well. You’ve got almost exactly 1 month at this point to get into the Alamodome and check out the last concert of this leg of The Cowboys Rides Away Tour. Appearances between then and 2014 may be scarce.

The Week in TicketCity Search – Follow the Bouncing Bruno

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Mar. 18t
h
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 2 Bruno Mars
2 7 Taylor Swift
3 3 One Direction
4 1 George Strait
5 - Pink
6 - Maroon 5
7 - Eric Clapton
8 - Justin Beiber
9 - Austin Rodeo
10 5 Rihanna

My prediction that George Strait would hang onto the countdown based on volume from last weekend proved correct. I’m not sure what I win, but when I find out, I’m sure I’ll tell me. George just missed the top three, where members of the old clique are teaming up once more. There’s little loyalty in the rough-and-tumble world of the top three on the TicketCity Week in Search. After weeks of being in the ballpark, Bruno Mars makes to the top. Taylor Swift, no stranger to the rebound, lands in the second spot, and 1D hangs out at #3 like it’s no big deal.

Pink, who’d been forced out by the brief conference tourney frenzy, returns strong, closing out the top five. While interest in basketball hardly vanished, it’s just so widely distributed that it’s not going to crack the top 10 until things get closer to the Final Four.

Maroon 5 pops back in to lead off the bottom five. They are followed by Clapton, whose local gig probably played a part in his countdown debut. Clapton is touring with The Wallflowers through April before heading back across the Pond for some gigs in the homeland.

Finally, the Austin Rodeo make this year’s countdown debut, just in time for Gary Allan to close things out this weekend. Allan’s visiting the Austin Rodeo while on tour in support of his latest album, Set You Free.

The Week in TicketCity Search – Follow the Bouncing Ball

TicketCity Week in Search

Week of
Mar. 11t
h
Previous
Week
Event
Searched
1 1 George Strait
2 2 Bruno Mars
3 3 One Direction
4 - Big 12 Tournament
5 8 Rihanna
6 - SEC Tournament
7 6 Taylor Swift
8 4 Houston Rodeo
9 - ACC Tournament
10 - Big East Tournament

Another week and another top 3 clique is born, this time it’s quite the boy’s club. George Strait’s show at the Houston Rodeo is this very weekend and there is still time to get into Reliant Stadium to check it out. This may be your last chance. Sure, the second leg of the Cowboy Rides Away Tour is in 2014, and he might play Houston again, but even if he did, you could still tell all your friends you saw his second-to-last show at the Houston Rodeo. That’s still pretty cool.

What’s going on this weekend? Ah, NCAA Tournament selection. That would mean this week is the (popular) conference tournament extravaganza! The Big 12 comes out on top, with the SEC a couple spots behind, and the ACC and Big East just cling to the bottom of the list. While the Big Dance is a big deal, it has trouble making the list until the Final Four, because the early rounds are spread all over.

The tourneys edged out a lot of concert players this week, but Rhianna benefits as she returns to the top five. Taylor Swift’s rocky patch in media relations due to an apparent inability to comprehend “humor” hasn’t hurt too much, as she slides only one spot this week. The Houston Rodeo, no doubt helped out by Mr. Strait’s appearance, hangs around as well. If interest runs high enough this weekend, they may stick around next week as well.