Pop-music concerts raked in $3.9 billion in North America last year, but the struggling U.S. economy is fanning fears among event promoters of a summer tumble and winter fallout.

"The impact of the economy on concerts is the biggest I've seen in my 17 years here," said John Wojas, vice president of AEG Live San Diego. "We're seeing lower attendance at every show across the board, from Latin and adult-contemporary to alternative-rock."

Wojas, whose company books the San Diego Sports Arena, Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay, Valley View Casino and other venues, said he doesn't see things getting better until spring or next summer. "It's a real concern."

Live Nation, the world's largest concert and live-events production company, is hoping for a quick fix. It's determined to lure money-pinched music fans now, at a time when national ticket prices average $62, an increase of 5.9 percent from 2007.

For 14 hours on July 18, Live Nation offered discounted $10 tickets to more than 40 upcoming concerts, "while supplies last." The Los Angeles-based company didn't say how many tickets would be available.

Live Nation yesterday cited the "escalating transportation costs" faced by audiences for its decision.

"We thought this would be a fun thing to do for our fans," said Nick Masters, president of Live Nation/Southern California. "We tried it in another part of the country and it woke up the market to what shows were happening there."

Live Nation announced the 30 shows in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire for which it offered $10 tickets.

"So far, in spite of the economic situation affecting the country, our ticket sales this year have been very good for all types of shows," Live Nation's Masters said. "We are looking forward to the rest of the year."

Others aren't.

"We have a looming disaster," said Los Angeles entertainment attorney Bob Lefestz. "We have new acts nobody wants to see and old acts that have been touring, ad infinitum. Mix in $5-per-gallon gas and the results are predictable."

But the live-music market can be volatile even in better economic times.

We saw the bottom drop out of the concert market in 2004 — for no apparent reason — when all genres took a dive, and the worry is that's about to happen again," said Gary Bongiovanni, publisher of Pollstar, the concert industry's leading trade publication.

"We have to be careful going forward, because a lot of forecasts predict that as bad as things are now, they are going to get worse. And a lot of the summer concert tours were planned earlier, when gas prices weren't as bad and the economy wasn't as dicey."

One concert-goer, San Diego State University junior Faryar Borhani, 20, is already cautious.

"Last summer, I went to four or five concerts; this summer, I've only gone to one," he said. "Because of ticket and gas prices going through the roof, I won't be going to any more."

To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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