It�s concentrated to complain about the Red Sox [team stats]� �something for everyone� approach to rock �n� roll. But now that Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffett, the Police, Dave Matthews Band and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are Fenway Park [map] alums, we need to deal with one really important way out: When is U2 eventually going to play?
Next year, right?
If only it were that simple.
�People think that it�s up to us, but it�s really up to the artists,� said Larry Cancro,senior vice president of Fenway personal business. �Most of the multitude that played Fenway contacted us. And it�s a lot harder to put these pieces together than the public thinks. It�s not scarcely, �Hey, let�s get U2.� �
While Cancro says it�s silly to speculate or fantasize well-nigh who�s on deck for 2009, we just can�t help it. Here ar the bands whom we�re betting are in Fenway�s future - and the tough odds they�ll get to sweep over to acquire the fishgig.
1. U2. Every year rumors whirl that the Irish Fab Four will be rocking the Sox home. And every twelvemonth fans� hopes are squashed. Early concluding summer, the Edge told the Herald his set would love to play Fenway. So what�s the problem?
Bands of U2�s height often rule book tours more than a year in advance; baseball game schedules are finalized in August for the next year. This makes the timing rugged. Plus, Fenway officials were less than thrilled when the Stones� behemoth stage tore up the outfield in 2005.
�The Rolling Stones weren�t a perfect conform to for Fenway because their production was too big,� aforementioned Cancro. �U2 has a huge production, too. Usually we�re looking for more moderate stages.�
2. James Taylor. Taylor was asked to play the night later on Diamond this weekend, simply wasn�t interested. Why? The public answer was programming, but some speculate Sweet Baby James didn�t have the draw of �Sweet Caroline.� With his local roots, Taylor�s an obvious pick, but not if he has to fight to fill up Fenway for a single night - especially since Cancro says they�re genuinely looking for artists world Health Organization can easily pack the ballpark on consecutive nights.
3. Aerosmith. They�re massive, they�re local and playing Fenway would be one of the few feathers the Boston Bad Boys don�t have in their caps - they�ve already rocked Gillette, the Boston Pops, the Comcast Center when it was both the Tweeter Center and Great Woods, and iI different Gardens. But they�ve got both U2�s and Taylor�s problems: big stage production and small(er) draw.
It�s lamentable, but 70,000 tickets are tough for Aerosmith to sell here at home. They�d lose mucho face going away seats abandon that the Police filled.
- jgottlieb@bostonherald.com
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