I heard 95.5 giving out Adam Sandler tickets today. I figured he was playing a small venue like the Park West. Nope, he's playing the United Center, as well as several other large venues around the country. I can't imagine there are 20,000 people in Chicago interested in seeing Adam Sandler live, but maybe I'm wrong.

https://nypost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v ... -venues%2F

He’s in this weird zone of people who are well liked but aren’t necessarily good at the things that made them well liked.

So…maybe? Idk, maybe there are 20,000 Gen Xers out there who’ll line up to hear all him do voices from They’re All Gonna Laugh at You!. A nostalgia tour s'il vous plaît. The Stones have been milking the boomers for decades, so why not.

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Yes.

At the very least he can buy it out himself and show how relevant he is for publicity.

But I’d watch it.

For free.

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You know me like that.

He's no George Carlin.

Maybe? Andrew Dice Clay sold out the Palace in Auburn Hills. Was he as popular? I don't think his movies were.

Dice at his height was definitely more popular than Sandler.

Trevor Noah played the UC and even though it is fueled by him having a tv show...its Trevor Noah.

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Nah, Gen X ain't that foolish. Sandler's Happy Madison shit-stream films are popular with millennials and gen zers or whatever the youngins are called. college age niece asked to put on a favorite movie of hers on thanksgiving and she netflixed some atrocity with david spade as the leading dude with a bunch of 90's retreads supporting cast. complete shite film. Spade seemed embarrassed to be in it even. 10 minutes in Spade started giving the camera this double-take look like "wait--you're still watching this crap?! "

Big arena comedy shows are skippable. Unlike say a rock show, comedy doesn't benefit from the larger audience experience. Every comedian who books these large arena shows ends up shitting their pants and defaulting to their greatest hits set with zero point except to put in enough time on stage to make sure the check clears.

Saw Louis Ck first time he played Chicago Theater; he was nervous and all over the place, not his best set. He talked about it later how he kept going back to the most basic, time-worn material he had and not really delivering the type of show he usually does in comedy club/smaller venue. Not even using any of the new material he was telling every night in other smaller stops on that tour.

Actually made the mistake of paying the inflated ticket prices to see Eddie Izzard at the UC and Eddie fucking sucked as that show. Had seem him a few times at like the Royal George or another broadway style venue but this UC show was unfuckably bad.

Probably the worst in terms of ticket price and show not delivered was Jon Stewart at the Rosemont. looked like stewart rolled out of bed in New York, flew to Chicago right before the show in the clothes he slept in and was racing through his set to get back on a plane home to NY. What really sucked is it was originally billed as a "Daily Show" live tour event--with Stewart + the other folks on the Daily show at the time (Colbert, Bee, et al). By the time the show rolled around, it was just fucking Jon Stewart talking about changing diapers for 70 minutes for like 100+ dollars a pop incl TM fees (expensive for 2008/2009).

i don't really think a rock show does either...you'd rather see a band play at the United Center vs. Metro or Empty Bottle?

Depends on the band, what seats in the UC....Empty Bottle is pretty shit for sold out shows--comfortable for most shows, but if they pack folks in it's a nightmare to do anything except stand perfectly still. Metro pretty much the same. Great place to see a below capacity show, maybe the best for seeing/hearing a band in Chicago. But once they oversell and pack everyone cheek-by-jowl, the fun quotient descends rapidly.

There is something to seeing say the Pixies with 15000 people singing along or Daft Punk's big stage production that you really couldn't fit in Metro or Empty Bottle.

I tend to agree. I'm not certain Sandler could have gotten 20,000 people to pay to see him live in 1994, let alone 2023.

Yeah, don't get the Trevor Noah bit, a South African dude talking US politics, but I guess it's much safer living in the US and making fun of right wingers on low rated cable TV than going on TV in South Africa and making fun of anyone.

There is rather sizable group of left wing political TV types that get a lot of hype despite the fact they are on TV every day and have a very small number of people that choose to watch them, all of the View members, Noah, Morning Joe, Lemon, and everyone on MSNBC.

Yea, i mean the seats in the UC are so spacious....

You mentioned Daft Punk, so i might agree that a theatrical type show with lights and fireworks and stuff would be better to see in an arena type setting. But we were originally talking about rock shows, so yea no way i want to see any actual rock band play in arena vs. a small club. Hell I kinda wanted to see Pavement, but Pavement at the Chicago Theatre ? Really ?

The Riv and the Aragon are my ideal venues. I fully get that some bands and comedians warrant a larger venue, but I'm taking the smaller places in any kind of setting.

My biggest problem is this obsession with concerts at baseball stadiums. That needs to stop.

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The Riv and the Aragon aren't really small venues

No, but they're not arenas or amphitheaters either. They are the best of both worlds.

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Despite the white stuff flying outside I'll stay away from the over-used term, but you really seem to be overly sensitive to this kind of thing.

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