The music may sound fresh and the crowd surely will be frenzied, but nostalgia will be an unavoidable theme when reggae-flavored rock giants The Police hit the stage Friday night at Marcus Amphitheater.

With only a few dates left on what they are proclaiming to be their final tour, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland will pause to smell the roses while pounding out hits like "Roxanne" and "Spirits in the Material World" and "Every Breath You Take."

For many fans of the band, which bypassed Milwaukee last season, Friday's final encore may symbolize a different kind of ending:

The end of the era of the mega-concert experience.

With the record industry in shambles and the economy sputtering, it's only natural to wonder how much longer music fans will shell out big bucks for big concerts. Top tickets to see the Police and opening act Elvis Costello and the Imposters cost $200.

Wednesday night, Front Row Tickets advertised fourth-row seats in Section 2 for $1,248 apiece. Cheaper seats were available on Craigslist.com ($325 for a pair of seats in the 30th row) and Stubhub.com, which had some reserved seats in Section 8 for $277.75 each.

Bleacher and unreserved lawn seats were floating around for $30 to $70. As is often the case, the supply of cheaper seats outpaced the supply of "prime" seats.

"There was a time a few years ago when I booked a band for what I thought was a ridiculous amount of money," recalled Bob Babisch, the vice president of entertainment for Summerfest.

"I remember thinking to myself 'That's it. We can't go on like this. It's crazy.' Well, things have only gone up since then. And, I don't think they're going to come down any time soon."

In this era of radio homogenization and digital downloads, artists have a hard time making money from CD sales and rely on touring and merchandise sales for the bulk of their revenue.

With gas prices increasing, indie bands who travel in vans have felt the crunch. The Police, who grossed $171 million last year, feel it in a different way.

"The Police has become this huge monster. And we're proud of this enormous monster we've created. But it owns us," Copeland told Post-Gazette writer Scott Mervis.

"The Police doesn't belong to Sting, Andy and me anymore -- we belong to The Police. In terms of the entity that is The Police, the band, the 200 roadies, the equipment, the plane, the trucks, all those people, we need to show up on stage for two hours a day to sustain this huge machine.

"I screw up, I trip, I stub my toe, break my hand, Sting gets a cold, something like that, (screws) it all up. Our bodies don't even belong to us anymore -- we're wrapped in bubble wrap, we're surrounded by people who make sure we're going to get to that stage, fully equipped to play that show, and it's my duty to deliver up this body of mine, my knees, my elbows, my nose, I have to deliver that (stuff) up, ready to play. And it's kind of a responsibility.

"The music doesn't even belong to us anymore, it belongs to the people in whose lives its woven. Everyone grew up to these songs, they got married, they got divorced, they got fired, they got 'whatever' with this music as a soundtrack, and they want to hear it the way they want to hear it."

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Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by CoolerKing on July 25, 2008 at 7:33 a.m. (report)

Big concerts just aren't that fun anymore. Years ago, bands had a great stage set-up (Stones, Bowie, Queen) that actually showed they gave some thought. Nothing wrong with minimalism, but why shell out big bucks to hear songs (that actual sound better at home on your entertainment system) and see a band that you can barely see from your seats? And outdoor concerts that used to have a casual festival type atmosphere are so restrictive now regarding carry-ins. The best way for big concerts to survive is to use the Lollapalooza formula and have a bunch of bands perform over the course of a day.

Posted by curlyboy1978 on July 24, 2008 at 3:59 p.m. (report)

Thank god for those cheaper shows at the Pabst, Turner Hall, Rave, etc!!

Posted by mikeb on July 24, 2008 at 3:31 p.m. (report)

I believe that as long as a group comes in and delivers the goods so to speak that you will continue to see prices go up in the concert industry. It costs a good amount of money to go see Bruce Springsteen, but if you buy a ticket you can take comfort in the fact that you know Bruce is going to deliver an outstanding show more often that not. Good professional bands like Springsteen, U2, The Police, etc. can charge what they want so long as they back it up.

Posted by wiscoleeds on July 24, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. (report)

Jimmy Buffett doesn't have any trouble selling out Alpine EVERY year! Cheers Wiscoleeds