Hello, recently I attended a Dixie Melody Boys concert, it was awesome!  During one of the times that Ed O’Neill spoke, he said they had got rid of their bus and were now driving this big Dodge van (which they had with them that night).  Said that he knows God wants us to be good stewards of our money and he felt that continuing driving that bus (which we know all buses and motorhomes are gas hogs), was not being a good steward, so therefore he got the van and it gets much better gas mileage.  Don’t imagine the accomodations are quite as roomy, but…..  At any rate, do you think other groups will be considering this as well due to the high gas prices?

Also, do you think gas prices will keep people from attending concerts as much?
I have mixed emotions.  I do see where it can be a problem if you drive a distance, but then again…. last month I went to a weekend gospel sing in a different state from where I reside, and it was a sold out event for the first time, many people from many states!

Pico…

I think the price of gas is affecting concert attendance at least to some degree.  We just attended the Great Western Southern Gospel Music Fan Festival which was 250 miles from home, so a round trip is 500 miles and then you add three nights in a motel for $100.00 a night + meals.  If you add up travel, meals and room it cost our group approximately $2,800.00 for the five of us for the 3 day weekend.

You have to figure that fuel costs have almost doubled from last year.  I’ll have to tell you that an RV or a large van is looking better all the time.

With the price of gas and diesel as it is with no drastic reduction in sight at least not in the near future, it will not only affect the Fans, but the Artists as well. The Major Booking Agencies, will have to re-vamp things from the Financial aspects
of things toward the Artists ane the venues they will schedule Artists in as a number of Churches, will not be able to afford the fees and requirements unless, they are MEGA Churches.  The Medium size and most definitely the smaller Churches will just not be able to provide the Financial requirements of
the Artists and Booking Agencies as they have in the past. So the bottom line, is EVERYONE will have to make major adjustments…Quite a number of groups have sort of “Retired” from the road or totally dis-banded because of the gas and diesel prices. More Artists, will probably be getting in the “Retirement”
mode or doing more down around home singings. Sad, but I do not see any major relief in the immediate future!!.

Tommy;

I agree; “Times are tough, times are hard and He is still in charge and all is right in His kingdom.”  and He also provides our needs.  We don’t have a bus and we drive our personal vehicles and I pull the 10’ trailer for the group.  We’ve done that for the last 4 years.  If we were to go full time, maybe a bus is smart, but right now, NO!  Especially when a fill up of Diesel is $900. + or -

We are in Southern California and most dates are a far distance, so we have to book carefully and frankly look at a map before we say yes, and we must also book multiple dates.  For example, we are singing in Fresno, Ca which is 250 miles away on Friday night, we have also booked a concert on Saturday about 20 miles away and a worship service for Sunday morning.  That is about 600 miles round trip, the fuel cost on that will be about $180. for me.  That covers 3 people, the other two drive their Hybrid and their fuel cost will be 1/2 of mine.  Then we have to cover motel rooms [4] at an average of $100. per night and that’s $1,200.  so you can see we are heavily subsidizing as our gates will not cover everything, oh and food for a piano player and her four singers.

As you can see it’s a labor of love, and I’m not working right now. so…

Just a thought. 

Could we as concert artists turn the gas price problem around for our advantage? 

I did a concert last Sunday AM at a larger church in Shelbyville, TN.  The pastor was concerned that being Memorial Day weekend, attendance might not be as good as usual.  He was surprised by a good turnout! 

I am wondering if the gas prices will keep people home a little bit more, and being home they might be looking for things to do.  Especially on holiday weekends!  A Southern Gospel concert is a wonderful thing to do! 

I really believe communities, especially smaller ones, may be looking for things to support locally.  This gas price problem could become a blessing in disguise!  I realize that it costs more to get there, but if there are more people staying home and being there (as in offering and CD sales increase) it may not be too bad after all. 

I had a wonderful morning!  Praise the Lord!

Brian;  I glad you had a great service and your point is well taken and of course time will tell.

I would think that there would be quite a bit of agreement with you, Brian.  Good point!

I was talking to Robbie Maxwell of New Ground, and they are not using their bus right now, choosing to pull a trailer in back of their SUV instead.  I would think that depending on how far and how many days a group is to travel in a given week/weekend and the number of group members, they may give more consideration to alternatives like that because of the really high gas prices.