Rockwave Sales Drop By Half

The country’s economic woes caused attendance at Greece’s Rockwave Festival to drop by half, even though promoter Nick Loris had cut the ticket price by about 30 percent.

The three-day event near Athens pulled a total crowd of 35,000 and Loris reckons bands will need to cut their fees if they want to return to Greece.

In 2008 the festival did 35,000 per day, and it regularly has daily crowds of 20,000-plus.

“Even though the artists’ fees have remained at the same levels, we chose to lower our ticket prices by 30 percent,” he told Pollstar. “However, the Greek fans, who are going through a really difficult period, still couldn’t afford the tickets and this resulted in a 50 percent drop in sales.

“If the artists wish to continue choosing Greece as one of their destinations, they will have to redefine their fees to allow us to lower the prices even more,” he said.

The opening day with a bill that included The Locos, The Last Drive, and Nashville Pussy did only 5,000. The second day headlined by Ozzy Osbourne & Friends and Machine Head pulled 18,000, but the crowd for the third day on the Terra Vibes site – headed by The Prodigy and Iggy & The Stooges – was back down to 12,000.

Other acts on the Rockwave lineup June 30 to July 2 included Paradise Lost, Unisonic, Planet Of Zeus and Everlast.