The Police are still on...

[barnes-z]

So your friend is Ian McAndrew?

No, not Ian McAndrew.
Not personal manager, label manager (Sony).

I still believe him...

[Yablonowitz]

Madonna wasn't a headliner and she's as bigas and influential as the police

Perhaps, but Madonna wasn't a headliner because she is into dance music lately and could do a Sahara tent gig. Daft Punk wasn't the headliner on Saturday either.

The Police aren't playing because I don't see any of those three acts willingly giving up their headliner status. Not that I have a fucking clue how things work with Goldenvoice and this festival, but I'm fairly confident that it's part of the agreement to the headliners that that's how they'll be billed. You couldn't add the Police in and bump off RHCP, RATM, or Bjork. And The Police could simply not be anything but a headliner if they played.

[Tylerdurden31]

Madonna wasn't a headliner and she's as bigas and influential as the police

Perhaps, but Madonna wasn't a headliner because she is into dance music lately and could do a Sahara tent gig. Daft Punk wasn't the headliner on Saturday either.

The Police aren't playing because I don't see any of those three acts willingly giving up their headliner status. Not that I have a fucking clue how things work with Goldenvoice and this festival, but I'm fairly confident that it's part of the agreement to the headliners that that's how they'll be billed. You couldn't add the Police in and bump off RHCP, RATM, or Bjork. And The Police could simply not be anything but a headliner if they played.

I disagree. Pixies, 2004.

[Yablonowitz]

I really don't appreciate you referring to a Coachella year that I wasn't around for, tylerdurden. If that's your real name.

What happened with that? Who was the headliner before Pixies were added?

[shotglass75]

Pixies were always on the line up from Day One and Radiohead was always ahead of them. I just think since The Pixies were such a huge reunion that pretty much the entire crowd considered them headliners. Rightfully so.

[Tylerdurden31]

I really don't appreciate you referring to a Coachella year that I wasn't around for, tylerdurden. If that's your real name.

What happened with that? Who was the headliner before Pixies were added?

no no...my point was that Radiohead headlined...Pixies went on before them. ie: Pixies are more influential than Radiohead, but still weren't made headliners

[Yablonowitz]

no no...my point was that Radiohead headlined...Pixies went on before them. ie: Pixies are more influential than Radiohead, but still weren't made headliners

Oh, they played the same day. Shit, I didn't know that. Who was the headliner the other day?

[sweet artie]

According to KIIS FM... Supposedly the KROQ pre-sale password is "Roxanne" so...

[Peabs42177]

The Cure

[york707]

but I'm fairly confident that it's part of the agreement to the headliners that that's how they'll be billed.

I agree.

And The Police could simply not be anything but a headliner if they played.

I disagree. See Durden's comments.

According to KIIS FM... Supposedly the KROQ pre-sale password is "Roxanne" so...

Really? Please elaborate.

[C DUB YA]

Let's hope its not a game, because that would be crummy of GV.

[lust-e]

The Police are extremely talented musicians. Expect them to be great live, whether it be at Coachella or Bonarroo.

[SnowShoe]

Here's Why The Police Will Play Coachella:

1. GV would never screw with fans by making their TM password "ROXANNE" unless The Police were confirmed. They are not desperate.

2. The Police will probably be opening the Grammy Awards on Feb. 11. They won't announce their "reunion" until that show.

3. The Police tour will be the largest of the year. Their managers are probably working out the details with 100 venues right now.

4. When The Police officially announce their reunion, there will be a date of April 27th in Indio, CA. Mark my words.

[sweet artie]

Yesterday afternoon/early evening KIIS FM jocks were talking about Coachella. They started talking about the rumored Police reunion. They mention the password for the Coachella pre-sale being "Roxanne". That's about all that was said...

[sweet artie]

I also heard about The Police opening the Grammy's and a possible show @ Dodger Stadium this summer...

[CiderMouseRules]

There will be plenty of police at Coachella, and Zack de la Rocka will taunt them.

[montague]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/buzz..._by_the_r.html
Busted by the rumor police

Coachella, don't stand so close to me: Let's just arrest that talk about the Police playing this year's festival.

The massive gathering in Indio may be unofficially subtitled the Great Reunion in the Desert (with Rage Against the Machine, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Crowded House and the Happy Mondays taking bows together again), but don't believe the hype that Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland are back in synchronicity for a stop at the Empire Polo Field. The whispers gained traction this weekend when a presale of tickets for repeat customers presented the cryptic password "Roxanne." But turn on the red light.

"No, the Police are not playing, I can tell you that," promoter Paul Tollett tells Times staffer Geoff Boucher. "This is the show right now as it's going to be on the big stages. The main-stage lineup and second-stage lineup for all three days are locked in."

[york707]

Sweet jesus sweet artie, I was kidding. There are 193,248 threads about that here. And, as montague pointed out, Paul Tollett said the Police are ano-go.

The big add will be a Saraha tent add.

[braundiggity]

Pixies were always on the line up from Day One and Radiohead was always ahead of them. I just think since The Pixies were such a huge reunion that pretty much the entire crowd considered them headliners. Rightfully so.

Pixies aren't headlining material. Influential? Hell yes. Great? Absolutely. Popular? Not exactly. Not on the level of a headliner. They didn't have the radio play or album sales of a headliner. They generated a ton of excitement, absolutely, but so does Arcade Fire, and they're absolutely not headlining material (and no, I'm not equating the greatness of those two bands). You have to remove yourself from your personal opinion of the band and look at them objectively in terms of widespread popularity.

As such, The Police *would* headline. They had the radio hits, the album sales, and the continuing popularity (and radio play) to be a major, major headliner.

But they won't play. Unless they decide they want to do a tent tour instead of a stadium tour, and play in the Gobi or something, haha.

[RockStr4Life]

None of the headliners would be willing to bump their spots...and the Police wouldn't settle for anything less than a headlining spot for this magnitude of a reunion. It's not gonna happen.

[mountmccabe]

no no...my point was that Radiohead headlined...Pixies went on before them. ie: Pixies are more influential than Radiohead, but still weren't made headliners

Pixies were more influential and all but they have never been a bigger draw than Radiohead.
The Police, however, were huge. Their last US date - June 15, 1985 - was at Giants Stadium. Their last full US tour was also football stadiums or multiple Arena nights. The last two times they were in London they played Wembley four consecutive nights. I can't see them as a pre-headliner.

Oh, they played the same day. Shit, I didn't know that. Who was the headliner the other day?

You learned how to use the quote button!

Here's Why The Police Will Play Coachella:

1. GV would never screw with fans by making their TM password "ROXANNE" unless The Police were confirmed. They are not desperate.

2. The Police will probably be opening the Grammy Awards on Feb. 11. They won't announce their "reunion" until that show.

3. The Police tour will be the largest of the year. Their managers are probably working out the details with 100 venues right now.

4. When The Police officially announce their reunion, there will be a date of April 27th in Indio, CA. Mark my words.

1. If the Police were confirmed I really think they'd be on the poster. And one of those headliners would be either not there or moved to a different day
2. This is a good point.
3. If they're doing a huge tour why would they play Coachella? I can see them playing a number of festivals and call it quits or maybe doing an extended tour of the world but skipping the festivals. I cannot for the life of me seeing them do both.
4. The Police on Friday? Seriously?

But, of course, this is all speculation and guesses.

[GTI_GRL]

They waited last year to announce Madonna when that would have immediately caused a demand for tickets. I'm not entirely ruling out the possibility of The Police, no matter what Dani says. But the more I think about it, the more I'm coming to the conclusion that they just wouldn't fit in. They would definitely fit in at Bonnaroo, however.

Does anyone know how much Madonna made for her set?

[SnowShoe]

Does anyone know how much Madonna made for her set?

If Smiths were offered $5 million and turned it down, how much did Madge make?

Pull $10 out of your wallet. Now add five zeros. That's my guess.

[crazzz2007]

I really don't appreciate you referring to a Coachella year that I wasn't around for, tylerdurden. If that's your real name.

What happened with that? Who was the headliner before Pixies were added?

i'm sorry you missed 2004....you picked a very bad year to miss.

the pixies and radiohead were basically co-headliners. i don't see a problem with coachella adding the police or an act of that statute and billing them as co-headliners with rhcp.

[crazzz2007]

oh, and the last act to play the main stage isn't necessarily the headliner.

[faxman75]

I love how the debate continues even after the article that quotes the guy who puts on Coachella says there will be no more mainstage or second stage acts added. HA!

[mountmccabe]

If Smiths were offered $5 million and turned it down, how much did Madge make?

Pull $10 out of your wallet. Now add five zeros. That's my guess.

The Smiths, however, were not offered $5 million. Morrissey was joking or lying.

68,000 paying customers (it's probably less than that) x $85 per ticket (something like that) = $5,780,000.

Giving the Smiths $5 million would leave less than a million for the other 45 arists along with all the staff, crew, electricity, rental fees and so on.

I'd guess Madonna was more along the lines of a couple hundred thousand.

[bmack86]

John, you have to multiply that by two to get the two days. They probably grossed around $12,000,000 before paying anyone, over the course of two days. Actually, less, since tickets were less than 85 last year, but still.

[Sexecutioner]

Yesterday afternoon/early evening KIIS FM jocks were talking about Coachella. They started talking about the rumored Police reunion. They mention the password for the Coachella pre-sale being "Roxanne". That's about all that was said...

you listen to KIIS FM? what are you doing here?

[mountmccabe]

My ticket from last year says $83.50. I guess and was close enough for a rough estimate.

What I'm really saying is that to pay the Smiths $5 mill for Coachella 2006 with those ticket prices GoldenVoice would've made $4.5 million less than they did. With a gross from the tickets for two days at about $11.5 there's no way they profitted anywhere even close to $4.5 million.

Throw in merch and camping and food/drinks (all of which have their own costs) and I simply refuse to believe that they pulled in that much over expenses.

And if they did then they're doing it for the money anyway and basically it'd be GoldenVoice footing the bill for the Smiths. Put another way if they're overcharging us that much they weren't going to pay $4.5 million extra to switch from Depeche Mode or Tool (or to switch out an undercard artist) for the Smiths.

It sold out (or at least nearly did) without the Smiths... they'd be getting nothing for that marginal investment. Unless they were going to raise ticket prices to $120 per day or something.

Script.

ps - the $500k for the headliner is a guess and it's probably high too.

pps - open question for anyone/everyone: if you were offered the choice of $4.5 million or a one-off festival gig from the Smiths... which would you choose?