Lubbock Can Learn Over Foo Fighters Minneapolis Cancellation

This is a pretty big topic and I wish we had a bigger dog in the fight.

The Foo Fighters canceled a Minneapolis tour date because they say the venue would not let them enforce COVID restrictions (below). Of course, since everything is political and everyone is an expert they are taking a lot of heat.

Of course, one side says they're heroes for taking the side of safety while the other side calls them every preposterous name in the book and throws out every lame conspiracy theory-based claim about COVID.  What bothers me is that no one looks at what things like this truly are and that's the economics.

There are three things to consider with a band as big as the Foo Fighters. There's the money they could make, the money they would have to spend, and the actual arrangements that would have to make if the tour had to stop. Throw everything else in the discussion out the window except for those three things.

Based on some show returns, the Foos probably make between 750,000 and 1.4 million (that was the take on their Madison Square Garden show).  They play about three shows a week with a day between, so let's just say each week they rake in around two million bucks (two weeks lost, four million bucks, and so on).

Next up, if the tour has to stop, people still have to get paid. They probably have a crew of at least 40 that are on the clock 24/7. The tour has to pay their wages, and usually their food and lodging as well.

Next up are the logistics of a tour stop. It's one thing to reserve 40 hotel rooms six months in advance, but what are the chances the same hotel can keep you put up for multiple days with no warning? Where do you park your trucks? Let's also not forget that some of this crew is probably booked on other tours and if there are delayed shows they may not be available.

So go ahead and math those things out, at least the ones that are math-able. When it comes to logistics it's a total crapshoot. All of this is saying one thing and that is, you don't get to criticize the band if you're not paying their bills. If Dave goes down for two weeks, that's four million bucks minimum. You'd be a damn liar if you said you'd take that chance.

Lastly, these decisions most likely are dictated by the tour insurance and probably have little to nothing to do with any band member or person in the organization.  Still, if the Foo Fighters want to play Lubbock and require every person in the audience to wear a doggy suit, then I'm buying some floppy ears.