Okay, so I'm going to try to answer the two or three posts before this...
TMBJon @ February 24, 2009 06:58 pm wrote:
OK I know nothing about inter-island travel, but don't they have ferries? I highly doubt Al would be flying between the islands on a commercial flight with all the costumes, light rigging, instruments, mixing equipment, etc.
I would assume he would charter a small boat that could transport all the equipment for each show.
First off, we actually
don't have a ferry system yet..
If you look it up, you might find info stating otherwise, but that is mostly because of this incredibly annoying and stupid event that happened - (feel free to skip over the next paragraph if you want, as it is only a long explanation of our non-existent ferry system.)
*Start Rant*
The state tried to fund an inter-island ferry system that would travel between 4 of the islands, and also allow vehicles to be transported on them. The boat travel time was only going to be about 2 to 3 hours or so between each island. WELL! A bunch of eco-conservationists protested the system. They tried to pass several different bills that would shut down the ferry, and any attempts to get it running again. However, due to the enormous amount of overall support for the ferry system (and it had been trying to get the system started for about THIRTY years already), it went ahead and built two or three different ferries, upgraded several ports on three of the four planned islands, and brought the ferries out to our state. On the opening day, ironically, the protesters managed to find a legal loophole that required the ferry to undergo several more months to years of Eco testing that would see if it would negatively affect the whale migration and reefs out here (which the ferry actually had planned for and had top of the line equipment for preventative measures for this..) SO! They managed to get the entire system shut down, after only ONE service. I'm not sure if they will re-open the system or not, but I have heard many rumors that because of the Eco 'friendly' protesters (which ironically in the process of protesting numerous times, they have harmed MULTIPLE whales with their boats running aground to them), the company went bankrupt.
*End Rant*
So, if Al plans on getting any of his equipment inter-island, he will either have to charter his own boat, use the freight ships (which can take between one to two weeks to get anywhere), or use the airlines.
NHWeirdAlFan @ February 23, 2009 8:35 pm wrote:
Do you REALLY think they could book 7 shows in Hawaii all within the same 2 weeks or so? I can't imagine that they could draw enough people to go to all of the shows. Is there an unusually high concentration of Weird Al fans on all of the islands of Hawaii?
I love Weird Al like crazy, and I've seen him in concert twice...so far. In the future, I will see him whenever he comes to New England.
The population of New England is more than 10 times that of Hawaii, and we have plenty of big concert venues.
However, he doesn't even have 7 shows in New England in one year, never mind within a period of a couple weeks.
Well, you need to take into consideration that it is rare that people travel to the other islands just to see an artist. The only times people travel inter-island for these concerts are when there are only one or two shows planned, and won't come to their personal island, and even then, those who do that are usually HUGE fans of the artist. So if people saw Al had plans to come to
their island, it would be more likely that they wouldn't go to the other islands, and those who wouldn't have the money to do traveling, would be able to afford the local venue and would go locally. It is quite an expensive thing to travel to another island (between one to two hundred dollars round trip, PLUS you would need to stay over since most shows with Al are evening to night time, so that's another 100 or more dollars...)
You guys need to remember that even though you may not get several Weird Al shows in New England, that is because any of the venues that would have him play, are within driving distance of each other. The state of Hawaii is BY FAR a huge different exception - it isn't as simple as just driving an hour or two to see another show. We must plan our trips, and cross many, many miles of water to get to these places!
Hawai'i (island) Population -
148,677
Maui Population -
117,644
Lana'i Population -
3,193
Molaka'i Population -
7,404
Oahu Population -
876,151
Kua'i Population -
58,303
As you can see, it isn't like we have a teeny tiny population here...I could see it viable to have concerts on at least Hawai'i, Maui, Kua'i, and definitely Oahu. The Big Island could definitely handle at least two shows, one on Kona (west) side, and another on Hilo (east) side.
Maui would probably merit one,
possibly two shows, due to it's similar population to that of the Big Island. I highly doubt Lana'i or Molaka'i would be able to handle concerts, unless they were very small, but even then, it's not like you can expect
half of the islands populations to come to the shows...
Oahu could very
easily handle two, or maybe even three shows. I am pretty sure that there at least three or four venues on Oahu that can handle large crowds, one of which isn't in Honolulu or Waikiki I believe...
So it isn't like if Al came here, he wouldn't get his money worth, but it would obviously require plenty of prior advertising, planning, and careful arrangements to make it even feasible. And like I said before, the people out here are different than your typical mainland concert goer - most of the people out here are either retired couples and millionaires that have come here to escape the stress of the busy life, or local families and some tourist families that don't get out into the bustle of crowds too often - casual concert goers.
But I'm sure Weird Al is popular enough out here to get quite a few people to go! It is by
far not an impossible idea. In fact, I hope that he WILL come out here within the next few years. I will go to every single show he has!