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CNN Live Event/Special

Interview With Anthony DeCurtis

Aired May 30, 2003 - 19:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's talk some music. It seems like only yesterday that Mick Jagger said that he'd rather die than be performing "Satisfaction" at 45. Well, guess what? That was 1970. Sir Mick is in his 60th year now and he is still singing. And as we just showed you on our lists, so are lots of other rock stars decades after they got started.
So as we head into the summer concert season, fans are still filling houses and flicking their lighters for Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles and many others. What's the secret to their staying power? Let's bring in Anthony DeCurtis, senior editor of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Good to have you with us here on Friday night.

ANTHONY DECURTIS, SENIOR EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": Pleasure to be here.

KAGAN: No shortage of, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) PC to say aging rockers?

(CROSSTALK)

DECURTIS: Aging is lot nicer than some other terms people have used.

KAGAN: Seniors, preowned, something like that.

Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the acts. Bruce Springsteen, the king of all of them. Is that fair to say?

DECURTIS: Yes. Certainly this summer, Bruce is doing a huge stadium tour. And it's quite remarkable just in this economy that anybody can sustain a big tour like that.

KAGAN: but we're talking 10 shows, stadium shows sold out just in New Jersey?

DECURTIS: Just in New Jersey. I don't think anybody's ever done that before. That's over half a million tickets just in his home state which he once described his relationship to New Jersey as like Santa Clause to the North Pole.

KAGAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I mean it is his some state.

DECURTIS: This really proves it. I mean they'll be great shows. KAGAN: You know in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there's some Bruce fans that probably have bought tickets to all ten shows just because they have to. All right, some others. The eagles just played Atlanta. Huge -- big, expensive tickets for these shows.

DECURTIS: Yes, the Eagles are topping out at about $175 a ticket. And that's one aspect I think of these kind of older artists who are going on. People are looking for value. It's a bad economy. People don't have a lot of money to spend. So if they're going to shell out for a show, they'd rather spend $175 to hear the Eagles do all their great songs than take a chance.

KAGAN: Nothing desperado about $175.

DECURTIS: Exactly.

KAGAN: Fleetwood Mac is out there again, but not all of the members there are.

DECURTIS: No, that's very true. Christine McVie is sitting this one out. In fact, she's left the band. But you still have Stevie Nicks, you still have Lindsey Buckingham and their shows are great. They released a new album this year that it hasn't been so exciting, but again.

(CROSSTALK)

DECURTIS: ... the two great giants of the '70s in a lot of ways, along with Springsteen, actually. But the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were two of the big, big bands of the time and they're still out there doing big business.

KAGAN: And then there's the farewell tour of Cher. Farewell yet again.

(CROSSTALK)

DECURTIS: That's exactly it. It's part of almost that kind of Hollywood thing. I'm retiring. There's a kind of sort of divaesque aspect of that.

But again you know Cher, both because of her musical career, you know, her acting, there's a lot of people who have strong feelings for her and she's been out there year after year and has been doing extremely well.

KAGAN: Any duds out there that, you know, it's not just so easy just to be an older rocker and go out on the road?

DECURTIS: Yes, there are a couple of festivals that are going on this summer that you wonder about. There's one called Rockfest in July and there's another one called the Moondance Jam. Both of those are in the Midwest over the summer. And you have, like, a sort of Sammy Haggar and Alice Cooper and groups like this that don't necessarily have a huge following at this point teaming up for a few days to see if they could draw an audience. And we shall see. KAGAN: We shall see. See you out there at the concerts.

DECURTIS: Yes, indeed.

KAGAN: Anthony DeCurtis from "Rolling Stone." Appreciate it.

DECURTIS: Pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 30, 2003 - 19:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's talk some music. It seems like only yesterday that Mick Jagger said that he'd rather die than be performing "Satisfaction" at 45. Well, guess what? That was 1970. Sir Mick is in his 60th year now and he is still singing. And as we just showed you on our lists, so are lots of other rock stars decades after they got started.
So as we head into the summer concert season, fans are still filling houses and flicking their lighters for Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles and many others. What's the secret to their staying power? Let's bring in Anthony DeCurtis, senior editor of "Rolling Stone" magazine. Good to have you with us here on Friday night.

ANTHONY DECURTIS, SENIOR EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE": Pleasure to be here.

KAGAN: No shortage of, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) PC to say aging rockers?

(CROSSTALK)

DECURTIS: Aging is lot nicer than some other terms people have used.

KAGAN: Seniors, preowned, something like that.

Let's go ahead and take a look at some of the acts. Bruce Springsteen, the king of all of them. Is that fair to say?

DECURTIS: Yes. Certainly this summer, Bruce is doing a huge stadium tour. And it's quite remarkable just in this economy that anybody can sustain a big tour like that.

KAGAN: but we're talking 10 shows, stadium shows sold out just in New Jersey?

DECURTIS: Just in New Jersey. I don't think anybody's ever done that before. That's over half a million tickets just in his home state which he once described his relationship to New Jersey as like Santa Clause to the North Pole.

KAGAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I mean it is his some state.

DECURTIS: This really proves it. I mean they'll be great shows. KAGAN: You know in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) there's some Bruce fans that probably have bought tickets to all ten shows just because they have to. All right, some others. The eagles just played Atlanta. Huge -- big, expensive tickets for these shows.

DECURTIS: Yes, the Eagles are topping out at about $175 a ticket. And that's one aspect I think of these kind of older artists who are going on. People are looking for value. It's a bad economy. People don't have a lot of money to spend. So if they're going to shell out for a show, they'd rather spend $175 to hear the Eagles do all their great songs than take a chance.

KAGAN: Nothing desperado about $175.

DECURTIS: Exactly.

KAGAN: Fleetwood Mac is out there again, but not all of the members there are.

DECURTIS: No, that's very true. Christine McVie is sitting this one out. In fact, she's left the band. But you still have Stevie Nicks, you still have Lindsey Buckingham and their shows are great. They released a new album this year that it hasn't been so exciting, but again.

(CROSSTALK)

DECURTIS: ... the two great giants of the '70s in a lot of ways, along with Springsteen, actually. But the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac were two of the big, big bands of the time and they're still out there doing big business.

KAGAN: And then there's the farewell tour of Cher. Farewell yet again.

(CROSSTALK)

DECURTIS: That's exactly it. It's part of almost that kind of Hollywood thing. I'm retiring. There's a kind of sort of divaesque aspect of that.

But again you know Cher, both because of her musical career, you know, her acting, there's a lot of people who have strong feelings for her and she's been out there year after year and has been doing extremely well.

KAGAN: Any duds out there that, you know, it's not just so easy just to be an older rocker and go out on the road?

DECURTIS: Yes, there are a couple of festivals that are going on this summer that you wonder about. There's one called Rockfest in July and there's another one called the Moondance Jam. Both of those are in the Midwest over the summer. And you have, like, a sort of Sammy Haggar and Alice Cooper and groups like this that don't necessarily have a huge following at this point teaming up for a few days to see if they could draw an audience. And we shall see. KAGAN: We shall see. See you out there at the concerts.

DECURTIS: Yes, indeed.

KAGAN: Anthony DeCurtis from "Rolling Stone." Appreciate it.

DECURTIS: Pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com