Seal for sale: $250 buys ticket to Belly Up show

Michael Goldberg's floor ticket for the Rolling Stones concert last week at Denver's Pepsi Center had a face value of $404. The Aspenite knows people who spent many times that to get a ticket from a scalper.

So Goldberg has some perspective on selling tickets for a top price of $350 for a show by soul singer Seal at the Belly Up, the local music club he owns. Tickets for the Dec. 28 concert went on sale Wednesday to those on the Belly Up e-mail list, and to the general public Friday. The $350 reserved seats are nearly sold out; several hundred $250 general admission tickets are still available.

Goldberg said he had some hesitation about the ticket prices for Seal.

"We're trying to be sensitive to this community, and their ability to pay," he said. "We struggled in terms of what the price should be."

He added that the ticket price is a function of what it costs to book the artist. And in the case of Seal, whose last tour played such venues as Houston's 2,800-seat Arena Theatre and Santa Barbara's 4,500-seat County Bowl, that cost is considerable. Seal's entourage, including five band members, counts some 15 people.

But while he is ambivalent about the price, Goldberg had no trouble making the decision to book the English-born singer who made his name with the his '90s albums "Seal" and "Human Being."

"This is Seal - that's the real issue for me," he said. "The question is, do people want to see this talent?"

The early answer seems to be yes. As of Friday afternoon, only 27 reserved seats were left - fewer than half the number originally made available - while more than 300 general admission tickets were left. Previously, the most expensive concert at the 10-month-old club was for Chris Isaak, in June. That show, at $100, sold out.

Basaltine Bill Miller was on the fence about whether to buy a ticket. He was waiting to see what friends - "if any," he said - would be going. But apart from not being sure if he wanted to pay it, he had no problem with the price.

"I think it's a fair price to see Seal in such a small environment," said Miller, owner of Aspen's Hamilton Sports. "I think it'll be a blast. And I think it's good business on Michael's part. At that time of year, he'll sell it out to people coming from New York and Los Angeles."

Seal's $350 price tag probably doesn't even represent the upper limit that the Belly Up is willing to charge. Goldberg said the club was considering certain acts for its upcoming New Year's Eve show, the club's first for that date, that would have required a $500-$600 ticket.

"And I would have done it for that kind of band," he said. "And I'm sure people would have paid it."

No act has been announced yet for New Year's Eve, though Goldberg indicated it would probably not be a stratospheric ticket price.

Goldberg says there is a benefit to booking the likes of Seal, even for those music fans who can't or won't pay $250. Putting Seal and Isaak on its stage makes artists, and their agents and managers, take notice of the Belly Up.

"We're trying to put this place on the map nationally," Goldberg said. "This gives us exposure, to say to other acts, 'Hey, look what acts have played here.' People will want to come here.

"So the ability to book into March and April comes from that reputation - that the room is a good room, and people will pay to support these acts."

Some local concertgoers worried when the Belly Up opened last January that the new club, in the space previously occupied by the Double Diamond, would cater solely to the high-end ticket-buyer. Goldberg vowed, though, that it was his intention to welcome the broadest spectrum of fans possible. He has delivered on that: The Belly Up has brought in hard-core and hip-hop, jam bands and jazz acts, big names and no-names. The club is open to all ages and has been used for benefit events, movies, televised football games, private parties and Jazz Aspen Snowmass' JAS After Dark concerts. This month's calendar, in addition to Seal, includes hip-hop act Hieruspecs & Tre Hardson (tonight, $8 ticket price); folkie Greg Brown (Dec. 15, $30); rockers Big Head Todd and the Monsters (Dec. 27, $48) and all-female AC/DC tribute band Hell's Belles (Dec. 29, $15).

Not among Goldberg's concerns is whether there is a demand for Seal, even given the ticket price.

"Am I nervous it won't sell out? Not at all," he said. "I think we'll sell every ticket."

Seal, born Sealhenry Samuel to Brazilian and Nigerian parents, is best known for the songs "Prayer for the Dying" and "Kiss From a Rose." Locally, however, he is probably known for the songs he didn't sing. Scheduled as a headliner at Jazz Aspen's 1999 Labor Day Festival, Seal canceled on four days' notice. The cancellation was due to a change in management at the time.

Stewart Oksenhorn's e-mail address is stewart@aspentimes.com