Cutting Crew Replaces MWH

Nick Van Eede and Cutting Crew will be replacing Men Without Hats in the line-up for the 2009 Regeneration Tour. Their page has been added to the website at www.regenerationtour.com. Cutting Crew are best known for their #1 world-wide smash hit (I Just) Died in Your Arms as well as the top 10 U.S. hit Been In Love Before and the top 40 hit One For The Mockingbird

Cutting Crew...very cool. I never had the chance to see them live back in the day, so this will be very cool!
Any hints on this year's merchandise?

Downer. Worst act in either Regen Tour.

What a shame. A really horrible band. They ruin an otherwise great line up. Nice try. How about one of these guys instead:
psychedelic furs
simple minds
Paul Hardcastle
Jo boxers
Terrence Trent D'arby
Madness
Specials
Blow Monkeys
Thomas Dolby
Spandau Ballet
Nick Heyward

Nice try. Appreciate your efforts. Hope there will be a 2010.

I have to disagree, and, as far as Spandau Ballet goes, surely you remember the huge battle in the British High Court in 1999 between the band.....
However, they are re-forming...
yet, Cutting Crew is a good addition to this tour, as it shows diversity.

joboxers wrote:What a shame. A really horrible band. They ruin an otherwise great line up. Nice try. How about one of these guys instead:
psychedelic furs
simple minds
Paul Hardcastle
Jo boxers
Terrence Trent D'arby
Madness
Specials
Blow Monkeys
Thomas Dolby
Spandau Ballet
Nick Heyward

Nice try. Appreciate your efforts. Hope there will be a 2010.

Bet you think this is easy, don't you? Oh....let's just call up the Psychedelic furs and they'll do it! Oh, wait, let's call Simple Minds, they'll surely jump on board too!...... oooooh, how about Duran Duran? Let's call them and have them do it as well! As far as the bigger names, DON'T YOU THINK WE TRY THOSE FIRST?????

Listen, I represent Simple Minds, I talk to Jim Kerr regularly via phone and email.... I've explained in this forum previously, they do not want to be attached to any 80's nostaligia tags, they still play arenas throughout Europe as a headliner and have a new album on a major label out this spring. I understand and respect Jim's point. Psychedelic Furs? I speak with their manager (who also manages Naked Eyes from Regen 08 ) but they have done the Rockin' The Colonies tour a couple times and are not very fresh. Maybe in the future. Paul Hardcastle???? You and whom else would come to see him??? Jo Boxers???? Same thing..... I've got to sell this show to promoters, some of whom are not so sharp when it comes to anything that is not a major name act, especially from 20 years ago when some where not even old enough to be listening to music and 99 out of 100 promoters will not remember or know who they were just as 99 out of 100 typical ticket buyers probably also wouldn't. Terrence Trent D'Arby, we made that call / sent that email.... sometimes you don't get a response. Madness, I wish, those emails were sent, never got a response from their manager. Same thing with The Specials, I've been trying to get their manager to respond since before the holidays and got no response, and I was their agent in the 80's! I've been in touch with a couple of the band but can't get their manager to return my communication so maybe he has no interest in the U.S. for their reunion, maybe they have only agreed to reunite for the UK but it would still be nice for a reply. Blow Monkeys? That thought crossed our minds briefly but we felt there is a lot more name recognition for a band like Cutting Crew and again we need the promoters to recognize the names of the bands we are selling them. Thomas Dolby? Would be nice but I emailed Thomas last year and he emailed me back that he was not interested. Spandau Ballet? I represent lead singer Tony Hadley, Tony would likely have been on this if the Spandau Ballet reunion in the UK was not a reality. Tony is managed by the same firm as ABC so it would have been simple. Unfortunately Spandau are getting huge money to play the reunion tour in the UK and Europe and realize they are not worth the same kind of money in the US where though they had a couple hits (Gold, True) they never acheived the same level of fame. Believe me, it has been discussed with his management. Plus Tony and the Gary Kemp don't really get along, they've actually hired a third manager besides Tony's and Gary's to be a non-partisan head for the upcoming tour. Nick Heyward? I like Nick, booked him after he left Haircut 100 in the 80's. I don't think he would have been any more or less valuable than Cutting Crew on the tour. Perhaps we'll ask him to join us in the future.

There you have it! See? It's not so easy as you thought! The names you mention that mean anything have either rejected us or not replied to us and the rest of the names just don't mean doo doo! So there! Do you understand what we go through to put this bill together? Look how hard getting the 4th act confirmed was? We went through confirmations first with Go West, then with Men Without Hats before finally getting a firm commitment from Cutting Crew at the last minute so we could start to book and confirm the tour. AND I'm happy that Nick was confirmed for us and has been so easy to deal with. If you don't like Cutting Crew, come late! Or don't come! I'm sure there are 10 people who will come to see Cutting Crew for every one like you who would come to see Paul Hardcastle. What else can I tell you? It's a business.

Easy man. Like, I said in the e-mail, nice effort to get tour together. I wish you well. Thanks for the detailed response to my posting.

Thank you, Rick, for setting the record straight on how difficult it can be to get any of these bands on a tour, let alone 4-5 of them at once.
Maybe if people have a better understanding of what it takes to pull a tour like this off, they would have more respect for this type of work ( business ), and appreciate the bands on the bill that much more.

joboxers wrote:Easy man. Like, I said in the e-mail, nice effort to get tour together. I wish you well. Thanks for the detailed response to my posting.

Sorry to sound like I was a bit peeved, but I was! I guess you're new to the forum but everyone always asks .... why can't you get Simple Minds or why can't you get Thompson Twins or sometimes why can't "my favorite 80's band that only me and 10 other people in America know" be on the bill? Then I feel I have to explain it all over again every time and I've done it a few times already. Perhaps I should just locate the post where I address these issues , or maybe use this one, and then refer any new members who post these same questions to these answers. Believe me when I say if you suggest them and they mean anything in the U.S., we've had the exact same thought and have done our best to track them down and speak to them about Regeneration at some point and either have been rejected or got no response or perhaps there was some other reason (i.e timing, etc.). I still keep hoping that one day Tom Bailey will finally say to me "I just spoke to Allanah and she's finally agreed to do a Thompson Twins tour again" but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime Tom and I email every now and then to stay in touch. Sometimes that's the approach you need to take. I've had very good conversations with management for the reunited original Kajagoogoo, offered them this tour but they were too slow to get back to me, so they've done their budget already and we know what will and won't work for 2010 for them. I've been in touch with Carol of T'Pau, with China Crisis, with Katrina of The Waves, with Johnny Hates Jazz, with Rick Astley's rep in the UK, with Kim Wilde's European label, etc. We're always making connections for the future.

Rick

I really appreciate all the great communication Rick. You have gone above and beyond to explain the challenges and difficulties in booking these retro events. I personally appreciate it and think you are giving this medium a better represntation than other promoters that have done this sort of package in the past years.
I know Cutting Crew was probably a tough pill for some, including myself at first, to swallow. I remember dispising this sort of UK "middle of rhe road" "adult contemporary" sound made up of bands such as: Mister MIster, Johnny Hates Jazz, , Level 42, Simply Red, and Cutting Crew. I just thought is was such bland adult contemp ...
Fast Forward twenty years... I am enjoying a nice dinner with my wife and decide to play her old tape of Broadcast... and find that I quite like it now... and it seems to mellow the kids out a bit. Funny how music can be appreciated at different points in time.

Thanks again Rick for pulling together anothe great line up for 2009!

I wish everyone with an interest in our tours could sit for a week in my office and watch what goes into getting the 4 or 5 bands together each year for the tour and then the months of work it takes to get the tour booked. There is alot of opposition to booking 80's stuff in many markets. For instance, for the 2nd year in a row I've exhausted every venue and promoter in Canada and still can't get a sinlge date in the entire country, yet in the 80's when I was booking these acts, Canada was one of our best markets for many of them! I've got a number of Canadian Gold & Platinum records on my walls from those days for acts such as The Fixx, A Flock of Seagulls, Simple Minds, Katrina & The Waves, etc. In addition, Cutting Crew were considered an Anglo-Canadian act as the late guitar player was Canadian. Of particular note is Live Nation in Canada, both in Toronto and Vancouver. They sumarily dismiss any approach I've made to them with "Sorry I can't help you on this." Not even a "Let me look into it and see what we can come up with"! Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver - I just can't get anyone interested in presenting the show there. Another national promoter here in the U.S. that has yet to book a single date with me for either Regeneration Tour is AEG Live. They've turned me down in Colorado, Seattle, Florida, Las Vegas and others usually with the same "There's nothing I can do with this, 80's doesn't work for us" line.

On another note, we will finally get into the Northwest, I've just confirmed a show on July 5 at the Britt Pavilion, a 2200 seat outdoor venue, just outside Medford, OR. It took a lot of negotiating with Berlin to get them to do this one and they were a key to getting this deal done. Now if only I could get someone in Seattle to give it a shot! AND Vancouver!

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to confirm a Las Vegas show, I have an offer at the brand new M Resort on the Henderson/Las Vegas city line, to play a show by their pool! Just trying to fine tune the offer a bit. I still need help from some Texas fans on getting a promoter interested in a Texas show, preferably Dallas or Houston, for July 13 and Louisana fans help us out in getting a July 14 show there to get us to the finish line July 15 in Atlanta!

I look forward to this tour every year here in Detroit...glad to see you're coming back and always look forward to hearing some new groups that I've never seen live. There's a lot of acts that come through Detroit, Pine Knob leads the country in outdoor attendence or some crazy thing every season, but I literally scope out the Regen tour every year over anything else - just a great time to get friends together and have a great night with great music. Thanks for your hard work and thanks for making this thing happen, and happen here!

Pete

I totally agree on your choice, everyone has faves and being a businessman and a musician , these people posting on here have got to realise to do a tour you have to have bums in the seats as us brits say to make it worthwjile. Id love to see MWH but i know they are pain to work with and drama for a start. Those other bands im brit i know them but seriouls jo boxers id love to see but one hit barely top 40. and yes those bands stil trying to new stuff dont wnat to be labelled 80s the jim kerrs etc...... you cant choose groups just becuase its fave

paul hardcatle! really id fall asleep and was he 80s! blowmonkeys one hit! spandau.. aint gonna happen after court... etc

People, you got to know where these bands are at and what they charge.... and there issues and expenses... i went to the last one and saw a few bands i didnt care for... but this tour im seeing a few bands i dont care for its part of the package, if not there would be NO SHOW.. you put
jo boxers, paul hardcastle, blow monkeys and thomas dolby who the hell is gonna show up.. their kids maybe! im not knocking these bands but you got to know your audiences and $$$... CC are happy to go tour and promte there new cd and as where Ivan at MWH hates it all,, whose fault is that? we are also seeing new refreshing bands not the same ones again and again, i love abc dearly but seen them alot and maybe rather see another band but they area good draw so i choose them...

Thanks for your support! By the way, it wasn't Ivan from Men Without Hats, it was his brother Stefan the guitar player who didn't want the tour to happen. Ivan very much wanted to do this tour and maybe sometime in the future it will all get straightened out between them. I know most of the story. We'd love to have them at some point, either with or without Stefan.

Hi Rick.
I notice that their still a good amount of posts regarding status of bands, lines ups etc.... When you get some time, Like you suggested in your one reply to my post. Posting a readme first section covering alot of the answers that you must be tired of giving at this point. Although, it does show the amount of intrest out there. Hope sales are going well for you. glad you are coming back to Vienna, Va. Did the bands last year like the venue?

The M hotel is really nice. Any word on that yet?

Yes, we will be doing a REGEN show at the new M Resort Spa & Casino on the Henderson/Las Vegas line. JULY11 poolside!

Admin wrote:Yes, we will be doing a REGEN show at the new M Resort Spa & Casino on the Henderson/Las Vegas line. JULY11 poolside!

That'll be great! What acts are on the Vegas bill?

ABC, Wang Chung, Heaven 17, Cutting Crew, Missing Persons

MISSING PERSONS????
Boy, you guys in Vegas are LUCKY!!!!!!
I love Missing Persons!

Admin wrote:ABC, Wang Chung, Heaven 17, Cutting Crew, Missing Persons

MISSING PERSONS????? Okay, I'm sold! Thanks Rick!

You guys have NO clue how LUCKY we are to have Cutting Crew on this tour. What a class act...like you it's my opinion hmmm and unfortunately I guess everybody has one. I think some of you people need to GET OUT of just the 80's and realize that these guys have a lot more music out there than "one hit" When you buy a NEW album from one of these artist then (big maybe) you have a right to come and whine about their talent. I don't want to sound too mean but you guys doing this tour that are complaining about getting talent and what a pain it is booking 80's acts maybe your in the wrong biz, maybe it's your attitude coming off to the people you are trying to convince your worth booking. The way you talk about it sounds like YOU don't believe in it either. All of these acts are talents to behold for what THEY bring to the tour. I will be there....and hmmm I won't be late because I am coming to see Cutting Crew! SOOO don't be hatin'!!!!