Talent 49 Avalon Chief Concerts Booming LA. Promoter Brian Murphy Sees `Real Revitalization' By PAUL GREIN ing concert tickets. On Jan. 1, 1980, atre certainly isn't it. I really like the they stopped calling. When you tore Palace, but it's the kind of room you LOS ANGELES-Promoter Bri- that page off the calendar, I felt it. go to be seen in, rather than a room an Murphy, president of locally - to go to see something in. It's a night- based Avalon Attractions, sees a "Eighty -one wasn't bad, '82 was dra- club, whereas the Palladium is-I matic upturn in the concert market okay and '83 was bouncing back don't like the term sweatbox-but a this year. again, but '84 has been great. I think place where you can go and dance." "There's been a real revitalization we've got a new concert audience." of ticket -buying," Murphy says. "I In addition to his promotion of up- Billy Idol, Big Country, Echo & felt it towards the end of last year, coming shows by such top acts as the Bunnymen and Ted Nugent are but this year is crazy. Between Yes, Billy Joel, Dan Fogelberg and some of the acts that have played the it March 1 and May 31 we'll have pro- the Scorpions, Murphy is also active Palladium since Murphy took over. moted 76 shows. That's unseasonable as the exclusive booker of two key He says he pays a flat fee of $2,500 a for us. Of course, it doesn't hurt to Southern California venues-the night to rent the room. have a Van dozen Halen dates-from 4,400- capacity Hollywood Palladium Murphy is also about to begin his Vancouver to San Diego." and the 15,000 -capacity Irvine Mead- second season as exclusive booker of Just a few years ago Murphy was ows Amphitheatre. Irvine Meadows. In its first season, considerably less bullish about the the outdoor amphitheatre had 6,000 concert Murphy has been involved with business. "Nineteen- eighty reserved and 6,000 lawn seats; when UNCANNY CANDIDATE -ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, left, gets the news was a disastrous concert year," he the Palladium only since Jan. 1, and on the group's race for the White House after NBC's "Saturday Night Live" has already booked more shows in the new season starts in April, it will says. "It was the end of the baby have 10,000 reserved and 5,000 lawn put them on the ticket. Relaying the voter reaction after the group's show boom. From '76 the room than it had in all of last to '78, all my friends seats. The expansion is designed to at the Portland, Ore., Coliseum are Quarterflash's guitarist Mary Ross, cen- my age were calling me up and buy- year. The Palladium presented seven ter, and manager J. Isaacs. rock shows last year, and this year make Irvine more competitive with will have presented 11 in February the nearby Pacific Amphitheatre in Willie Nelson Says Duet With and March alone. Murphy expects to Costa Mesa, Calif., which has 8,000 reserved and 10,000 lawn seats. ODD COUPLE Julio Iglesias Was His Wife's Idea book about 40 shows there before the year is out. Pacific Amphitheatre, which is op- By RUSSELL SHAW Nelson is due to start work on his part of the Red Headed Stranger." The Palladium has two setups: erated by the Nederlander organiza- ATLANTA -The odd couple of sixth film, "Red Headed Stranger," Nelson's current tour began cabaret -style, where it accommodates tion, has adopted a broad -based the year in pop music is undoubtedly after he finishes his current concert March 3 at the Omni in Atlanta, and 2,200, and general admission, where booking philosophy. And, in order to Spanish heartthrob Julio Iglesias and tour. The film, commissioned by is set to run through the middle of it holds 4,400. Murphy says this compete, so has Murphy. Irvine's Texas troubadour Willie Nelson, HBO, is set to be broadcast before April. It's the first American tour in makes the room ideal for acts on season will open with Adam Ant, who share billing on the current top the end of the year. It's based on nearly six months for the 50- year -old their way up-or down. "The Palla- and will also include Merle Haggard, 50 hit "To All The Girls I've Loved characters created in Nelson's widely singer, who recently concluded a se- dium is that threshold step before Dan Fogelberg, John Denver, Joe Before." praised 1975 album of the same ries of five dates in Japan. you go to the Long Beach Arena or Jackson, Berlin and Chuck Since both artists are signed to name, which details in song the expe- When Nelson tours, he frequently the Forum. And it's going to become Mangione. CBS, skeptics might be excused for riences and thoughts of an itinerant travels in his private Lear jet. He of- a place for declining acts to play Pacific and Irvine Meadows are lo- thinking that the label orchestrated preacher around the turn of the ten flies home to the Colorado moun- when they can't fill Long Beach cated less than 10 miles apart, and the duet to introduce Iglesias to the century. tains after a show, and arrives in the anymore." dramatize the growing drawing pow- pop and adult contemporary audi- "It will follow the storyline of the next city less than an hour before er of Orange County as a distinct ences that have long doted on Nel- album pretty closely," Nelson says, showtime. Murphy puts the need for the room in simple terms. was no market. "Orange County has 211 son. But Nelson says the pairing "and it will use most of the music as "I've gotten used to writing songs "There longer room million people," says Murphy, "and came about purely by chance. well. Morgan Fairchild, Angie Dick- on buses and plane trips," Nelson a street in Hollywood for the kids. The Universal (Am- they really don't like going to L.A. to "My wife Connie and I were in inson, Ben Johnson and Rip Torn notes. "I write mostly in spurts see shows. They've left phitheatre) wasn't it; the Greek The- been out, but London last fall," Nelson recalls, will have key roles, and I'll play the anyway." they're not left out anymore." "and we heard Julio on the radio. I liked his music immediately. Connie While these booking chores take a suggested that I record with him, and WELSH ROCKERS SPEAK OUT lot of Murphy's time, the main focus I thought it was a good idea. I con- of his business is promoting shows tacted Julio in L.A. where he was re- throughout the state. He identifies cording, and he said that he had a Punk his basic market as encompassing Spirit Touches Off Alarm Fresno, Santa Barbara, San Bernardi- song which he felt we'd work well to- no, L.A. and San Diego. gether on." By JEFF TAMARKIN bands, just as Elvis Presley was the act for the Pretenders (review, page Nelson recorded the duet during a catalyst for John Lennon and Bob 50) -courts retail support by fre- Murphy is looking forward to do- break from one of his favorite pur- NEW YORK -The Alarm hopes Dylan. Now we're seeing the fruits of quently taking part in in -store ap- ing a couple of big outdoor shows acting. Nelson suits- spent much of to rekindle the spirit of the original the punk era come alive, after the pearances. "They did four in- stores this summer at Anaheim Stadium. the fall and part of the winter filming punk rockers with its new IRS al- original bands tore it apart. during the first two weeks of the He hopes to play ZZ Top there early "The Songwriter," a musical comedy bum, "Declaration." Welsh in the summer and the Scorpions The "The new bands were fans in that tour," he reports. "Our campaign is with Kris Kristofferson and Rip quartet considers itself part right after school resumes in the fall. of a new era and know what it's like to stand based on the group's willingness to Torn, which is due to be released in generation of guitar -dominated get down and get dirty. They're very mid -September. in an audience and see a band deliver Murphy also promoted Duran bands expressing their viewpoints hot on getting down in the street and what it promised. They also know Duran's sold -out dates at the Forum, "Kris and I wrote the music," Nel- about the world today. meeting their fans." son says. "One of the songs in the what it's like when bands let them where he reports the group made movie, 'Who'll Buy My Memories,' is "There's a whole grass roots thing down." Thus far the strategy seems to be more money off the merchandise part of our live show for the first going on," says Mike Peters, the Despite songs such as "68 paying off: "Declaration" entered than they did off ticket sales. "The time, although I wrote it when I first Alarm's lead vocalist and one of their Guns" -the band's current single Billboard's Top LPs & Tapes charts average was $14.20 per person in two got to Nashville more than 15 years acoustic guitarists.