By John Voket

From clubs to theaters, as well as vast arenas and stadiums throughout the region, the amount of money spent on concerts featuring rock, alternative pop and country stars seemed to almost defy the rapidly worsening economy in 2008. While it appeared most of the artists were doing alright tooling around in comfy tour busses, it was fans exchanging hard earned dollars for ducats who ended up the ultimate winners as they lined up to cheer for show after show.

The concert business grossed just under $4 billion worldwide in 2008, the most ever for a year and up almost 13 percent over last year, according to Billboard magazine.

“Overall, it’s been a pretty good year for touring,” said Ray Waddell, who covers the industry for the trade publication. “I’d never say it’s recession-proof, but it’s resilient.”

In North America, the average box office gross was up 18 percent and the average attendance up 6.3 percent.

Bon Jovi’s tour, which played Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena in 2008, was the year’s highest-grossing, earning $210.6 million and drawing nearly 2.2 million fans.

Bruce Springsteen, who kicked off the second leg of his Magic tour in Hartford, was second in earnings with $204.5 million grossed.

The Boss was followed by the Material Girl, Madonna, who grossed $162 million playing mostly major markets and driving local fans to venues in New York and Boston.

The most lucrative country tours included Kenny Chesney, sixth on the list with $86 million gross; and Rascal Flatts, at tenth place with $55.8 million. Both those acts played Mohegan Sun Arena this year to adoring crowds.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the squeeze may be starting to show in some places, however. In Nashville, promoters blamed slow ticket sales for canceling a New Year’s Eve concert featuring Trace Adkins and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Connecticut fans need not fear, though, as Skynyrd is still set to play at Mohegan Sun this Saturday, January 3.

On The Road, Again!

While Connecticut certainly had plenty of great shows to offer, you had to travel to neighboring states to check out several of the most diverse concerts of the year. I caught the second stop on Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Tour at Wantaugh, N.Y.

Boasting a line-up that included Lauper, Indigo Girls, The B-52s, Mary McBride, Kat DeLuna, a crunching alt set from The Cliks, Rosie O’Donnell, and MC Carson Kressley of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, this was a great show to kick off the summer outdoor concert season whether you were there for the cause, the tunes, or both.

Standing atop a Statue of Liberty torch, much like the True Colors Tour logo itself, Lauper opened the show belting out “Change of Heart,” before returning to ground level to continue a hit fest that included a rollicking “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” a plaintive “I Drove All Night,” and the beautiful “Time After Time,” with sparse autoharp and cello accompaniment.

Most of the evening’s talent joined Lauper for an encore of Sly Stone’s “Everyday People,” and the tour theme song, “True Colors,” before the audience was released into the salty evening air.

The Vans Warped Tour was equally stimulating, with its seemingly endless selection of acts. Having a choice of three regional venues to choose from, I headed for the most familiar at Englishtown Raceway in northern New Jersey.

The weather was hot and sticky but smart fans cooled themselves with bottled water, energy drinks, Sno-cones and sprinkling stations as they moved among nearly a dozen stages checking out established acts like Angels & Airwaves, Relient K, Gym Class Heroes, All Time Low, and Against Me, as well as relative newcomers like sublime New Jersey native Charlotte Sometimes, or the explosive British punk trio TAT.

I spent a few moments chatting with Cobra Starship bassist Alejandro “Alex” Suarez, who told me it was his best summer ever. He said the band had been touring on Viva La Cobra! for almost a year, and he was happy to be breaking out some deeper tracks from the project on Warped.

Then just ahead of September’s harvest season, and for the first time ever, Farm Aid 2008 arrived in New England playing Mansfield, Mass.

Besides great headline sets from Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews, I was treated to some exceptional material from the aforementioned Kenny Chesney, “The Killer” Jerry Lee Lewis, The Pretenders, Jacob Dylan, and a tight harmony-driven trio called One Flew South.

A few days after missing the show at New Haven’s Shubert, I caught a stellar set from Joe Jackson at what I now refer to as New York City’s rudest venue - the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center. Despite the fact he was touring on the incredible new release, Rain, the audience was unforgiving every time he launched into a new number.

After about 45-minutes, it got to the point where Jackson had to yell for the amateurs to “shut the (expletive) up!” ...twice.

Dumping the guitar for this tour, the three-piece ensemble featuring keys, drums and electric bass still had ample juice to fire up hits like “Steppin’ Out,” “Fools In Love,” and “It’s Different for Girls.” Highlights from Rain included “Invisible Man,” and “Wasted Time.”

Ridgefield Was Rockin’

One of the region’s secret gems, The Ridgefield Playhouse, hosted several of the best small hall shows of the year. Michelle Shocked hit like a bright bolt of lightning on a cold February night, bringing her unique blend of folk, punk, bluegrass, swing, Latin and even gospel, to the intimate stage.

Vermonters Grace Potter and the Nocturnals rocked the house a few nights later mixing up a heady combination of their old jam band classics with their new and more radio-friendly material. (By sheer coincidence, this was the first of four Grace Potter sets I got to see in 2009 – she also played a killer show at Toad’s Place, an abbreviated set at Farm Aid, along with a sweaty Indian Summer show in early October at the Pearl Street Ballroom in Northampton, Mass.)

Back at Ridgefield, the year kept on humming with great shows from spider-fingered pianist Bruce Hornsby, multi Grammy-winning dobro-playing Jerry Douglas, and classic bluesman Robin Trower delivering an extended, guitar-driven gig much to the delight of all in attendance.

The folks at Ridgefield including Executive Director Allison Stockel didn’t stop there, however. She teamed with the folks from Waterbury-based Premier Concerts and Newtown’s own Phyllis Cortese who hit the ground running as the new director at the Ives Concert Park in Danbury to bring in a summer’s worth of shows in just under five weeks.

That outdoor venue at Western Connecticut State University’s westside campus offered something for nearly everyone this past summer with shows from Melissa Etheridge, The Beach Boys, Lyle Lovett, Ani DiFranco, Warren Haynes, and moe.

Bridgeport’s Seaside Park offered another interesting concert venue as the Gathering of the Vibes returned bringing several days and nights of psychedelia and great sounds. I had the opportunity to catch several acts over the Vibes four-day visit including an unparalleled tribute by Dweezil Zappa recreating (and even outplaying!!) some of the best of his father Frank’s repertoire.

Grateful Dead alumni Bill Kreutzmann and his trio stood up just fine Friday against a later set from fellow Dead bassist Phil Lesh who was backed by a half-dozen “Friends” including stellar newcomer Jackie Greene. A mud-caked set from the New Riders of the Purple Sage helped chase away the nasty storms that soaked the venue postponing many of the acts set to play early on Saturday.

The weather-free environment of Wallingford’s Chevrolet Theater was the perfect venue for this year’s Honda Civic Tour, headlined by one of the best new band’s I’ve had the pleasure to see: Panic at the Disco. This exciting young act had a lot to offer as they promoted their sophomore effort, Pretty. Odd.

Panic was so well-received, they returned to Connecticut for a second time in late October playing another sold-out show at Bridgeport’s Arena at Harbor Yard.

Betting On The Casinos

Maybe the declining economy forced more gamblers away from Connecticut’s two casinos, but the fans still came out to play and cheer for several memorable shows at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in 2008.

Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne turned in a wonderful solo performance at the Fox Theater at Foxwood’s in March, treating the appreciative audience to a broad sampling of his material. While Jackson only tipped his hand with one new and partially finished number, I had a chance to hear the completed work when I caught him just a few weeks ago touring with a full band behind his new release Time The Conqueror.

The cavernous new MGM Grand at Foxwoods hosted a nice, intimate evening of hits in mid-July from Carole King, playing in her now famous “Living Room” configuration complete with couches and a few glasses of Merlot. I returned to the venue for a decidedly different experience Halloween night as rocker Alice Cooper proved he could still deliver the goods with a macabre mix of  classic hits and a few numbers from his latest offering, Along Came a Spider.

Down the road a piece at Mohegan Sun, Jimmy Buffet played a rousing and memorable club set for a few hundred friends and fans at his new Margaritaville. The show featured many Buffet hits including “Cheeseburger In Paradise,” “Volcano,” “A Pirate Looks at 40,” “Come Monday,” and the always entertaining “Fins,” complete with parrot head participation!

Not to leave out two of Connecticut’s venerable theaters, I headed to Torrington’s Warner for a reunion of the ‘80s hit machine Squeeze, and did not leave disappointed. Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford delivered classics like “Tempted,” “Take Me I’m Yours,” “Black Coffee In Bed,” and a rousing “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Waterbury’s Palace Theatre once again hosted the Experience Hendrix tour starring a cast of the greatest guitar players around, all paying homage to the late Jimi Hendrix. Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, Buddy Guy, Eric Johnson, Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd were among the guitar heroes taking their turns, backed by the original Experience rhythm section of Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell.

Sadly, the frail but still capable Mitchell passed away just a few weeks later, leaving Cox to carry the mantel if he decides to front an Experience Hendrix return in 2009.

And I couldn’t wrap up a best of 2008 concert feature without an honorable mention to Greg Dancho and the crew at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, which hosted a cool summertime family reunion with Woodstock alumni Arlo Guthrie, backed by his son and grandson.

Guthrie’s redition of “Alice’s Restaurant” was the highpoint of this performance, which was a fundraiser for the zoo’s new Andean Bear exhibit space.

It’s hard to imagine such a great year of music has drawn to a close, but it only gives me hope for a better year of live music and concerts in 2009. Happy New Year to all!!