POOR TICKET SALES BLAMED FOR CANCELED MORGAN SHOW

Tonight's Lorrie Morgan and Daryle Singletary concert at the Show Me Center has been canceled.

The decision to call off the show was made at 8:30 a.m. Thursday by the promoter, Wisconsin-based Starshow Presents.

Fewer than 1,500 tickets had been sold, according to Will Lofdahl, events coordinator for the Show Me Center.

The Show Me Center tried to salvage the show at the last minute by taking over the role of promoter.

"It's not in anybody's interest to put on a show and not have it," Lofdahl said.

But at that point, the entertainment principals already had decided not to do the show.

The Show Me Center staff thinks three factors contributed to the poor ticket sales: competition from a Reba McEntire concert scheduled for Saturday night at SIU-Carbondale; headliner Morgan's lack of a well-known opening act; and relatively high ticket prices of $21.50 and $24.50

"Reba commands a strong audience," said David Ross, director of the Show Me Center. "If she took a thousand buyers from the country buyers, that's the thousand missing to make our show work."

Despite the competition from McEntire, the Show Me Center booked the show because Sawyer Brown had played here two years ago while Brooks and Dunn played SIU on the same weekend, and both shows did well.

"Going into it, it wasn't a best scenario," Lofdahl said. But small venues sometimes have to make the best of bad situations, he added.

This is the fourth cancellation in the Show Me Center's eight-year history. The first two -- Kenny G and the Pointer Sisters -- occurred last fall within a couple of weeks of each other. High tickets prices were blamed for the Kenny G cancellation, and the Pointer Sisters' length of time off the road probably contributed to their ticket sales of only 300.

Last month, the Show Me Center canceled a show by country singer Tracy Lawrence because Lawrence was playing another show in Murray, Ky., within a short time. Lawrence rescheduled the Cape Girardeau show in Jackson, Tenn., but wound up canceling both Jackson and Murray.

He recently was hospitalized for exhaustion.

Packaging Morgan with another mid-level act like Clay Walker probably would have been smarter than pairing her with newcomer Singletary, Ross said.

Lofdahl thinks the Show Me Center may have to become more diverse in its booking instead of concentrating of country, which has always produced in the past. But Lofdahl says most big-name rock bands won't stop for venues under 10,000 unless the ticket prices are in the stratosphere.

And alternative bands present the security problem known as a mosh pit -- an area in front of the stage where enthusiastic dancers tend to collide with each other.

"It is our responsibility to look after our guests and see that they have a safe environment," Lofdahl said.

"From what I have seen of mosh groups, it is not a safe environment I would turn my own kids loose on," Ross said.

He said the Show Me Center is not soliciting any alternative groups to perform here.

More traditional bands like the Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & the Blowfish are the kind of groups Ross would like to book, but that's always dependent on availability.

Because the promoter was renting the venue, the Show Me Center won't lose money unless the promoter refuses to pay the outstanding bills for advertising, ticket printing and the ticket office.

That has happened in the past, Lofdahl said. Those costs for an average show would be $8,000 to $10,000.

Chris Barker, ticket office manager at the SIU Arena, said about 6,000 seats have been sold for the Reba McEntire show. About 8,000 of the arena's seats are sellable for that show.

All tickets for that show are $27.

Refunds for the Lorrie Morgan Show will be available only at the Show Me Center Box Office. People who purchased tickets out of town can mail them in with a note saying whether they were paid for with cash, check or a credit card.

A check will be issued in the first two cases, or the credit card will be credited with the refund.