From: Matthew Orel
Subject: Sell It and They Will Come -- Detroit January 10
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 10:41:39 -0500 (EST)

First off, thanks to everyone who came on down to the Elwood, it was great to
see and meet so many of you there!

Brief comments on aspects of the show:
The "miracle" tickets:  Last night, there were 3 miracle givers in the
nosebleed seats.  I actually saw some people *reject* upgrades!  We were not
among the lucky, but I'd guess that about half of the people who were there by
7:15 got upgraded.  By 7:40, the first 5 rows of the theater were completely
filled with miracle recipients.  If you're in the nosebleeds, GET THERE EARLY.
The "miracle" upgrade is one good way of keeping the best seats away from
scalpers, though it's now getting to the point where some concert regulars
know the miracle givers by name, and are virtual shoo-ins to get upgrades.

Comp tickets:  There were *way* too many last night.  Substantial portions of
the first 10 rows after the miracle seats, as well as a huge block near the
soundboard were comps.  There were more comps than takers -- 6 rows (84 seats)
to the side of the soundboard went unclaimed.  We squatted eventually, as did
about a dozen others; the other 70+ seats remained empty all night.  These
seats are among the best sound seats in the Fox,  I'm at a loss to explain why
they weren't at least turned into upgrades.  Officially, the show was 
sold-out.

The crowd:  Amazing how many people were taken *totally* by surprise on the
revelation that this was not a rock and roll show.  This was a boisterous
crowd coming in, but thankfully they settled down pretty quickly.  Camera
flashes, so distracting in Chicago, were virtually non-existent here.  Early
departures are expected here on worknights, but it was worse than usual this
time.  This may be due in part to "the speech," to the excessive comping to
people who didn't care, and to the nature of the show.  Oh well, their
departures were our gain, we were in row F for "No Surrender."

The show:  Let's see... strong performances of the new material, a wacky debut,
the revival of "No Surrender," and many other highlights...  The consensus of
everyone who has attended multiple shows on this tour was that this was the
best yet.  Great show, and I think it'll get even better as the tour 
continues.

The speech:  I respect Bruce's opinion and his willingness to state it.  I
admire his decision to double the proceeds of souvenir sales for the relief
fund.  But Bruce, once you take your stand, PLAY THE DAMN SONG.  No sermons
next time, ok?

The attitude:  Is nastiness not really nastiness when it's done with a smile?
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe it's the smile which is the put-on, and the
nastiness of the statements -- both in the songs and the stories -- which is
the real thing.  Just wondering...

--Matt