STADIUM ROCK BLOSSOMING THIS SUMMER

Stadium rock is back.

After several years of a lean diet of just one or two major outdoor summer concerts, Southern Californians can look forward to at least five stadium shows in the next few months.

“This is the biggest year for stadium shows I’ve seen in 15 years,” said Joel Ralph, who’s the new general manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Madonna is scheduled to appear July 18 at Anaheim Stadium, while Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead will team up there on July 26. The facility reportedly also will be the site of the David Bowie and Pink Floyd concerts. Bowie is expected to play in early August and Pink Floyd’s tour is slated to arrive here in November, promoters said.

Genesis kicked off the stadium rush with its 56,000-seat sell-out May 22 at Dodger Stadium.

A multiple-act R&B; show featuring Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle and several others will be held June 20 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Heading south of the border in Tijuana on June 30, Oingo Boingo and the Bangles will appear at the 50-000 seat Caliente Race Track.

One Los Angeles promoter also hinted at the possibility of a Police reunion later this year, but a spokesman for the trio said he is “99% certain that will not happen this year.”

The spate of stadium concerts, according to most promoters, booking agents and record company officials, is due more to coincidence than design.

“This summer it just so happens that several acts of that caliber decided to go out and play stadiums,” said Steve Rennie, vice president of Avalon Attractions, which is promoting most of the concerts.

In most cases, Rennie said, performers who are opting for stadium shows instead of multiple nights at 20,000-seat-or-less arenas “can only play a limited number of dates. They can’t spend a year on the road, so they have to maximize their income and profile in the shortest amount of time.”

Nonetheless, industry analysts said the increased number of stadium concerts at least indirectly symbolizes a revitalization of the record business, particularly among older record buyers.

“Before, when people hit 25 or 26 and the first kid or first mortgage came along, people dropped out of going to concerts,” said Larry Ahearn of Pacificoncerts, whose firm currently has no stadium shows scheduled. “Now I think they are feeling included in the process again.”

The large, over-25 turnout at Bruce Springsteen’s 1986 performances at the Coliseum and at last month’s Genesis show was evidence, promoters say, that stadium shows no longer have to be geared to teen-age hard rock or heavy metal fans.

In particular, the Springsteen shows that drew nearly 350,000 people over four nights to the Coliseum were cited by several promoters and record company officials as a turning point in the mini-resurgence of stadium rock.

“Springsteen broke the ice,” said Bob Merlis, vice president and director of publicity for Warner Bros. Records. “He proved you could do (a stadium show) and retain your artistic and musical integrity. The quality of those shows proved it didn’t have to be just a giant money-making deal.”

If Springsteen established new standards for quality in stadium rock, he also held out new quantitative goals for other performers.

“When you talk about superstardom in L.A. now, the yardstick is clearly Springsteen,” Avalon’s Steve Rennie said.

The only act with the drawing power approaching the Springsteen standard this year is Pink Floyd, which is considering multiple nights at an indoor facility in addition to one outdoor stadium show in Southern California, one promoter said. “If anybody is capable of pulling that off, Pink Floyd could,” he said.

Despite the recent addition of Genesis and Madonna to the ranks of stadium rock attractions --a status many said U2 is rapidly approaching--”I don’t think there’s any greater number of people who can fill a stadium now than there was six or seven years ago,” said Steve Redfearn of Parc Presentations, the Nederlander organization’s independent concert promotion division. “You may lose a Who, but you get a Bowie; you lose the Stones, you get a Madonna.”

Most of the concerts that are confirmed or nearing finalization will be playing Anaheim Stadium, although officials at Dodger Stadium, Hollywood Park and the Coliseum said they are considering additional concerts at those facilities.

One reason for the concentration of activity in Orange County, Avalon’s Steve Rennie said, is geographic.

“It’s the ideal location to draw from all four major metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire of Riverside and San Bernardino,” Rennie said.

Stadium shows of the ‘80s differ significantly from those of the ‘70s in a couple of ways, promoters said. First, the current crop of shows, for the most part, will succeed or fail solely on the popularity of the headliner.

“It’s not like the old ‘70s shows where you get one headliner and build the show up with five other acts,” said Steve Rennie. “It was nice to have Paul Young open for Genesis, but he didn’t really add much to the ticket sales.”

Second, the virtual elimination of general admission seating that followed the disastrous Who concert in Cincinnati in 1979 when 11 people were killed as hundreds of fans rushed the gates for the best seats. With reserved seating even on the playing fields, promoters said older fans are more willing to brave the stadium environs and parents are more willing to let younger children attend.

“The bottom line,” said Hal Lazarus, a Nederlander booking agent, “is that if a patron wants to see an act, they’ll go wherever the act plays.”