MORE R.E.M.: Almost as surprising as the...

MORE R.E.M.: Almost as surprising as the Pond’s trouncing the Forum is the fact that R.E.M.’s area shows weren’t all immediate sell-outs. After all, here’s one of the most popular bands in rock returning to the road after a five-year absence.

While the combined sales of nearly 50,000 tickets was nearly twice R.E.M.’s sales the last time through Southern California, the sales were slower than in other parts of the country. In New York, for example, three shows at the 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden sold out in a flash.

Fred Rosen, CEO of Ticketmaster, thinks that R.E.M. may be the victim of the region’s economic reality of earthquakes, fires, floods and recession, which may have been a little hard to see through last year’s Streisand-Eagles-Rolling Stones-Pink Floyd concert frenzy.

“It’s my belief that Southern California has still not recovered from all the economic calamities it has suffered,” Rosen says. “In the last 24 months, events in Southern California have sold slower than in other parts of the country.”