QUICK TAKES - May 6, 2009

The Stagecoach country music festival drew a record 100,000-plus people over its two-day run in Indio last month, according to figures released Tuesday by the event’s promoter, resulting in a strong 1-2 punch for event organizers despite the sluggish national economy.

The high water mark for Stagecoach, which featured Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Reba McEntire and Kid Rock at the top of its two-day lineup, came a week after the Coachella Music & Arts Festival at the same site drew 160,000 over three days despite the nationwide economic slump. It was the second-highest attendance figure in the Coachella festival’s 10-year history.

“The public still wants to enjoy live music and still wants to be entertained,” Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert-tracking publication Pollstar, said Tuesday. “In general the concert business is holding up pretty well, not just in Southern California, but nationwide. We haven’t seen the drop-off you might expect in this economy.”

In fact, Goldenvoice chief Paul Tollett said backstage at Stagecoach that company officials had seriously considered calling off both events last fall when the stock market was tumbling dramatically.

“When the stock market collapsed,” Bongiovanni said, “who knew what was going on? It took some courage for them to go ahead and do that. But both Coachella and Stagecoach offer tremendous value for the dollar.

“If you amortize [the ticket price] over the number of acts they have, it’s a great deal.”

-- Randy Lewis