8000 seats were available for the Glenn Beck event at Six Flags. 700 tickets actually sold.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Glenn Beck, conservative talk-show host, kicks off 'Restoring America' tour
"Restoring America One State at a Time" rally held at Six Flags Great Adventure

By KEITH RUSCITTI and COLLEEN CURRY • STAFF WRITERS • October 2, 2010

A crowd of about 700 people, comprised mostly of Tea Party supporters, gathered at Six Flags Great Adventure on Saturday to help kick off conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck's "Restoring America'' tour.

Spectators paid $50 for a ticket or $125 for special VIP privileges to listen to speeches by various conservative and libertarian activists, radio talk-show hosts and musicians in a six-hour event.

The controversial and flamboyant radio and television personality Beck was the main attraction. He went on stage shortly after 7 p.m. to a heroes' welcome.

It was the first stage performance by Beck since his Aug. 28 rally in Washington D.C., an event that attracted nearly 100,000 people.

But that event was free and was heavily marketed for months. That is in contrast to Saturday's appearance at the North Star Arena in Great Adventure, said Janet Longo, a Tea Party activist and one of the rally organizers.

"We only put this together in a couple of weeks,'' said Longo, a Jackson resident. "But I'm glad the people came out.

Although the crowd was well short of the 8,000 capacity for the arena, there was a large contingent of conservative media in attendance.

The rally was broadcast by satellite radio on XM Patriot Radio and online by Pajamas Media, a conservative multimedia website.

http://www.app.com/article/20101002/NEWS/100930134/Glenn-Beck-conservative-talk-show-host-kicks-off-Restoring-America-tour

[Beaverhausen]

1. 700 suckers paying money to hear what they can hear for free everyday

and where is that money going anyway?

[madrchsod]

4. that amount of people just barely covered expenses...

i bet glen took his cut right off the top.

[n2doc]

5. Well they admit it is a performance

And the Artist must get paid!

[HipChick]

2. so the Koch brothers didn't spring to bus in a bunch of teabaggers for the event this time?

[Cirque du So-What]

3. The name 'Pajamas Media' still cracks me up!

Could we have come up with a better name ourselves? What better to call a bunch of armchair warriors - overfed baby hueys tippy-tapping out their screed with Cheeto-stained fingers, clothing optional, in Ma's basement?

[klook]

6. "Special VIP privileges" ticket gets you

Commemorative crying towel for when you are overcome with emotion over This Great Nation Of Ours

Copy of the U.S. Constitution (sealed in plastic -- you don't want to actually read the thing)

Beck bobblehead with music box in base that plays "Onward Christian Soldiers"

Copy of "Common Sense" by Tom Paine (also sealed in plastic -- you don't want to destroy your illusions about him either)

Copy of the Koran and a box of matches

[TexasObserver]

7. recommend

[spanone]

8. boy, the media pounced all over this, didn't they?

[Initech]

9. So why is the stuff that 700 people think so important?

[pscot]

10. K&R

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. So when no person or no company is paying to bring people in or advertise it heavily it fizzles.

So, then, it seems to be true that the last Beck rally was mostly a fiction as to real popularity.

Lost of people were there, apparently, quite artificially.

[K8-EEE]

12. Are people finally waking up and saying "this guy is full of shit?"

Please let it be so. IMO they overplayed the crybaby tantrum stuff and people are tuning it out.