It's a shame that, of the nearly 300 concerts that will play clubs, small theaters, arenas and amphitheaters around greater Houston this summer, not one of them will feature ''80s new wave group Men Without Hats. If early forecasts hold true, it appears that promoters, bands and venues are all participating in some form of "The Safety Dance" this live music season.

Like nearly every other industry in America over the last two years — no, we're not talking to you, Skype and Facebook creators — the music touring business has seen profit margins fall off the chart (and the easel holding the chart). For the first six months of last year, gross revenues for the top 100 concert tours was down nearly $200 million ( minus 17 percent) according to Pollstar.

Many tours that were expected to be bankable during the 2010 summer months — Christina Aguilera, Rihanna, The Eagles and the return of Lilith Fair — were curtailed or canceled completely.

For the second half of last year, promoters tried to stop the bleeding-of-Benjamins by lowering ticket prices and making coveted shows more affordable to the die-hard-yet-cash-strapped fan. According to Rolling Stone, price rollbacks and limits on ticketing service fees actually helped the touring industry to a mini-rebound in 2009.

(Of course, seeing profits on the rise again, promoters eliminated these promotional items last year and saw profit margins crash again in 2010.)

Bottom line: Unless you were U2 (who's two year-plus 360 Tour became the highest grossing tour of all time last month with total grosses near $600 million), Lady Gaga and a select handful of other entertaining icons, chances are you did not enjoy many of the touring life excesses of the past while on the road last year.

For this summer the concert business seems to have a three point strategy:

* Go back to the 2009 idea lowering of ticket prices in hopes of attracting a wider fan base with more affordable seats.

* "Bundle" well-known acts together as co-headliners so fans feel they are getting more entertainment value at each show.

* Most importantly: Only put artists on the road who either currently rule the airwaves ... or ruled the arena rock or alternative scene 20-25 years ago.

Given these parameters, what is Houston left with in terms of a summer concert calendar? Well, imagine if the playlist at classic rock 93.7 FM The Arrow was in a full speed, head-on collision with the adult-alternative playlist at 103.7 FM and you start to get the picture.

For every "can't miss event" concert on the schedule — Rihanna & Cee Lo Green, (July 9 at the Toyota Center), Britney Spears (July 13 at Toyota Center), Katy Perry (July 29 at Toyota Center) and Kings of Leon (July 30 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion — there are at least two or three co-headlining gigs by bands you always wanted to see in high school.

Among the best (and most campy) of the nostalgic highlight "bundles":

• Rick Springfield/Spin Doctors (Friday at Arena Theater)
• Motley Crue/Poison/New York Dolls (June 10 at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion);
• Backstreet Boys/New Kids on the Block (June 25 at Toyota Center);
• Heart/Def Leppard (July 22 at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
• 311/Sublime with Rome (August 12 a Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion);
• Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger (Sept. 25 at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion).

So what show am I most looking forward to this summer? That's easy. It's the bill that strikes the perfect balance between "can't miss event" and nostalgic "bundle:"Sade & John Legend (July 23 at Toyota Center). Between Legend's God-given talents as a hip-hop and R&B vocalist and keyboard arranger and Sade's nearly three decade stanglehold on both musical relevance and sexy grace as an R&B/adult contemporary crossover artists, this has the makings of being a show attendees remember for a lifetime.

Biggest Houston summer concert disappoint: There is no local date for the Soundgarden reunion tour, the grunge kings first tour in 12 years. (Of course, more dates can still be announced.)