Concert Ticket Prices $$$

[sadaist]

Ok. I go to the Indian Casino earlier today (Pechanga) to screw around for a while. I see a poster advertising Sammy & The Wabos & also The Other Half with Michael Anthony. August 2nd. Ticket prices are: $100, $85, & $75!

WTF! What happened to $18 concerts? I don't think Sammy sets these prices. I'm sure they are paid a flat fee to perform, & the casino charges whatever they think they should.

I know casinos comp most of the tickets anyways to get the gamblers in. I've gotten free tickets for quite a few shows that way. I get offers for free shows all the time, but only go if it's someone I like.

But this isn't a thread about Sammy. I want to know why concerts are so damn expensive. I heard Madonna was charging near $200 for a ticket. Paul McCartney about the same.

My favorite story about prices. In high school on a Friday, my friend & I decided we wanted to see Crue that night. $17.50 or so. We had no money. We mooched all day "Got .50 I can borrow for a soda?" End of the day we both had enough for 2 tickets, gas & some beers. I guess those days are long gone now.

[MERRYKISSMASS2U]

I am thinking the same thing.... 78 Bucks for 2 buddies to go to Queensryche?

I was watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High yesterday and the kids were complaning about how the Van Halen tickets were 20 bucks for front row.

[Terry]

When it really hit me about this overpricing was about 4 years ago when the missus decided we were going to see Jimmy Buffett. She's a big fan - not quite a 'Parrothead' - but she enjoys him well enough, and I had more than passing familiarity with his stuff, and dug it.

Fine.

We buy tickets via Ticketmaster on the phone. $65 a pop, plus a $7.50 surcharge per ticket. So we're up to around $140 bucks JUST IN TICKETS. We're going to see him at the St. Pete Times Forum (formerly called the Ice Palace). The place seats...I dunno...from the looks of it, maybe somewhere between 15-20,000 people. These aren't seats particularly close to the stage, either.

A lot of my displeasure with what happened had to do with Buffett and his band, as there was a drummer, a bass player, an electric guitar player, an acoustic guitar player, a percussionist, two keyboardists, a horn section and several backup singers - and one of the most atrocious live mixes I've ever heard of. He was playing three or so 45 minute sets that night, and there were people walking out of the concert 5 songs into it, saying "I can't even hear what he's saying inbetween songs, and when the whole band is on it's even worse - just one wall of noise".

Parking was $20 bucks - beer was going for $8 for a 16oz plastic cup - we ended up leaving before the first set was over because it sounded so bad - to the tune of roughly $200.

When I was in my heaviest concert going days during the early to late 1980s, most shows were about $17 on average. The result was that even a person who wasn't particularly well-off could afford to see several professional bands each year. Fuck, in 1984 alone I saw: Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne/Motley Crue, Deep Purple/Girlschool, Dio/Twisted Sister, Judas Priest/Dokken, Billy Squier/Ratt and the Scorpions - and probably spent about 120 bucks total in tickets.

I don't think average or mean yearly net income has increased nearly tenfold in the last 20 years, yet median ticket prices have.

That's why I feel no sympathy for artists when I read that concert ticket sales are in a slump. The artists are just as complicit as the ticket sales brokers and promoters...outside of Pearl Jam, I can't think of anyone who really stood up for the rights of the consumers. And have the quality of concerts improved so dramatically to justify the increases? Not in my experience.

That's part of what made seeing Roth at the St.Pete Ribfest last Nov for $10 a pop so sweet. The dude delivered a top-notch show, and I didn't have to jerk off to feed the cat until I got my next paycheck to afford it, either.

You idiots paying $500 for tickets that include a bullshit 2 second 'meet-and-greet' with these bands have got this shit all backwards: these 'artists' should be meeting with fans for free as often as possible after concerts.

[Matt White]

Tom Petty said it best on ROCKLINE a couple of years back...

"Take it from Uncle Tom kids...NOBODY is worth $200.00 a ticket..."

[Casemeister]

Originally posted by Terry
" ... these 'artists' should be meeting with fans for free as often as possible after concerts."

Damn straight. I met Waylon Jennings before a concert in 1994 for the cost of sending him a letter. I spent between 45 minutes and an hour with him, and during the show he dedicated the entire show to me on stage.

More fans of artists/bands should get the chance to feel that kind of attention from their favourites... without paying hundreds of dollars for it, because then it's probably forced.

[Ellyllions]

I think I'm in love with Terry!

SOLID POST and dead-on.

At most professional shows, the whole 20 closest rows are in the same tax bracket as the band. Either that or went into debt to afford those seats.

Shit, if I spend $200 for a rushed meet with the band, they better be asking for my fucking autograph!

[Seshmeister]

Originally posted by Terry
I don't think average or mean yearly net income has increased nearly tenfold in the last 20 years, yet median ticket prices have.


Exactly!

US National average wage indexing series, 1985 - 2004

Year Index

1985 16,822.51
1986 17,321.82
1987 18,426.51
1988 19,334.04
1989 20,099.55
1990 21,027.98
1991 21,811.60
1992 22,935.42
1993 23,132.67
1994 23,753.53
1995 24,705.66
1996 25,913.90
1997 27,426.00
1998 28,861.44
1999 30,469.84
2000 32,154.82
2001 32,921.92
2002 33,252.09
2003 34,064.95
2004 35,648.55

So wages have only doubled over the same period.

Next time the cowardly lion from Metallica is whining about downloads remember that they are now making a ton of money from touring which used to just be a break even promotion exercise to sell more albums.

If everyone that was going to go to their show just bought a CD instead they'd feel it in their pockets...

Was it maybe the Stones that initially raised the bar on ticket prices because they weren't selling many albums any more?

Cheers!

:gulp:

[Seshmeister]

And $20 for parking is fucking outrageous. I remember feeling swindled paying $10 last year.

[Seshmeister]

And while we're moaning...:)

I paid $27 surcharge on 3 tickets for a show last month. The tickets themselves were only $80!!!

That's a fucking 25% surcharge. It included $3 PER TICKET for postage which of course all came in a single envelope.

[Ellyllions]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
[B
Was it maybe the Stones that initially raised the bar on ticket prices because they weren't selling many albums any more?

Cheers!

:gulp: [/B]

I dunno, the Eagles did a bang up job of starting the ticket raping I thought. Remember the "Hell Freezes Over" tour?

[Figs]

Well, just like pro sports ticket prices, if people stop going the prices will come down. Concerts generally don't seem to be hurting for business. I mave have greatly reduced the number of football games I go to (from season tickets to less than once a year), but plenty of people are willing to take my place.

I also feel, at least when it comes to the good seats, the prices are closer to what the scalpers were getting anyway. I don't know or care exactly how the ticket price pie is sliced, but I don't think a scalper/ticket agent should get the lion's share of the money.

Sometimes you can a good deal on eBay, last year I got Motley Crue at less than half of face, and I was about 25 rows from the stage. I know I will take a bath when I put my David Lee Roth extra ticket up there.

[guwapo_rocker]

Originally posted by sadaist
Ok. I go to the Indian Casino earlier today (Pechanga) to screw around for a while. I see a poster advertising Sammy & The Wabos & also The Other Half with Michael Anthony. August 2nd. Ticket prices are: $100, $85, & $75!



Actually, that's what the casino is offering if you go see the show.

The closer you sit, the more free chips they'll give you:D

[Ellyllions]

Have ya'll heard about Ticketmaster starting it's auction for tickets?

They're trying to compete with Ebay and the scalpers.

[Terry]

I recall that it was the Jackson 5 1984 Victory tour that broke the $20 per-ticket barrier, and it was fairly big news back then, as tickets were going for $24 a pop on average.

It's just out of fucking control now, and Figs nailed it: If you don't like it, don't go.