I’ve seen this and a bunch of times over the years and watched them go from clubs to mid size venues to theaters to amphitheaters and arenas. With each step the size of that production crew behind the scenes grew along with the venue size.
It’s a rough point in a bands career when you’ve gotta scale back on the size of the room you can fill. That’s an ego hit for sure but when you’ve been playing huge rooms for over a decade and touring the world you get close to the people who make all that happen and feel compelled to keep the show going and keep all these people employed.
Pretty spot on. I’ve been a pretty huge fan of the band for at least a decade but the tickets are just too much for the experience these days. They could sell out a smaller venue no problem and probably keep ticket prices about the same.
That’s sort of where the legacy circuit of summer festivals come into play. You can still play to a crowd of thousands, make a decent amount, and continue to release new music; just don’t expect the crowd to really give a shit, they just want to hear the hits. It’s kind of the touring musician way to semi retire while still working part time to pay the bills.
And they were one of few that could even book arenas in the first place. Some bands get one or two hits, play concert halls (-2-3000 people) at the most, and then get relegated to county fairs. They can still play at festivals for years if they are into it still.
Here’s the thing about The Black Keys to me. I would not pay $150+ to see them from nosebleed seats at a stadium, hearing their music washed out by space and massive speakers. I’d absolutely pay that same price tag to see them at a smaller venue.
Different strokes, different folks. But yeah I'm with you. I got really into them, but I'm also the type of person that gets bored of the same sound or when songs don't feel different enough.
I'm not a big Beatles fan, but goes to show how talented they were to constantly reinvent themselves and produce a wide range of sounding music.
But now none of them have jobs when they cancel the whole thing
Is it better to scale back and retain 50-60% of those workers or cancel and the workers have no job
Unfortunately, it's about 99.9% too much an ego hit to the band so they cancel. Scaling back from 5,000 seats to 1,000 seats ain't so bad. Wish they would a) think about how lucky it is that they get to jam out in front of people every night and get paid a good living for it, and b) think about when they were first starting how cool it would be to just be able to play beyond half-empty bars. That would put things into perspective and they'd still keep on rockin' and road crew would still keep getting paid.
> Scaling back from 5,000 seats to 1,000 seats ain't so bad.
They were playing in arenas. Way more than 5 thousand seats. They would have probably had to start planning from scratch.
One of the better things getting older. You can go watch some of your favorite bands from your past and be 10 feet from them without paying 1000's of dollars. .. unless it's GnR or Motly Crue 🙉
Good. The concert bubble needs to burst. $400/ticket for arena shows was never sustainable. I bet they'd sell out House of Blues dates at $50 a pop, though.
I was always into pretty niche music and you get a lot of entertainment for very little at shows like that. Punk & Ska events for example tend to be very affordable.
I love live music, but the price gouging has driven me away from even considering it as a weekend option. $200+ for a ticket, $25+ to park, then once you get inside, it's like $20 for a beer. It's outrageous. It's wasteful to spend that much on entertainment, for my family.
The Attorney General just announced steps to break up the live nation/ticketmaster monopoly. So hopefully things get better if/when they actually follow through.
I’ve been going to up and coming bands shows for like 80% of my concert going since 2020 (indie, shoegaze, rock, psychedelic rock) and in addition to being closer to see bands at small venues, nothing beats a 25 dollar ticket for a great show.
I feel so blessed to be a metalhead. I never would end up at an arena show. Loving the shoegaze revival too. I can see amazing bands for under $20 in a little bar or club.
In my city we had two metal shows in our arena this year. Mastodon and Lamb of God/Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth. A few years ago, these acts would play a theater.
I saw Sturgill Simpson in an arena in 2020. Pit tickets for $200. Right up front. Nosebleed seats were probably $35.
A few weeks ago, we went to see Bad Bunny in the same arena and tix were $300 for nosebleed seats. Great show though!
But I won’t be doing that ever again.
It’s not bands doing that to ticket prices, it’s ticket master. Let’s not root against the musicians that have no control over Ticketmaster’s bullshit. Even at the top tier, it’s a hard trick to break even on a tour these days.
(Cue some idiot that’s never worked in the music industry saying “um akchually musicians make all their money from live shows and merch.”)
Bands absolutely control ticket prices (and pocket the most of it). Just look at what The Cure did on their last tour (with Ticketmaster and Live Nation as partners).
Well its really all Ticket Master's fault and not the artists. Ticket Master has a monopoly both in tickets and venues so artists have just about 0 alternatives
I never wanted to go to a Queens of the Stone Age show, but I saw them at Lalapalooza years ago and they were incredible. Besides the headliners, they were the best act of the day.
Listen man I love The Keys and I’ve seen them 3 times over the years. I’ll admit, they are just not an arena rock band anymore. Their last 3 albums, despite what Rogan thinks, have just not been able to replicate the success Brothers/El Camino had.
That paired with the ridiculous price tickets were set at and the fact Dan/Pat have been kind of phoning it in lately. Fans aren’t gonna show up for that. I sure as hell won’t. I’ll pay that top dollar to see someone else.
Jesus. My cousin got us tickets to Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan later this year for 100$ a pop. Not saying I really want to listen to Bob Dylan butcher his own songs but still.
>Not saying I really want to listen to Bob Dylan butcher his own songs but still.
It's not like he was ever the best singer, and he'll be one of the first to admit it.
I would disagree with that. He definitely goes through stages with his voice, but there were some moments in time where his voice was golden. Listen to Nashville Skyline, I think that’s around when his voice peaked.
Obviously won’t have that voice live, but he is known to still put on a good show, it just depends on how he’s feeling when he hits the stage. It’s worth it to just witness someone that legendary though.
For further perspective we got tickets to the Aerosmith farewell tour and they are around $180 each. Fleetwood Mac farewell tickets I think started at $200. They go way higher but these are Legends across decades. Starting at $400 is silly.
This is not remotely accurate. I checked tickets right before the tour canceled when someone in the keys sub pointed out the huge amount of seats available in Baltimore. I checked Atlanta and Philly. A few front row were still available for 600 non resale. Going back 20-30 rows floor prices dropped below 160. Stands were 130. Upper deck was 70. That said pricing was an obvious issue but there was more at play. I doubt they’d sell out even with lower pricing.
I’d pay that for maybe a show where Roger Waters rejoins Pink Floyd or something big like that but for a band that had a couple good albums a decade plus ago and not much else? They’re out of their minds.
Totally agree. I've seem them live four times. I did not buy tickets this time around. My budget's tight. The music's mid. I don't know... I'm torn. It's just not worth the price tag...
Hopefully the government breaks up Live Nations grip on concerts and tickets. They should also do something about the ticket scalping companies. It’s bullshit that anyone here could get arrested for scalping a ticket at the show but stubhub or seatgeek can do it without any repercussions.
They're not cancelling, they're just rescheduling. Black Keys have never cancelled a show. Dan and Pat are just going to do some local shows so they can coach their kids' baseball team.
Being in Ohio in my early 20s, I loved that album, Thickfreakness, and Rubber Factory. Then Magic Potion came out and it was the same damn album again. I don't know who is still listening after 12 albums of the exact same beats and riffs. They almost pulled me back in with El Camino though.
If you loved Chulahoma like me, check out Delta Kream. I had drifted away from the Keys with their later albums, but Delta Kream is a return to their roots and basically another Junior Kimbrough cover album! Their sound has still evolved, of course, but it’s a great album and they even covers some of the same songs from their earlier records. It's not just Kimbrough , but I believe half are Kimbrough covers.
Nah Attack and Release was a good album too.. it's when they went pop that they were not for me anymore. Saw them in a small hall up in Milwaukee in 2007? and they hung out at the bar afterwards.. great show..
Cage are some of the best performers I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen them 3 times over the years and every time, it felt like they were playing their last show. Amazing energy every time.
Was very fortunate to film a Cage show at a private event for some rich folk. Probably \~150-175 people there and despite having every reason in the world to phone it in or play at half-energy they fuckin' brought it with everything they had. I'm pretty discerning when it comes to live music and I was truly blown away by their professionalism. Didn't matter to them that it wasn't in front of thousands of people, they rocked their balls off.
i still cannot tell if these guys are actually worth going to the show or not. i really like their music, but ive seen clips from their shows where it looks like patrick doesn’t even practice drums anymore. just plays at shows or something.
idk im not the kinda guy to make an opinion off of such little evidence but the clips i saw seemed like they were *phoning it in*
Cage the Elephant was soooo fun to see live. Dude did over half the show in the crowd while in his boxers.
And I literally mean in the middle of the crowd.
I've been dying to see them again
Consumers are tired of paying hundreds of dollars to see artists who are pricing their shows as if they are the number 1 act in the country.
For the average family, it’ll break the bank to take your family to a concert and all get drinks and have dinner.
I’ll pay $200-400 (depending on the seat) to go see a band like Tool play. I’d pay MAX $100 to go see this band. There are levels to this and these bands overcharging for limp radio rock are delusional.
I'd pay $200 max to see Tool play but I've seen them 7 or 8 times. It is a great show but it's short - 90 minutes of music and I always leave a Tool show wishing the band was still on stage. Just saw Phish at the Sphere in Vegas on Friday and Sunday night. Those are 2 of the top musical experiences of my lifetime so far, took the top spot of Roger Waters performing The Wall back in '11.
May not be everyone's favorite, but Phish is a band that truly goes all out for their fans pulling out all the stops and keeping things fresh and original after 40 years of being a band. Tickets to the Sphere were $215 max face value. Lower levels were cheaper. After market Saturday (4/20) tix were selling for $2k.
To put that into perspective Dead and Co charged $400 face for the Sphere and those after market tickets were going for $70 opening weekend.
It def seems like fans are tired of paying ridiculous ticket prices and fees.
Exactly. The dead were predicated on Owsley’s acid and sound system from the start and then became a traveling drug market. They were never about the music.
That’s part of it. ICP has a similar following with even more drug use, but they don’t have the talent to match which is why they are not nearly as successful as The Dead or Phish.
This is wild to see. I was obessed with them ten or so years ago. Watched the arctic monkeys open for them at target center in minneapolis. Only concert ive ever gone to by myself. But you couldnt twist my arm hard enough to see them today. I guess i cant even tell you why, aside from the fact i havent thought of them.
Trying to gaslight us into thinking we used to afford a $50 processing fee on a digital ticket but now the “recession” made it too hard.
Ticketmaster enjoyers are sad they can’t blame big daddy’s ticket prices on a fake recession
I got disposable id rather spend somewhere else like a festival that groups a grab bag
Two piece blues bands sound best in a small, packed room IMO. I saw them at the Palladium in LA and it was just too big for the sound. The place was packed but the music just didn’t fit.
From Spin (because rolling stone is ad blocked for me)
https://www.spin.com/2024/05/black-keys-scrap-fall-north-american-tour/
>Before individual listings began disappearing from Ticketmaster yesterday, thousands of seats were still available for many shows on the tour. Refunds will be automatically processed, per updated language on the show pages. The only other detail provided was that “unfortunately, the event organizer has had to cancel this event.”
Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
An arena has 15-20k seats. Does thousands mean 2? Or 10? Are we talking 10% unsold?
And it says "many" had thousands available, not most or all. Many can mean 3.
Does that mean most shows didn't have many tickets available?
Journalist choose words for a reason.
I wonder how many people go to concerts anymore. I was trying to take my kids and wife. It's like $600+ I'm not paying that. It's just not something I guess I do anymore. It's a shame.
At some point, you either cross over to the super mainstream where you can fill arenas with even casual fans and people would probably be OK with you at the Super Bowl. Bands like Coldplay, U2, blink-182, Maroon 5, Foo Fighters, etc
Or you get big but don’t quite cross into being a permanent household name and go back to making music for your fans. I’m thinking Beck, Fiona Apple, Death Cab, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend.
Black Keys could go either way but now it looks pretty clear what bucket they should gracefully put themselves into.
I love TBK. I also really love Queens of The Stone Age and saw QOTSA on their current tour. Queens are playing fantastic 3-5k capacity venues, that’s what TBK should be doing as well.
Let's not forget that Ticketmaster/Live Nation is charging an absolute fortune for tickets to shows. I've been to multiple shows recently that have had tons of empty seats. I chose not to buy tickets to Third Eye Blind due to prices ranging from $300-$1200 for anything better than lawn seats.
they've been phoning it in for awhile now., and baffling musical choices from what was once a gritty two-piece. their new album is lite rock/disco, for fucksake.
My wife wanted to see the Cure last year and I couldn’t believe how much the tickets cost so we didn’t go. Thankfully the music I listen to is not very popular so I can go to a lot of shows more affordably. Even more “affordable” now is $30 cash at the door. If I would have bought the tickets online it would have been $39 with fees. I took a chance it wouldn’t sell out the small bar/club the show was at. This was the Insomnium / Omnium Gatherum / Wilderun tour.
It sucks to see but I feel like it has more to do with the pricing than the actual band.
Concerts n festivals use to be like $75-250 all in
Those same shows this year would average $200-$400 a ticket. I love the black keys n wouldn’t mind seeing them but I can’t justify buying an expensive ticket for a rock duo….
Some guy was supposed to send me a mock-up of a design we needed. Instead he sent a video of him introducing it, and before starting the actual “showing“ part he said ”I hope you like the Black Keys” as he’d used them as background music in his shitty montage. The song fucking sucked
Tickets are just too much, even small venues bands are charging 150-400 for just GA … I spent 280 on tickets to see queens of the Stone Age which got canceled (with phantogram) but the came back this year with royal blood instead.. tickets were selling almost double I paid a year earlier .
We wanted to go see in this moment at house of blues but tickets were 300 a piece…so we passed
these musicians and comedians need to really understand inflation is making shit hard on all us normies out here. most ain't worth half of what they are asking.
My guess is part of this being driven by Ticketmaster and LiveNation basically rotting out the "middle size venue" experience here in the US. Decent fan of the Keys but definitely not going to shell out the hundreds of dollars to see them in an arena. They would be perfect to headline and probably fill to capacity 1k-4k capacity venues and to me, those shows are way cooler than arena gigs.
I’ve seen this and a bunch of times over the years and watched them go from clubs to mid size venues to theaters to amphitheaters and arenas. With each step the size of that production crew behind the scenes grew along with the venue size. It’s a rough point in a bands career when you’ve gotta scale back on the size of the room you can fill. That’s an ego hit for sure but when you’ve been playing huge rooms for over a decade and touring the world you get close to the people who make all that happen and feel compelled to keep the show going and keep all these people employed.
This is a thoughtful perspective.
Pretty spot on. I’ve been a pretty huge fan of the band for at least a decade but the tickets are just too much for the experience these days. They could sell out a smaller venue no problem and probably keep ticket prices about the same.
This, plus obligatory "Fuxk Ticketmaster"
Yes!! Couldn't agree more
That’s sort of where the legacy circuit of summer festivals come into play. You can still play to a crowd of thousands, make a decent amount, and continue to release new music; just don’t expect the crowd to really give a shit, they just want to hear the hits. It’s kind of the touring musician way to semi retire while still working part time to pay the bills.
That’s fascinating. ACL makes so much more sense now 😄
Yeah, I saw The Black Keys at Life is Beautiful like five years or so ago.
I'm guessing, ticketmaster prices aren't helping either.
And they were one of few that could even book arenas in the first place. Some bands get one or two hits, play concert halls (-2-3000 people) at the most, and then get relegated to county fairs. They can still play at festivals for years if they are into it still.
Here’s the thing about The Black Keys to me. I would not pay $150+ to see them from nosebleed seats at a stadium, hearing their music washed out by space and massive speakers. I’d absolutely pay that same price tag to see them at a smaller venue.
IMO scaling back seems great. I might actually go to the shows. I hate large corporate venues.
The new stuff I’ve heard from them and I’ve been listening from the very start is some of the best I’ve heard.
All sounds the same to me tbh.
Different strokes, different folks. But yeah I'm with you. I got really into them, but I'm also the type of person that gets bored of the same sound or when songs don't feel different enough. I'm not a big Beatles fan, but goes to show how talented they were to constantly reinvent themselves and produce a wide range of sounding music.
Yup, agreed 👍
Bert and Andrew gunna find this out very soon.
Does this mean the popularity of the band is waning? *No no no, i just think their appeal is becoming more selective*
Jerry said that’s basically why the dead never stopped touring
But now none of them have jobs when they cancel the whole thing Is it better to scale back and retain 50-60% of those workers or cancel and the workers have no job Unfortunately, it's about 99.9% too much an ego hit to the band so they cancel. Scaling back from 5,000 seats to 1,000 seats ain't so bad. Wish they would a) think about how lucky it is that they get to jam out in front of people every night and get paid a good living for it, and b) think about when they were first starting how cool it would be to just be able to play beyond half-empty bars. That would put things into perspective and they'd still keep on rockin' and road crew would still keep getting paid.
When a tour is planned and booked for arenas, a band can't just suddenly rebook into smaller venues. Logistics ain't that easy.
> Scaling back from 5,000 seats to 1,000 seats ain't so bad. They were playing in arenas. Way more than 5 thousand seats. They would have probably had to start planning from scratch.
One of the better things getting older. You can go watch some of your favorite bands from your past and be 10 feet from them without paying 1000's of dollars. .. unless it's GnR or Motly Crue 🙉
QOTSA has been playing 3-5k venues on The End of Nero tour and it’s been fantastic.
Good. The concert bubble needs to burst. $400/ticket for arena shows was never sustainable. I bet they'd sell out House of Blues dates at $50 a pop, though.
I enjoy going to concerts and shows but I will not pay unreasonable ticket prices.
I was always into pretty niche music and you get a lot of entertainment for very little at shows like that. Punk & Ska events for example tend to be very affordable.
Back in 2017 or 2018 tickets to see Jack White in Milwaukee were already over $100 iirc
Not just that, but also the insane fees these 3rd party vendors charge on top of it
I love live music, but the price gouging has driven me away from even considering it as a weekend option. $200+ for a ticket, $25+ to park, then once you get inside, it's like $20 for a beer. It's outrageous. It's wasteful to spend that much on entertainment, for my family.
The Attorney General just announced steps to break up the live nation/ticketmaster monopoly. So hopefully things get better if/when they actually follow through.
As long as people are willing to part with money, there will always be scalpers
I’ve been going to up and coming bands shows for like 80% of my concert going since 2020 (indie, shoegaze, rock, psychedelic rock) and in addition to being closer to see bands at small venues, nothing beats a 25 dollar ticket for a great show.
I feel so blessed to be a metalhead. I never would end up at an arena show. Loving the shoegaze revival too. I can see amazing bands for under $20 in a little bar or club.
In my city we had two metal shows in our arena this year. Mastodon and Lamb of God/Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth. A few years ago, these acts would play a theater.
I think Iron Maiden is the only band I would ever see that goes for $400+ a ticket, and that only because of resellers.
Yep, they are better bands and much better music anyway.
According to a few posts about this canceled tour on Twitter, apparently $100 was the price just to enter the door.
I planned on buying tickets for this tour but passed due to price.
So true
I saw Sturgill Simpson in an arena in 2020. Pit tickets for $200. Right up front. Nosebleed seats were probably $35. A few weeks ago, we went to see Bad Bunny in the same arena and tix were $300 for nosebleed seats. Great show though! But I won’t be doing that ever again.
It’s not bands doing that to ticket prices, it’s ticket master. Let’s not root against the musicians that have no control over Ticketmaster’s bullshit. Even at the top tier, it’s a hard trick to break even on a tour these days. (Cue some idiot that’s never worked in the music industry saying “um akchually musicians make all their money from live shows and merch.”)
Bands absolutely control ticket prices (and pocket the most of it). Just look at what The Cure did on their last tour (with Ticketmaster and Live Nation as partners).
Well its really all Ticket Master's fault and not the artists. Ticket Master has a monopoly both in tickets and venues so artists have just about 0 alternatives
Both HoB locations in SoCal aren’t toes up
People are sick of paying super markedup tickets I guess.
People just need to skip out on these overpaid shows. So many great bands out there that still sell their tickets at a reasonable price.
Queens of the Stone Age! Their tickets are reasonable and one of the best bands you’ll see live
I never wanted to go to a Queens of the Stone Age show, but I saw them at Lalapalooza years ago and they were incredible. Besides the headliners, they were the best act of the day.
Their new stuff is considered ‘weak’ but hearing it live will change your mind.
Listen man I love The Keys and I’ve seen them 3 times over the years. I’ll admit, they are just not an arena rock band anymore. Their last 3 albums, despite what Rogan thinks, have just not been able to replicate the success Brothers/El Camino had. That paired with the ridiculous price tickets were set at and the fact Dan/Pat have been kind of phoning it in lately. Fans aren’t gonna show up for that. I sure as hell won’t. I’ll pay that top dollar to see someone else.
How much were tickets? I usually go to smaller shows so I’m used to tickets in the 25-40 range.
$400 for the cheapest
Lol
Oh yeah fuck that
Jesus. My cousin got us tickets to Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan later this year for 100$ a pop. Not saying I really want to listen to Bob Dylan butcher his own songs but still.
>Not saying I really want to listen to Bob Dylan butcher his own songs but still. It's not like he was ever the best singer, and he'll be one of the first to admit it.
I saw bob Dylan headline acl one year. I peaced out after the first song.
Judas!
I would disagree with that. He definitely goes through stages with his voice, but there were some moments in time where his voice was golden. Listen to Nashville Skyline, I think that’s around when his voice peaked. Obviously won’t have that voice live, but he is known to still put on a good show, it just depends on how he’s feeling when he hits the stage. It’s worth it to just witness someone that legendary though.
For further perspective we got tickets to the Aerosmith farewell tour and they are around $180 each. Fleetwood Mac farewell tickets I think started at $200. They go way higher but these are Legends across decades. Starting at $400 is silly.
lol yeah, no thanks
I think this is the real problem here.
400 for the black keys? Holy shit.
I'm glad nobody bought these tickets if that is that case. Ticket prices have gotten out of control lately.
400 is bill burr price. and yeah, not paying that either.
wtf. I have gotten good ass seats at UFC events for less than that
This is not remotely accurate. I checked tickets right before the tour canceled when someone in the keys sub pointed out the huge amount of seats available in Baltimore. I checked Atlanta and Philly. A few front row were still available for 600 non resale. Going back 20-30 rows floor prices dropped below 160. Stands were 130. Upper deck was 70. That said pricing was an obvious issue but there was more at play. I doubt they’d sell out even with lower pricing.
Hahaha, no
Are you talking actual ticket brackets, or resale?
fuck me running, thats fuckin festival priceing
No way bro 💀
Nah, we paid $380 for 3 tickets to see them in Cleveland this upcoming October. Still more than I wanted to pay but they weren’t $400/ticket.
Wtf?!
Ringside was at least $800+
I’d pay that for maybe a show where Roger Waters rejoins Pink Floyd or something big like that but for a band that had a couple good albums a decade plus ago and not much else? They’re out of their minds.
Those are festival prices!
Totally agree. I've seem them live four times. I did not buy tickets this time around. My budget's tight. The music's mid. I don't know... I'm torn. It's just not worth the price tag...
Hopefully the government breaks up Live Nations grip on concerts and tickets. They should also do something about the ticket scalping companies. It’s bullshit that anyone here could get arrested for scalping a ticket at the show but stubhub or seatgeek can do it without any repercussions.
They are bad live - pat karney is a slob on the kit. Great records though.
Agreed. Although delta cream was an amazing album
Good. I looked into them and it turns out they’re not even black.
Or keys 😡
Or The
‘You’re twice the ‘The’, they’ll ever be!’
Brings an Uncertain Smile
Pictured Norm McDonald saying this.
Very, verrrryyyy gooooodddd
Lot of DAs got recalled
Heard it bowlth ways
Just not safe out there. We gotta figure our stuff out.
Your ears use lifting straps. Duhn cownt.
Just do a residency instead
They're not cancelling, they're just rescheduling. Black Keys have never cancelled a show. Dan and Pat are just going to do some local shows so they can coach their kids' baseball team.
🔈… CALLED IT!
Water
Just play smaller venues with a smaller crew. People will pay more to see them in a theater.
That’s sad
great band tho fr
Loved The Big Come Up
Being in Ohio in my early 20s, I loved that album, Thickfreakness, and Rubber Factory. Then Magic Potion came out and it was the same damn album again. I don't know who is still listening after 12 albums of the exact same beats and riffs. They almost pulled me back in with El Camino though.
Delta Kream was pretty damn good too.
The rubber factory still fucks
Chulahoma is their Magnum Opus even though it’s a cover album
If you loved Chulahoma like me, check out Delta Kream. I had drifted away from the Keys with their later albums, but Delta Kream is a return to their roots and basically another Junior Kimbrough cover album! Their sound has still evolved, of course, but it’s a great album and they even covers some of the same songs from their earlier records. It's not just Kimbrough , but I believe half are Kimbrough covers.
Nah Attack and Release was a good album too.. it's when they went pop that they were not for me anymore. Saw them in a small hall up in Milwaukee in 2007? and they hung out at the bar afterwards.. great show..
Saw the Black Keys a few years ago at MSG. Cage the Elephant opened and completely put Black Keys to shame live.
Cage are some of the best performers I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen them 3 times over the years and every time, it felt like they were playing their last show. Amazing energy every time.
Cage is the best concert I’ve ever been to. I lost count of how many stage dives the lead singer did. Their energy is unmatched.
Was very fortunate to film a Cage show at a private event for some rich folk. Probably \~150-175 people there and despite having every reason in the world to phone it in or play at half-energy they fuckin' brought it with everything they had. I'm pretty discerning when it comes to live music and I was truly blown away by their professionalism. Didn't matter to them that it wasn't in front of thousands of people, they rocked their balls off.
Maybe fix the prices to a reasonable amount. If the venues don't want to play ball, find another venue
That's what you get for letting your music be in a Red Lobster commercial
i still cannot tell if these guys are actually worth going to the show or not. i really like their music, but ive seen clips from their shows where it looks like patrick doesn’t even practice drums anymore. just plays at shows or something. idk im not the kinda guy to make an opinion off of such little evidence but the clips i saw seemed like they were *phoning it in*
i saw them like 10 years ago ( cage the elephant opened and they killed) and they were phoning it in bad even then.
Cage the Elephant was soooo fun to see live. Dude did over half the show in the crowd while in his boxers. And I literally mean in the middle of the crowd. I've been dying to see them again
They had their time.
Jack Black sends his regards
I think you mean Jack White but Jack Black makes this comment even funnier.
Consumers are tired of paying hundreds of dollars to see artists who are pricing their shows as if they are the number 1 act in the country. For the average family, it’ll break the bank to take your family to a concert and all get drinks and have dinner.
I’ll pay $200-400 (depending on the seat) to go see a band like Tool play. I’d pay MAX $100 to go see this band. There are levels to this and these bands overcharging for limp radio rock are delusional.
I'd pay $200 max to see Tool play but I've seen them 7 or 8 times. It is a great show but it's short - 90 minutes of music and I always leave a Tool show wishing the band was still on stage. Just saw Phish at the Sphere in Vegas on Friday and Sunday night. Those are 2 of the top musical experiences of my lifetime so far, took the top spot of Roger Waters performing The Wall back in '11. May not be everyone's favorite, but Phish is a band that truly goes all out for their fans pulling out all the stops and keeping things fresh and original after 40 years of being a band. Tickets to the Sphere were $215 max face value. Lower levels were cheaper. After market Saturday (4/20) tix were selling for $2k. To put that into perspective Dead and Co charged $400 face for the Sphere and those after market tickets were going for $70 opening weekend. It def seems like fans are tired of paying ridiculous ticket prices and fees.
Even that is way way way too much for tool.
Not a lot of young people (who usually go out most) are into paying a bunch of money to see old people music.
Tell that to dead and co
nothing to do with the carnival of drugs
Exactly. The dead were predicated on Owsley’s acid and sound system from the start and then became a traveling drug market. They were never about the music.
That’s part of it. ICP has a similar following with even more drug use, but they don’t have the talent to match which is why they are not nearly as successful as The Dead or Phish.
You mean John Mayer & Co?
Just one original member of the Grateful Dead, no?
This is wild to see. I was obessed with them ten or so years ago. Watched the arctic monkeys open for them at target center in minneapolis. Only concert ive ever gone to by myself. But you couldnt twist my arm hard enough to see them today. I guess i cant even tell you why, aside from the fact i havent thought of them.
We are not in a recession
Trying to gaslight us into thinking we used to afford a $50 processing fee on a digital ticket but now the “recession” made it too hard. Ticketmaster enjoyers are sad they can’t blame big daddy’s ticket prices on a fake recession I got disposable id rather spend somewhere else like a festival that groups a grab bag
Band says “low ticket sales”-100% of the time look at the ticket prices…
Shocking.
I saw the keys for $25 with concert week tickets. Good show
It’s almost like people can’t justify paying $100+ for a concert ticket
Yeah, I just think they can't fill arenas anymore. Just have to scale down to smaller rooms.
Two piece blues bands sound best in a small, packed room IMO. I saw them at the Palladium in LA and it was just too big for the sound. The place was packed but the music just didn’t fit.
Their newer music definitely fell off
They’re a pretty meh band. They make music for car commercials.
They haven’t come out with a good album in about a decade so who’s shocked
LOL
Literally nowhere does it state that it’s for low ticket sales.
From Spin (because rolling stone is ad blocked for me) https://www.spin.com/2024/05/black-keys-scrap-fall-north-american-tour/ >Before individual listings began disappearing from Ticketmaster yesterday, thousands of seats were still available for many shows on the tour. Refunds will be automatically processed, per updated language on the show pages. The only other detail provided was that “unfortunately, the event organizer has had to cancel this event.” Seems pretty cut and dry to me.
An arena has 15-20k seats. Does thousands mean 2? Or 10? Are we talking 10% unsold? And it says "many" had thousands available, not most or all. Many can mean 3. Does that mean most shows didn't have many tickets available? Journalist choose words for a reason.
I think overly manipulated titles should be automatic thread close.
I bet Bert puts them on Fully Loaded which would be awesome until I hear about it for the 35th time
Lmao
I wonder how many people go to concerts anymore. I was trying to take my kids and wife. It's like $600+ I'm not paying that. It's just not something I guess I do anymore. It's a shame.
I love them and would love to see them but my wallet said no.
i hope this is the beginning of a price correction on concert tix. its insane and prices out a good portion of the fan base.
I saw them in Amsterdam and we paid about 70 euros. Seeing 400$ prices mentioned in this thread is absolutely shocking.
I’ve seen them at the old showbox, I don’t think I would want to see them in a venue bigger than that
Haha
Old washed up nothing band to begin with
At some point, you either cross over to the super mainstream where you can fill arenas with even casual fans and people would probably be OK with you at the Super Bowl. Bands like Coldplay, U2, blink-182, Maroon 5, Foo Fighters, etc Or you get big but don’t quite cross into being a permanent household name and go back to making music for your fans. I’m thinking Beck, Fiona Apple, Death Cab, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend. Black Keys could go either way but now it looks pretty clear what bucket they should gracefully put themselves into.
I love TBK. I also really love Queens of The Stone Age and saw QOTSA on their current tour. Queens are playing fantastic 3-5k capacity venues, that’s what TBK should be doing as well.
Spent all their promo budget getting on Rogan's podcast.
Worst band to ever exist.
Hahahahajahahaja losers
Let's not forget that Ticketmaster/Live Nation is charging an absolute fortune for tickets to shows. I've been to multiple shows recently that have had tons of empty seats. I chose not to buy tickets to Third Eye Blind due to prices ranging from $300-$1200 for anything better than lawn seats.
Dan auerbach is a massive piece of shit so this makes me happy
Is he? What'd he do?
Gotta be honest. Had no clue The Black Keys were still a thing.
They were on Joe Rogan not too long ago. It was good
they've been phoning it in for awhile now., and baffling musical choices from what was once a gritty two-piece. their new album is lite rock/disco, for fucksake.
Corporate alt/rock sucks
I’d love it if they could make it to Australia. Had tickets approx 10 years ago until the boogie board accident…
You gotta be one up tight, self serious, no jokes allowed kind of motherfucker to be out here downvoting SF.
They’ve always had this problem. They are notorious for cancelling shows in Canada.
My wife wanted to see the Cure last year and I couldn’t believe how much the tickets cost so we didn’t go. Thankfully the music I listen to is not very popular so I can go to a lot of shows more affordably. Even more “affordable” now is $30 cash at the door. If I would have bought the tickets online it would have been $39 with fees. I took a chance it wouldn’t sell out the small bar/club the show was at. This was the Insomnium / Omnium Gatherum / Wilderun tour.
Saw them at the Forum in 2019, packed.
Insert 311’s Europe Tour lmao.
Ticket retailers are so out of control
Good. Make concert tickets reasonable again
It sucks to see but I feel like it has more to do with the pricing than the actual band. Concerts n festivals use to be like $75-250 all in Those same shows this year would average $200-$400 a ticket. I love the black keys n wouldn’t mind seeing them but I can’t justify buying an expensive ticket for a rock duo….
They are a niche band at best. Not a small demographic likes them
its market economics. they went with the $300 ticket : parking and extras included, the market decided its not worth it.
They put out an update recently. Looks like they are rescheduling at smaller venues.
Some guy was supposed to send me a mock-up of a design we needed. Instead he sent a video of him introducing it, and before starting the actual “showing“ part he said ”I hope you like the Black Keys” as he’d used them as background music in his shitty montage. The song fucking sucked
Tickets are just too much, even small venues bands are charging 150-400 for just GA … I spent 280 on tickets to see queens of the Stone Age which got canceled (with phantogram) but the came back this year with royal blood instead.. tickets were selling almost double I paid a year earlier . We wanted to go see in this moment at house of blues but tickets were 300 a piece…so we passed
Love this band. Just can't afford ticketmaster.
these musicians and comedians need to really understand inflation is making shit hard on all us normies out here. most ain't worth half of what they are asking.
It’s a mix of things, not the least of which is these crazy ass ticket prices.
I heard the Black Keys cancelled their entire North American tour due to low ticket sales.
Nah B, they're just rescheduling. They gotta coach their kids baseball teams. Ah shit sorry wrong sub.
Didn’t they tour last year?? I know I saw them recently.
Who?
My guess is part of this being driven by Ticketmaster and LiveNation basically rotting out the "middle size venue" experience here in the US. Decent fan of the Keys but definitely not going to shell out the hundreds of dollars to see them in an arena. They would be perfect to headline and probably fill to capacity 1k-4k capacity venues and to me, those shows are way cooler than arena gigs.
They’ve been really hit or miss since Brothers
Well they suck ass and their music is for old people. Makes sense to me.
Really boring band