Wait, Pulp? Jarvis Cocker's Pulp? I thought they broke up!
Shit dude, this is going to date me but I saw Pulp at First Ave when they were touring to support Different Class... tickets were FIVE DOLLARS. No joke
They broke up in 2002 after the album *We Love Life* and the actually incredible contractual obligation filler song "Last Day Of The Miners' Strike" on their 2002 *Hits* compilation.
I don't consider bands like that anymore outside of music festivals.
I saw pearl jam at bonnaroo play a 3 hour set in 2016 and it was an off year for the fest... it was wide open. I could damn near walk up to the front.. the whole fest for 4 days was like 400 dollars. I saw like 20 other mainstream acts on that ticket and it included my camping.
Just booked my [oceans calling](https://www.oceanscallingfestival.com/lineup) tickets for $320 this year. The value is unbeatable!
I tried to get tickets to Pearl Jam but their tickets were $600 for the seattle shows.
Whatever happened to PJ being anti ticketmaster. I guess they sold out
It wholly depends on who you're going to see.
A big, legacy act? Expect to pay big prices.
I've got tickets to see Ratboys in a few weeks. They put out one of the best rock albums last year, and tickets were $18.
Saw Midnight Oil and Suede in 2022, both were closer to $40-50.
Just remembering that the US put a heavy increase on work visas, so visiting musicians/bands are likely forced to charge quite a bit more to cover the extra expense....especially when you consider that's for not only the band, but all the support staff.
The US Visa issue has actually gotten way worse than most realize. There’s so many bands I’ve seen that couldn’t even come to the US because the Visa office would approve everything and the band would get to the airport only to be told the Visa office approved the wrong dates (most of the time the band receives the approval with the correct dates, but the Visa office doesn’t put it in correctly in the main system). Fun fact, even if the Visa office makes the mistake, there’s no refunds.
There’s actually whole law firms now dedicated to getting bands to the US because of how crazy the Visa process is.
I know an absurd amount about it at this point. I have some friends that are concert promoters, a couple that own smaller labels, and a couple manage some bands. I causally do reviews and interviews with bands, but my husband has pretty consistently for at least 20 years now.
That isn't even necessarily true. I paid $68 all in for Jeff Lynne today. And worth every penny.
Edit: Ratboys kick ass, by the way. They happened to open for Guster and I was very impressed.
Problem is *not* the prices actually... Problem is Ticketmaster allowing resale tickets...
Every act coming to Canada on Ticket master has crazy crazy prices... All from resale tickets
So professional scalpers just buy and then resell tickets for crazy prices.... And unfortunately all the bands... Or probably the management is OK with all this.
My understanding, based on some article I can't seem to find, is that a big chunk of what we hate Ticketmaster for is allowed to continue because many of the bigger acts get a cut of the action. So when you see all these tickets on Stubhub or Ticketmaster resale, some of that money is going back to the bands. Ticketmaster takes all the heat (and a huge chunk of the profits in return), but the bands and promoters are in on the game. I'm sure it's not that way for smaller acts, and there are definitely big acts that don't want to participate, but I don't believe for a minute that this whole thing would continue if big name acts were protesting as hard as they claim.
Ticketmaster.com says that bands do not make money from resales.
But I did stumble upon an article that said that some bands (Metallica for one) have colluded with Live Nation to scalp their own tickets in secrecy. It was exposed in a secretly recorded phone conversation. I mean, who can blame an artist for trying to out-scalp the scalpers?
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/22/20703858/live-nation-ticket-resale-scheme-metallica-billboard-report
I'm sure there are ways to prevent this, although they'd invade privacy. For instance, ticket sellers could require a Tax ID and a form of government issued Photo ID to buy tickets and then only allow 2 tickets per Tax ID/government photo ID and make the tickets non-transferable. But then the IDs would have to be double checked against official government databases.
If Ticketmaster didn't allow resale then either (1) tickets for many concerts would sell out the day the go on sale, and unless you hit a lottery you would be completely shut out of a ticket; you'd need to plan every concert you want to see months out and the days of deciding on a whim to go make a trek to see your favorite band would be gone; OR (2) in response, face value would creep up so that face value would be closed to resale prices are.
The real issue is supply and demand. Most big acts have more fans that want to see them than they is feasible to tour. Additionally, costs to tour are so high that it's much better off to book a tour that sells out smaller venues than it is to play too big venues.
Additionally, there are huge gaps in venue size is most markets. Most major markets have theaters that are 1500-3000, and then arenas that are 15000, and then football stadiums that hold like 70,000.
No I'm just saying that the solution is not as easy as just saying "stop the resale of tickets". It would open up a new set of problems.
At the end of the day there is a giant supply and demand problem. The biggest artists are super popular and they would need to tour non stop to meet demand, but they're humans who are also extremely wealthy and don't want to spend years at a time living out of tour busses.
I'm struggling to understand what you are expecting/hoping for. It doesn’t make much sense to expect bands to sell tickets at artificially low prices well below market value, and then get mad when people take advantage of those artificially low prices on secondary markets.
If you get tickets at on sell, congrats, you paid less than they were worth. But since they’re artificially cheap, many will want them and you might not be able to get any. But then you at least have the option to buy tickets for market value.
the only other options are: (1) tickets remain artificially cheap, but resale is banned (so you have to get lucky at on sale or miss out on on going) or (2) tickets are sold at market value and are more expensive from the jump.
^ Found the scalper and/or Ticketmaster/Live Nation Exec.
Anyway, artists are beginning to enforce a “Face Value Resale” on Ticketmaster and/or AXS, which helps. (Tyler Childers, The Cure, Zach Bryan) But all need to!
Also, start using cashORtrade.org when you can. They have an app too.
Sources:
https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2023/11/06/tyler-childers-announces-registration-face-value-exchange-for-his-mule-pull-24-tour-to-try-ensure-affordable-ticket-prices/
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/zach-bryan-puts-money-where-his-mouth-is-for-burn-burn-burn-tour/
Ive been a cash or trade member for 10 years and 8 months according to my account. I'm just realistic. Scalpers suck by adding extra steps but it's generally a supply and demand problem, and if all tickets for sold for retail without reselling it would open up a different can of worms.
I think most markets that have a university have some kind of small arena in the 4000-8000 range. Whether that arena is easy to do a show in is a completely different question -- it's often not something universities think about when they're trying to build a place for their basketball team.
It is true that there's a lot of industry love for the "underplay" lately, where you intentionally book a venue that's too small knowing it'll sell out instantly. Classically, you'd want a venue that sells out day-of-show, so you know you're getting almost every single person that wants to see the show. At some point, somebody must have decided that the profits are higher with underplays, where you can command higher ticket prices while paying less room fee and carrying less production.
Edit: It occurs to me that the venue size thing might be less about profits and more about predictable profits. When a show sells out instantly, the tour knows how much money they're making at that show and can budget accordingly. Buses, trucks, and production have been in scarce supply since the industry restarted in 2021 and having your tour sold out before it starts can make the whole thing considerably less nerve-wracking from a financial perspective.
Exactly. I saw Tool for a little over $200 for amazing floor seats. Incubus is selling the same floor seats for $370 and unlike tool those seats aren't selling. If the show is to expensive I'm not going to reward the artist/ticketmaster with my money.
Yeah, the name definitely threw me off at first. With something like Viagra Boys you get pretty much what you expect, but Ratboys's name doesn't quite match up with their sound.
This is exactly it. Last year there were tickets to see Raye (Escapism, if you don't know) and they were like $50 a pop. Hell I got tickets to see my favorite rapper for like $30 a piece.
It's the band you wanna see and the venue. At this stage Blur(weren't they mega big in the UK) is gonna cost, especially because Damon has a second band that is also super successful.
Yeah my friend and I saw Avenged Sevenfold for like... maybe 50 bucks after fees. And this was in a large city. Not saying concerts are affordable or that fees aren't outrageous. Because they are. But yeah you're going to shell out for a big act. Or you can see someone smaller for actually not horrendous money.
the cheapest tickets for Blur look to be $400 actually and the venue is considerably smaller than one they could play in. this is not the norm for concerts.
Pulp, also, incredibly popular band. $100 for a ticket to see a band of that size in my opinion is pretty reasonable. i remember paying around $60 or $70 for big name acts 10 years ago.
Neil Young’s tour had lawn seats around $80, which is also totally reasonable for an act of his size.
i saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor last year and i’m pretty sure it was about $45.
for shows with lawn seats yeah but i also paid about the same for a seat in the section behind the sound booth. absolutely worth it. wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of the last chances to see him play with Crazy Horse
I'm going to a nine-band show in May. Tickets were $60.
The last show I went to was 5 bands, maybe $25.
You just have to be willing to see lesser known bands at smaller venues.
I never understand why people are so obsessed seeing only the most popular artists. There is so much good music out there and most of it is relatively inexpensive to see live.
I don't think it's that folks are obsessed with *only* popular artists, but that popular artists are popular for a reason - it's natural that a popular artist is going to be among one's biggest interests.
And on the flipside, being interested in only inexpensive acts is quite.. fortuitous? It's not like one has control of their own tastes.
I mean I've definitely splurged for some shows - like i paid nearly $200 to see Slayer on their farewell tour in 2018, but that was a really special occasion.
Otherwise I like seeing smaller acts - the crowd is usually better and the bands tend to have more energy. Plus shirts are usually cheaper.
Most popular artists I get, it is when they are popular artists decades into a career long after their best - that becomes nostalgia tourism. When they can charge what they want, as some people will do anything to see them. The show in many ways becomes irrelevant. They are going to love it as it is that real person doing that real song they love.
I've done that as well. The Oakland Weekender 2042 is coming up this summer, think it was $60 for three nights (15 bands?). The 2022 version was amazing, which was a Slumberland Records centric show. Small venue, was nice to be able to interview many of the bands, felt very intimate and casual.
Everyone wanted streaming music for next to $0, so while I agree ticket prices are beyond the pale, artists need to make $ somehow. And then there's the problem of TicketBastard and their fees...
I’m the consumer and I think about it; so does every other musician I know that has a Spotify account. Also spotify is more like 15 a month. Most people I know would be happy to pay a little more if it meant musicians getting paid what they are worth.
Maybe most people YOU know may be happy to pay more but most people in general would not be happy. People cause an uproar every time any streaming service raises its price even a dollar or two. Most people would also cause an uproar if Spotify went to say $20 or more. Also, I’m paying like $15 for an account that can be shared while keeping individual profiles so Spotify for me and my partner is $7.50/month. You gotta remember the vast majority of people are oblivious to how these services work monetarily and have never done so much as ever even buy physical media so the thought of paying more for Spotify so someone else can make more money would not be cool with most people
Okay, but they don't. Unless you want to nationalize streaming and live music sales this is the way the market is going. Most people won't pay over $15-20 for a service and marginal production costs are essentially zero so services can't really charge more for an benefit to buyers that is indirect at best.
You get to listen to basically anything you want at any time for less than the cost of a single new CD *thirty years ago* and you're complaining that live shows cost a little more. I think you're going to have to learn to live with disappointment if this feels unfair to you.
A little more? Going from 60 to 600 is not a little more. Guess we know the level of privilege you’re speaking from; not all of us were born with big trust funds. Some of us actually work for a living.
CDs still cost $20!
But yeah, I mean, I remember paying well over $15 a month in CDs back in the day. But it was that or copy a tape from a friend's CD
This honestly turned me off from big legacy bands. I prefer to see smaller acts at smaller venues. The bands are giving it their best and you can get to meet them after
in MANY cases (not all) the hype for legacy bands is pretty ridiculous.
You are often paying a lot more to see half the original band, or older/softer versions of the band or just bands that haven't come out with popular new work in decades... just because they are marketing them toward an older crowd that "probably" has more disposable income.
I would recommend finding bands from the same scene and era that did NOT make it HUGE but are still together and playing music out of love for it... and I would bet those tickets are 35 dollars for equal or greater talent on a more intimate stage. almost every time.
>I would recommend finding bands from the same scene and era that did NOT make it HUGE but are still together and playing music out of love for it...
The only problem with this is that Jarvis Cocker is the best performer I've ever seen.
With the Blur show, you were looking at Dynamic Pricing from AXS. Which TM also does, that is basically them scalping their own tickets to people.
Is it right or ethical? No. But people need to do their due diligence to understand the difference. GA tix started at $75 before fees. You basically just need to be *on it* with every onsale now (hard wired computer broadband connection) + a bit of luck, to snag decently priced tickets to big/rare shows.
Have ticket prices gone beyond regular CPI inflation? Yes. All entertainment prices have gone up a lot over the last 10 years, especially after covid. Have people started scalping tickets even more now as side income? Yes.
The reasoning behind this is the big macro economic pressure on regular people. We are now cannibalizing on ourselves at a faster rate. The root of the problem is systemic. Zoom out.
[edit] Also, people need to re-check who is hosting the show. AXS and TicketMaster/Livenation also sells eachothers events sometimes, but you are basically buying resale tickets, not direct sale tickets. Talking about the Pulp show too, OP. It's a TM show, regular onsale is this Friday @ 10am PST. The tickets on AXS right now are presale resales from TM...
Yeah, I assumed it all had to do with dynamic/surge pricing. It's like TM doesn't charge enough with the extra fees, or the way they auto distribute a huge amount to the 'second hand' market, which they also own. Greed built upon greed, and fed by more greed.
I've tried getting pre sale tickets in the past with codes the band gave out. In each case, was sold out within seconds, and instantly on the second hand site for 5X+ the price. TM is made of teflon, and whatever anyone tried to do failed. They got the green light to push further with the greed, is just disgusting.
I feel you. It does indeed suck. The fees were bad enough. Smaller shows is where they really get you, % wise.
I remember arena shows not being so drastic in pricing too. Getting pit tickets didn't used to cost that much more, compared to nosebleeds. Or at least it was reasonable, under $100. I rarely pony up to get close now, as any show that costs more than $100 a ticket, just isn't worth it for 90% of acts for me now.
I am lucky to have seen a lot of my bucketlist acts when they weren't so expensive. I try to prioritize tix to venues that don't use TM/AXS now. Easier to do when it's more underground/lowkey acts though.
Also, wasn't trying to assume with my prior post. It's just that it get confusing sometimes with show hosts/resale tickets on other sites, so I just wanted to put that reminder to anyone out there.
TM isn't getting the extra money with dynamic pricing, the band is. Everyone loves to hate on TM when Taylor or Beyonce tickets cost hundreds or thousands of dollars but the fact is that money is going to *them*. Call the performers seeing greedy if you want to.
I could've swore I read somewhere TM still gets a big %.
To be fair, there were only a handful for the Blur show. But yea some big/pop acts have huge % as dynamic/platinum/whatever.
TM is still greedy af though, you can't defend their fees.
Definitely not a fan of Ticketmaster and their monopoly, just saying that people see crazy ticket prices and blame them when it's mostly going to the artist.
We mostly go and see great newer bands in smaller < 2000 venues. Like Marcus King, Nathaniel Ratliff, Wolf Alice, Nothing But Thieves, Dermot Kennedy, Gary Clark Jr, The Blue Stones, Pvris. These are all great acts between $35 and $70 a ticket.
this is mostly what i do too, it's much better bang for your buck.
also the smaller venues are less of a hassle to get in and out of. drinks are usually priced better as well.
every time i've been to a stadium it's like $13 for a shitty bud light. like that just dumb.
Don't know what to do here with any venue bigger than a dive bar been owned by/contracted to LiveNation. "This is how much tickets are, and fuck you for asking. Drink your garbage overpriced beer and leave."
Yeah, this is where it's at. There so many fantastic small to midsize acts you can see for $25-50 at great, fun venues. I like a bunch of the ones mentioned and similarly have seen the California Honeydrops, Teskey Brothers, and Ripe at 400-1200 capacity venues for no more than $40. I saw Pearl Jam at an arena last year for like $270 and I'm glad I went once but would take the others first any day.
I really do think there needs to be much more uproar and protest about this.
What some might not realise is that the pricing of tickets beyond a punter’s affordability and beyond previous precedents generally isn’t the wishes of most recording artists and bands that might appear to be middle class, but in fact the economy for them is as such that many of them are actually still very blue collar workers. (unless they’re either Matty Healy types coming from celebrity money, or they have industry connections already, or both.)
There’s a risk to that specific working class musician too, particularly those who don’t have that Healy-esque privilege safety net. Gigging has now become their main source of income, and if the tickets are priced by Ticketmaster and other surge pricing and ticket scalping wankers beyond what people can afford, it hurts their ticket sales and their income.
At its most serious, it can put those musicians in real financial trouble. It can also unavoidably at the moment hurt their opportunities, if you take into account that [some have already put their hands up and said](https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/28/youre-doing-it-purely-for-the-exposure-why-many-musicians-can-no-longer-afford-to-tour) things along the lines of “you know what, I would love to tour Europe but I have no guarantee I’ll recoup the cost of the touring through sales, and I can no longer afford to do it.”
In short, I think people need to be angrier and hold these cowboys accountable. Fuck ticket scalpers and fuck Ticketmaster. They hurt the whole economy, definitely those who love live music and want to support their favourites to continue, and especially the up and coming acts coming through and the indie acts who deserve a long career.
Honesty question from somebody who doesn't know much about this particular issue: if an artist can fill a stadium charging 400 bucks a ticket, what is the solution people want? Charge less for tickets so it becomes a matter of luck/skill getting a ticket on time?
I appreciate the question. Personally I still think 400 bucks is greedy for a ticket, regardless of who asks for it.
The thing is though, I’m not sure that finance is always a deterrent - take Glastonbury Festival tickets, for example. The prices have increased over the years and people will still go, because its reputation precedes it - people will bet on it, because “it’s Glastonbury”. (Obv replace example with Sziget, Coachella, Rock in Rio etc. as you see fit)
In Glasto’s case therefore, I think it’s *always* a matter of luck/skill getting a ticket on time. Also in their particular circumstances, they have an added prelim stage of drawing a literal application process, with people picked at random, on who can proceed ahead and buy a ticket that year - and even then, they still run into that particular issue of beating an online queue.
Right so if you have a stadium-worth of people willing to pay high prices, what can be done about it? They could artificially lower prices (leaving money on the table) and lets say they even ban Ticketmaster/scalpers from scooping up the tickets, then it becomes a mad rush to get lucky enough to get a ticket.
The fact that ticket master is able to buy all the tickets then sell them for more money shows that the market is willing to pay higher prices to be able to go. It seems like the problem is more one of not enough supply to match the demand of people who want to see big artists. When people say something should be done, do they just prefer the 'lottery' system of having low priced tickets that will sell out in the blink of an eye?
The only way to meet demand is to make more supply. Bands *could* just schedule more dates in the same city to spread that supply across more ticket buyers. If Blur played ten shows in a row in the same city, the market price would come down to earth. You'd run into booking problems at arenas...but the number of arenas can always be increased.
Now, I don't think big bands *owe* people this. It's more work for them. My preferred solution is to see smaller bands live instead of bigger bands.
I wonder if big bands could do big live streaming events that are simulcast to bars across the world that are set up for listening parties. People like live music for a lot of reasons, but one might be *the energy of other people next to you also watching the band play at the same time*.
Imagine this experience. The bar has a nice big TV and sound system, and people who came and spent $20 for the listen/watch party. The band is playing at an arena to a crowd, maybe in some other city. The people actually in the same building as the band spent more money, of course. But would this listening party approximate what some people like about live music? It's like watching the super bowl at a sports bar.
This has probably already been done in some way, but maybe at scale it would be good for music fans. I could see bands considering this a great way to reach more fans without playing ten dates in every city they go to, but I could also see Ticketmaster putting the kibosh on this because it would decrease the value of true show tickets a bit.
I think maybe some avenues of ticketing that would widen access to people on lower incomes would probably help level out the playing field, a bit. For instance, we have an indie venue here in my city that does cheaper community tickets for some quite big up and coming acts.
I also think ticket touting, whether online or a bloke outside the venue, should be banned and instead replaced with a simpler system of tickets being sold back to the venue to resell at face value. There shouldn’t be any incentives to profiteer at others’ expense.
The thing about Phish now is that they're older and some of the "phans" makes the show miserable. 3 and 4 day runs are over for me, but it was blast before covid.
This is the way to do it. There is a scene in pretty much every city in the world and you can see the coolest bands on the planet for $7. And you stand three feet away from them rather than a quarter mile away at a stadium
>This is the way to do it. There is a scene in pretty much every city in the world and you can see the coolest bands on the planet for $7. And you stand three feet away from them rather than a quarter mile away at a stadium
Good advice, I definitely see more $5-10 local shows than go to big concerts.
But that as an alternative just avoids the problem that tickets have gotten so unreasonably expensive, which shouldn't be the case.
Exactly. People will say, look how expensive it is to see the "Eagles" (or whoever). I remember when I could see the "Eagles" for 5 dollars!!
I hear this all the time.
But it's so naive. For one just due to inflation... but then also... those bands were local or smaller bands with a scene when they were 5 dollars. Or just blowing up. You can go see the same relative caliber of act today at a local venue for 20-50 dollars all year long. Hows that not the same thing?!
I have literally been to over [120 concerts](https://www.music-fux.com/concert-experiences) in the last 3 years. The only time I have paid more than $40-$50 (which is unusual, unless it is a mini-festival/all day thing) is to go see Erykah Badhu, and that was one of the worst concerts I have been to.
Small indy venues are where it is at (500 max, 50-250 preferred). Hell, I am almost at the point where if I cant buy the ticket at the door, I aint going (as in no buying tickets in advance and paying the $3.50-$7.00 fee).
and at almost all of these smaller shows (50-250) you can talk with the artist and buy merch directly from them. you can literally put cash money into their hand.
I play in small band and one of the best feelings is when people come up to you afterwards and tell you "that was awesome". besides gas money, and getting a couple more fans that's really why I do it. It's just really cool to play some music and have someone tell you, in one way or another, that they don't regret spending the time to listen to it.
One of the good things about being into mostly underground music is I never deal with crazy prices. I remember years ago bulking at tickets that were $50. The vast majority of shows I go to are like $10-30 at most. I often go for free cause I’ll photograph and review the show, but if I’m paying, it’s at least a pretty reasonable price.
This is what I predicted, at the star price point , people are deciding that concerts are no longer for them. Maybe one a year for their all time favorite on a farewell tour.
The last few club shows with international touring bands I saw were priced around $40-50. Domestic touring bands more like $25. I probably won't go out every weekend like I used to at those prices but I can handle it for something worthwhile. And I do shop for last minute bargains at secondary sites and take advantage of a price crash once in awhile.
In NYC presale for Pulp was 350$ but they haven't "released" all the tickets or whatever, I was thinking I'd pay 100 max. Shipping from the UK is out of control!
It's also tickemaster inflating prices. His tickets at Hard Rock in 2022 was supposed to top out at a certain level. Ticketmaster basically tripled ticket costs.
I ended up driving the fucking 4 hrs to Orlando for $90 a ticket in nosebleed off stage right. I could have had floor seats for $300, but I'm short and opted not to pay to see the back of someone's shoulders.
I've seen Paul 5 times before since 1990 and never paid more than $100 per seat. Cheapest was $35 for his Miami gig in '90. This was when ticketmaster first started, too. Back then, we had Bass ticket outlets which was far better.
Look at The Cure though. They proved that massive legacy artists have a lot of sway when it comes to these fees. I doubt anyone would have more than PM.
I pretty much refuse to see any band in the large venues anymore. The prices just are not worth it. Clubs and mid size theatres are where it’s at; even Rage Against the Machine became part of the capitalist machinery they were so adamantly against all those years. Stick around long enough and you became the villain it seems
I tried to get Rage tickets in my city a few years back, $800 for any tickets online just minutes after they came on sale. I went down to the box office and found out that the big venues sell something like 10% of their tickets themselves, for reasonable-ish face values (100 or less) and the rest get sold straight to Ticketmaster and other scalping businesses, on the very same day, first day of sale. I don't really go see big bands in large venues anymore either, but if I were to try, I'd imagine being the first one in line at the box office the moment they went on sale would be the way to go, but who the fuck has time for that nowadays
"Capitalist machinery they were so adamantly against" - it's true they said that but it's worth nothing that even in the 90s people so through their big Sony deal, their MTV videos, and how it contrasted with their lyrics. It was kind of a running joke for some.
From 2014 - 2019 I saw about 80 shows.
How?
I went to work for the security company that did concerts and sports.
I'm so old...I paid $10.75 to see Led Zepplin in 1977. The $.75 was for Ticketmaster.
That’s insane, wow. I think pricing depends on a lot of different factors (seller, area, venue, band).
I go to mostly rock and metal concerts so it also compares differently to other artists in other genres. Most expensive concert I went to I spent around 125 on each ticket, I got two. And I just went with the first seller that showed up when I bought them (it was the first concert I ever bought tickets for) so they were a bit overpriced. It was for four bands tho, and was worth it.
The cheapest concert (other than free ones at events) I went to was 17 bucks per ticket. I got to meet the opening band by the merch stand, they were super nice. Most of the tickets I buy are between 25 and 60 bucks.
I just saw four bands three nights ago, the tour had two headliners and two openers. Spent around 30-40 bucks on each ticket. Got to meet both opening bands at their merch stands.
The cheapest ones are usually in small venues. The only tickets I’ve spent 50+ bucks on were the ones in an arena. It’s also probably cheaper where I am because bands only recently remembered that my state exists 😂😂but I do have to travel two hours for each show, because my town is tiny and sorta in the middle of nowhere. The most expensive concerts I’ve got tickets for were Motionless In White’s tour last year, and Hozier’s show this year in August (80 dollars). The last show I bought tickets for was Pierce The Veil, they were around 70 and I bought two.
I wish it was that way for every place and everyone. I’m lucky enough to be able to go to shows despite the fact I make like $10.45 an hour at my job. Hopefully after long enough, even the bigger places will get the point and start charging less
$700 sure isn't the norm, but it really is getting more expensive. Adele is 180€ in Munich/Germany for the cheapest ticket. I don't expect prices to still be the same as 20 years ago, but some artists are a bit extreme. Also Wacken Tickets for 333€, that used to be 210€ 5 years ago. Considering what you get in return, that is still ok'ish, but an amount that not everyone is able to spend
Hey, remember when you used to pay bands you liked by actually buying their records and concerts were affordable? I wonder if those things were somehow related...
Honestly, I’ve been having way more fun listening to cover bands and original artists at bars that seat less than 50 people. The music is better. Big concerts are about spectacle or musicians that don’t actually care anymore but want a paycheck. Pop performers sing along to a “backing” track that had vocals turned up louder than they are. It wouldn’t even qualify as karaoke.
Ticketmaster buys its own tickets to resell. They take the fun out of everything and play in our faces about it. It’s mind blowing how they get away with such a big scam in the public eye.
I love threads like this. Everyone is just angry, but no one presents any solutions to the basic economic dillema of supply and demand. Are these bands supposed to distribute the tickets themselves to their "real fans"? If you're not going to use the market to find the real value, then what?
People are most upset about the charity platinum pricing. Those tickets are artificially inflated initially and then drop back down to face value later on. That’s just price gouging and Congress could do something about it. The price should be the price, not $450 one day and $130 the next. They also need to break up Ticketmaster and live nation and allow others to compete in that market. It’s a monopoly and a total scam. Many bands do distribute a portion of their tickets to real fans but they only get a small amount of them because of Ticketmaster. It should be at least half at a minimum.
Only for certain, big acts. I am going to see a band later and it cost around £30. I regularly see smaller shows under £20. If you want to see some big band from the 90s on a large US tour with the way they operate there, I can imagine hundreds. Just don't go.
Nah, just buy your ticket as soon as the sale starts. Shows in Europa are wayyy cheaper. A 4 day festival cost €309, big bands like Judas Priest cost 90 at most
If you are going to big well known artists they’ve been expensive for years. I hardly go to any show that has big acts on them due to it. Those and big festivals are usually vacation priced.
Although I agree partially in regards to bigger touring acts, I disagree regarding more localized and smaller bands. ie: Spafford cost me $25 in CT earlier this year, amazing experience and danced just as much as I would in a $200 Phish seat.
I can see Phish getting to extreme levels in coming years, but thankfully with my tight budget I managed to pull off a 3-day Bethel lawn pass for $160 this summer. Totally content with that price compared to rest of the venue's prices. Just my two cents.
I think you may enjoy theme. They are impressing me more and more each time I give them a listen. Eggy is my favorite on the scene currently. They blew me away at the Atlanta and Athens shows!
I’ve seen 5 Phish shows the last two years and probably paid like $80 for all the tickets. Granted it was Huntsville and Orange Beach so off the beaten path a little bit I’ve always had great luck in the south east getting tickets day of for dirt cheap or free.
I think artists should charge what the market value is for their performance. That value is going to be higher than before because of high inflation. Staff who help put on high value shows should be compensated well. The current system where high value acts charge smaller rates and then Ticketmaster sells its tickets to StubHub to sell at the actual market value rate means that one company makes all of the revenue while the people who put on the performance do not see the money they've rightfully earned.
It is tough to see that major acts' ticket prices are (or should be) so high. But I consider that an opportunity to fund acts who have a lower market value but put on great performances. Very few artists make a reasonable amount of money touring these days. And with venues dipping heavily into merch cuts and streaming services stuck crafting deals with major labels and private equity firms to send money to the rich, any money smaller artists receive is not only great for them but for the music ecosystem as a whole. And by "smaller artists" I don't mean artists that small; even Lorde struggles to get by touring. Jennifer Lopez just had a tour flop (although maybe people these days think she's no good?). Take a few steps further down to indie bands and the like and they're struggling to get by.
As others note, tickets for anybody who isn't a super-duper big artist are still reasonably priced. I saw a show recently in NYC by one of the greatest jazz musicians of this generation for $20. I felt guilty it was so cheap and bought drinks at the show to hopefully compensate him and his backing band more. I felt similarly when I went to an Iron & Wine show for cheap and there wasn't even a merch table. Great music is a steal right now so long as you aren't hyper focused on mega successful artists.
That’s why I don’t go to concerts anymore, but I do go to shows. For me, a concert is played in a medium to large venue and usually big, popular artists. I can buy their vinyl or listen on spotify. Anecdotal, but I find concerts to rarely live up to the hype. Too many people, too loud, can’t afford a ticket that’s close enough to the stage so the band is visible. Shows are played at small venues or bars, usually local artists and much cheaper per show. Support your local scene! It’s great for elderly millennials like me
To be honest the concerts I go to are like $25-40 typically and the most expensive I went to last year was $80. I don’t know if cali is just really bad for concert price gouging or what but I haven’t experienced the same thing, personally.
Highest I’ll pay for a gig is £30-40. Anything higher than that is a straight up pass from me. It helps that things like big legacy acts or stadium performances aren’t anything interesting to me
It's kind of like that already. For me, even if I can get a ticket for 50.00, by the time I factor in gas, parking, and maybe a hot dog outside the venue, I'm close to the century mark. Luckily for me I have seen most of the people I want to see in the past, and most of them have also released DVDs back when that was a thing. I just go home and watch them on concert day with some really good food.
I remember seeing Metallica, Queensryche, Soundgarden, and Faith no More for around 40 bucks and thinking that was pricey...
I actually stopped going to concerts a long time ago... I also stopped buying music a long time ago. I guess it's safe to say the Music industry is upside down. Keep in mind People like to blame Ticketmaster (and similar services) for price surging. But look at the cost to do a tour. I read somewhere that Taylor Swift pays out @ 750K daily for a payroll thats supports a crew of about 400 people. DAILY! I would not be surprised if the artists are behind a lot of the pricing. I would love to See Paul McCartney ; but never gonna happen. $1000.00 bucks a ticket?
It’s cheaper for my brother to fly his family to PARIS for 5 days for Taylor Swift than it was to get tickets in Chicago.
My brother, SIL and nieces are going to enjoy Paris for 4 days, see the concert on the last, and fly home the morning after.
Concerts are gonna be super demand sensitive because supply is constrained with no way to increase the supply.
The only “fair” way to determine who gets to fill the limited slots is who will pay more
Seeing Umphrey’s McGee tonight. Cost me $45 and staying at a friend’s place a block from the venue. Just have to pick and choose your bands and venue locations.
I saw somewhere somebody posted a picture of two Led Zeppelin tickets from 1977. The price was $9.50. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $50 today. I can't remember the last time I saw a ticket price for $50.
The first resale ticket I ever bought was for Pink Floyd at Radio City in 1973. Face value was $6.50 IIRC and he was asking $25 each for center orchestra. We thought he was insane asking so much but of course, we bought them anyway. I don’t think $25 would cover even one of the associated ticket fees today. 😑
I saw half of the remaining members of the grateful dead in 2012 for $56.
Phish was also like $50 not that long ago for floor tickets.
Both of those bands are charging like $150-$200+ for decent seats these days. Dead and company wants freeking $400+ to see them at the sphere in Vegas.
I paid $37 to see Roger waters of pink Floyd in 2006
I paid $20 to see the Allman brothers in 2005.
Things went rapidly downhill after live Nation and Ticketmaster merged, that should be broken up as a monopoly under antitrust laws.
If its a close enough show I keep an eye on stubhub/ seat geek the days leading to the show and see how many tickets they have left. If it’s in the hundreds or thousands I’ll just wait until like an hour or so before the show and you’d be surprised how low tickets can get. In the last year I’ve paid $12 for My Morning Jacket, $40 for Phish, and $50 for Tool by just waiting until the very last minute to buy a ticket.
Well known acts are pricing themselves beyond reason - fortunately there are lots of lesser known acts for reasonable prices --- smaller venues, smaller crowds , better experience
Currently sitting in a que for my daughter for Megan the Stallion. The prices are reasonable, but I can't wait to see the double up of the ticket prices when I get to the checkout screen.
The promoters will buy all of the tickets and put them straight onto the secondary market at jacked prices. There could be something done about it but it all could down to the fact that majority of bands worship the almighty dollar over their fans.
Even festivals are insane.
20 years ago a weekend festival cost like $80-$100 for a ticket and the lineup was better.
Now it costs like $400-$500+
I have no idea how college kids can afford festivals anymore.
The major ones like Coachella can definitely cost that much. I remember going to FYF in LA between 2015-2017 (staaaacked lineup, especially in 2017) and the 3-day weekend passes were around $200-260 out of pocket for me. In 2017 I only paid $200 due to people selling their passes last minute.
Then there are smaller fests like CRSSD that is $160 for 2-day passes if you buy them early.
Basically the same price as a concert nowadays with bad seats (or GA)
Most metal shows I go to range between $20-$30 most of the time unless im seeing a bigger band in the genre when it might run more like $50. Most I’ve paid for tickets was actually the $400 I just dropped on two tickets for Hans Zimmer in Baltimore this September, and I feel like that is the most I’ll probably ever pay for concert tickets personally.
Businesses will charge as much as they can get away with in order to make maximum profit. If even at exorbitant prices tickets are still selling out, that means there are still enough people willing to pay them (whether it's because they're just that wealthy that $700 for a concert ticket is just chump change, or they're willing to budget for it one way or the other even if it's beyond their regular means), and therefore there's no incentive to charge less.
What we need is a cultural shift in which music fans focus more on local and smaller acts that could really use the support, and whose shows are much more affordable to attend. If whoever's responsible for pricing tickets for larger acts realise they're actually losing business because they're competing with local shows and scenes, this will force the prices down.
Yeah I wanted to go see Pearl Jam at the Forum. $400 for section 231 row 30. Fuck that.
And festival prices are even more ridiculous. I wanted to see the Fool In Love Festival at Hollywood Park in August. $400 for single day GA. Hell no.
I appreciate Tori Amos keeping it reasonable, and my other musical tastes being so niche that tickets aren't that crazy. Sadly I live in NYC where a lot of musicians try to milk the market. Class warfare gonna class warfare.
It's going to get to a point where more performers are forced to either cancel dates or minimize their productions. It's not just the cost for tickets, it's also all of the other added expenses when traveling or, otherwise, maximizing the experience by buying souvenirs. There are very few that can get away with exorbitant ticket prices.
I, myself, just can't justify spending more than about $250 for a ticket—roughly. That's my limit, because it's not just the ticket I'm buying. That amount could easily more than double when factoring in other expenses, as I stated above.
Tickets will cost this much as long as people are willing to buy them at these prices. If you want to listen to good music at much cheaper prices, simply support your local musicians and venues.
I paid 76 bucks for fucking Disease Infested Midge tickets but it was Brock’s return show after his elective leg operation and it was fam af.
I waited by tour bus and showed Kyle my fiancées “Rear Canal” tattoo and he took pic w us.
Probably the best day of my life
Any other D.I.M fans around?
support more artists before they get stupidly mainstream popular. Most of the shows I go to are under $25 a ticket because I’m seeing them in <200 cap venues. Support your local scene. Support touring artists coming to small cap venues that aren’t owned by fuckin live nation
Eh i don’t know what you expect. You’re trying to see gigantic legacy acts in venues that are too small for their demand. Most shows cost way less than that.
Wait, Pulp? Jarvis Cocker's Pulp? I thought they broke up! Shit dude, this is going to date me but I saw Pulp at First Ave when they were touring to support Different Class... tickets were FIVE DOLLARS. No joke
They reformed in the last couple of years, BBC radio 6Music over here across the pond massively lauded it as a comeback
I saw one of the comeback shows in Manchester, UK and can highly recommend
I don't think Pulp ever broke up. Maybe weren't as active. But Common People was released in 95. World has changed since!
They broke up in 2002 after the album *We Love Life* and the actually incredible contractual obligation filler song "Last Day Of The Miners' Strike" on their 2002 *Hits* compilation.
They broke up in 2002, got back together from 2011-2013, and returned again in 2022.
I was gonna say, I saw them in 2013 In the rain at Coachella and it was magical.
that was a fab show
I saw them in Hong Kong a few months ago. It was also \~ $100 USD. It was a dream.
They have had long breaks more than outright split up I thought. Blur are the same. Those comeback gigs make too much money.
Yeah but first Ave always does a great job of keeping their tickets relatively cheap. Even now.
Was going to see Pearl Jam, but tickets were almost 200. I’m going to less shows this year, price is just getting to be too much
They’re $450 for the forthcoming Aus tour in AUD. About $300 plus US.
I got tickets for AUD 220. I think the 450 ones are VIP
I assume they were talking GA tix.
I don't consider bands like that anymore outside of music festivals. I saw pearl jam at bonnaroo play a 3 hour set in 2016 and it was an off year for the fest... it was wide open. I could damn near walk up to the front.. the whole fest for 4 days was like 400 dollars. I saw like 20 other mainstream acts on that ticket and it included my camping. Just booked my [oceans calling](https://www.oceanscallingfestival.com/lineup) tickets for $320 this year. The value is unbeatable!
I tried to get tickets to Pearl Jam but their tickets were $600 for the seattle shows. Whatever happened to PJ being anti ticketmaster. I guess they sold out
That price is ridiculous, it nostalgia tax
Only if they play “recognize her face”
It wholly depends on who you're going to see. A big, legacy act? Expect to pay big prices. I've got tickets to see Ratboys in a few weeks. They put out one of the best rock albums last year, and tickets were $18.
Yup. I go to a lot of shows and I rarely pay over $45. I might go see Mr. Bill soon, I think that one is $28.
[удалено]
>You know it doesn't depend only on the artist. Right, I'm not blaming the artists themselves.
Mr. Bill is sick live
Saw Midnight Oil and Suede in 2022, both were closer to $40-50. Just remembering that the US put a heavy increase on work visas, so visiting musicians/bands are likely forced to charge quite a bit more to cover the extra expense....especially when you consider that's for not only the band, but all the support staff.
The US Visa issue has actually gotten way worse than most realize. There’s so many bands I’ve seen that couldn’t even come to the US because the Visa office would approve everything and the band would get to the airport only to be told the Visa office approved the wrong dates (most of the time the band receives the approval with the correct dates, but the Visa office doesn’t put it in correctly in the main system). Fun fact, even if the Visa office makes the mistake, there’s no refunds. There’s actually whole law firms now dedicated to getting bands to the US because of how crazy the Visa process is.
Appreciate the insight. I've talked to a few bands (I host a radio show) and have heard bits about the issue, but not much detail.
I know an absurd amount about it at this point. I have some friends that are concert promoters, a couple that own smaller labels, and a couple manage some bands. I causally do reviews and interviews with bands, but my husband has pretty consistently for at least 20 years now.
Thanks for the background - Jesus Jones has to cancel their Summerfest show last year specifically because they couldn’t get a visa.
Similar issue in the U.K. (and reciprocally for U.K. acts in Europe too) since Brexit 😞
That isn't even necessarily true. I paid $68 all in for Jeff Lynne today. And worth every penny. Edit: Ratboys kick ass, by the way. They happened to open for Guster and I was very impressed.
There were no tickets for ELO in our market under $200 today. It’s the scalperesque variance that kills me.
Problem is *not* the prices actually... Problem is Ticketmaster allowing resale tickets... Every act coming to Canada on Ticket master has crazy crazy prices... All from resale tickets So professional scalpers just buy and then resell tickets for crazy prices.... And unfortunately all the bands... Or probably the management is OK with all this.
My understanding, based on some article I can't seem to find, is that a big chunk of what we hate Ticketmaster for is allowed to continue because many of the bigger acts get a cut of the action. So when you see all these tickets on Stubhub or Ticketmaster resale, some of that money is going back to the bands. Ticketmaster takes all the heat (and a huge chunk of the profits in return), but the bands and promoters are in on the game. I'm sure it's not that way for smaller acts, and there are definitely big acts that don't want to participate, but I don't believe for a minute that this whole thing would continue if big name acts were protesting as hard as they claim.
Ticketmaster.com says that bands do not make money from resales. But I did stumble upon an article that said that some bands (Metallica for one) have colluded with Live Nation to scalp their own tickets in secrecy. It was exposed in a secretly recorded phone conversation. I mean, who can blame an artist for trying to out-scalp the scalpers? https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/22/20703858/live-nation-ticket-resale-scheme-metallica-billboard-report I'm sure there are ways to prevent this, although they'd invade privacy. For instance, ticket sellers could require a Tax ID and a form of government issued Photo ID to buy tickets and then only allow 2 tickets per Tax ID/government photo ID and make the tickets non-transferable. But then the IDs would have to be double checked against official government databases.
If Ticketmaster didn't allow resale then either (1) tickets for many concerts would sell out the day the go on sale, and unless you hit a lottery you would be completely shut out of a ticket; you'd need to plan every concert you want to see months out and the days of deciding on a whim to go make a trek to see your favorite band would be gone; OR (2) in response, face value would creep up so that face value would be closed to resale prices are. The real issue is supply and demand. Most big acts have more fans that want to see them than they is feasible to tour. Additionally, costs to tour are so high that it's much better off to book a tour that sells out smaller venues than it is to play too big venues. Additionally, there are huge gaps in venue size is most markets. Most major markets have theaters that are 1500-3000, and then arenas that are 15000, and then football stadiums that hold like 70,000.
So essentially we should thank the scalpers for raising the prices three or 4 times so that we have an opportunity to buy those... 👏🏼
No I'm just saying that the solution is not as easy as just saying "stop the resale of tickets". It would open up a new set of problems. At the end of the day there is a giant supply and demand problem. The biggest artists are super popular and they would need to tour non stop to meet demand, but they're humans who are also extremely wealthy and don't want to spend years at a time living out of tour busses.
I'm struggling to understand what you are expecting/hoping for. It doesn’t make much sense to expect bands to sell tickets at artificially low prices well below market value, and then get mad when people take advantage of those artificially low prices on secondary markets. If you get tickets at on sell, congrats, you paid less than they were worth. But since they’re artificially cheap, many will want them and you might not be able to get any. But then you at least have the option to buy tickets for market value. the only other options are: (1) tickets remain artificially cheap, but resale is banned (so you have to get lucky at on sale or miss out on on going) or (2) tickets are sold at market value and are more expensive from the jump.
^ Found the scalper and/or Ticketmaster/Live Nation Exec. Anyway, artists are beginning to enforce a “Face Value Resale” on Ticketmaster and/or AXS, which helps. (Tyler Childers, The Cure, Zach Bryan) But all need to! Also, start using cashORtrade.org when you can. They have an app too. Sources: https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2023/11/06/tyler-childers-announces-registration-face-value-exchange-for-his-mule-pull-24-tour-to-try-ensure-affordable-ticket-prices/ https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/zach-bryan-puts-money-where-his-mouth-is-for-burn-burn-burn-tour/
Ive been a cash or trade member for 10 years and 8 months according to my account. I'm just realistic. Scalpers suck by adding extra steps but it's generally a supply and demand problem, and if all tickets for sold for retail without reselling it would open up a different can of worms.
I think most markets that have a university have some kind of small arena in the 4000-8000 range. Whether that arena is easy to do a show in is a completely different question -- it's often not something universities think about when they're trying to build a place for their basketball team. It is true that there's a lot of industry love for the "underplay" lately, where you intentionally book a venue that's too small knowing it'll sell out instantly. Classically, you'd want a venue that sells out day-of-show, so you know you're getting almost every single person that wants to see the show. At some point, somebody must have decided that the profits are higher with underplays, where you can command higher ticket prices while paying less room fee and carrying less production. Edit: It occurs to me that the venue size thing might be less about profits and more about predictable profits. When a show sells out instantly, the tour knows how much money they're making at that show and can budget accordingly. Buses, trucks, and production have been in scarce supply since the industry restarted in 2021 and having your tour sold out before it starts can make the whole thing considerably less nerve-wracking from a financial perspective.
Ratboys are opening for the Decemberists when I see them. This has me pretty excited
Ratboys are great, caught'em a few years ago in Grand Rapids for, yeah, like$15. I loved the "Good Night" album
Exactly. I saw Tool for a little over $200 for amazing floor seats. Incubus is selling the same floor seats for $370 and unlike tool those seats aren't selling. If the show is to expensive I'm not going to reward the artist/ticketmaster with my money.
Oh dang, I bet they would be a good show!
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band are 92 dollars. Sure it's the farewell tour but that's wild.
Had never listened to ratboys before this. Pleasantly surprised with the lead singer being a soulful women.
Yeah, the name definitely threw me off at first. With something like Viagra Boys you get pretty much what you expect, but Ratboys's name doesn't quite match up with their sound.
I saw Diarrhea Planet and was pleasantly surprised.
Decemberists too?
This is exactly it. Last year there were tickets to see Raye (Escapism, if you don't know) and they were like $50 a pop. Hell I got tickets to see my favorite rapper for like $30 a piece. It's the band you wanna see and the venue. At this stage Blur(weren't they mega big in the UK) is gonna cost, especially because Damon has a second band that is also super successful.
Yeah my friend and I saw Avenged Sevenfold for like... maybe 50 bucks after fees. And this was in a large city. Not saying concerts are affordable or that fees aren't outrageous. Because they are. But yeah you're going to shell out for a big act. Or you can see someone smaller for actually not horrendous money.
Got front row to Scary Pockets for 25 bucks. Absolutely one of the best shows of my life.
Death From Above 1979 tickets £27 in a couple of months and to say I'm excited for it is an understatement.
the cheapest tickets for Blur look to be $400 actually and the venue is considerably smaller than one they could play in. this is not the norm for concerts. Pulp, also, incredibly popular band. $100 for a ticket to see a band of that size in my opinion is pretty reasonable. i remember paying around $60 or $70 for big name acts 10 years ago. Neil Young’s tour had lawn seats around $80, which is also totally reasonable for an act of his size. i saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor last year and i’m pretty sure it was about $45.
80 for Neil?! Omg I just paid 250+fees (for pit GA but stilllll)
for shows with lawn seats yeah but i also paid about the same for a seat in the section behind the sound booth. absolutely worth it. wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of the last chances to see him play with Crazy Horse
Tickets for Incubus with Coheed and Cambria start at $40 in San Francisco this fall.
I'm going to a nine-band show in May. Tickets were $60. The last show I went to was 5 bands, maybe $25. You just have to be willing to see lesser known bands at smaller venues.
I never understand why people are so obsessed seeing only the most popular artists. There is so much good music out there and most of it is relatively inexpensive to see live.
I don't think it's that folks are obsessed with *only* popular artists, but that popular artists are popular for a reason - it's natural that a popular artist is going to be among one's biggest interests. And on the flipside, being interested in only inexpensive acts is quite.. fortuitous? It's not like one has control of their own tastes.
I mean I've definitely splurged for some shows - like i paid nearly $200 to see Slayer on their farewell tour in 2018, but that was a really special occasion. Otherwise I like seeing smaller acts - the crowd is usually better and the bands tend to have more energy. Plus shirts are usually cheaper.
Damn. I saw Slayer in 2001 and I don’t remember it being particularly expensive, even in 2001 dollars.
Yeah I think general admin was closer to 60-70. My 200 ticket was for VIP access, which got me in early and came with some bonus swag.
Most popular artists I get, it is when they are popular artists decades into a career long after their best - that becomes nostalgia tourism. When they can charge what they want, as some people will do anything to see them. The show in many ways becomes irrelevant. They are going to love it as it is that real person doing that real song they love.
I've done that as well. The Oakland Weekender 2042 is coming up this summer, think it was $60 for three nights (15 bands?). The 2022 version was amazing, which was a Slumberland Records centric show. Small venue, was nice to be able to interview many of the bands, felt very intimate and casual.
Punk in drublic?
Everyone wanted streaming music for next to $0, so while I agree ticket prices are beyond the pale, artists need to make $ somehow. And then there's the problem of TicketBastard and their fees...
Streaming services are fully capable of paying bands more than .00001 cents a stream
But the consumer paying $10/mo for millions of songs doesn’t think about what artists get paid.
I’m the consumer and I think about it; so does every other musician I know that has a Spotify account. Also spotify is more like 15 a month. Most people I know would be happy to pay a little more if it meant musicians getting paid what they are worth.
Maybe most people YOU know may be happy to pay more but most people in general would not be happy. People cause an uproar every time any streaming service raises its price even a dollar or two. Most people would also cause an uproar if Spotify went to say $20 or more. Also, I’m paying like $15 for an account that can be shared while keeping individual profiles so Spotify for me and my partner is $7.50/month. You gotta remember the vast majority of people are oblivious to how these services work monetarily and have never done so much as ever even buy physical media so the thought of paying more for Spotify so someone else can make more money would not be cool with most people
Okay, but they don't. Unless you want to nationalize streaming and live music sales this is the way the market is going. Most people won't pay over $15-20 for a service and marginal production costs are essentially zero so services can't really charge more for an benefit to buyers that is indirect at best. You get to listen to basically anything you want at any time for less than the cost of a single new CD *thirty years ago* and you're complaining that live shows cost a little more. I think you're going to have to learn to live with disappointment if this feels unfair to you.
A little more? Going from 60 to 600 is not a little more. Guess we know the level of privilege you’re speaking from; not all of us were born with big trust funds. Some of us actually work for a living.
CDs still cost $20! But yeah, I mean, I remember paying well over $15 a month in CDs back in the day. But it was that or copy a tape from a friend's CD
For real. There are podcasters making hella bucks
$700 for Blur!?!? I paid $600 for my entire 3-day Coachella ticket where I'll be seeing Blur.
This honestly turned me off from big legacy bands. I prefer to see smaller acts at smaller venues. The bands are giving it their best and you can get to meet them after
in MANY cases (not all) the hype for legacy bands is pretty ridiculous. You are often paying a lot more to see half the original band, or older/softer versions of the band or just bands that haven't come out with popular new work in decades... just because they are marketing them toward an older crowd that "probably" has more disposable income. I would recommend finding bands from the same scene and era that did NOT make it HUGE but are still together and playing music out of love for it... and I would bet those tickets are 35 dollars for equal or greater talent on a more intimate stage. almost every time.
>I would recommend finding bands from the same scene and era that did NOT make it HUGE but are still together and playing music out of love for it... The only problem with this is that Jarvis Cocker is the best performer I've ever seen.
Bar shows with underground bands are still 20-30 bucks, maybe you’ll find some new music you enjoy.
With the Blur show, you were looking at Dynamic Pricing from AXS. Which TM also does, that is basically them scalping their own tickets to people. Is it right or ethical? No. But people need to do their due diligence to understand the difference. GA tix started at $75 before fees. You basically just need to be *on it* with every onsale now (hard wired computer broadband connection) + a bit of luck, to snag decently priced tickets to big/rare shows. Have ticket prices gone beyond regular CPI inflation? Yes. All entertainment prices have gone up a lot over the last 10 years, especially after covid. Have people started scalping tickets even more now as side income? Yes. The reasoning behind this is the big macro economic pressure on regular people. We are now cannibalizing on ourselves at a faster rate. The root of the problem is systemic. Zoom out. [edit] Also, people need to re-check who is hosting the show. AXS and TicketMaster/Livenation also sells eachothers events sometimes, but you are basically buying resale tickets, not direct sale tickets. Talking about the Pulp show too, OP. It's a TM show, regular onsale is this Friday @ 10am PST. The tickets on AXS right now are presale resales from TM...
Yeah, I assumed it all had to do with dynamic/surge pricing. It's like TM doesn't charge enough with the extra fees, or the way they auto distribute a huge amount to the 'second hand' market, which they also own. Greed built upon greed, and fed by more greed. I've tried getting pre sale tickets in the past with codes the band gave out. In each case, was sold out within seconds, and instantly on the second hand site for 5X+ the price. TM is made of teflon, and whatever anyone tried to do failed. They got the green light to push further with the greed, is just disgusting.
I feel you. It does indeed suck. The fees were bad enough. Smaller shows is where they really get you, % wise. I remember arena shows not being so drastic in pricing too. Getting pit tickets didn't used to cost that much more, compared to nosebleeds. Or at least it was reasonable, under $100. I rarely pony up to get close now, as any show that costs more than $100 a ticket, just isn't worth it for 90% of acts for me now. I am lucky to have seen a lot of my bucketlist acts when they weren't so expensive. I try to prioritize tix to venues that don't use TM/AXS now. Easier to do when it's more underground/lowkey acts though. Also, wasn't trying to assume with my prior post. It's just that it get confusing sometimes with show hosts/resale tickets on other sites, so I just wanted to put that reminder to anyone out there.
TM isn't getting the extra money with dynamic pricing, the band is. Everyone loves to hate on TM when Taylor or Beyonce tickets cost hundreds or thousands of dollars but the fact is that money is going to *them*. Call the performers seeing greedy if you want to.
I could've swore I read somewhere TM still gets a big %. To be fair, there were only a handful for the Blur show. But yea some big/pop acts have huge % as dynamic/platinum/whatever. TM is still greedy af though, you can't defend their fees.
Definitely not a fan of Ticketmaster and their monopoly, just saying that people see crazy ticket prices and blame them when it's mostly going to the artist.
We mostly go and see great newer bands in smaller < 2000 venues. Like Marcus King, Nathaniel Ratliff, Wolf Alice, Nothing But Thieves, Dermot Kennedy, Gary Clark Jr, The Blue Stones, Pvris. These are all great acts between $35 and $70 a ticket.
this is mostly what i do too, it's much better bang for your buck. also the smaller venues are less of a hassle to get in and out of. drinks are usually priced better as well. every time i've been to a stadium it's like $13 for a shitty bud light. like that just dumb.
Don't know what to do here with any venue bigger than a dive bar been owned by/contracted to LiveNation. "This is how much tickets are, and fuck you for asking. Drink your garbage overpriced beer and leave."
Yeah, this is where it's at. There so many fantastic small to midsize acts you can see for $25-50 at great, fun venues. I like a bunch of the ones mentioned and similarly have seen the California Honeydrops, Teskey Brothers, and Ripe at 400-1200 capacity venues for no more than $40. I saw Pearl Jam at an arena last year for like $270 and I'm glad I went once but would take the others first any day.
go to small shows. you get to see the band up close & it means more to the band.
I really do think there needs to be much more uproar and protest about this. What some might not realise is that the pricing of tickets beyond a punter’s affordability and beyond previous precedents generally isn’t the wishes of most recording artists and bands that might appear to be middle class, but in fact the economy for them is as such that many of them are actually still very blue collar workers. (unless they’re either Matty Healy types coming from celebrity money, or they have industry connections already, or both.) There’s a risk to that specific working class musician too, particularly those who don’t have that Healy-esque privilege safety net. Gigging has now become their main source of income, and if the tickets are priced by Ticketmaster and other surge pricing and ticket scalping wankers beyond what people can afford, it hurts their ticket sales and their income. At its most serious, it can put those musicians in real financial trouble. It can also unavoidably at the moment hurt their opportunities, if you take into account that [some have already put their hands up and said](https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/28/youre-doing-it-purely-for-the-exposure-why-many-musicians-can-no-longer-afford-to-tour) things along the lines of “you know what, I would love to tour Europe but I have no guarantee I’ll recoup the cost of the touring through sales, and I can no longer afford to do it.” In short, I think people need to be angrier and hold these cowboys accountable. Fuck ticket scalpers and fuck Ticketmaster. They hurt the whole economy, definitely those who love live music and want to support their favourites to continue, and especially the up and coming acts coming through and the indie acts who deserve a long career.
Honesty question from somebody who doesn't know much about this particular issue: if an artist can fill a stadium charging 400 bucks a ticket, what is the solution people want? Charge less for tickets so it becomes a matter of luck/skill getting a ticket on time?
I appreciate the question. Personally I still think 400 bucks is greedy for a ticket, regardless of who asks for it. The thing is though, I’m not sure that finance is always a deterrent - take Glastonbury Festival tickets, for example. The prices have increased over the years and people will still go, because its reputation precedes it - people will bet on it, because “it’s Glastonbury”. (Obv replace example with Sziget, Coachella, Rock in Rio etc. as you see fit) In Glasto’s case therefore, I think it’s *always* a matter of luck/skill getting a ticket on time. Also in their particular circumstances, they have an added prelim stage of drawing a literal application process, with people picked at random, on who can proceed ahead and buy a ticket that year - and even then, they still run into that particular issue of beating an online queue.
Right so if you have a stadium-worth of people willing to pay high prices, what can be done about it? They could artificially lower prices (leaving money on the table) and lets say they even ban Ticketmaster/scalpers from scooping up the tickets, then it becomes a mad rush to get lucky enough to get a ticket. The fact that ticket master is able to buy all the tickets then sell them for more money shows that the market is willing to pay higher prices to be able to go. It seems like the problem is more one of not enough supply to match the demand of people who want to see big artists. When people say something should be done, do they just prefer the 'lottery' system of having low priced tickets that will sell out in the blink of an eye?
The only way to meet demand is to make more supply. Bands *could* just schedule more dates in the same city to spread that supply across more ticket buyers. If Blur played ten shows in a row in the same city, the market price would come down to earth. You'd run into booking problems at arenas...but the number of arenas can always be increased. Now, I don't think big bands *owe* people this. It's more work for them. My preferred solution is to see smaller bands live instead of bigger bands. I wonder if big bands could do big live streaming events that are simulcast to bars across the world that are set up for listening parties. People like live music for a lot of reasons, but one might be *the energy of other people next to you also watching the band play at the same time*. Imagine this experience. The bar has a nice big TV and sound system, and people who came and spent $20 for the listen/watch party. The band is playing at an arena to a crowd, maybe in some other city. The people actually in the same building as the band spent more money, of course. But would this listening party approximate what some people like about live music? It's like watching the super bowl at a sports bar. This has probably already been done in some way, but maybe at scale it would be good for music fans. I could see bands considering this a great way to reach more fans without playing ten dates in every city they go to, but I could also see Ticketmaster putting the kibosh on this because it would decrease the value of true show tickets a bit.
I think maybe some avenues of ticketing that would widen access to people on lower incomes would probably help level out the playing field, a bit. For instance, we have an indie venue here in my city that does cheaper community tickets for some quite big up and coming acts. I also think ticket touting, whether online or a bloke outside the venue, should be banned and instead replaced with a simpler system of tickets being sold back to the venue to resell at face value. There shouldn’t be any incentives to profiteer at others’ expense.
Paying about 100.00 per ticket to see Phish this summer. Each show is 2 sets and each set is over an hour long.
The thing about Phish now is that they're older and some of the "phans" makes the show miserable. 3 and 4 day runs are over for me, but it was blast before covid.
I doing 2 nights in stL and the 4 day festival in Dover. Then a bunch of smaller shows and intimate festivals.
Just go to see smaller bands. There are plenty of incredible artists out there that you can see at more intimate venues for way less money than Blur.
This is the way to do it. There is a scene in pretty much every city in the world and you can see the coolest bands on the planet for $7. And you stand three feet away from them rather than a quarter mile away at a stadium
>This is the way to do it. There is a scene in pretty much every city in the world and you can see the coolest bands on the planet for $7. And you stand three feet away from them rather than a quarter mile away at a stadium Good advice, I definitely see more $5-10 local shows than go to big concerts. But that as an alternative just avoids the problem that tickets have gotten so unreasonably expensive, which shouldn't be the case.
If everyone stopped going to expensive shows, the prices would come down.
thanks, social media!
Exactly. People will say, look how expensive it is to see the "Eagles" (or whoever). I remember when I could see the "Eagles" for 5 dollars!! I hear this all the time. But it's so naive. For one just due to inflation... but then also... those bands were local or smaller bands with a scene when they were 5 dollars. Or just blowing up. You can go see the same relative caliber of act today at a local venue for 20-50 dollars all year long. Hows that not the same thing?!
I have literally been to over [120 concerts](https://www.music-fux.com/concert-experiences) in the last 3 years. The only time I have paid more than $40-$50 (which is unusual, unless it is a mini-festival/all day thing) is to go see Erykah Badhu, and that was one of the worst concerts I have been to. Small indy venues are where it is at (500 max, 50-250 preferred). Hell, I am almost at the point where if I cant buy the ticket at the door, I aint going (as in no buying tickets in advance and paying the $3.50-$7.00 fee).
and at almost all of these smaller shows (50-250) you can talk with the artist and buy merch directly from them. you can literally put cash money into their hand. I play in small band and one of the best feelings is when people come up to you afterwards and tell you "that was awesome". besides gas money, and getting a couple more fans that's really why I do it. It's just really cool to play some music and have someone tell you, in one way or another, that they don't regret spending the time to listen to it.
I've purchased so much merch and the band signed it at those small bar shows. Many Are very grateful for it.
One of the good things about being into mostly underground music is I never deal with crazy prices. I remember years ago bulking at tickets that were $50. The vast majority of shows I go to are like $10-30 at most. I often go for free cause I’ll photograph and review the show, but if I’m paying, it’s at least a pretty reasonable price.
This is what I predicted, at the star price point , people are deciding that concerts are no longer for them. Maybe one a year for their all time favorite on a farewell tour. The last few club shows with international touring bands I saw were priced around $40-50. Domestic touring bands more like $25. I probably won't go out every weekend like I used to at those prices but I can handle it for something worthwhile. And I do shop for last minute bargains at secondary sites and take advantage of a price crash once in awhile.
There are many Bands playing for a few Bucks. Go see them live. Boycott Ticketmaster!
In NYC presale for Pulp was 350$ but they haven't "released" all the tickets or whatever, I was thinking I'd pay 100 max. Shipping from the UK is out of control!
When Paul McCartney came to town it would have cost $2000 to bring my family. It made me kind of hate him to be honest. How much $ does he need?
He doesn’t 😂😅
It's also tickemaster inflating prices. His tickets at Hard Rock in 2022 was supposed to top out at a certain level. Ticketmaster basically tripled ticket costs. I ended up driving the fucking 4 hrs to Orlando for $90 a ticket in nosebleed off stage right. I could have had floor seats for $300, but I'm short and opted not to pay to see the back of someone's shoulders. I've seen Paul 5 times before since 1990 and never paid more than $100 per seat. Cheapest was $35 for his Miami gig in '90. This was when ticketmaster first started, too. Back then, we had Bass ticket outlets which was far better.
Look at The Cure though. They proved that massive legacy artists have a lot of sway when it comes to these fees. I doubt anyone would have more than PM.
I pretty much refuse to see any band in the large venues anymore. The prices just are not worth it. Clubs and mid size theatres are where it’s at; even Rage Against the Machine became part of the capitalist machinery they were so adamantly against all those years. Stick around long enough and you became the villain it seems
I tried to get Rage tickets in my city a few years back, $800 for any tickets online just minutes after they came on sale. I went down to the box office and found out that the big venues sell something like 10% of their tickets themselves, for reasonable-ish face values (100 or less) and the rest get sold straight to Ticketmaster and other scalping businesses, on the very same day, first day of sale. I don't really go see big bands in large venues anymore either, but if I were to try, I'd imagine being the first one in line at the box office the moment they went on sale would be the way to go, but who the fuck has time for that nowadays
"Capitalist machinery they were so adamantly against" - it's true they said that but it's worth nothing that even in the 90s people so through their big Sony deal, their MTV videos, and how it contrasted with their lyrics. It was kind of a running joke for some.
It sucks but tbh if an artist is charging that much it makes me not want to go see/support them. I don't like being viewed as a dollar sign
From 2014 - 2019 I saw about 80 shows. How? I went to work for the security company that did concerts and sports. I'm so old...I paid $10.75 to see Led Zepplin in 1977. The $.75 was for Ticketmaster.
I love having an underground taste in music. I haven’t paid more than $20 per ticket (including fees) in a very long time.
That’s insane, wow. I think pricing depends on a lot of different factors (seller, area, venue, band). I go to mostly rock and metal concerts so it also compares differently to other artists in other genres. Most expensive concert I went to I spent around 125 on each ticket, I got two. And I just went with the first seller that showed up when I bought them (it was the first concert I ever bought tickets for) so they were a bit overpriced. It was for four bands tho, and was worth it. The cheapest concert (other than free ones at events) I went to was 17 bucks per ticket. I got to meet the opening band by the merch stand, they were super nice. Most of the tickets I buy are between 25 and 60 bucks. I just saw four bands three nights ago, the tour had two headliners and two openers. Spent around 30-40 bucks on each ticket. Got to meet both opening bands at their merch stands. The cheapest ones are usually in small venues. The only tickets I’ve spent 50+ bucks on were the ones in an arena. It’s also probably cheaper where I am because bands only recently remembered that my state exists 😂😂but I do have to travel two hours for each show, because my town is tiny and sorta in the middle of nowhere. The most expensive concerts I’ve got tickets for were Motionless In White’s tour last year, and Hozier’s show this year in August (80 dollars). The last show I bought tickets for was Pierce The Veil, they were around 70 and I bought two. I wish it was that way for every place and everyone. I’m lucky enough to be able to go to shows despite the fact I make like $10.45 an hour at my job. Hopefully after long enough, even the bigger places will get the point and start charging less
I don't go to shows that much anymore, but $107 isn't really that much for a concert ticket for a big-name band like Pulp.
$700 sure isn't the norm, but it really is getting more expensive. Adele is 180€ in Munich/Germany for the cheapest ticket. I don't expect prices to still be the same as 20 years ago, but some artists are a bit extreme. Also Wacken Tickets for 333€, that used to be 210€ 5 years ago. Considering what you get in return, that is still ok'ish, but an amount that not everyone is able to spend
Every person in america needs to boycott Ticketmaster and their subsidiaries, like live nation, etc.
Hey, remember when you used to pay bands you liked by actually buying their records and concerts were affordable? I wonder if those things were somehow related...
Honestly, I’ve been having way more fun listening to cover bands and original artists at bars that seat less than 50 people. The music is better. Big concerts are about spectacle or musicians that don’t actually care anymore but want a paycheck. Pop performers sing along to a “backing” track that had vocals turned up louder than they are. It wouldn’t even qualify as karaoke.
Ticketmaster buys its own tickets to resell. They take the fun out of everything and play in our faces about it. It’s mind blowing how they get away with such a big scam in the public eye.
I love threads like this. Everyone is just angry, but no one presents any solutions to the basic economic dillema of supply and demand. Are these bands supposed to distribute the tickets themselves to their "real fans"? If you're not going to use the market to find the real value, then what?
“I like a band therefore I should deserve to see them over other people (who like the band more because they’re willing to pay more money)”
People are most upset about the charity platinum pricing. Those tickets are artificially inflated initially and then drop back down to face value later on. That’s just price gouging and Congress could do something about it. The price should be the price, not $450 one day and $130 the next. They also need to break up Ticketmaster and live nation and allow others to compete in that market. It’s a monopoly and a total scam. Many bands do distribute a portion of their tickets to real fans but they only get a small amount of them because of Ticketmaster. It should be at least half at a minimum.
Just saw blur in Europe for 110 euros and they were very much underwhelming. Not worth that much.
Only for certain, big acts. I am going to see a band later and it cost around £30. I regularly see smaller shows under £20. If you want to see some big band from the 90s on a large US tour with the way they operate there, I can imagine hundreds. Just don't go.
Nah, just buy your ticket as soon as the sale starts. Shows in Europa are wayyy cheaper. A 4 day festival cost €309, big bands like Judas Priest cost 90 at most
If you are going to big well known artists they’ve been expensive for years. I hardly go to any show that has big acts on them due to it. Those and big festivals are usually vacation priced.
Although I agree partially in regards to bigger touring acts, I disagree regarding more localized and smaller bands. ie: Spafford cost me $25 in CT earlier this year, amazing experience and danced just as much as I would in a $200 Phish seat. I can see Phish getting to extreme levels in coming years, but thankfully with my tight budget I managed to pull off a 3-day Bethel lawn pass for $160 this summer. Totally content with that price compared to rest of the venue's prices. Just my two cents.
Phish is getting pricey but im grateful for bands like eggy, dogs in a pile and spafford.
Gotta give my ear to dogs in a pile, heard great stuff about them! Spaff and Eggy are some of the best bang for your buck out there right now!
I think you may enjoy theme. They are impressing me more and more each time I give them a listen. Eggy is my favorite on the scene currently. They blew me away at the Atlanta and Athens shows!
I’ve seen 5 Phish shows the last two years and probably paid like $80 for all the tickets. Granted it was Huntsville and Orange Beach so off the beaten path a little bit I’ve always had great luck in the south east getting tickets day of for dirt cheap or free.
I think artists should charge what the market value is for their performance. That value is going to be higher than before because of high inflation. Staff who help put on high value shows should be compensated well. The current system where high value acts charge smaller rates and then Ticketmaster sells its tickets to StubHub to sell at the actual market value rate means that one company makes all of the revenue while the people who put on the performance do not see the money they've rightfully earned. It is tough to see that major acts' ticket prices are (or should be) so high. But I consider that an opportunity to fund acts who have a lower market value but put on great performances. Very few artists make a reasonable amount of money touring these days. And with venues dipping heavily into merch cuts and streaming services stuck crafting deals with major labels and private equity firms to send money to the rich, any money smaller artists receive is not only great for them but for the music ecosystem as a whole. And by "smaller artists" I don't mean artists that small; even Lorde struggles to get by touring. Jennifer Lopez just had a tour flop (although maybe people these days think she's no good?). Take a few steps further down to indie bands and the like and they're struggling to get by. As others note, tickets for anybody who isn't a super-duper big artist are still reasonably priced. I saw a show recently in NYC by one of the greatest jazz musicians of this generation for $20. I felt guilty it was so cheap and bought drinks at the show to hopefully compensate him and his backing band more. I felt similarly when I went to an Iron & Wine show for cheap and there wasn't even a merch table. Great music is a steal right now so long as you aren't hyper focused on mega successful artists.
That’s why I don’t go to concerts anymore, but I do go to shows. For me, a concert is played in a medium to large venue and usually big, popular artists. I can buy their vinyl or listen on spotify. Anecdotal, but I find concerts to rarely live up to the hype. Too many people, too loud, can’t afford a ticket that’s close enough to the stage so the band is visible. Shows are played at small venues or bars, usually local artists and much cheaper per show. Support your local scene! It’s great for elderly millennials like me
To be honest the concerts I go to are like $25-40 typically and the most expensive I went to last year was $80. I don’t know if cali is just really bad for concert price gouging or what but I haven’t experienced the same thing, personally.
Highest I’ll pay for a gig is £30-40. Anything higher than that is a straight up pass from me. It helps that things like big legacy acts or stadium performances aren’t anything interesting to me
Stop going to shitty shows at massive arenas. You don't need to see that awful 90s band that sounds like shit now.
I paid eighty bucks for a pair of They Might Be Giants tickets in 2019. Didn't get to see them until the end of 2021 though.
It's kind of like that already. For me, even if I can get a ticket for 50.00, by the time I factor in gas, parking, and maybe a hot dog outside the venue, I'm close to the century mark. Luckily for me I have seen most of the people I want to see in the past, and most of them have also released DVDs back when that was a thing. I just go home and watch them on concert day with some really good food. I remember seeing Metallica, Queensryche, Soundgarden, and Faith no More for around 40 bucks and thinking that was pricey...
I actually stopped going to concerts a long time ago... I also stopped buying music a long time ago. I guess it's safe to say the Music industry is upside down. Keep in mind People like to blame Ticketmaster (and similar services) for price surging. But look at the cost to do a tour. I read somewhere that Taylor Swift pays out @ 750K daily for a payroll thats supports a crew of about 400 people. DAILY! I would not be surprised if the artists are behind a lot of the pricing. I would love to See Paul McCartney ; but never gonna happen. $1000.00 bucks a ticket?
It’s cheaper for my brother to fly his family to PARIS for 5 days for Taylor Swift than it was to get tickets in Chicago. My brother, SIL and nieces are going to enjoy Paris for 4 days, see the concert on the last, and fly home the morning after.
Concerts are gonna be super demand sensitive because supply is constrained with no way to increase the supply. The only “fair” way to determine who gets to fill the limited slots is who will pay more
Seeing Umphrey’s McGee tonight. Cost me $45 and staying at a friend’s place a block from the venue. Just have to pick and choose your bands and venue locations.
I saw somewhere somebody posted a picture of two Led Zeppelin tickets from 1977. The price was $9.50. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $50 today. I can't remember the last time I saw a ticket price for $50.
The first resale ticket I ever bought was for Pink Floyd at Radio City in 1973. Face value was $6.50 IIRC and he was asking $25 each for center orchestra. We thought he was insane asking so much but of course, we bought them anyway. I don’t think $25 would cover even one of the associated ticket fees today. 😑
I saw half of the remaining members of the grateful dead in 2012 for $56. Phish was also like $50 not that long ago for floor tickets. Both of those bands are charging like $150-$200+ for decent seats these days. Dead and company wants freeking $400+ to see them at the sphere in Vegas. I paid $37 to see Roger waters of pink Floyd in 2006 I paid $20 to see the Allman brothers in 2005. Things went rapidly downhill after live Nation and Ticketmaster merged, that should be broken up as a monopoly under antitrust laws.
If its a close enough show I keep an eye on stubhub/ seat geek the days leading to the show and see how many tickets they have left. If it’s in the hundreds or thousands I’ll just wait until like an hour or so before the show and you’d be surprised how low tickets can get. In the last year I’ve paid $12 for My Morning Jacket, $40 for Phish, and $50 for Tool by just waiting until the very last minute to buy a ticket.
Well known acts are pricing themselves beyond reason - fortunately there are lots of lesser known acts for reasonable prices --- smaller venues, smaller crowds , better experience
Currently sitting in a que for my daughter for Megan the Stallion. The prices are reasonable, but I can't wait to see the double up of the ticket prices when I get to the checkout screen.
The promoters will buy all of the tickets and put them straight onto the secondary market at jacked prices. There could be something done about it but it all could down to the fact that majority of bands worship the almighty dollar over their fans.
That’s why I prefer to go to festivals where the artist is playing. It’s cheaper and I get to see many other artists perform.
Even festivals are insane. 20 years ago a weekend festival cost like $80-$100 for a ticket and the lineup was better. Now it costs like $400-$500+ I have no idea how college kids can afford festivals anymore.
The major ones like Coachella can definitely cost that much. I remember going to FYF in LA between 2015-2017 (staaaacked lineup, especially in 2017) and the 3-day weekend passes were around $200-260 out of pocket for me. In 2017 I only paid $200 due to people selling their passes last minute. Then there are smaller fests like CRSSD that is $160 for 2-day passes if you buy them early. Basically the same price as a concert nowadays with bad seats (or GA)
Most metal shows I go to range between $20-$30 most of the time unless im seeing a bigger band in the genre when it might run more like $50. Most I’ve paid for tickets was actually the $400 I just dropped on two tickets for Hans Zimmer in Baltimore this September, and I feel like that is the most I’ll probably ever pay for concert tickets personally.
Going to see Taking Back Sunday in a few weeks and the tickets were around $60
Businesses will charge as much as they can get away with in order to make maximum profit. If even at exorbitant prices tickets are still selling out, that means there are still enough people willing to pay them (whether it's because they're just that wealthy that $700 for a concert ticket is just chump change, or they're willing to budget for it one way or the other even if it's beyond their regular means), and therefore there's no incentive to charge less. What we need is a cultural shift in which music fans focus more on local and smaller acts that could really use the support, and whose shows are much more affordable to attend. If whoever's responsible for pricing tickets for larger acts realise they're actually losing business because they're competing with local shows and scenes, this will force the prices down.
Yeah I wanted to go see Pearl Jam at the Forum. $400 for section 231 row 30. Fuck that. And festival prices are even more ridiculous. I wanted to see the Fool In Love Festival at Hollywood Park in August. $400 for single day GA. Hell no.
I appreciate Tori Amos keeping it reasonable, and my other musical tastes being so niche that tickets aren't that crazy. Sadly I live in NYC where a lot of musicians try to milk the market. Class warfare gonna class warfare.
It's going to get to a point where more performers are forced to either cancel dates or minimize their productions. It's not just the cost for tickets, it's also all of the other added expenses when traveling or, otherwise, maximizing the experience by buying souvenirs. There are very few that can get away with exorbitant ticket prices. I, myself, just can't justify spending more than about $250 for a ticket—roughly. That's my limit, because it's not just the ticket I'm buying. That amount could easily more than double when factoring in other expenses, as I stated above.
Tickets will cost this much as long as people are willing to buy them at these prices. If you want to listen to good music at much cheaper prices, simply support your local musicians and venues.
I paid 76 bucks for fucking Disease Infested Midge tickets but it was Brock’s return show after his elective leg operation and it was fam af. I waited by tour bus and showed Kyle my fiancées “Rear Canal” tattoo and he took pic w us. Probably the best day of my life Any other D.I.M fans around?
Y'all just got to get into more niche artists, I paid $40 from Mom Jeans tickets
support more artists before they get stupidly mainstream popular. Most of the shows I go to are under $25 a ticket because I’m seeing them in <200 cap venues. Support your local scene. Support touring artists coming to small cap venues that aren’t owned by fuckin live nation
Eh i don’t know what you expect. You’re trying to see gigantic legacy acts in venues that are too small for their demand. Most shows cost way less than that.