Concert ticket prices

[Mr.Marion]

I looked up how much the nose bleed section of Beck w/ Phoenix being over $300

The Cure was over $500.

I get that recent inflation is disproportionate at best but c'mon what the hell is going on???

I'm not a huge concert guy I'd much rather have a Darth Vader and Skeletor figure on my shelf than a night out but I guess I should have taken advantage of bands I enjoyed being $20 and legacy acts bring well under $100 ten years ago.

[Mikey]

I looked up how much the nose bleed section of Beck w/ Phoenix being over $300



.... but c'mon what the hell is going on???

.

From what I understand TicketMaster owns EVERYTHING concert related

They set prices for whatever they want

IMO, USA needs to break up this money-hungry monopoly

I haven't went to a Ticketmaster concert in over 20 years because of this

[Duncan]

I think it depends on the act and the venue. Last year I saw Clapton and The Who for about $75 each. This year I have Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks for another $75. Festivals in the area have plenty of tix for under $100 per day. My kid is going to new acts for $30-$150, depending on seat location. She got backstage VIP tix to one group for $70. It just depends. I'm sick of the fees, though. When fees turn a $30 ticket into a $45 ticket, I'm not a fan.

[Nostalgiabuff]

some of the tickets you were seeing may also be resale. i looked up tickets for Peter Gabriel and the ticketmaster fees were like $35 per ticket. i won't buy just on principal. Generally I prefer to see shows at small venues anyway. We have Daryl Hall's place nearby - Daryls House, which is a great place to see a show. of course you do not get big names there, but you do get people on the tail end of their careers and that is okay by me. We also have a couple smaller theaters nearby that i like to catch shows at. Saw Elvis Costello last week. tickets were $118 each. we got 4th row center stage

[Mr.Marion]

some of the tickets you were seeing may also be resale. i looked up tickets for Peter Gabriel and the ticketmaster fees were like $35 per ticket. i won't buy just on principal. Generally I prefer to see shows at small venues anyway. We have Daryl Hall's place nearby - Daryls House, which is a great place to see a show. of course you do not get big names there, but you do get people on the tail end of their careers and that is okay by me. We also have a couple smaller theaters nearby that i like to catch shows at. Saw Elvis Costello last week. tickets were $118 each. we got 4th row center stage

That was the case with Beck. Tickets came to around $60 a piece after fees.

The Cure on the other hand is a different story. Robert Smith himself spoke out about it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64975160

[ODBJBG]

Ticket prices can be ridiculous, but the biggest issue is usually the fees. Yes Ticket Master is an issue too, but many of the fees are not theirs, but the venue's.

Part of that issue is that the venues are all multimillion dollar complexes now. So the upkeep is big and likewise they're owned by big mega corps that need to generate profit at all costs.

I recently saw someone post their tickets and the tickets themselves were only $200 for 4 tickets, which isn't awful.

Total bill? $450 because of all the fees.

[Nostalgiabuff]

that's outrageous. i would not buy just on principal. like i said earlier, i prefer small venues anyway. in the past 8 months I saw Gordon Lightfoot, Christopher Cross, Jeff Beck/Johnny Depp, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown band and Elvis Costello. most of these shows i was close enough to reach out and touch them. I think the furthest i was from stage was the Jeff Beck show and i was 10th row. I think the most I paid for any of these shows, including the fees, was $140 per ticket

[Goblin19]

I’m very selective about concerts. Always have been. The value to me has to be worth the cost. I saw the Stones when they were touring in 2021 and I paid about $97. If I paid less than $100 for The Rolling Stones, I sure as heck am not paying more than that for anyone else. Almost paid about $150 for Springsteen, but passed. He’s my favorite live performer and the only one I’ve seen more than twice in my life and I almost bit.

[Jorge Galvan]

its not just Ticketmaster, its also Live Nation and Jam Productions and whoever else. With Covid its gonna be even more worse. YES cancelled some of their 2023 European dates cause its NOT Financially Feasible to tour. I think Anthrax where gonna play some European dates but turned them down as they said they couldn't make any money going over there.

I paid $150 back in 2007 when Van Halen reunited and didn't care as it was Van Halen. This weekend Dokken & Lynch Mob are doing a double bill and tickets are $59-99 each depending on where you wanna sit.

it depends on the promoter and artist and what they can pull in.

[apes3978]

No doubt Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and the like are causing concert tickets to be priced higher than they need to be. That said, I still blame The Eagles and their 'Hell Freezes Over' tour (their first reunion tour) for the base prices of tickets themselves going thru the roof.

[shaunaconda]

I looked up how much the nose bleed section of Beck w/ Phoenix being over $300

The Cure was over $500.

I get that recent inflation is disproportionate at best but c'mon what the hell is going on???

I'm not a huge concert guy I'd much rather have a Darth Vader and Skeletor figure on my shelf than a night out but I guess I should have taken advantage of bands I enjoyed being $20 and legacy acts bring well under $100 ten years ago.

It may not be the face value ticket prices themselves but the ridiculous fees added on.
I saw that The Cure wasn’t too happy about the ticket fees. And got Ticketmaster to issue a small refund to people who bought a ticket.
I remember Pearl Jam trying to take on Ticketmaster back in the day. That didn’t really work out!

[Sideshow Spock]

Almost paid about $150 for Springsteen, but passed. He’s my favorite live performer and the only one I’ve seen more than twice in my life and I almost bit.

We're seeing him this week, and $150/each is what we paid for seats behind the stage. It was the best "deal" in the house, as other seats and GA were much more.

I looked at some old ticket stubs for Bruce, and I paid $75/ticket in 2003, and $95 in 2008. Went to several more shows between 08 and now that I'm sure were in the $115 range. So $150 seems like a pretty standard increase. I would never be one of the people who pay $400/ticket

[Jorge Galvan]

Here is a great article in this week's CHICAGO READER ( Free weekly arts paper) In regards to bands touring and LOSING MONEY.




https://chicagoreader.com/music/the-...ouring-gamble/

Here's a sample:


"When Animal Collective canceled a European tour in fall 2022, they cited COVID-19 and the economy. In a public statement, the group wrote, “From inflation, to currency devaluation, to bloated shipping and transportation costs, and much much more, we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could.” If that’s the position of one of the most successful indie acts of the past 20 years, what chance do smaller bands have?"

[Earth 2 Chris]

Seeing Bryan Adams with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts opening in Nashville this summer for about $100 a ticket. I consider that a pretty good deal nowadays!

And while I'm a big Eagles fan, yes, they did indeed cause ticket prices to skyrocket nearly 30 years ago with the Hell Freezes Over tour. I saw them on that tour, but I had no idea ticket prices would basically stay at that price for big acts, and only go up from there.

[Wee67]

its not just Ticketmaster, its also Live Nation and Jam Productions and whoever else.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation are one in the same these days.

John Oliver did a good piece on Ticketmaster. It's long (20 min) but a pretty in-depth look t how Ticketmaster controls so much more that just the ticket price.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Y7uqqEFnY