The price of concert tickets

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There is such incredible music being made in every little corner, all over the world. Its almost free. You just have to find it in your town.

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There is such incredible music being made in every little corner, all over the world. Its almost free. You just have to find it in your town.

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I completely agree. Support local and smaller bands.

I went on a 3 week tour all around the north and south side of the east coast. There were only 3-4 shows that had a decent crowd.

Every day we would get there early, promote the heck out of the show by making friends and going places to meet new people.

This is how bands used to get people to come to shows. Nowadays, people just want to stay at home.

Money is tight I understand, I lost tons of money on tour. But there were many times where the gig was free to get into. And people wouldn't even buy a t-shirt after they told us how much they enjoyed it and can't wait until we come back.

Which brings me back. Support local or out of town bands that are coming through. If we don't do this, the only kind of "music" we are going to hear is Lady Gaga or whoever else the higher ups think they can make a buck off of.

I apologize for the extremely long post.
 
The good thing is that supporting local talent has a major advantage - you're close enough to the music to actually experience it rather than be separated by a huge space, thousands of people and a monster PA.

A much more organic (ie. less plastic) experience. And you save a heap of $$, less parking hassles, no vast jostling crowds, security nazis, and you can relax with a drink.
 
Well so-much for taking my son to his first rock concert at 16 years old.
I just looked at Ticketmaster for the price of a ticket to see Rush in June. Starting at $80.00 a seat and up to $145.00 a seat (no special package deal, just the seat).

Too bad the cost of seeing them is prohibitive. I remember seeing them in 1982 at a cost of $9.00 at an arena.
Sorry, but two to three hundred dollars for two people to listen to music that's thirty years old is more than I can take...
 
My local venue, Ruth Eckerd Hall upcoming shows.

Chicago.......92.00
Willie Nelson....88.00
Earth Wind And Fire....100.
Won't be there....just too much for 2 Old bands and an Old man
 
You used to say you sold your soul for rock and roll.

These days you have to sell your kidneys for rock and roll.
 
A funny thing that has spawned because of ticket prices is the concept of the tribute band. At Disney I've done sound for Hotel California, which is, you guessed, an Eagles tribute band. Another one called "Diamond" does a Neil Diamond show. There's a group called the "80s All-Stars" that do all the embarrassingly cool stuff from the 80s - and what's funnier about them is that each guy is a character - the bass player is called Devo, and he wears the flower pot hat, sometimes they have a guitarist called Motley (guess who he looks like), the drummer wears a Karate outfit and the singer has the neon hair wig.

And these bands are in addition to the plethora of Beatles and Elvis bands already out there. And as always, competition is fierce among these groups, so they're always out-doing one another in customer service and how good the music can be played. It's amazing - I could close my eyes and almost see Don Henley singing!

It's a shame the price has skyrocketed on name talent doing big venues, but the economy is just this way right now. When I look at the amount of labor we need at Disney to put on a rock concert, that's expensive and the talent is coming to us! I can imagine loading all that stuff onto trucks and taking it around the world. I just got done reading Stewart Copeland's book about his life (which covered the Police reunion) and watched their "Certifiable" DVD and it's amazing what it takes to get those guys around the world. It didn't surprise me. I paid $100 a ticket for nose bleed seats at Dodger Stadium when they came to town, and being a fan, I thought it was worth it.
 
I've seen Hotel California Live. They are awesome. I once read somewhere that it cost 300,000 to put on a kiss show. That's absolutely crazy.
 
I completely agree. Support local and smaller bands.

I went on a 3 week tour all around the north and south side of the east coast. There were only 3-4 shows that had a decent crowd.

Every day we would get there early, promote the heck out of the show by making friends and going places to meet new people.

This is how bands used to get people to come to shows. Nowadays, people just want to stay at home.

Money is tight I understand, I lost tons of money on tour. But there were many times where the gig was free to get into. And people wouldn't even buy a t-shirt after they told us how much they enjoyed it and can't wait until we come back.

Which brings me back. Support local or out of town bands that are coming through. If we don't do this, the only kind of "music" we are going to hear is Lady Gaga or whoever else the higher ups think they can make a buck off of.

I apologize for the extremely long post.

Funny, I played a show at Checkers (I'm from Genoa, close to BG) and played with a band I absolutely couldn't stand at all, yet after the show I told them they played a good set, and asked if I could buy a t-shirt. They didn't have any merch, so I didn't get a shirt.
 
I can shed a little light on the orginal question, having worked in the entertainment industry briefly.

You are paying for eveything it costs relating to a production: advertising (radio,TV, internet, billboard), promoting (comp tickets to businesses, radio stations, charities) , employment (stage hands, sound, setup, much more), legal services, travel, venue services (singly the largest set of fees), products (T-shirts, CDs, DVDs, programs, all the trinkets they sell at a concerts) and oh yeah, profit.

I was rather appalled at the number of venue fees that are tacked on the price of a ticet, especially since at the time I had recently purchased tickets to the tune of about $90.
 
The "price" of a $50 ticket is closer to $75 by the time you tack on all the fees, and most of the time you can't get around it. I don't go to many concerts or ball games these days because the overall price of the event, food, parking, etc really adds up. As others have said, I'd rather go see a local band play, or a minor league ballclub for $10 a ticket.

Last time I went to a concert it was about three years ago with Def Leppard and Styx, and the tickets weren't too bad ($40+/-), and with two bands playing, you really got a lot for the money. Plus I took the light rail train into the city to the concert and it only cost me a couple bucks for that.

I know many people that shell out several hundred bucks to go see Elton John, Billy Joel or the Stones. No thanks - I have all their concerts on DVD and can watch them from the comfort of my own home! :)
 
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