Concert Ticket Prices are Going Way up!

Those prices are ridiculous.   Adjusting for inflation, I was able to see bands like Sell Out era The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Clash, War tour U2, etc. for no more than $35 in today's money.  Music fans are getting taken for a ride.

JOEJOEJOE said:

brianlux said:

Those prices are ridiculous.   Adjusting for inflation, I was able to see bands like Sell Out era The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Clash, War tour U2, etc. for no more than $35 in today's money.  Music fans are getting taken for a ride.

My first shows were in 1980....The Who was $12.50.....Punk shows with touring acts ere around $6.50

The Rolling Stones were $15 in 1981....that was viewed as an escalation since most other top acts were $12.50

Those prices seem a little higher than I was paying in the 80's for top bands, but fairly close, and in today's money that would be around $40, maybe a little more, but nowhere near $100 to $180.  Music fans are being ripped off.  Because of my hearing issues, I may never go to another show, but even without that problem, I can't think of a single band or artist I would pay $100 to $180 to go see.

On the bright side at least it’s not baseball tickets and  81 home games.

really I think I spend more anytime I go to any sporting event and it’s a lot less enjoyable vs watching on TV.  

I'm out

brianlux said:

ymalkiel said:

It’s not just inflation, though. These days, bands/artists make so little $ for record sales, they have to make it up somewhere. Thus, higher ticket prices, more merch, and VIP experience add-ons. 

Sorry, don't mean to argue, but I beg to differ.  The bands that we've been talking about here are certainly are hurting financially.  The cost to see these bigger name bands is over the top (and they're not saying much about it).
If we we were talking about lesser known great bands and artists who struggle to get by playing dives and smaller clubs (and particularly many, many jazz artists over the decades), I could see that argument.  I've seen this over and over and over-  great artists like saxophonist Steve Lacy playing a small room with folding chairs, or blues great Charlie Musselwhite or rock-blues guitarist superb Harvey Mandel or the incomparable jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, all playing smoky little dives most of their careers. 
I've seen too much to have any sympathy for these big name bands with their outrageous ticket prices.  I don't hate the bands, but I do hate the inequity.
 

It’s consolidation of the industry absolutely.  Big acts get bigger and the rest get squeezed out. 

Lifted said:

There's certainly a conversation to be had here, but the original post is based off false or misleading information. I've seen tickets as low as $39.95 for Arcade Fire, and Gorillaz tickets haven't even gone on sale yet. Arcade Fire has had to scale down the size of the venues they're playing....there's no way they could get away with charging $200 a ticket. 

You're looking at random secondary market prices, which probably aren't selling.

The only accurate price you gave was for Pearl Jam.

I have to admit, no longer being a concert goer, I am not familiar with current prices and I might have done well to fact check first. 
What I do know is this:  There was a time in the late sixties and early seventies (jeez, I'm having a hard time wording this so as not to come across as some old fucker, ) when I was making minimum wage and did not have much money to throw around, if a band like The Who or The Jimi Hendrix Experience came to town, I could scrape up the cash to go to a show.  Same with most of my friends.  We were all young and pretty much living on the cheap back then but we could go see almost any band you can name in those days.  Also, most of the shows offered a free handbill sized reproduction of the show poster and often the poster itself was free.  And most people who went to those shows were a lot like us.  This is a whole new era.

Lifted said:

There's certainly a conversation to be had here, but the original post is based off false or misleading information. I've seen tickets as low as $39.95 for Arcade Fire, and Gorillaz tickets haven't even gone on sale yet. Arcade Fire has had to scale down the size of the venues they're playing....there's no way they could get away with charging $200 a ticket. 

You're looking at random secondary market prices, which probably aren't selling.

The only accurate price you gave was for Pearl Jam.

Arcade Fire secondary and regular tix were high.  I paid $100 for great seats last time.  Same seats are 160. 

Gorillaz I had a presale code and they aren't worth $150 a ticket to see, they just aren't.

TOOL were the first post pandemic prices I saw and said NOPE to.  I say NOPE a lot now.  New normal you say?  Then my NOPE response and my money will stay with me, joe consumer.

Ticket prices have skyrocketed because of deals w Livenation and Ticketmaster, etc.  It started w exclusively signing of bands like U2 and Madonna and then all the other acts followed suit.  They want to get paid, I get it but my dollar can't stretch that far anymore.  My days of 40-50 shows a year are over...

Lately I have been going to see bands with reasonable ticket prices: The Black Crowes, Son Volt twice, Bob Mould and Drive By Truckers. Had tickets to Mudhoney, but life happened and couldn't make it. With the exception of the Black Crowes, all of the shows were less than $50. There are still good touring bands out there with reasonable costing tickets.

it's supply and demand. promoters know how much people will pay, and they set prices accordingly. I really wish this "dynamic pricing" bullshit would get some legislation against it though. that's such bullshit. it's scalping right in front of your face. plain and simple. imagine if you went to buy groceries and every time someone bought a tomato the price of the remaining tomatoes doubled. no one would stand for that.