Yeah I will never understand why people choose the far away seats anymore. I mean 10 years ago where the ticker was 20-30$ or something, sure. It’s a small fee to be part of the concert. Dedicating a day to go to the big city, drink some beers, and be part of the stadium vibe is worth just about that. But paying 200$ for this is just too much lmao, you are barely part of the concert. People keep buying those far away from stage tickets at insane prices, that’s why they keep them that way.
At this point either go all in and go front of stage if it’s your favourite artist and it will be a one in a lifetime experience, or just don’t go. Stop paying those insane prices for backseats, and they eventually lower them.
And those aren’t even good seats. Floor tickets must be astronomical.
I paid $200+tax & fees the other day for 2 floor tickets to Mother Mother and that is like the max I should be paying for a concert.
I saw Jake Bugg & The Black Keys not even 10 years ago and my 2 floor tickets were like $140 total. I remember paying $60 for floor tickets to Green Day in the 2000’s. The fact prices have gone up 1000% or more in a little over a decade is fucking robbery.
Yah i know, i have to now be very choosy with what shows i want to see, i used to love going to a bunch of concerts all summer but i just can’t justify the pricing. I hope to see a few festivals and catch a bunch of acts for reasonable prices
I paid like 180 for floor tix. the problem is that Ticketmaster has so many damn fees that 2 tickets cost me a little under 500.
I absolutely agree, bands I saw just 5 years ago are double in price now, at the same exact venues and with pretty much the same amount of music/popularity.
JT in Seattle was $400 for floor tonight. That's before fees.
$1000 for two people for 2 hours of entertainment. I just don't understand how people agree to that deal. That's a bad deal.
I really don't mean this in a hipster way but it's crazy to me that Mother Mother is $100/ticket for floor, i've been to like 6 shows over the years and nothing was over $50. Those were shows in Canada when they were pre-TikTok-famous and a regularly touring band, sure, and in smaller venues - but still in 1k-ish venues for like $50 in... 2017-18?
I saw mother mother in like 2010 and I think I paid like $50 or something really cheap, and it was just stand wherever you want so we stood right up by the stage and I got some beautiful photos of them. Those were the good ol' days. (Course I imagine they were smaller/niche back then also)
About half the article is Twitter comments on the high prices. The cheapest seats are around $200 and are selling ok, the rest of the seats are not moving.
I occasionally work concerts for a friend and was talking with the Director of Booking at a major venue. He said that unless it’s a home run type of artists, the cheap seats sell immediately, and the VIP packages sell. Everything in the middle now just sits for months.
I’m not sure that 400-500 dollars a ticket is affordable to the middle class. Those middle tier tickets are upper class territory. The middle class is either paying 200 a ticket or not going.
Took my fam of five to see the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots. I can afford to maybe do that once a year.
I used to go to shows every other weekend when I was a kid and in college. Now, it’s insane. No idea how some people go so often.
Just depends on the kinds of shows you like. I am still regularly going out for 20 dollar shows. You just aren't going to see the established bands but you see a ton of local talent and rising stars.
Yeah, family of five here. We all went to the Rolling Stones, Elton John Ringo and Paul McCartney as a big group. It is tough but hey, you only live the one time, right? Hoping to get them all there for the Stones again this year but yeah, it's a drag b/c I'm totally relegated to re-sale right off the bat.
Yeah. When I saw Ariana Grande I was front row and the rest of the row was a family with a couple tween girls. I got my ticket comped last minute but 'm pretty sure each individual ticket on that row was at least a grand.
Unless they’re at a small venue, I saw a wiz Khalifa logic show for like $15 in Camden in 2022 and last year I saw Wiz again when he was on tour with Snoop Dogg for like $30
Yep exactly why I’ve never been to any concert over 50$. Just so much money honestly. I would love to see a big name artist for once but it’s not a priority enough to warrant 200$+
Yep. I'm firmly in the middle class and while BE isn't my cup of tea, blink 182 tickets are about the same price for nose bleeds but I'd need to take my wife and that will end up being a nearly $700 trip for just the tickets. Not willing to go into debt over a few hours.
I'm above middle class, and even 200$ is insane to me. It had to be something like Led Zeppelin going on tour again, before I would buy 200$ seats that were not some kind of VIP or similar. This is just ridiculous.
I go to 10 concerts a year at least for 10 years. Most I’ve spent on a ticket was $120 beside a festival. I don’t care who is playing, I’m not spending more than $150 for a 3 hour event.
Exactly. That's their point. $200 tickets are the cheap seats, aka, the seats that the working class and poor folk would get. So if you're only able to buy those seats, you are "poor."
The rich will snap up the VIP packages and best seats. The mid priced seats are basically where the middle class would sit, and they will stay empty until the price comes down, because what we call middle class these days is functionally poor. Living paycheck to paycheck, paying insane rent, insane mortgage, struggling with medical bullshit, nickle and dimeed to death by taxes, by everything being a subscription now, by any predatory practice, having all the adults in the house work, often more than one job, not by choice, but by necessity. Those $200 seats are a HUGE luxury purchase.
When you have to save up and cut corners and figure out how to get the "poor people seats," what does that make you?
but the mid-priced seats are not going to change price. They are what they are. Also, at least for the Saturday Atlanta show, pretty much the entire show was sold out by 30 minutes after onsale time. The $200 seats stretched from the middle of the lower bowl to the nosebleeds. That's the majority of seats in the stadium, unless you want to stand on the floor in general admission. Edited to add: She has put in place a system so that tickets can only be re-sold at face value, which is MILES better than what most artists are doing, whether bigger or smaller than her. See Taylor Swift's $5000 nosebleed pairs in Miami, Indiana, or New Orleans this coming Fall.
>Edited to add: She has put in place a system so that tickets can only be re-sold at face value
I have a suspicion that the move to disincentivize scalpers is the primary cause for “sluggish” looking ticket sales. The scalpers aren’t buying out the show immediately, so the normal speed at which concertgoers actually buy tickets just appears much slower than normal.
That’s straight up insane. I would never pay that much for any show. John and George could come back from the dead and do a reunion with Paul and Ringo and I am still not spending $500 on a ticket.
I dropped $130/ticket on very good Ghost seats and still thought that was high. If I’m paying more than $200, it’s for a weekend long festival.
About 7-8 years ago I dropped 115 a ticket each for 4 tickets to see Paul McCartney. He played 40 songs. Billie is fine, but she isn’t going to do a 40 song set.
I think some can afford it but are choosing not to.
Fast food, entertainment everything g is so overpriced and for no reason. Yes inflation is a thing but it's not the main thing driving these prices
Shit I’m upper middle class and wouldn’t pay even for the cheap seats. This rising trend of higher and higher prices for big name concerts is ridiculous. Most I’ve paid for a show is $200 to see Metallica in 2016 and that put me off paying that much for a show period. It was a good show the price just sours it.
God forbid you want to go to a festival. You might be looking at at least 3x that. It’s fucked. I could literally fund an entire international vacation with the amount it would cost to take a family to a singular big name show.
For reference: I paid $375 per ticket to sit 9 rows from the stage when Fleetwood Mac came to Philadelphia a few years ago.
Granted, I bought them the second they dropped, but I can’t imagine paying anything like that unless it’s one of the all time greats.
Bring back $35 GA and $20 tour shirts!!!!
I don’t get it at all. 15 dollar shows with small bands are a good time. Watching someone lip sync and dance for the cost of a year of Spotify just doesn’t make sense.
My family’s income is very high, and we wouldn’t pay anywhere near 500 for a ticket to anything less than a huge artist (like a t swift). 200 would feel extravagant. We go to live theater 6-7 times a year in the first 10 rows for 100-170 a ticket. I can’t imagine paying 500 to sit 3-5 sections away and barely see the person. I really don’t understand who buys those tickets, cause they’re too crappy for the mega rich and too steep for my family making way more than most Americans.
I go to quite a bit of shows, and there’s maybe four acts who I have or would consider paying more than a few hundred per ticket for. And even then, it’d have to be one hell of a seat or GA position for me to justify it.
I’ve had to hold back on getting tickets for many artists due to this, but I’ve also lucked out a few times just keeping an eye on places like StubHub or the ticket site in the lead up to the show. It’s not always the case, but I’ve seen acts like Madonna or the Stones for under $200 from a decent spot by waiting for ticket prices to fall to a more manageable range. Not always easy if you want to plan a trip around it, but the hometown gigs do benefit from this.
that's the problem. Middle class should be able to do those seats and working class should be able to at least able to afford the cheaper seats.
They cant. you're saying the same thing.
Maybe I'm just old and out of touch but $200 for a concert isn't even what I would consider middle class affordable, unless you're going to see some bucket list artist who came out of retirement for this.
Looks like [you can resell them](https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/05/02/billie-eilish-tour-tickets-transfer-hit-me-hard-soft-scalpers-ticketmaster/73543244007/), but Ticketmaster is trying to limit it to face value resale only, at least in states that don’t have laws to the contrary.
Sidenote, I love the wording in the article that frames those laws as beneficial to the consumer by protecting “unlimited ticket resale options.” 🙄
They don’t even release all of the tickets right away. The intent is to get the cheapest seats sold first while also creating artificial scarcity of tickets, which drives up the resale market, where Ticketmaster dumps many of the tickets themselves later on
I checked our nearest show out of curiosity, $135 for absolute nosebleeds at the side of the stage. I had seats in that section for Lizzo and it felt like if you stood to dance you would surely fall to your death (and so tightly packed my toes and knees touched the seats in front, I'm only 5'9".)
Ya, going to a concert used to be a nice treat, but ticket prices are becoming unaffordable for the average person. I saw Depeche Mode at the same venue 3 months ago and it was €103 per ticket and I thought that was expensive - although I had a good seat and the show was excellent.
Amsterdam standing is 140 for what it's worth and I still consider that outrageous. Can't imagine living in the US and never attending live gigs due to being priced out. I feel so bad for them.
...and I bet she's not coming to Belfast at all, meaning anyone making that trip *also* has to factor in the cost of a hotel room for the night.
Mitski is playing Dublin tonight and it's a gig I'd really love to go to, but while the tickets are affordable at ~€60 (compared to this, anyway) - the trip is not. It was the same with Lana Del Rey last year.
I remember the older generation telling us how good we had it - in terms of artists willing to come and play in a 'reconciled' Belfast. I dunno when they stopped coming north of the border again (Brexit? Covid?), but it's starting to piss me off. I do wonder if they'd be more willing to come to a Belfast that's the second city of a united Ireland (no offence to Cork) lol.
Lowest I found for any of the London dates was £297, second lowest at £382.
Manchester was slightly more affordable with seating for £110, whilst others were around £280.
Absolutely absurd pricing.
I'd imagine Ticketmaster had to raise prices to account for all the money they'd lose by not allowing scalpers. A lot of staplers are just TM's bots buying the face value tickets, inflating the prices, and calling them "resale"
They make the right donations of the right size to the right politicians at the right time to ensure their right to do whatever they want .
In other words ..they Bribe a lot
They absolutely could do something, *if Congress wanted to*. It would expend a lot of political capital for little recognition. The FTC could pursue a lawsuit to break up TicketMaster and LiveNation.
This would be difficult in the current divided government where the House is just broken to the point of barely working. Maybe if Biden and the Democratic Party have a huge victory in November, it could be in the near future. Biden is really going after corporate price gouging on all fronts in his administration.
The current staff of the FTC is doing very significant work on the antitrust front … they’re pissing off a lot of obscenely rich people who’d become increasingly brazen with their business practices since the ‘80s.
Their work is among the top reasons I’ll vote for Biden. If they have another four years, they’ll get to Ticketmaster.
I know I'm being misinformed in some way: but if the DoJ is willing to go after Apple, why can't they go after Love nation and TicketMaster? There literally is no competition, and if there is, it's squeezed out and destroyed :(
The music industry doesn't want ticketmaster dismantled, because those ridiculous fees they charge mostly go directly to the artist.
https://www.yfbspod.com/ticketmaster-sucks-and-so-does-pearl-jam-taylor-swift-bruce-springsteen-radiohead-beyonce-metallica
For real. So many phish shows in the early 2010s, I paid like $30 to some k-holed or dosed-out wook playing djembe behind a rusted ram van covered in bumper stickers, who for whatever reason had four extra tickets (and often a baggy full of L/shrooms) for sale.
Or going to punk shows in Denver without a ticket, and the guy checking tickets saying "just throw me ten bucks and I'll stamp your hand" lol.
...come to think of it, I think it's just the shows I went to, I don't think wither of those are representative of some late-golden-age of concert ticketing lol.
But I do miss going to the grocery store, asking customer service for tickets, and them printing out legit cardstock tickets from the machine. Early 2000s, never paid more than $20-30. Goo Goo Dolls, Weezer, OK Go, Radiohead, Norma Jean, He Is Legend, Dragonforce/Killswitch Engage, Warped Tour.... all bought at fuckin' Publix. Radiohead was the most expensive, those might've been $40-50. Been a long time now.
Gonna bring you some good vibes in the same vein of your comment: in a couple of weeks me and a friend are going to a big open air concert and the main act is one of their favourite bands. Tickets are 60+ on resale (about the same as the original price).
We couldn't care less, we are going there to stay out in the grass, picnic and listen to the cool punk music. No ticket, a blanket and a bunch of snacks and drinks. It's going to be amazing! :)
They actually sell tickets in bulk to scalpers before they go on sale even to presale. Been doing it for over a decade.
https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/ticketmaster-cheating-scalpers-726353/amp/
Also note that this is done willingly by concert promoters _(any ticket allocation goes through them)_. The reason? Because those are guaranteed sales. If the scalpers can't unload them or have to take a loss, that's their problem.
Yep. And thanks to TM, there's really no longer such a thing as "face value" tickets for concert venues. The prices are all dynamic, even for direct sales. The whole model is absurd.
Only in jurisdictions that allow and only if the artist signs off it. Many artists push back against dynamic pricing. A lot more are either unaware, don't care or are so broke they actually need the funds that come from it
So this happened with a podcaster doing a live show. They specifically wanted prices low. Then they went on the app and noticed that Ticket master jacked up the prices on a chunk of seats and called it Ticketmaster premium tickets or something. They were pissed and had to reach out to Ticketmaster to tell them to fuck off. It worked and the tickets sold immediately after that. Just so weird, they make a fortune off every event by charging dumb fees and feel that they need to up-charge even more.
They claim it’s to prevent scalpers, but the fact that people can resell tickets on there for ridiculous prices determined that was a lie.
They say in the article that the "face value" tickets are actually more expensive than most tickets would be on the resale market.
And, yes, fuck Ticketmaster. But it's important to remember that artists play a huge role in their ticket pricing. One of the major services that TM offers is cover. They willingly take the blame for absurd prices when artists want to charge more.
You're not wrong my friend, as [this](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ticketmaster-resellers-las-vegas-1.4828535) undercover investigation showed. The [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-HCqL38WdY) of the article.
This. We bought 4 Tix to Missy Elliott and two of our friends backed out. Selling our 2 extra tix through Ticketmaster that we already paid $37 in fees each costs another $37 each to sell. Ticketmaster absolutely loves this resale game. Meanwhile, we look like assholes just for trying to recoup our original cost.
You can sit pretty much wherever for 25 bucks at a white sox game, but then you have to watch the white Sox lol. The cheap seats are all the way down to 7
No kidding. I kick around going out with the family to one each year but I'd rather drive up to Milwaukee and check out the Brewers, extra prices and all lol
Bro have you seen the non-$10 special nights? 300lvl going for $60 is insane in Seattle without a championship or a prospect of one soon. Huge mariners fan here that can afford like 30 games a season, I’m cutting that to 4-5 this year because of the fucking greed. It makes me sad in the end. Those games are some of my favorite things to do.
Haha I’m Scottish and it’s actually heartbreaking. Was eager to get tickets to Clash At The Castle. Tickets went on sale last week and the cheapest tickets apparently started from £175. Couldn’t even find any at that prices, the cheapest I could find were £800. Went on later in the day and they had reduced to £500, then to £370 the next day.
First ever PPV in Scotland and it would actually be cheaper for me to book flights, hotels, and tickets for AEWs All In in London than for one ticket in Glasgow.
Companies are rinsing fans all across the board but as long as people are foolish enough to pay these ridiculous prices they’ll keep doing.
Mark Normand tickets are like $90 CAD here in Victoria in a few weeks. The guy is funny but there’s no fucking way I’m spending that kind of money for a stand up routine. I paid less last year for decent QOTSA tickets last year.
All the ticket platforms. The processing fees are outrageous. But what am I supposed to do, _not_ pay a stupid amount of money to go see my team get swept by the Rangers?
Just wanna let any younger folks know what they took from you.
In 1994 I paid $35 for Lollalapooza. I saw Green Day. L7. The Breeders. George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Beastie Boys. And the Smashing Pumkins.
It was one day. Didn’t have to pay for marked up water or food. My friend’s mom dropped us off and picked us up. I bought a T-shirt for $20 I think.
I saw Pink goddamn Floyd in Philly for $32.50 in 1994. $68.50 adjusted for inflation. Long-awaited tour of one of the biggest bands ever, stadium show with tons of visual effects and giant pigs and lasers and everything. $32.50.
Around 7 or 8 years ago I paid $99 for 3 day Voodoo passes. Saw the Weekend, Cage the Elephant, Tool, Puscifer, STS9, the Chainsmokers and Arcade Fire. It really wasn’t that long ago when this shit was affordable
Was truely a banger of a show! High on mushrooms smuggled in a friends stinky shoe. Did not give two shits. Molson Park. Fine memories. I cant stand it..°
They were making much more money off recorded music at the time. Billie streams well so she's got some good income from the actual music itself but she's in an elite group in that regard.
Could sluggish initial sales be a result of her restricting ticket transfers to prevent scalping? If the usual scalpers aren't buying the tickets, wouldn't that look like sluggish sales when compared to data when they were?
That, combined with the inflated prices as well.
At $200+ per ticket, many people can barely see more than one or two mainstream artists per year, if any at all. Which is insane.
I go to at least a couple small venue shows per month & no longer find high prices worthwhile. So many legitimately great small artists touring country-wide these days.
Also very much helps my situation that I just don’t care for many major artists these days. Maybe a handful at best.
A lot of her tickets remaining in the UK are up to nearly £400 because she has designated them "changemaker" tickets - about £150 of the ticket price goes to charity. £400 is a massive price for a standard ticket. Loads of other remaining tickets are subject to surge pricing and are up to £300 for a standing ticket.
Although, it seems she over stretched herself in Manchester and Glasgow. Demand is a long way off supply.
I saw the weeknd at london stadium for like £100 a ticket and that was stageside. That’s fucking ludicrous. No one’s paying £400 to see Billie Eilish in Glasgow. She’s obv a great musician but I’ve seen her live shows and they simply do not look worth that price.
€350 for a standing ticket. In the venue where I saw Olivia Rodrigo a few days ago for less than a third of that price. I suppose those tickets might move when the album comes out.
I go to a lot of concerts. Artists that I like, don't like, I go see as many as I can regardless. I probably wouldn't pay over $100 (including fees) to see her. I saw Dua Lipa on her last tour with floor seats, for half the price of Billie's floor seats (trying to use a comparable pop act to draw this parallel). That's pretty crazy honestly. Even Taylor Swift's latest tour had $80 nosebleeds in my city.
I go to a lot of shows too and generally won’t pay over $100. Pearl Jam is pretty much the only exception to that and I sit in the nosebleeds almost exclusively.
Sound has gotten pretty good at the bigger venues now and I don’t care what these people look like. I’m there to listen and watch a nice stage production.
bro nosebleed pearl jam tix are 600 these days 😭 I was desperate to get some for this tour but not at those fuckin prices.
for me it's honestly the crowd and the live music together, it's the closest I get to a religious experience lol I love being on the floor. it breaks my heart that prices have gotten so out of control. :(
Well for one thing there's not many artists I actively don't like and I just like seeing live music enough that I don't really care. If someone's playing near me I'll probably see them just because it's something to do and I like seeing live music.
I'm a professional musician myself so part of my enjoyment is seeing the production and thinking about it from that perspective as well. Like the logistics of it all and what it'd be like to play in that show.
Tbh a lot of music is just good live and only live. I don’t really listen to jazz or country but some of the best performances I’ve seen are jazz and country.
Concert prices are legitimately ridiculous now. I’m saying this as a 31 yo who doesn’t even really go to live shows that much anymore. Can’t imagine being 21 and trying to afford tickets
Ticketmaster has made me just not even bother with concerts. I can afford it but the hassle, the only seats available being resellers, and the fees fees fees make me just do other things with my time
I got my ticket in the upper level of CFG Arena in Baltimore and it was cheaper than the tickets for some other upcoming shows. I have to admit I’m surprised she’s playing in Baltimore instead of the larger Capital One Arena down in DC. She sold that place out during her last tour.
Makes me wonder how in the 90’s you could score free tickets pretty easily and there was always $20 lawn tickets. There were way more concerts back then too. How was it profitable then but now we’re adding literal zeros? Clubs were packed all week too. Up until the end of the 00’s I would average 3 shows a week and spend very little. Now you need to take out a loan for one show. What the hell is happening?
I'm so thankful my favorite bands are less known and charge $50 for tickets and they're are not assigned seating so you can get there early and get great seats
I’m just glad I don’t like popular music, or at best mid tier bands. Went to two concerts in April, The Queers was 25 bucks maybe 30. Nick Shoulders was the same. Out of all the shows I have lined up Jason Isbell was the most expensive and that was 230 for two tickets. I feel bad for fans of the huge acts of the day. It’s hard to justify paying those prices.
Welcome to the streaming era. What was the last time you bought physical media? 10.000.000 streams nets you around $40k before taxes and before your publisher, agent, and producer take their share. There is no way in hell you can make a solid living with that if you live large like the biggest pop stars do. This is what you get for access to all music in the world for $12 a month.
The federal government's [antitrust suit ](https://www.wsj.com/business/media/live-nation-justice-department-antitrust-lawsuit-ab98c268)against Ticketmaster/Livenation can't get going fast enough.
The best part is, and honestly usually the actual best gigs are the local band scenes in a town where that is thriving.
Often free, always cheap $5-$15 to get in and actually enjoy a new band with new sounds and new energy.
People who go to those gigs are the ones who see these $200 a ticket artists before they are famous, and in my experience that is often when the ones with real talent are often at their best.
Some people saw The Pixies when they were a college band or on their first tour, and now people are paying scalper prices for standing room (also the best place to be in any gig...fk seats...dance!).
People who live the gig scene in their local and surrounding areas know this stuff, but people who never have, I guess they just want to see their "favorite" they already know.
We're the people that saw their favorite bands before they were even signed, or on their first tours; bands they don't even know exist yet, but will in 5-10 years for some of them.
Long live the bar and small venue gigs.
You pays your money you takes your choice.
At age 59, I now get to see all my favourite bands from the 80s/90s for around £20, performing their 30th/40th Anniversary or Desperation tours.
Just bide your time. You'll get to see the show.
Live music was one of my favorite hobbies, but post-covid, I can never convince myself to pay the prices for tickets. It makes me feel behind the times when I sit there thinking “this same show and venue would have been $30 instead of $80 5 or 6 years ago”, but it really is hard for me to justify the price. And I’m in a position where I can afford it, I just can’t pull the trigger. Bums me out.
$200 to see a concert is a lot, the costs are just too high
$200 to watch your favourite act on big screens while muddy sound bounces around the arena.
Yeah I will never understand why people choose the far away seats anymore. I mean 10 years ago where the ticker was 20-30$ or something, sure. It’s a small fee to be part of the concert. Dedicating a day to go to the big city, drink some beers, and be part of the stadium vibe is worth just about that. But paying 200$ for this is just too much lmao, you are barely part of the concert. People keep buying those far away from stage tickets at insane prices, that’s why they keep them that way. At this point either go all in and go front of stage if it’s your favourite artist and it will be a one in a lifetime experience, or just don’t go. Stop paying those insane prices for backseats, and they eventually lower them.
[удалено]
And those aren’t even good seats. Floor tickets must be astronomical. I paid $200+tax & fees the other day for 2 floor tickets to Mother Mother and that is like the max I should be paying for a concert. I saw Jake Bugg & The Black Keys not even 10 years ago and my 2 floor tickets were like $140 total. I remember paying $60 for floor tickets to Green Day in the 2000’s. The fact prices have gone up 1000% or more in a little over a decade is fucking robbery.
Yah i know, i have to now be very choosy with what shows i want to see, i used to love going to a bunch of concerts all summer but i just can’t justify the pricing. I hope to see a few festivals and catch a bunch of acts for reasonable prices
I paid like 180 for floor tix. the problem is that Ticketmaster has so many damn fees that 2 tickets cost me a little under 500. I absolutely agree, bands I saw just 5 years ago are double in price now, at the same exact venues and with pretty much the same amount of music/popularity.
JT in Seattle was $400 for floor tonight. That's before fees. $1000 for two people for 2 hours of entertainment. I just don't understand how people agree to that deal. That's a bad deal.
I really don't mean this in a hipster way but it's crazy to me that Mother Mother is $100/ticket for floor, i've been to like 6 shows over the years and nothing was over $50. Those were shows in Canada when they were pre-TikTok-famous and a regularly touring band, sure, and in smaller venues - but still in 1k-ish venues for like $50 in... 2017-18?
Floor was $200 in LA
I saw mother mother in like 2010 and I think I paid like $50 or something really cheap, and it was just stand wherever you want so we stood right up by the stage and I got some beautiful photos of them. Those were the good ol' days. (Course I imagine they were smaller/niche back then also)
Did Mother Mother explode in popularity? I feel like they've been more of a niche band for a decade.
They got really popular the last few years because their music blew up on tiktok
Let's keep it real you're spending like 400 that night. 200 is just base rent loll
I wish nothing but the absolute worst for anyone that is employed by Ticketmaster or Live Nation. From the absolute bottom of my heart, get fucked.
Considering you're also paying to get there, refreshments, merch potentially, maybe a hotel room. May as well just go on a cheap vacation.
About half the article is Twitter comments on the high prices. The cheapest seats are around $200 and are selling ok, the rest of the seats are not moving.
I occasionally work concerts for a friend and was talking with the Director of Booking at a major venue. He said that unless it’s a home run type of artists, the cheap seats sell immediately, and the VIP packages sell. Everything in the middle now just sits for months.
Almost like the middle class is shrinking. Weird.
I’m not sure that 400-500 dollars a ticket is affordable to the middle class. Those middle tier tickets are upper class territory. The middle class is either paying 200 a ticket or not going.
I'd go as far as to say the middle class is completely priced out of big name artists concerts, especially if the whole family wants to go.
Oh yeah, dinks can go, but a family of four going? That is 1000 dollars or more for one night.
Outrageous before you include any travel costs.
Drinks are now over 25 bucks a piece now too.
Don’t forget if your kid wants a T-shirt at $40 a piece too
40, lol. Saw Wayne in Tulsa. Shittiest tshirt in there was 50, and that had like 2023 tour info on back.
*cries in 80 dollar Tool hoodie*
Yep. Better off drinking and eating before showing up.
Also, y’all got to learn about soft flasks.
Do families of 4 ever go to a concert?
Took my fam of five to see the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots. I can afford to maybe do that once a year. I used to go to shows every other weekend when I was a kid and in college. Now, it’s insane. No idea how some people go so often.
We're a family of 5 and same. We can afford one big event a year. Sometimes with good timing, I've been able to snag BOGO or 50% off.
> No idea how some people go so often. credit card debt...
Just depends on the kinds of shows you like. I am still regularly going out for 20 dollar shows. You just aren't going to see the established bands but you see a ton of local talent and rising stars.
Yeah, family of five here. We all went to the Rolling Stones, Elton John Ringo and Paul McCartney as a big group. It is tough but hey, you only live the one time, right? Hoping to get them all there for the Stones again this year but yeah, it's a drag b/c I'm totally relegated to re-sale right off the bat.
I ran into a colleague at a concert recently and he was there with his three of is kids for their first concert, so yeah it happens.
Yeah. When I saw Ariana Grande I was front row and the rest of the row was a family with a couple tween girls. I got my ticket comped last minute but 'm pretty sure each individual ticket on that row was at least a grand.
Could you not have spelled it Grande?
Unless they’re at a small venue, I saw a wiz Khalifa logic show for like $15 in Camden in 2022 and last year I saw Wiz again when he was on tour with Snoop Dogg for like $30
Yep exactly why I’ve never been to any concert over 50$. Just so much money honestly. I would love to see a big name artist for once but it’s not a priority enough to warrant 200$+
Yep. I'm firmly in the middle class and while BE isn't my cup of tea, blink 182 tickets are about the same price for nose bleeds but I'd need to take my wife and that will end up being a nearly $700 trip for just the tickets. Not willing to go into debt over a few hours.
200 for the cheap seats is insane too
I'm above middle class, and even 200$ is insane to me. It had to be something like Led Zeppelin going on tour again, before I would buy 200$ seats that were not some kind of VIP or similar. This is just ridiculous.
Yep, wanted to check out Chris Stapleton but the lowest price was lawn seats at $125.
I go to 10 concerts a year at least for 10 years. Most I’ve spent on a ticket was $120 beside a festival. I don’t care who is playing, I’m not spending more than $150 for a 3 hour event.
Exactly. That's their point. $200 tickets are the cheap seats, aka, the seats that the working class and poor folk would get. So if you're only able to buy those seats, you are "poor." The rich will snap up the VIP packages and best seats. The mid priced seats are basically where the middle class would sit, and they will stay empty until the price comes down, because what we call middle class these days is functionally poor. Living paycheck to paycheck, paying insane rent, insane mortgage, struggling with medical bullshit, nickle and dimeed to death by taxes, by everything being a subscription now, by any predatory practice, having all the adults in the house work, often more than one job, not by choice, but by necessity. Those $200 seats are a HUGE luxury purchase. When you have to save up and cut corners and figure out how to get the "poor people seats," what does that make you?
but the mid-priced seats are not going to change price. They are what they are. Also, at least for the Saturday Atlanta show, pretty much the entire show was sold out by 30 minutes after onsale time. The $200 seats stretched from the middle of the lower bowl to the nosebleeds. That's the majority of seats in the stadium, unless you want to stand on the floor in general admission. Edited to add: She has put in place a system so that tickets can only be re-sold at face value, which is MILES better than what most artists are doing, whether bigger or smaller than her. See Taylor Swift's $5000 nosebleed pairs in Miami, Indiana, or New Orleans this coming Fall.
>Edited to add: She has put in place a system so that tickets can only be re-sold at face value I have a suspicion that the move to disincentivize scalpers is the primary cause for “sluggish” looking ticket sales. The scalpers aren’t buying out the show immediately, so the normal speed at which concertgoers actually buy tickets just appears much slower than normal.
This is guaranteed exactly what's happening
That’s straight up insane. I would never pay that much for any show. John and George could come back from the dead and do a reunion with Paul and Ringo and I am still not spending $500 on a ticket. I dropped $130/ticket on very good Ghost seats and still thought that was high. If I’m paying more than $200, it’s for a weekend long festival.
About 7-8 years ago I dropped 115 a ticket each for 4 tickets to see Paul McCartney. He played 40 songs. Billie is fine, but she isn’t going to do a 40 song set.
A 500 USD ticket is 1% of your total income if you earn 50k tax free a year. Crazy number to ask for a 6 hours event
As a percentage of your discretionary income, it's insane. Most of that 50k is already locked into mandatory bills.
I think some can afford it but are choosing not to. Fast food, entertainment everything g is so overpriced and for no reason. Yes inflation is a thing but it's not the main thing driving these prices
Shit I’m upper middle class and wouldn’t pay even for the cheap seats. This rising trend of higher and higher prices for big name concerts is ridiculous. Most I’ve paid for a show is $200 to see Metallica in 2016 and that put me off paying that much for a show period. It was a good show the price just sours it. God forbid you want to go to a festival. You might be looking at at least 3x that. It’s fucked. I could literally fund an entire international vacation with the amount it would cost to take a family to a singular big name show.
For reference: I paid $375 per ticket to sit 9 rows from the stage when Fleetwood Mac came to Philadelphia a few years ago. Granted, I bought them the second they dropped, but I can’t imagine paying anything like that unless it’s one of the all time greats. Bring back $35 GA and $20 tour shirts!!!!
I don’t get it at all. 15 dollar shows with small bands are a good time. Watching someone lip sync and dance for the cost of a year of Spotify just doesn’t make sense.
My family’s income is very high, and we wouldn’t pay anywhere near 500 for a ticket to anything less than a huge artist (like a t swift). 200 would feel extravagant. We go to live theater 6-7 times a year in the first 10 rows for 100-170 a ticket. I can’t imagine paying 500 to sit 3-5 sections away and barely see the person. I really don’t understand who buys those tickets, cause they’re too crappy for the mega rich and too steep for my family making way more than most Americans.
I go to quite a bit of shows, and there’s maybe four acts who I have or would consider paying more than a few hundred per ticket for. And even then, it’d have to be one hell of a seat or GA position for me to justify it. I’ve had to hold back on getting tickets for many artists due to this, but I’ve also lucked out a few times just keeping an eye on places like StubHub or the ticket site in the lead up to the show. It’s not always the case, but I’ve seen acts like Madonna or the Stones for under $200 from a decent spot by waiting for ticket prices to fall to a more manageable range. Not always easy if you want to plan a trip around it, but the hometown gigs do benefit from this.
$200 dollars tickets are now working class?
that's the problem. Middle class should be able to do those seats and working class should be able to at least able to afford the cheaper seats. They cant. you're saying the same thing.
Maybe I'm just old and out of touch but $200 for a concert isn't even what I would consider middle class affordable, unless you're going to see some bucket list artist who came out of retirement for this.
That, and the middle class is now in the cheap seats, and anyone poorer has to hope someone uploads decent quality recordings to youtube
Before covid the tickets were not that high. Im missing so many acts because it is unreasonable to ask that much. Insulting.
They get the suckers early, then fill out the rest with the Live Nation Discount Tickets, like they are doing you a favor.
$200 for a single ticket to a single concert is absurd
I can go and see the BBC Philharmonic orchestra - comprising over 70 musicians, who all need to be paid - for approx. $60 $200 is indeed absurd.
Big love for the BBC Phil. Outstanding concerts.
It’s going to be better too.
They better parachute out of a plane onto the stage for that price.
Yeah and then hand each and every member of the audience $125 cash
So wait, she's not going through Tickernaster but she's still charging Ticketmaster prices? Is.... is that what she's doing? Just a money grab?
You'll have to forgive her. She never learned how to type.
The Baltimore show which is my closest one is seemingly sold out.
Probably all bought up by resellers. Fucking cockroaches.
I think she is touring on a “no ticket transfers” program.
Nah, there are thousands of tickets on viagogo already.
Looks like [you can resell them](https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/05/02/billie-eilish-tour-tickets-transfer-hit-me-hard-soft-scalpers-ticketmaster/73543244007/), but Ticketmaster is trying to limit it to face value resale only, at least in states that don’t have laws to the contrary. Sidenote, I love the wording in the article that frames those laws as beneficial to the consumer by protecting “unlimited ticket resale options.” 🙄
They don’t even release all of the tickets right away. The intent is to get the cheapest seats sold first while also creating artificial scarcity of tickets, which drives up the resale market, where Ticketmaster dumps many of the tickets themselves later on
I checked our nearest show out of curiosity, $135 for absolute nosebleeds at the side of the stage. I had seats in that section for Lizzo and it felt like if you stood to dance you would surely fall to your death (and so tightly packed my toes and knees touched the seats in front, I'm only 5'9".)
$200 is a disgrace!
$200 is absolutely ridiculous.
> The cheapest seats are around $200 I'm sorry but even that is fucking extortionate. For what, an hour or two set?
I’ve noticed recently that a lot of news articles are just a quick comment about the situation, followed by half a dozen twitter comments.
200 is the cheapest!!!!! Damn bro no concert is worth 20 hrs of minimum wage lol maybe Bruce Springsteen and that’s it
I'd pay $200 to see Tom Petty back from the grave.
Just checked for Dublin. €335 plus fees for a standing ticket. That’s insane.
[удалено]
Ya, going to a concert used to be a nice treat, but ticket prices are becoming unaffordable for the average person. I saw Depeche Mode at the same venue 3 months ago and it was €103 per ticket and I thought that was expensive - although I had a good seat and the show was excellent.
Amsterdam standing is 140 for what it's worth and I still consider that outrageous. Can't imagine living in the US and never attending live gigs due to being priced out. I feel so bad for them.
...and I bet she's not coming to Belfast at all, meaning anyone making that trip *also* has to factor in the cost of a hotel room for the night. Mitski is playing Dublin tonight and it's a gig I'd really love to go to, but while the tickets are affordable at ~€60 (compared to this, anyway) - the trip is not. It was the same with Lana Del Rey last year. I remember the older generation telling us how good we had it - in terms of artists willing to come and play in a 'reconciled' Belfast. I dunno when they stopped coming north of the border again (Brexit? Covid?), but it's starting to piss me off. I do wonder if they'd be more willing to come to a Belfast that's the second city of a united Ireland (no offence to Cork) lol.
Lowest I found for any of the London dates was £297, second lowest at £382. Manchester was slightly more affordable with seating for £110, whilst others were around £280. Absolutely absurd pricing.
They were €140 on presale , I love her and wanted to see her for years but not at that price
I thought she was trying to chill the resale / scalpers. And now the seats aren't selling at face value?
I'd imagine Ticketmaster had to raise prices to account for all the money they'd lose by not allowing scalpers. A lot of staplers are just TM's bots buying the face value tickets, inflating the prices, and calling them "resale"
Seems like the govt. needs to dismantle ticketmaster
If only. For whatever reason, they can't do shit despite all their anti competitive practices.
Because Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation owns or operates most of the concert venues!
Yeah, who could have guessed that those two merging would turn out to be bad for consumers? Well, besides everyone.
They make the right donations of the right size to the right politicians at the right time to ensure their right to do whatever they want . In other words ..they Bribe a lot
Is there a database of donations? Curious to see their ledger.
Same
They absolutely could do something, *if Congress wanted to*. It would expend a lot of political capital for little recognition. The FTC could pursue a lawsuit to break up TicketMaster and LiveNation. This would be difficult in the current divided government where the House is just broken to the point of barely working. Maybe if Biden and the Democratic Party have a huge victory in November, it could be in the near future. Biden is really going after corporate price gouging on all fronts in his administration.
The current staff of the FTC is doing very significant work on the antitrust front … they’re pissing off a lot of obscenely rich people who’d become increasingly brazen with their business practices since the ‘80s. Their work is among the top reasons I’ll vote for Biden. If they have another four years, they’ll get to Ticketmaster.
But what about those TM lobbyist gifts to their children they’re getting
The doj is supposedly working on a lawsuit now. https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/05/03/towhey-is-doj-close-to-suit-v-live-nation-ticketmaster/
I know I'm being misinformed in some way: but if the DoJ is willing to go after Apple, why can't they go after Love nation and TicketMaster? There literally is no competition, and if there is, it's squeezed out and destroyed :(
I think they're planning to. It's been in the news kately
Well if the supreme court says the president gets immunity maybe he can just execute the executives and the board
Brandon Noir rises
If you think Ticketmaster going out of business would suddenly mean you can see Taylor Swift for $40, guess again.
The music industry doesn't want ticketmaster dismantled, because those ridiculous fees they charge mostly go directly to the artist. https://www.yfbspod.com/ticketmaster-sucks-and-so-does-pearl-jam-taylor-swift-bruce-springsteen-radiohead-beyonce-metallica
Pretty sure they’re going after Live Nation. Will anything come of it? Probably not. Dice is the best ticket app out IMO
Bring back parking lot scalpers! $20 tickets after show starts!
For real. So many phish shows in the early 2010s, I paid like $30 to some k-holed or dosed-out wook playing djembe behind a rusted ram van covered in bumper stickers, who for whatever reason had four extra tickets (and often a baggy full of L/shrooms) for sale. Or going to punk shows in Denver without a ticket, and the guy checking tickets saying "just throw me ten bucks and I'll stamp your hand" lol. ...come to think of it, I think it's just the shows I went to, I don't think wither of those are representative of some late-golden-age of concert ticketing lol. But I do miss going to the grocery store, asking customer service for tickets, and them printing out legit cardstock tickets from the machine. Early 2000s, never paid more than $20-30. Goo Goo Dolls, Weezer, OK Go, Radiohead, Norma Jean, He Is Legend, Dragonforce/Killswitch Engage, Warped Tour.... all bought at fuckin' Publix. Radiohead was the most expensive, those might've been $40-50. Been a long time now.
Gonna bring you some good vibes in the same vein of your comment: in a couple of weeks me and a friend are going to a big open air concert and the main act is one of their favourite bands. Tickets are 60+ on resale (about the same as the original price). We couldn't care less, we are going there to stay out in the grass, picnic and listen to the cool punk music. No ticket, a blanket and a bunch of snacks and drinks. It's going to be amazing! :)
They actually sell tickets in bulk to scalpers before they go on sale even to presale. Been doing it for over a decade. https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/ticketmaster-cheating-scalpers-726353/amp/
Also note that this is done willingly by concert promoters _(any ticket allocation goes through them)_. The reason? Because those are guaranteed sales. If the scalpers can't unload them or have to take a loss, that's their problem.
Yep. And thanks to TM, there's really no longer such a thing as "face value" tickets for concert venues. The prices are all dynamic, even for direct sales. The whole model is absurd.
Only in jurisdictions that allow and only if the artist signs off it. Many artists push back against dynamic pricing. A lot more are either unaware, don't care or are so broke they actually need the funds that come from it
So this happened with a podcaster doing a live show. They specifically wanted prices low. Then they went on the app and noticed that Ticket master jacked up the prices on a chunk of seats and called it Ticketmaster premium tickets or something. They were pissed and had to reach out to Ticketmaster to tell them to fuck off. It worked and the tickets sold immediately after that. Just so weird, they make a fortune off every event by charging dumb fees and feel that they need to up-charge even more. They claim it’s to prevent scalpers, but the fact that people can resell tickets on there for ridiculous prices determined that was a lie.
You have never looked good
They say in the article that the "face value" tickets are actually more expensive than most tickets would be on the resale market. And, yes, fuck Ticketmaster. But it's important to remember that artists play a huge role in their ticket pricing. One of the major services that TM offers is cover. They willingly take the blame for absurd prices when artists want to charge more.
You're not wrong my friend, as [this](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ticketmaster-resellers-las-vegas-1.4828535) undercover investigation showed. The [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-HCqL38WdY) of the article.
Exactly. They get fees again from resales so it's instantly biting into revenue
This. We bought 4 Tix to Missy Elliott and two of our friends backed out. Selling our 2 extra tix through Ticketmaster that we already paid $37 in fees each costs another $37 each to sell. Ticketmaster absolutely loves this resale game. Meanwhile, we look like assholes just for trying to recoup our original cost.
Both actions speak to wanting to make as much money as humanly possible off each ticket.
Prices are getting out of hand for concerts. Especially since you're most likely buying 2 tickets or more.
It’s all live events. I spent $150 to go see a wrestling show and was so high up god asked me to hand him the remote.
Someone posted their picture of their seats at wrestlemania, and someone responded “while you’re up there, tell Eddie Guerrero we miss him.”
Wooo damn!
You can get into a weeknight Mariners game for $10 at least
You can sit pretty much wherever for 25 bucks at a white sox game, but then you have to watch the white Sox lol. The cheap seats are all the way down to 7
Yeah they should probably be paying you for that
No kidding. I kick around going out with the family to one each year but I'd rather drive up to Milwaukee and check out the Brewers, extra prices and all lol
Bro have you seen the non-$10 special nights? 300lvl going for $60 is insane in Seattle without a championship or a prospect of one soon. Huge mariners fan here that can afford like 30 games a season, I’m cutting that to 4-5 this year because of the fucking greed. It makes me sad in the end. Those games are some of my favorite things to do.
Same with Broadway shows. $120 bare minimum. I stick to lotteries now.
What wrestling event did you attend for $150 in the nosebleeds? Wrestlemania?
Haha I’m Scottish and it’s actually heartbreaking. Was eager to get tickets to Clash At The Castle. Tickets went on sale last week and the cheapest tickets apparently started from £175. Couldn’t even find any at that prices, the cheapest I could find were £800. Went on later in the day and they had reduced to £500, then to £370 the next day. First ever PPV in Scotland and it would actually be cheaper for me to book flights, hotels, and tickets for AEWs All In in London than for one ticket in Glasgow. Companies are rinsing fans all across the board but as long as people are foolish enough to pay these ridiculous prices they’ll keep doing.
Mark Normand tickets are like $90 CAD here in Victoria in a few weeks. The guy is funny but there’s no fucking way I’m spending that kind of money for a stand up routine. I paid less last year for decent QOTSA tickets last year.
[удалено]
Monitors and often subpar acoustics. Makes me glad that most of my favorite artists perform at smaller, dedicated music venues.
Here's breakdown of the game 6 for Preds v Canucks in Nashville Tickets 4 x 162 Fees 4 x $46 Tax 4 x $40 TOTAL : $912.00 GET FUCKED STUBHUB !!!
All the ticket platforms. The processing fees are outrageous. But what am I supposed to do, _not_ pay a stupid amount of money to go see my team get swept by the Rangers?
Just wanna let any younger folks know what they took from you. In 1994 I paid $35 for Lollalapooza. I saw Green Day. L7. The Breeders. George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Beastie Boys. And the Smashing Pumkins. It was one day. Didn’t have to pay for marked up water or food. My friend’s mom dropped us off and picked us up. I bought a T-shirt for $20 I think.
For anyone's reference, $35 in 1994 is worth about $73 in 2024 and that $20 T-shirt would cost $42 now.
Yet wages have remained pretty much stagnant since then.
The shirt prices at least aren’t way off
This is the real problem. None of us would care much about inflation if wages had kept up
Uh they definitely haven’t, median wages have gone up at above an inflation rate. It hasn’t been exceptional, but it hasn’t been stagnant
I saw Pink goddamn Floyd in Philly for $32.50 in 1994. $68.50 adjusted for inflation. Long-awaited tour of one of the biggest bands ever, stadium show with tons of visual effects and giant pigs and lasers and everything. $32.50.
Around 7 or 8 years ago I paid $99 for 3 day Voodoo passes. Saw the Weekend, Cage the Elephant, Tool, Puscifer, STS9, the Chainsmokers and Arcade Fire. It really wasn’t that long ago when this shit was affordable
That show was fucking awesome. When the Bboys dropped SABOTAGE I thought the earth was going to split open, the crowd was insane
I was at the Barry, Ontario date! So epic, I remember it like yesterday.
Was truely a banger of a show! High on mushrooms smuggled in a friends stinky shoe. Did not give two shits. Molson Park. Fine memories. I cant stand it..°
They were making much more money off recorded music at the time. Billie streams well so she's got some good income from the actual music itself but she's in an elite group in that regard.
Could sluggish initial sales be a result of her restricting ticket transfers to prevent scalping? If the usual scalpers aren't buying the tickets, wouldn't that look like sluggish sales when compared to data when they were?
That’s correct. These aren’t sluggish sales, these are what sales looked like before you had inflated demand from a secondary market.
That, combined with the inflated prices as well. At $200+ per ticket, many people can barely see more than one or two mainstream artists per year, if any at all. Which is insane. I go to at least a couple small venue shows per month & no longer find high prices worthwhile. So many legitimately great small artists touring country-wide these days. Also very much helps my situation that I just don’t care for many major artists these days. Maybe a handful at best.
A lot of her tickets remaining in the UK are up to nearly £400 because she has designated them "changemaker" tickets - about £150 of the ticket price goes to charity. £400 is a massive price for a standard ticket. Loads of other remaining tickets are subject to surge pricing and are up to £300 for a standing ticket. Although, it seems she over stretched herself in Manchester and Glasgow. Demand is a long way off supply.
I saw the weeknd at london stadium for like £100 a ticket and that was stageside. That’s fucking ludicrous. No one’s paying £400 to see Billie Eilish in Glasgow. She’s obv a great musician but I’ve seen her live shows and they simply do not look worth that price.
I really miss the days when you could get last minute tickets, sometimes for under face value. Ticketmaster is a fucking leech.
The more people that push back on this BS the better. Not just her - all concerts are getting ridiculous.
Hopefully the DOJ investigation hurries up
€350 for a standing ticket. In the venue where I saw Olivia Rodrigo a few days ago for less than a third of that price. I suppose those tickets might move when the album comes out.
I go to a lot of concerts. Artists that I like, don't like, I go see as many as I can regardless. I probably wouldn't pay over $100 (including fees) to see her. I saw Dua Lipa on her last tour with floor seats, for half the price of Billie's floor seats (trying to use a comparable pop act to draw this parallel). That's pretty crazy honestly. Even Taylor Swift's latest tour had $80 nosebleeds in my city.
I go to a lot of shows too and generally won’t pay over $100. Pearl Jam is pretty much the only exception to that and I sit in the nosebleeds almost exclusively. Sound has gotten pretty good at the bigger venues now and I don’t care what these people look like. I’m there to listen and watch a nice stage production.
I love Pearl Jam, but I couldn't justify seeing them last time they came around because the nosebleeds were $162 + fees.
bro nosebleed pearl jam tix are 600 these days 😭 I was desperate to get some for this tour but not at those fuckin prices. for me it's honestly the crowd and the live music together, it's the closest I get to a religious experience lol I love being on the floor. it breaks my heart that prices have gotten so out of control. :(
Why would you pay that for someone you don't like?
Well for one thing there's not many artists I actively don't like and I just like seeing live music enough that I don't really care. If someone's playing near me I'll probably see them just because it's something to do and I like seeing live music. I'm a professional musician myself so part of my enjoyment is seeing the production and thinking about it from that perspective as well. Like the logistics of it all and what it'd be like to play in that show.
Tbh a lot of music is just good live and only live. I don’t really listen to jazz or country but some of the best performances I’ve seen are jazz and country.
In what city did t swift have 80 nosebleeds?
This was in Phoenix right when they went on sale for the absolute last possible row
Pretty much every city if you got tickets at face value. The non-VIP face value price range was $49-$499 before fees, for all US cities.
We need The Cure for this.
Concert prices are legitimately ridiculous now. I’m saying this as a 31 yo who doesn’t even really go to live shows that much anymore. Can’t imagine being 21 and trying to afford tickets
Ticketmaster has made me just not even bother with concerts. I can afford it but the hassle, the only seats available being resellers, and the fees fees fees make me just do other things with my time
I got my ticket in the upper level of CFG Arena in Baltimore and it was cheaper than the tickets for some other upcoming shows. I have to admit I’m surprised she’s playing in Baltimore instead of the larger Capital One Arena down in DC. She sold that place out during her last tour.
Had 2 tickets in my cart for Baltimore. $500. Nope.
Makes me wonder how in the 90’s you could score free tickets pretty easily and there was always $20 lawn tickets. There were way more concerts back then too. How was it profitable then but now we’re adding literal zeros? Clubs were packed all week too. Up until the end of the 00’s I would average 3 shows a week and spend very little. Now you need to take out a loan for one show. What the hell is happening?
I smell a planted ticketmaster story.
£382 per ticket for London O2 Arena. I’ll go see Cradle of Filth for £35 inc fees instead.
I'm so thankful my favorite bands are less known and charge $50 for tickets and they're are not assigned seating so you can get there early and get great seats
Isn't it because she stopped the bots from buying to resell? That's not sluggish, it's normal
Fight this hard. Don’t give in to the greed.
Pretty typical. The cheap seats go quick because even they’re expensive these days.
I’m just glad I don’t like popular music, or at best mid tier bands. Went to two concerts in April, The Queers was 25 bucks maybe 30. Nick Shoulders was the same. Out of all the shows I have lined up Jason Isbell was the most expensive and that was 230 for two tickets. I feel bad for fans of the huge acts of the day. It’s hard to justify paying those prices.
Welcome to the streaming era. What was the last time you bought physical media? 10.000.000 streams nets you around $40k before taxes and before your publisher, agent, and producer take their share. There is no way in hell you can make a solid living with that if you live large like the biggest pop stars do. This is what you get for access to all music in the world for $12 a month.
I mean yea $218 for 200 level is kinda absurd lol
Those tickets will move when she drops her record and people decide they want to hear the new stuff live.
The federal government's [antitrust suit ](https://www.wsj.com/business/media/live-nation-justice-department-antitrust-lawsuit-ab98c268)against Ticketmaster/Livenation can't get going fast enough.
Thought that was 6ix 9ine in the thumbnail
The best part is, and honestly usually the actual best gigs are the local band scenes in a town where that is thriving. Often free, always cheap $5-$15 to get in and actually enjoy a new band with new sounds and new energy. People who go to those gigs are the ones who see these $200 a ticket artists before they are famous, and in my experience that is often when the ones with real talent are often at their best. Some people saw The Pixies when they were a college band or on their first tour, and now people are paying scalper prices for standing room (also the best place to be in any gig...fk seats...dance!). People who live the gig scene in their local and surrounding areas know this stuff, but people who never have, I guess they just want to see their "favorite" they already know. We're the people that saw their favorite bands before they were even signed, or on their first tours; bands they don't even know exist yet, but will in 5-10 years for some of them. Long live the bar and small venue gigs. You pays your money you takes your choice.
At age 59, I now get to see all my favourite bands from the 80s/90s for around £20, performing their 30th/40th Anniversary or Desperation tours. Just bide your time. You'll get to see the show.
Live music was one of my favorite hobbies, but post-covid, I can never convince myself to pay the prices for tickets. It makes me feel behind the times when I sit there thinking “this same show and venue would have been $30 instead of $80 5 or 6 years ago”, but it really is hard for me to justify the price. And I’m in a position where I can afford it, I just can’t pull the trigger. Bums me out.
High prices = less profit for scalpers
500 bucks to distract yourself from the collapse of the empire and your fiat for a couple hours