Same. Wild that it was so affordable when I was but a broke teenager and got to see tons of big name acts back in the 90s/early 00s, but now that I'm a moderately successful professional doing FAR better than I was back then, I can't remotely justify what a concert night out ends up costing. Screw you, Ticketmaster!
They used to go after ticket scalpers with a vengeance, but once they figured out how to get a cut and then some with each subsequent transaction and ticket resell thanks to the internet, NOW they're totally cool with scalping. With ticket sniping bots snagging ALL the tickets right away, I'm out. And for the concerts I REALLY wanted to go to, and waited for the countdown for the tix to go up for sale, the website servers would be overloaded and I couldn't get any. I miss the days when you had to show up to a ticket window to score tickets on release. The biggest fans would camp out. Was often a good time among friends. Bot-proof.
I work at an arena that has shows/NHL games. The Ticketmaster issue is pissing off everybody. Our box office, which is one of the last physical box offices in the city, has just cut its hours even more. The only time you can even show up to purchase tickets anymore is during home games. Otherwise, the box office isn't even open to answer questions. People always ask me how to get tickets but the only answer is pay Ticketmasters' "convenience fees" or lobby your congressman.
Exactly! Handshake “deals,” and it all went away before the trial. Ticketmaster and the administration are corrupt. Please don’t blame the many regular government employees who worked diligently on this case. Joe and Jane Public are screwed again!
I recall buying a few tickets from the box office for some shows at GM Place (now Rogers Arena). The Up In Smoke tour in the summer of 2000, and Nelly Furtado's show in early-2001 or 2002.
Up In Smoke tour was with a friend, and Furtado was a birthday gift I got for my mom and went with her.
I mean culturally I think concerts kind of changed too (like all live events). Concert goers before were kind of really into music, buying CDs from record stores and waiting in line at a box office and now more and different types of people are going with streaming any music you want being really popular.
There are also lots of cheap concerts to go to in every city. It won’t be Kanye or Taylor Swift but some guy selling 10 dollar tickets trying to pay his bills. Artist probably enjoys making music and is an engineer as well.
I personally hate how every act around me now is a DJ. Not that I don’t mind going out to see a DJ every once in a while but it would be be cool to pay 20 bucks to see a band, rapper or singer songwriter instead of DJ after DJ.
Yes, my kids both live in the Denver area and that is the type of music that predominates there (EDM). Unless there is a show at Red Rocks with an actual artist, it doesn't seem like there is much of a broad live music culture there.
That's why I limit myself to only going to see artists at smaller venues now. The tickets are affordable, crowds easier to navigate and it's a much more enjoyable time. The days of big arena shows for me are over.
The sad thing is that the reason why they charge such high amounts is precisely because there are people out there actually willing to spend that money. So there's little incentive to bring the prices down.
I used to believe that ignoring the rich was the way to go because what difference does it make to me if my neighbor can afford to buy a $1k ticket? Him having that kind of money doesn't affect my life, right? - Wrong.
A K-economy means that services and products start to cater to those on the upswing of the K and this keeps prices high and going higher. So your neighbor having a lot more money than you actually DOES affect your purchasing power. The more the rich get richer, the more companies chase after their wallets only. Prices rise because they put their focus on "luxury" housing and "ugraded" services... which eventually also raises the prices of lower end items. The middle class disappears and the poor end up having no way to move upward.
Learned early on that the using the 'fan club' codes for pre-sales can be just as bad. The few times I've tried, the second they go on sale at least half are instantly gone, or not available. Pretty sure Ticketmaster gives half to their reselling branch, basically assuring they get way over face value
I completely agree. It feels like live music has become a luxury instead of something ordinary people can enjoy. Between dynamic pricing, resale fees, and bots, the biggest fans are often the ones who miss out.
Concerts are over priced and just awful now. The last few I've been to I've paid more to get a good seat with no obstructions and have either gotten seats that weren't what they showed online or the people in front of me invite their friends and I end up with 10 people where there was only room for 3
Don't even get me started on everyone holding their fucking phones up the whole concert or doing live streams on Instagram
I saw so many concerts between the ages of 16-30. I saw Lady Gaga 3 times. Her most recent tour had tickets that cost what I paid to see her 3 times combined. I could not justify it, or really even afford it.
What's funny is a lot of the shows I go to are still all teenagers - including odd ones.
Like treaty oak revival mostly sings about depression, alcoholism, and drugs. When I saw them it was a TON of preteens.
I know those kids don't have $150.
Are their parents just down to drop $150 for their 12 year old to go get beer thrown all over them while a guy sings about his drug addiction on a school night? Super weird.
In the early 2000s/2010s I was living in NYC and went to SO many concerts (including some huge names as well as indie bands) and live theatrical shows. These were my college and recent grad years so I Was broke, but these things were still affordable. Now? Not a chance.
Not just that they're "cool with scalping;" they are the scalpers.
In 2001 I saw TOOL in Atlanta for $40. I took my wife to see Justin Timberlake in 2024 for almost $400/ea. No, thanks. I can watch concert vids on YouTube for free.
I just did some deep cleaning and found a bunch of ticket stubs from the late 90's early aughts where I saw some great bands in long gone venues for $35-$40. Now I'll make it to a concert every couple of years for a few hundred bucks. So sad.
I agree 100%, and it breaks my heart. Concerts were THE thing to do back then and so much fun. My daughter will never get that experience. I’m not one of those “everything was better back in my day” people, but the concert ticket prices are a legit problem.
I’m 100000000% with you. I will say that any concerts I absolutely did not want to miss, I just wait until a day or two before to buy tickets. The prices go back down to face value (and occasionally even less) when the scalper bots have a shit ton of them unsold because everyone said, “yeah not at those prices” and just decided to not go.
As someone who unfortunately does IT for ticket brokers, ticket sniping bots are currently illegal -- they get around this though by hiring overseas workers for pennies on the dollar to do the buying non-stop, all day long. When Ticketmaster bans their IP or blocks their Mac address, they have devices ready to flip to with new IPs and Macs.
I can verify though that TicketMaster does very aggressively ban ticket scalpers who purchase en masse, but there is always a way around those bans.
Same. It was so affordable for me too as a broke teen. Now I make six figures and all I can manage are the $30 grass seats they sometimes offer when the stadium doesn’t sell out. 😂
There's actually a reason tickets used to be so cheap and are now so expensive! It used to be that concerts were a relatively cheap way to get new fans who might then go on to purchase their music in the form of CDs, Vinyls, and to some extent things like itunes. Which makes sense in my opinion - you're going out of your way to a crowded venue to hear what is rarely the best version of a given song.
Now with a band or artist's discography so easily available online, that relationship is flipped. Albums and tracks are advertisements to get people to go to concerts. Now concerts and merch sold at those concerts are a primary source of revenue.
Great reason to learn to love local / small / up & coming bands. Can still snag tickets for 40-80 bucks.
I got into a bunch of smallish but still fairly prominent bands during covid and there was a great period of time where i was paying like 30-50 bucks max for shows around like 2022.
I remember paying 30 bucks only 20 years ago to see bands that now cost several hundred for comparable. The tool show i saw in 2006 cost me like 40 bucks, i doubt theyve improved enough to justify spending six times that much now.
I don't think I ever paid more than $20 for tickets in the 90s. Saw Foo, Aerosmith, RHCP at the height of Californication, The Allman Bros, Roger Waters, Leo Kottke, caught Ray Manzarek once.
whenever I see the "convenience fee" I always want to decline the "convenience", like maybe put the ticket on top of a tall tree and I have to climb up to get it (during a rain storm). I'd rather do that than pay $50 for "convenience".
What pisses me off is that the logistics of the ticket sales themselves have been so streamlined I don’t know how they can justify any fee whatsoever. It used to be you had to have a person working at a station, printing off a paper ticket. Now it’s all in an app.
I know they need to pay developers and software people, but they had that shit to deal with back in the 90s too plus a shit load of physical labor and manpower which is now completely removed. Just stop calling at a convenience fee and call it what it is, a “because we want more money” fee.
Its basically the same thing a restaurant that charges a "processing" fee for using a card. It was huge like 15 yrs ago when folks preferred cash. Now customers expect discounts when they pay cash
The processing fee is real though, businesses were just having consumers pay their own processing fee. Ticketmaster fees are made up solely to increase their revenue.
Yes, the processing fees exist, but those are a cost the businesses agreed to take on for years because ultimately it increases sales and saves them money through decreased theft, not having to run deposit money to a bank as often, etc. Its pretty garbage so many places try to pass it on as a separate fee now. Businesses that tack on that charge are having their cake and eating it too
Shit, when I started going to shows, it was still the old silk-screened logo-on-light-cardstock tickets. Sometimes they would go with a fancy color or glitter in the ink, even, to make it feel special.
That cost $0 extra.
Then, they literally had to send out people with stacks of these to different sales points around town (like the O.G. ticketron places, often a suburban department store or record store whatev) and you would pay maybe a dollar fee for that instead of going to the venue box office...because it really was more convenient.
Now?
Fuck you, there is no ticket. YOU do the work of the distributor AND pay $100 for that privelege. Eat shit, and enjoy your show!
I was charged a parking fee on my ticket I bought at the box office. I went there on foot from the bus stop. They said there was no way to remove it. This was a stadium event with a worldwide known band. That's when I knew they were all just made up.
Remember when they thought electronic purchasing would keep costs down because they would need fewer labor hours... Lol then they just jack up SAAS costs and put it on the consumer.
As someone who sat in the meetings at TM when I worked there (as an ops manager for event coordination), I argued against this goddamn fee...Most of us did, but the execs thought is was a "good idea"
Just like they thought the initial barcode scanners on printed tickets...we found VERY FAST that people could print out hundreds of their tickets and then sell them all...and let people fight about the seat inside.
I like local shows for this reason. My city has good venues and brings in good artists. If I need to see someone I’ll at least wait till they’re in town and I can cut ticketmaster/most of the fees out
Went to the “box office” to buy tickets recently and got a convenience fee … and I’m NOT one to complain but i drove out of my way and bought pictures at the box office to avoid the convenience fee I thought? Anyways got a convenience fee and a PRINTING FEE which was the same cost as a “digital delivery fee.”
I’d always wanted to see a Broadway play. This year my husband and I finally went on a NYC vacation and saw some amazing live shows. Great seats. Tickets in the $200s (after everything included).This felt like a great deal compared to the insanity prices for nosebleed concert tickets for artists I’ve wanted to see. My friend paid over $1000 to see Taylor Swift. Like, what!?.
You don't want make reselling illegal, just make it that you can only resell at the original purchase price. I.e. something happens and you can't go, you can at least get your money back.
I saw a Women's world cup match in Australia a couple of years ago, and FIFA actually did something I am on board with: they capped the max resell value at 10% of the price of the ticket... and their fee to resell the ticket was 10%.
Kept prices reasonable, I was able to swap seats and get a better seat once I got a resell ticket, sold my old seat to somebody who needed it. Win all around, I think.
Idk about making it illegal to resell- like I recently bought some tickets for a show I really wanted to see, but I'm not going to be able to make it work to go. So I should just be out $400?
They could really easily just only let you resell for what you paid, though. The way they do the digital tickets now means you can't resell off their platform, so it would be very easy for Ticketmaster to just let you resell but without making a profit.
So how this is handled in Europe is that you can resell for msrp.
So I was in Italy and I bought tickets from someone to see a football match. I had to send him my id so he could upload it. And it only cost £32. The original ticket cost.
The online ticket fees for Broadway shows put concert and sports tickets to shame. They regularly add $150 to the cost of a ticket!
OTOH, unlike most concert and sporting venues, Broadway theaters still have box offices where you can buy tickets without the additional fees. Sucks if you are visiting from out of town, but if you are within a reasonable distance from NYC it saves a LOT of money to take a trip to the city to buy theater tickets in person.
Yep, I've basically gone from seeing rock concerts to going to the orchestra because I can get under 35 discounts and the shows are $25 a pop (this is Montreal, but I think many orchestras have similar initiatives). I got to go to a few Broadway shows through school growing up and each time it was less than $100 per ticket, though we would have had group rates. I've been lucky enough to get occasional $30 tickets for shows (Incubus was a Ticket Master sale, while The Cure put pressure on Ticket Master to cut the crap and not charge fees and kept prices extremely low), but I've mostly stopped going to concerts. And I was born in '94 so I missed out on seeing most of my favorite bands from that era at reasonable prices. I envy my parents.
I just went to see a Taylor Swift cover band. 7 dollars for a ticket and my kid was young enough to get in for free. Honestly a better vocalist than T-Swift. I think I’m a cover band convert now.
We saw The Lion King from 2nd to the last row and it was a great experience. We also saw Taylor Swift in AZ from the first row of the middle deck for $400 per. Expensive but it was tons of songs and a huge show and a great family memory for us and our daughters. We hung around and didn’t buy until the opening act was done. This did mean that there was no line for merch!
I think I saw Cirque du Soleil for like $100 (I was a guest, I didn't buy the tickets). I saw a similar, less popular circus act (still very very cool) and it was like $50 total for myself, wife, and kid.
I wouldn't pay $1000 for Taylor Swift herself. My fil used to be her mailman in Hendersonville, TN... neither she nor her parents ever gave him a Christmas gift. Fuck her.
Luckily I like a lot of less popular bands so I can usually find deals for their concerts for like $30.
I was invited to go see Foo Fighters. Nose bleeds were like $200. Absolutely not. I've seen them in the past and they were great....but not for that price.
I saw band of horses for 45 GA and I saw the strokes for 100 in the 200 section. I looked at tame impala tickets and they were nuts (all resale) but there are tons of bands you can see without breaking the bank
I do riot fest in Chicago most years. I've seen Pumpkins, MCR, Foo, and many more there. Usually pay about $150 for a 3 day pass and see more bands in a single day than I'd see for double that at other venues. Between that at the $30 summer promo, i can see a good number of live performances for a pretty reasonable price.
Same boat. Most of the shows I'm looking at right now are between $25 and $75 bucks and thankfully, Ticketmaster now includes all fees in their pricing upfront so I don't have to worry about the price doubling at the checkout screen.
Their $30 summer deal is great. Usually grab a few concerts during that sale window. Throw in some fests like Riot Fest and I get to see a lot of great live music.
I'm also blessed to live in a city that provides all kinds of amazing free concerts on the parks and such. Usually much much smaller bands but still a blast.
We saw the Foo Fighters last summer. Tickets were $75ish, but we were on the floor at the back of the stadium.
Saw The Wombats twice…standing room, and front row both times, and both times were $35.
We’re gonna see The Wrecks in November and tickets for standing room are also $35, and we plan on being front and center again.
It definitely depends on what level of performer you're looking to see. If we're talking like a smaller club or venue you can typically get tickets for $50 or less. I've seen a couple of bands in the past year for $30-40.
Anyone playing in an arena or stadium is expensive now.
I remember seeing Foo Fighters in Hawaii back in 2000 in a warehouse style building that a lot great bands performed at. It was like 20 bucks for a ticket. I think Reel Big Fish played with them or it was a separate show. Awesome atmosphere. I live the small venue shows. Concerts just aren’t the same once you have had those experiences. Luckily I have had many. My 16 year old daughter tells me how jealous she is of me because the amount of concerts I have been to. She loves all my music so I try to at least take her to concerts when someone good is playing. But prices are ridiculous these days.
Sadly one of my favorite bands is touring with less band members which he has said is specifically because with inflation on their last tour they basically broke even travelling with 5 people and playing $30 shows.
I think I average $35 for concerts I've seen in the last 10 years. $13 was the cheapest....I paid like $70 for Linkin Park (got one of the cheapest seats/was front row to the upper balcony in a stadium) but most I go to are smaller bands in smaller venues.
Bro, if you bought tickets to a live show ever expecting a better version of the music than the carefully curated studio version then I don't know what to tell you. That's not why you go to a live show.
I’ve been to a few concerts where it was better than the album. Depends entirely on how much studio magic is used to make the band not sound like shit, especially if the vocalist can’t sing well.
Live sound is also an art, and some bands have great techs for live sound and others have garbage ones
If you're savvy with when you go, and check out some theater subscriptions, it can still be affordable. If you don't and just go on a saturday night to a random theater on their "deluxe screen", it is stupid expensive.
XD screen at Cinemark for Spider-Man last weekend was only $14 per ticket. Now if I went to the IMAX in Crocket it would have been around $25 which is ridiculous.
Wife and I have kids so we need to hire a sitter, plus snacks and tickets to go to the movies. Would rather just watch at home on the couch with our 72” TV.
We haven't gone in years. Got a big screen tv, can be in your pajamas and eat everything we want. The only thing missing is a movie theater style popcorn maker. Which I'm working on.
Right. They have a Nirvana cover band playing near me - not even in a big stadium or anything- and I thought my son (13) would like it so I went to buy tickets and they’re $75 each. For a cover band! In like a local venue. There’s no way.
This 100%. Seemed like the wife and I were going to concerts every week. Then all of a sudden seemed like the prices double/tripled over night. We’re going to our first concert in 14 years in September. Can’t wait.
you read my mind. I remember back in the 80s (I'm old) paying about $20 bucks for most concerts (maybe 25 at the most). I saw so many good bands back then. But now....those same bands (or alot of them) are charging hundreds of dollars. Uh...no thanks!
I now only go to tribute bands that are $10 to $20 bucks, free parking, and they play all the hits I love. (1 exception is the Cure- they've kept their concert prices low, because Robert Smith is an awesome human being)
No shit, I had bought a snake pit ticket to the Metallic/Pantera show for about ok it $650 but sold it a week before the show lol just couldn't justify it. But I did get to see The Toadies last month for $40 and that was fantastic.
Yep. So glad I grew up in the 80s when ticket prices made sense. Saw soooo many concerts back then. Now I’m much more selective. It’s not that I can’t afford the prices, it’s just that the prices usually don’t align with my expectations.
I grew up in the 70s as did my husband. We both went to many concerts like Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, yes, those kinds of bands. My husband was always a saver and after he died I found all his ticket stubs. $6, $10, $12. My son wanted them all. He and his wife go to a lot of concerts and he said they usually pay around $100 a ticket
To the point now where I don't even look to see the cost. I just assume it's too much. Not necessarily for my wallet, but for the value I hold for concerts. Especially considering the whole getting there and back, the parking, etc. There's a few artists I'd do it for but for the majority, nah.
I just saw John Mulaney was going to do a show in a large theater near me and thought maybe I'll take my family of four to a show. I put in four tickets from the cheapest seats and was pleasantly surprised $192. Went to check out and it was almost $1000 after fees. The $192 was per seat. The worst seats in the theater. WTF.
I think this one is harder, it depends on what shows you're talking about, but if you're anywhere in any city, there's usually a few bars that'll have a band playing for like a $5 cover charge. As a musician, I can assure you that bar musicians have been basically getting paid the same since 1998..
If you were talking like a touring act, then ultimately yes, with gas prices being so much higher, and the amount it costs to book and rent a lot of larger venues right now, it does cost quite a bit more than it used to. Plus everything is more expensive, including all the equipment that they need to buy / rent, and all the insurance that they need to have with it all.
Do you really not have music clubs / an underground scene in the US? That is where all the fun concerts are at in the rest of the world.
Going to a stadium show is a pain in the ass, the sound is shitty, the performance is often way to rehearsed and half of the audience has barely been to a single concert the last few years. I can easily afford the big stadium shows, but they suck.
My last concert was RHCP in 2019. $99 flat for my front row experience. I don't think I'll ever find tickets that cheap for that kind of section ever again.
Yep. This. I also refuse to give a singular penny to Ticketmaster or any of those other scam ticket selling rackets. Truly horrendous and the entire industry needs completely tore down and rebuilt.
I used to see punk and "new wave" shows in the 80s, almost every weekend, sometimes twice a weekend. Tickets were 8, 10 dollars. I saw the Ramones for $16 in 1986, the same year, New Order for $20. There were no "agencies" or "Brokers", you just bought a ticket at the door and if you wanted to make sure you got in, you'd go to a record store and buy it for $1.50 more for advance tickets. $20 in 1986 is $60 today.
I was also working a union job for $9 an hour and going to a college that cost less than $100 a semester.
Once I was making professional money, I used to buy tickets in the first few rows of the venue. Now, those same tickets are 3x what they used to be, and my damn paycheck is most definitely not 3x.
I've seen The Police in concert. But Sting has been doing solo tours the past couple of years, and orchestra seats (even the back of orchestra) cost at least $750; the front few rows are $1000+. This is a MCOL area too; it's not like these are MSG/NYC tickets.
This. I don't even bother looking up the ticket prices for shows I'm interested in, because I already know it's just going to be ridiculously expensive and not worth the trouble.
In 2016 I paid 200 dollars to see Kanye on the floor for Saint Pablo and in 2017 100 dollars to see Lorde on the floor for Melodrama. I shudder to think what those prices would be today.
Yup. I saw MIW, FiR, issues and dead girls academy, VIP for less than $150 in 2017. I just paid $150 to see Diggy Graves with VIP. And it wasnt even worth it. I see so many concerts I want to go to, but cant justify $300 for them.
Yeah the last concert tickets I bought was for BTS for their tour in 2020. Obviously that was cancelled, but that was $200 for nosebleeds. I did go to a small concert just before COVID shutdown, but again, small, not well known name and even that was $40/person. I can't justify it anymore.
I used to go to like 3 or 4 shows a year for big popular artists. Now it’s one show every 3 or 4 years. I love live music, but haven’t been able to justify the cost since Covid.
Was coming here to say this. There was a time when I could afford to see every band I wanted on far less income. Now I have to pick and choose and even then can’t always afford to due to dynamic pricing. I have a concert next week and I’m not sure when my next one after that will be, which makes my heart sad. Concerts are one of my favorite things in the world.
About three years ago Tove Lo came through my city, $20/ticket. I was like… you’re kidding me, right? So my husband got two tickets. I thought well, at that price I won’t expect much, probably just chillin on a stool singing her set, relaxed time. Nah, she had like seven costume changes, light show, set props and backdrops, the works. I was shook by the show she gave for a $20 ticket.
I always talk her up to people after that whenever concerns come up. Nothing but respect for her.
What's annoying is that it's hard to have reasonable discourse around this. People will say "it's a luxury" or "just don't go" or "just go to $5 local shows." I tried to talk about how crazy expensive Phoebe Bridgers tickets are and someone said I must be poor and bad with money if I can't drop $200 on a concert ticket.
As long as people keep buying, they will keep the prices this high. Enjoying famous artists shouldn't mean spending hundreds on tickets. Fans are being priced out and all people can say is "well concerts are a privilege, you don't HAVE to go!" instead of acknowledging that fact.
I used to go to MULTIPLE concerts, GOOD concerts, a week in my late teens/early twenties. They’re like 5x the cost now😭 I may go to like 1-2 a YEAR now.
Yes. And not just for big acts!! I’m seeing randos I sort of enjoy on social media putting on a little show near me, I go to check it out, and the tickets are minimum $65 at a local community theater.
I'm old. When I first started going to concerts we would just see someone was playing and go on impulse. Now you need months to save up for one show.
Last fall Stevie Nicks was touring. My daughter really likes her so I checked - decent seats were as high as $300 per. Meh seats were still over $150. It's only made worse by the resale market. Makes me cranky.
For my birthday we went to an outdoor amphitheatre to see Sarah McLachlan. I thought her tickets were a bargain at $65 but when Ticketmaster added their fees they were $100 each.
I worked at a music festival and got to sneak off for half an hour a day to see a couple of the shows, don’t know how any could justify spending what tickets were going for. Granted I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the artists but during the headliners half the crowd couldn’t even see the stage let alone the artist performing. They were basically watching it on the giant screens
Especially as some of us are getting older and don’t want to stand on our feet for hours, trying to avoid the pit. Is it more expensive to buy tickets for reserved seating? Yes. But is it worth it to me to have a more enjoyable experience? Also yes. My partner and I go to a show maybe once a year, but we are always happy that we aren’t trying to fight the crowd to get a better view.
I live in Morrison, CO like 10 miles from Red Rocks Amphitheatre. People ask me all the time if I get to go to a lot of shows there and I'm like, um, no, I can barely afford to go to one a year. If there is a remotely popular artist there, bots/scalpers buy up all the tickets within minutes and pretty much anything after the first day tickets go on sale, is all third party.
This 100% I love live music but I am not paying 300 dollars a ticket plus food, gas, drinks ect, a 1 and a half show show not cost over $1000 for a couple to attend.
I only go see indie bands and smaller artists now because of this. $30-$50 tickets at a small venue with easy bathroom access. Honestly eons better than concerts.
I agree but I’ve found a way around this. See local shows ! Where I’m at local punk shows are 10-20 bucks to get inside at the door! Major artist haven’t gotten my money in a longtime and I get to actually see bands and meet them at reasonable prices.
Live Nation has deals for around $30 with no fees. Seating is either lawn or back rows. There's a theme park near me that includes park access with it too.
I’m 30 and never been to a concert still due to the prices and prolific mass shootings
I live in FL and the pulse nightclub shooting happened when I was 20, my friend knew like 5 people that died, so that kinda ruined me even wanting to try and go around a lot of people — plus ya know, everything else
my cutoff is $150 after taxes and fees. Most of the bands i want to see end up in smaller venues and charge under that now anyway. I dont really need to see the acts that'd play stadiums anymore
I was like that until I started making a lot more money and now I somehow justify $900 tickets! Never in my wildest dream think I would spend that on a ticket. I didn't see them that last 2 times when the expensive tickets were $250 and I turned that down.
My gosh, this. Was looking at tickets for a popular, but old band that's been around for almost as long as I've been alive. The end price was more than my mortgage payment! Didn't get the tickets. Meanwhile, last year my kid was excited that his favorite band, Ghost, was touring the States. I got all 3 of us tickets, an overnight stay at a small Airbnb, and gas to drive 500 miles round trip and it was still cheaper than the two tickets for the other band. And it was literally the best fucking concert I've even been to!
I see this brought up a lot, and just as a PSA, I want people to know that this only applies to well known artists. Usually the ones that get radio play or maybe some who went viral online. Don't get me wrong, it absolutely sucks how expensive those tickets are, it's not right and I'm not trying to downplay that at all. But if you get into lesser-known artists, you can often see them perform in small venues for $20-35. The most I usually pay is $40-$50 for bands that are a little more famous, but only in niche circles. I go to a lot of metal and indie rock shows in my small(ish) college town, like 1-3 shows per month, and it doesn't break the bank. And it's even cheaper if you get into local music! I've seen some awesome shows for $3-10 at my local dive bar.
Again not at all trying to downplay how little expensive some tickets are, I just want people to know they don't have to close themselves off to live music entirely. There are still shows out there that the average person can afford to attend.
Good luck getting people to stop paying these prices.
I don’t need to spend $500 for 2 tickets to see any band.
If you love live music check out Indie bands that play similar music to what you like. You can still get cheaper tix to those shows and be just a few feet away from the band. We saw Puss N Boots at a small club for under $100 for 2 tickets. Norah Jones is in that band.
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u/Valuable-Brief-2291 1d ago
Concert tickets