Kevin's Watch

Why do they cost so much?

Why are they so hard to get to the better shows?

Example: The tickets to the Rolling Stones concert in Detroit went on sale less than two hours ago. All of the "cheap" seats (at $60 a pop, I might add ) are already sold out. I refuse to pay for the more expensive seats which are all that's left, at $400 a pop.

I tried to get tickets to one of the Detroit U2 concerts, and I swear, they must have been sold out withing 5 minutes to both shows.

I don't go to many rock concerts -- though I do go to jazz and classical ones. The tickets are just soooooo expensive to the big name rock acts, and they are soooo hard to get.

There. Got it out of my system. And I did manage to get Green Day tickets, though, to the delight of my teens.

The stones are playing in Moncton this summer, and it's over $100 a ticket...and it's Concert Seating..and it's outdoors...so you could pay 100 bucks and end up being 1/2 mile away!!

Not that I'd pay to see the Stones, but the Tragically Hip is opening up for them.

The "cheap" $60 seats were in the outfield bleachers in the stadium where the Tigers play baseball. So yeah, you would be a loooooong way away from the stage...and I refuse to pay $400/ticket for any concert.

The prices for rock concerts just honk me off. I get to go see some of the best classical and jazz musicians in the world in a concert hall with perfect acoustics (Hill Auditorium at UM in Ann Arbor) for less than $20 a seat.

Well, Brian Wilson will be playing SMiLE in its entirety this summer, and one place is 37$ for house tickets. Not bad.

duchess,

I think it's mostly due to the monopoly that Ticketmaster has on the industry.

ticket brokers buy up tons of seats and then resell at high prices. but scalping is not legal?

UM has been cracking down on season ticket holders for football. Yes, the stadium holds over 100,000 people, but all of the seats are gone for season ticket holders, and there is an approximate ten year waiting list (and they charge you a nice little sum just to stay on that list ). The thing is, some of the seats are being used for scalping purposes rather than by the season ticket holder.

They now require proof that the person who owns the seat is alive, among other things, because they found many of the ticket holders dead for years. Relatives would keep buying the tickets every year, and selling the tickets off to scalpers. One guy had been dead for something like 30 years but his relatives had been buying the seats every year....

One guy had been dead for something like 30 years but his relatives had been buying the seats every year....

but i agree about ticket prices

In my quest to find U2 tickets, I decided to try ebay.

search.ebay.com/u2-tickets-palace_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8

The prices these people are asking makes me want to vomit. The one on top (will be gone about 8 hours after this post) even says in his ad that Michigan state law limits how much extra a person can ask when reselling tickets, so he is limiting the amount of money a person from Michigan can bid. I guess that's his (or her) way of getting around state laws directed against ticket speculating.

duchess,

My dad and uncle managed to tickets (from relatives, who got them from friends, etc.) to U2 in Boston last Saturday. It was supposed to be really hard to get them! Rock concert tickets are just a lot trouble, apparently.

Not too mention expensive. I realize that it must cost a lot to mount a major rock show, what with the special lights and lasers and security for crowd control and what have you. But is it really that much more expensive than to mount a concert by the New York Philharmonic on tour? That orchestra has a ton of musicians to feed and house and move around...

Rolling Stones "cheap seats" = $60 each
New York Philharmonic cheap seats = $12 each -- and Hill Auditorium is a heck of a lot smaller than Comerica Park

support local artists. cheap seats and you may get to meet the act. I'm hoping to see Billy Joe Shaver at an in store appearence tomorrow. cost = free!
I say the Damnations and Camper Van Beethoven at the same place. got pics and autographs and to talk with band members.

Just an afternote:

Tonight someone I know tracked me down at work to offer me Rolling Stones concert tickets at cost, as her boyfriend had bought the tickets without asking her, and she didn't want to go.

I told her I couldn't go, since the concert is next week, and there's no way I can get the night off of work...but I gave her the name of a buddy of mine who loves the Stones and couldn't get tickets, either.

He'll be buying them in cash from her first thing in the AM.

I just totally made two people's day.

thats why im glad i listen to a genre of music that isnt very popular...

although some of the bands that ARE big names, like Iron Maiden and ...once Metallica...can be expensive..i think i spent somethin like 40 bucks when i went to see metallica in 96...i had balcony seats..i could still see em, but the closer seats were like 100-200 bucks

I always feel like I'm the only one in the world that HATES live rock concerts.
The music never sounds as good as the studio.
And why does everyone stand constantly?
I never got that.
Sit down and enjoy the show.


Now notice I said "rock" , Country music on the other hand is fine.
Sounds the same or better than the studio.

support local artists at local venues. go see guys like Mike Watt, CVB, Kristen Hersh.

fight the power.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:And why does everyone stand constantly?
I never got that.
Sit down and enjoy the show.

thats because theyre "ROCK" concerts...rock means loud, energy, goin crazy, things like that....even if its older dudes, theres still energy...

theDespiser wrote: thats because theyre "ROCK" concerts...rock means loud, energy, goin crazy, things like that....even if its older dudes, theres still energy...

Yeah, some of those geriatric 20-somethings still have a bit of life in them.