Concert ticket rant

[Alicefan]

Tears For Fears still has a following willing to pay that much? Is $975 for some premium package, or front row, or are all the tickets sky high?

That's what I was thinking! That was for second row. The cheap seats were in the 3 to 400 range. I thought it was because it was in L.A. so I had her look at other venues on the East coast and they were very similar. All of their fans have been complaining. We wanted to go because this was OUR band when we were in Jr. High. The one we had posters all over the walls and all lol.

 

[Orion Nebula]

See I don't take offense to your comment, it doesn't bother me one bit that you are trying to go toe to toe with my very comments. We apparently won't see eye to eye on the viewpoint of what overpriced is and isn't.

Trying to go toe to toe? =P

I don't expect you to ever take a deep breath and be respectful to other posters. It's fine, it's your thing. I am sure you get self gratification from it. Although it's a bit sad that you look at many of us as "challengers" who aren't up to taking you on. The "trying to go toe to toe with me" comment is proof of that.

A new example;

You use the same argument for everything irrespective of the conversation. I couldn't count how many times you talk about standing in line for an iPhone or during the height of the pandemic it was all about Home Depot, or for going to WDW.

Obviously due to getting offended due to having your opinion challenged, we won't see eye to eye. So to avoid further irratation we can just put each other on ignore. =)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So to avoid further irratation we can just put each other on ignore. =)

I'd do the thumbs up but you know Board upgrades and all smilies aren't working

**I actually already thought you had me on ignore til you quoted me so news to me I guess. I don't really have posters on ignore I don't agree with as it doesn't mean I don't agree with them elsewhere on some other topic but that's just how I roll.

Enjoy your day and no hard feelings and all

 

[LovesTimone]

This is the reason we stopped going to concerts and football and baseball games... They priced us out years ago... We had thought about going to concert not long ago... once I priced it out... It was a hard NOPE!

 

[shh]

This is the reason we stopped going to concerts and football and baseball games... They priced us out years ago... We had thought about going to concert not long ago... once I priced it out... It was a hard NOPE!

+1 I always mentally tabulate the number of hours I have to work, just to pay for it and the double taxation (taxes on the earnings + taxes on the purchase), not to mention the parking, concessions, etc, I always think "nope". I'll keep my money and enjoy entertainment at home.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

+1 I always mentally tabulate the number of hours I have to work, just to pay for it and the double taxation (taxes on the earnings + taxes on the purchase), not to mention the parking, concessions, etc, I always think "nope". I'll keep my money and enjoy entertainment at home.

We'll go to sporting events although typically not spending a huge amount but I think sporting events tend to be easier to figure out, the pricing doesn't change quite as much and you can pick and choose which games you really want to attend so maybe it's just 1 game the whole season you're just interested in.

Concerts on the other hand are just way too up and down on the price and sometimes it's the venue that makes the decision for us. I kinda appreciated Garth Brook's model where he charged the same price for all his tickets though the seats were sold with a random assignment formula so to me at least the venue became really important. We saw him in 2017 and had pretty good seats but the venue, while holding a good amount, was a different experience than his concert when he came back in 2021 and played at the NFL stadium. We chose not to go to that one due to the venue (aside from covid stuff).

 

[LovesTimone]

+1 I always mentally tabulate the number of hours I have to work, just to pay for it and the double taxation (taxes on the earnings + taxes on the purchase), not to mention the parking, concessions, etc, I always think "nope". I'll keep my money and enjoy entertainment at home.

This is us for sure... We had planned to go to a concert, it was not coming to Orlando.. Here's how much it would have cost us had we gone..

Hotel would have been free as we would have stayed on points.
Tickets for middle of road seats, after all the added fees right at 400.00 dollars for 2 tickets...
Then a couple of T-shirts I figure between 35 to 45 so less say somewhere between 70 to 100 for 2 t-shirts
Adult beverages if available in the 40.00 dollar range 2 drinks - 1 for each of us..
Snack bar food, thinking in the 35 to 50 dollar range depending on what we got...
Parking prepaid was 45.00 dollars

So somewhere in the 500.00 to 600.00 dollar ballpark for couple of hours... NOPE... our friends went and said it was a total waste of money... she said that the people smoking inside the arena was so bad, even tho it was non-smoking arena.. that they ended up leaving about halfway through the main act, she said that they are done, they reached their tipping point...

 

[RedAngie]

The smoking in the arena was uncalled for. Didn’t the ushers/security tell them to either stop or be kicked out?

Practically every indoor venue is non-smoking these days. Many don’t even let you go outside between periods or during intermission and then return.

 

[longboard55]

Just a guess, but I think they structure the tickets that way to keep money going to the performer.

People complain about Disney tickets and the prices are too high, but you ask have they checked the prices for the BTS 2 hour concert, at least Disney is all day.

For music we stick to the tribute bands and the county fair. Since we are classic types, the music is often better then the one guy left in the group original band and the price is like $10

 

[xipotec]

There is good news. You can often see smaller acts locally for a very reasonable price.

I am seeing two artists , one each minth at the local venue. Jerry Cantrell and LP, both tickets were 39 + 12 in fees. So affordable that we upgraded 20 dollars to VIP access.

 

[Colleen27]

There is good news. You can often see smaller acts locally for a very reasonable price.

I am seeing two artists , one each minth at the local venue. Jerry Cantrell and LP, both tickets were 39 + 12 in fees. So affordable that we upgraded 20 dollars to VIP access.

Yeah, but that brings us back around to the OP and how much the fees hurt, relative to the cost of the tickets. I just paid $12.75 per ticket in fees for $20 seats to see some indie band DD13 is excited about, which is more than a little absurd. That's like paying to DoorDash a single meal from McDonalds!

 

[Micca]

Pretty sure we're done with concerts. In 2019 we paid about $800 to see Elton John. Good show...I think, but the two drunk women in front of us chose to block our view for most of the show. Went to see Elton again a couple of months ago, again two women blocking our view of not only the stage, but the ginormous screens they had set up. I don't care what people do, but it completely ruined the show for us. Also I don't care to stand for extended periods of time, I'm cool with huge ovations and encores, but standing for a 2-3 hour show? I'm out.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Pretty sure we're done with concerts. In 2019 we paid about $800 to see Elton John. Good show...I think, but the two drunk women in front of us chose to block our view for most of the show. Went to see Elton again a couple of months ago, again two women blocking our view of not only the stage, but the ginormous screens they had set up. I don't care what people do, but it completely ruined the show for us. Also I don't care to stand for extended periods of time, I'm cool with huge ovations and encores, but standing for a 2-3 hour show? I'm out.

Where did he play at both times? I remember a couple years ago one of the DIS threads was about sitting or standing during concerts. Was Elton a concert where a lot of people stood or sat down?

I know for Garth it was really a standing type concert but he wanted that and asked people to get up and in the moment with him in the concert but for other type concerts people mostly sit. Aaron tends to feel bad about being so tall. When Pitbull and Iggy came he sat for quite a while but then eventually stood (everyone was really standing), he purposefully was at the edge where the aisle was and the girls behind us like other people did in various rows moved a bit into the aisle.

 

[Kimkimba]

I just looked at the Judas Priest tickets i bought for my husband and son. $28,25 per ticket service charge. My husband said it was the best concert ever. However, we weren’t aware it came with a side of Covid.

 

[yeahdisney]

Just bit the bullet for a $$ticket and for the secondary market fee was plus $153 and the transfer electronic transfer fee was I think $2.53. But wait. I got an email because I did not buy the ticket earlier in the week for 10% off.
Today I called and I was chatting and said the fee was high and I had the email. Today I just paid the price of the ticket with 10% off. Still a jab.

 

[denisenh]

I dont want to get into a debate regarding "my willingness" to buy expensive arena show tickets but I have paid hundreds, and was really willing to pay thousands, per ticket for shows that I went to in 2020 and in 2021 but couldnt quite bring myself to do it.
I didnt particularly enjoy spending THAT much per ticket but when the options are "dont pay it /dont go" and "pay a flipping fortune to go" , well...... YOLO.
I wish it were really as simple as putting money where ones mouth is and am guessing that those who pay the hundreds and thousands of dollars to see a particular act also understand that the spending of ridiculous amounts of money to see a certain show can be "worth it" and still complain about it. In my case, it was ticket master purchases. I do click the "including fees' option. What seemed to be responsible for the extremely expensive cost was that the show tickets sold out so incredibly fast that one had to purchase tickets from resellers. Does anyone know how these resellers obtain tickets so quickly?

 

[EACarlson]

Does anyone know how these resellers obtain tickets so quickly?

Deals with ticketmaster and computer scripts. Ticketmaster doesn't care to stop it since they get a cut of the profit from the scalping. The only person hurt is the fan that wanted to purchase that ticket at face value or double face value if you include "fees".

 

[EACarlson]

Since this got bumped and after I replied I realized I started the thread I'll give an update. Concert was two weeks ago and we had a great time. 24,000 people, we were in GA and only had a couple issues. The woman at the merch tent tried to help herself to a 10% "tip" on my credit card without me noticing. Then got offended when I caught it and asked for a paper receipt because she just stole from me. 45 minutes in line for the concession stand to buy my kid a mountain dew because every parent there seemed to realize their kid needs to eat at the same time and the stand couldn't handle the rush. No line for beer though. My 9 year old was so far beyond tired when we got out of there, I thought I was going to have to carry him from the car to the hotel room. He's 5'1" and 105 lbs, I didn't really want to carry him.

 

[DodgerGirl]

When my uncles were teenagers they used to go to a lot of concerts and they would save their allowances for the tickets and when the concert finally arrived my uncles would spend their allowances buying the concert tickets but when my mom and aunt used to attend concerts when they were teens they would always win tickets from the radio station contests and my aunt used to work for a radio station and she would always get free tickets all the time. I don't recall how much my uncles used to pay for their concert tickets but they would make it a huge hobby to go see rock concerts when they were teens. But back then going to concerts used to be a huge fad for people especially if a certain band or singer they like is on tour in their state and sometimes the concert is a huge success that tickets are sold out automatically. Take for instance back in the 80's my mom was going to see George Strait in concert and my dad who was just her best friend at the time kept promising tickets for her and her friends but by the time my dad tried desperately to score tickets they were sold out and Mom couldn't believe it but she got great tickets for Kenny Rogers concerts. But if you look at it from a whole new ball game the reason why concerts are now expensive to attend is because when looking from a different vision the pandemic affected concert venues very much due to artists postponing tours. But when you have artists such as Billy Joel and Elton John that are having comeback and farewell tours that means the tickets for those concerts will become higher priced and get raised even higher until the tickets finally sell out and all people have are the mediocre seating. But a little known secret that people don't know about is to check out county fairs for concerts which sometimes are free with admission which usually have famous bands and singers in their lineup such as the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles which for years has had famous singers and bands perform free concerts with fair admission. But if you are thinking long and hard about attending a concert do a bit of research on ticket prices before you attend because you may find a better deal on tickets in the unexpected places

 

[Alicefan]

Tears For Fears still has a following willing to pay that much? Is $975 for some premium package, or front row, or are all the tickets sky high?

The cheap seats were in the $300 range