Why have concert tickets become so expensive?

[Disney1fan2002]

MY WORD! I think we can thank the "legal" ticket scalpers for pushing up the price. Once the industry realized what people were paying on the street, they figured they would cash in.

$85 per for Tim McGraw/Faith Hill. Back in my day, a double headliner concert like that would be $45 a ticket.

I haven't been to a concert in 5 years or so, and I guess I won't be going to another one. Unless I win tickets from a radio station.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

They are trying to keep me home??? Seriously, we don't go to movies anymore either.

 

[boomhauer]

Because they can get away with it.

Here's a time line of Bon Jovi tours and prices I've attended:

1987 - $19.50
1989 - $20.50
1992 - $25.00
1995 - $35.00
2000 - $65.00
2001 - $75.00
2002 - $85.00
2003 - $95.00
2004 - $100.00
2005 - $150.00

It's like everything else entertainment wise. Gone up a ridiculous amount compared to rates of income. That is of course, unless people are making 5x the income today they were making 10 years ago. I know I sure as heck am not.

 

[Galahad]

They'd be lower if people didn't pay the higher price and their audiences shrank. I think mostly they're high because people are willing to pay that price.

 

[stinkerbelle]

Here's a fun example - both these shows playing at the Mohegan sun Casino...prices listed are for "floor seats"...

Brooks and Dunn - $60
Toby Keith - $140.

What the heck?
DH and I saw Rascal Flatts there a couple years ago...8th row floor...$40 per ticket.

Last summer we went to Gillette Stadium for a Country Music Fest featuring Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, Pat Green, Blake Larson and Kenny Chesney...$72 for "grass" seats(best deal EVER)

sometimes I just shake my head...wont' be seeing toby keith this year...not for $140 per ticket

 

[LisaNJ25]

Tell me about it... I paid $400 for 2 tickets to see the Eagles in March. But the show as GREAT!!

 

[Poohgirl]

I just got Aerosmith tickets for $45, that's not too shabby in my book!

 

[SC Minnie]

We saw the Eagles 2 years ago and paid about $85/each for the least expensive seats. We get to the coliseum and the stairs going to the nosebleed seats are blocked off. People are sitting at tables reassigning people. Apparently due to 'sound quality issues' (another way of saying they didn't sell enough high $ tickets) they were moving everyone from the upper level to lower level seat. Well, they had given the new seat tickets for DH and I to someone else. After about 20 minutes a person from the box office escorts us to our new seats-- about 8 rows up right next to the stage

We saw McCartney in October and DH wouldn't tell me how much the tix were. He knew I wouldn't go if I knew how much they cost.

 

[luckywife]

DH bought 2 tickets for us to see Larry the Cable Guy and spent $110! I've never paid that much for a show/concert in my life. We went to see David Copperfield and didn't pay that much for tickets.

 

[malibuconlee]

I agree that most have gotten out of hand.

Look for music festivals. They can be a great deal. We went to Steam Boat Days last year. It's a music festival every June in Burlington, Iowa. 6 nights of music for $35. Last year they had Kieth Urban, ZZ Top, Sugarland, Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top, and for some reason Uncle Kracker backed out and their substitute was Night Ranger.

The two big headliners they have on tap for this year are Montgomery Gentry and Big & Rich.

 

[corie161]

Here's a fun example - both these shows playing at the Mohegan sun Casino...prices listed are for "floor seats"...

Brooks and Dunn - $60
Toby Keith - $140.

What the heck?
DH and I saw Rascal Flatts there a couple years ago...8th row floor...$40 per ticket.

Last summer we went to Gillette Stadium for a Country Music Fest featuring Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban, Pat Green, Blake Larson and Kenny Chesney...$72 for "grass" seats(best deal EVER)

sometimes I just shake my head...wont' be seeing toby keith this year...not for $140 per ticket

There is a big uproar about the Toby Keith tickets on his fan club...Apparantly Toby Keith management says the venue sets the price, venue says Toby Keith sets the price. I have tickets for Saturdays show in St. Paul and I think they were around $65 each for 6th row.

 

[OhMari]

DH bought 2 tickets for us to see Larry the Cable Guy and spent $110! I've never paid that much for a show/concert in my life. We went to see David Copperfield and didn't pay that much for tickets.

Wow, we saw Larry in 1999 at our Comedy club on NYE and paid $10.00 for the cover charge. I guess this was before he made it big.


Milwaukee has a great venue in Summer called "Summer Fest". You can pay your daily fee and see a lot of great bands. They do have a Headliner for the Day and those tickets can run as high as $85 to get you into the arena.

 

[cardaway]

Around the year 2000 a few acts decided to test the waters and doubled their ticket prices. People went for it. End of story.

Personally I wish enough would stop going and ticket prices would come down. Last concert we went to was in 2000.

 

[luckywife]

The two big headliners they have on tap for this year are Montgomery Gentry and Big & Rich.

Darn! If I lived closer I'd definitely go...Big and Rich are my FAVES!

 

[Nancy]

That is why as much as I love Tim and Faith I can not go. I just can not justify spending half my weeks grocery money on one concert ticket..and if DH went with me it would be my whole grocery budget!

I took my Mom to see George Strait a while ago. The concert had LeeAnn Womack, Mark Chestnut, Martina Mcbride, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and of course George the man Strait. MY seats cost $45.00 a piece. Not bad seats, 8 hours or more of music! (and all well known names too)

 

[Deb in IA]

Widespread on-line ticket scalpers have also driven up the prices.

 

[missypie]

It's not just rock or country concerts. I thought I'd expose my kids to a little "culture" and take them to see the Dallas Opera's production of "The Magic Flute." Good seats were $185 each...with the various fees, that would be about $1000 to take my family of 5 to the opera...this is the DALLAS opera...not La Scala..and no "headliners"...needless to say, I didn't buy tickets.

 

[RadioNate]

The ticket prices are set through a combination of venue, promoter and artist. The promoter guarentees the artist a certain amount per show. For example they say 'we'll get you 500,000 per venue' or the artist says 'I won't play for less than $500,000 per venue.' So then the promoter and venue estimate how many tickets they can sell and then set the price of the tickets. Most artists also have a can't be less than price.

I saw Aerosmith in 1991, 24th row, face value was $27.50. I saw them last month from roughly the same vanage point at a face value of $125.50.

I agree festivals are a blessing. I know the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis is less than $100 a ticket for 3 days and more than 60 acts.

It's actually a problem for all events I think. I have AHL hockey tickets in front of me for $25 each. Which isn't horrible unless you are taking a family of 4, then it's $100 for tickets, $5 parking, $5 hotdogs, $5 popcorn and $7 beers for less than 3 hours of entertainment. I have college basketball tickets for $30 each, NFL tickets starting at $55 each and NBA tickets from $85-$600 a seat. For NBA games parking starts at $15, I think the NFL lots started at $10.

ETA. I got so sidetracked I wanted to say that this past summer was a very dissapointing concert season. There have been some big tours this year but I've also been to a lot of shows that were very empty. I think if the trend continues then we will see a reduction of ticket prices.

 

[malibuconlee]

It's not just rock or country concerts. I thought I'd expose my kids to a little "culture" and take them to see the Dallas Opera's production of "The Magic Flute." Good seats were $185 each...with the various fees, that would be about $1000 to take my family of 5 to the opera...this is the DALLAS opera...not La Scala..and no "headliners"...needless to say, I didn't buy tickets.

WE used to get season tickets to the Dallas Summer Musicals. we could go on teh first Wednesday of each show and I think the season tickets came out to $11 per seat per show. Now, these were nosebleed seats, but when it wasn't busy lots of times we'd head downstairs and sit in the back for the last half of the performance.

 

[Shugardrawers]

I would give the world to see Paul McCartney but I won't give the $200 they wanted for the last concert here. Like someone else said, that's 2 WEEKS worth of groceries for us!!

For Christmas I wanted to see The Lion King but the cheapest available tickets were $65 each. We just didn't have that. I was crushed.