Concerts are my thing. My wife will tell you, my friends will tell you. I love going to concerts. I love the concert experience. We all agree that the seeing a band live is the true test. I also think that people need to realize the price of the concert experience.
When I was a teenager I paid no more than $40 see anybody. Van Halen in 1984 $22.00, Stevie Nicks in 1985 $8.50, and Ozzy in 1986 $16.50. I remember being in high school and buying Heart tickets that were $41. Shit... $41 I thought that day! It was 1987. The days of the $40 concert ticket were upon me.
I bring this up because I was reading comments regarding the Phish concert last night in Broomfield, CO. I had a chance to see Phish this past summer, and tickets were $50. A bargain by today's standards. I think I got more than $50 out of that band, and the evening. People who attended the show in CO left comments complaining about the price of parking ($15), beer ($9) and ticket prices ($161 for the GREAT seats!). I think that people need to realize that things have changed. The experience is STILL worth it, and yes you have to pay for it. Tickets, parking and beer... sounds like necessities for a concert to me. If you don't pay for it, somebody else will.
Don't be shocked and don't complain about it. Be a fan, enjoy the show, and experience it! Sure you might think it's a rip-off, but things really haven't changed that much since 1984: Parking has been $10-$20 for as long as I can remember. Beers $7.00 + since I can remember (1990 or so). Tickets, well that's where you can control your expense to a point. This is all part of the experience that you pay for... the experience of seeing your favorite band or artist. If you want great seats, you pay for great tickets. Ticketmaster knows it, and so do the brokers.
I'm certainly NOT saying that it's fair, or I know where the money goes, or that I enjoy it. I enjoy the concert experience, period. The music, the people watching, the smell of pot smoke in air, seeing an artist that I like and respect whose records I've probably bought, and want to see them play live. The venue plays a part too, but that's another post. For the first time in my life I paid over $150 for a concert ticket this summer... TWICE! But I'll tell you... the EXPERIENCE was worth it!
Dick Clark once said that music is the soundtrack of our lives... Some of THE BEST times is my life have taken place at concerts. Dick could not have been more correct.
-Mike D
"Ticketmaster AND the brokers"?? Ticketmaster IS the brokers.
ReplyDeleteI get out right angry when I think of the bullshit fees that the average music is subjected to because of Ticketmaster's complete and total monopoly on the concert industry.
Pearl Jam tried to fight this 20 years ago and the whole world laughed at them. I can only hope that the latest class action law suit filed against Ticketmaster (this morning) will do something to their empire.
I buy tickets directly from the venue as often as possible so I can pay as close to face value as possible. And thank God for artists like Roger Waters coming up with innovative ways for REAL fans to get excellent tickets without having to pay through the nose to Ticketmaster or worse, the ticket "brokers" that Ticketmaster owns.
-Russ
It was such a shame to see Pearl Jam have to give up that fight, but I understood.....
ReplyDeleteTicketmaster and their ilk have been an issue for about 20 years now, something happened at that time and they went from a convenience to a greedy bastard. They are now even charging you to print tickets on your own PC using your own paper and ink... Nice!
The other problem is venue exclusivity... They HAVE to use a broker to sell tickets or the band will have to find a different venue, oh and by the way.... The broker runs every venue worth playing, so good luck with that. This is what Pearl Jam ran into. Tickmaster now seems to have a mafia mentality
Thank god I live so close to Pine knob and the palace and I will drive to Detroit for sports tix, never again will my money go to ticketmaster if I can help it at all.
I love the concert experience, and was finally able to share that with my kids this year, when we took them to Bon Jovi. In the 80's, me and Greg hit all kinds of concerts (him more than me), and it was a huge part of my teen years.
ReplyDeleteBut these days, the experience isn't enough to separate me from my cash. Maybe it's because if I go now, everything will cost at least double, once I pay for my wife and kids (if the they join us).
I'll use 'Jovi as an example. Initially, tickets were suppose to be $55 ea. But, when I went to buy the tickets, the $55 seats were upper bowl, behind the stage. What? So, I then agree to pay $75 for upper bowl seats that placed me to the side of the stage. Then came the fees. They alone were as much as one additional ticket. In the end, the show was good, and the seats ended up being at a really good spot. But, I was glad the purchase was made months ahead of the show, or I think it would have ruined the experience for me.
Oh, and $45 for a f'n t-shirt now? I guess I didn't get raped enough on the tickets, so they hit me up for more on the shirts. For me, getting a shirt was ALWAYS part of the deal. Not anymore. They weren't even good designs, so my kids had to miss out on that experience.
It really has gotten disappointing that I have to skip on seeing my favorite bands these days, because I honestly can't afford them
It kills me to say this....
ReplyDeleteBut a $45 shirt? It's your fault, it's also my fault, and it's the fault of any one who has downloaded music from any 70-80s band. Why these eras? Because they were part of the record industry boom and are used to the money, the money they lost when those big record deals went away. The 90s bands caught the tail end of it and jumped on the internet advantages. You look at Jovi's website compared to Nine Inch Nails and it is obvious who is ready for the future and who isn't.
So while Jovi charges a lot for a ticket and for merchandise 90s band charge half and are doing just fine, but they also don't have 3 mansions.
Just my opinion
I know your point about the t-shirts, except that I'm still buying albums :P
ReplyDeleteI bought the Circle, even though I really didn't care for it overall. I mainly purchased it, because the album purchase was a requirement in order to buy the tickets in a pre-sale period. So, it kind of ticks me off that I bought their album ($10 for a download :/), and they were still charging the 'pirating' tax on their merchandise. I was glad you had gotten them Jovi shirts for xmas... which I'm sure you got MUCH cheaper, and they were selling the same shirts there.
On the D/L subject though, I still mainly use it to determine if I want to purchase an CD... If I'm doubting the purchase at all. It has saved me from buying crap CDs in the past. On that same point, there are some CDs that I trusted the artist too much, and bought the CD before hearing anything on it.
The bigger point was about the greed of some of the 80s artist who don't know how to scale their life style to the economy and who don't remember that most bands from the 60s and 70s lead moderate life styles without several mansions off their record deals. So where do they get that extra money? Merch sales.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to get a discount voucher for a shirt or something with a CD purchase, maybe that's something they could market CDs with...
I caught that point too. IMO, Motley Crue charges WAY too damn much for a show. I know it will be a good show, but their tickets are never within my budget.
ReplyDeleteAnd providing incentives to own the CD? That's crazy talk. It's much easier to sue the fans instead.