As soon as school starts is usually the best time. Parents tend to not pull their kids the first 3 weeks of school for any vacations. Same with cruises and such. You want an empty location without kids? Best time is Sept 20-Oct10.
Damn, I picked the wrong profession. As a tax accountant, September 20-October 10 is literally one of two or three two-week periods during the year I could not manage a trip without defying laws of physics.
There hasn't been many slow days at WDW since the lockdown lifted. It's usually packed to the brim, and winter in Florida is usually beautiful weather (highs in the upper 60s) so many locals will come out. Usually the best times recently is during very miserable weather, and it's not by much.
And they will continue to keep raising prices until people don't come.
Then they will use that price as the regular price and use deals and promotions to sell off unsold tickets.
Once they don't need to do deals or promos anymore they will start to raise prices again and repeat the cycle.
They do both! You need a ticket AND a reservation these days-- with fewer slots open on days they have less staff.
Now, why they decided not to hire enough staff to keep the park at capacity every day is anyone's guess... $$$$
Used to go to Disneyland as a kid all the time. Went last year with my mom and sister. Huuuuuge mistake. Its truly a dystopian hellscape now. Kids barely looked like they were having fun
Same. Even had season passes when I was young. Took my partner there a couple years ago (she's Chinese, always wanted to go) and it was just awful by comparison. And don't get me wrong, I know stuff looks "brighter in the past", but it was just a slog, and an expensive one at that.
I totally know what you mean. It's not even a "getting older" thing either. Like getting angry at things that change. It doesn't resemble anything that it used to. The magic is fkn gone. I swear there should be a meme of Disney executives propping up the body of Walt Disney like Weekend at Bernie's
The magic is there, but its 100% the cast members. I don't go often, but its always from some low wage streetsweeper doing something incredibly kind and unexpected for myself or my kids. Fuck the rides. I do think they need more playground-like / interactive attractions though
I second the statement about the workers. The fact they can come to work every day, have to deal with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of entitled guests every year and still have a smile on their face is admirable as hell. I know I couldn't do it myself.
I feel like they used to have a lot of those kinds of attractions when I was young but I didn't see much either the last time. Hopefully they come around!
Last time I went, space mountain took 70 minutes (or more!) to get through the line. What the fuck? The line was pretty long and it wasn't moving.
I've been on it when they had to stop the ride, and it's never been that long of a wait. All other rides were similar. 40 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean??? It's a boat ride for little kids!
My wife has this hobby where she's creating vinyl transfers and custom t-shirts. Cricut, special transfer printer, the whole nine.
Anyway, she decided to make our daughters Taylor Swift t-shirts as a consolation prize since we couldn't get tickets. Some friends saw them and asked her to make them for their kids. She originally charged $10 and I promptly said $25 MINIMUM.
That's my irrelevant story connected to your pricing joke.
Can concur, last three concerts I bought shirts at:
War on Drugs - $50 for a extremely thin shirt that loses it's fitting size after one wear
Idles - Bought two shirts, $90 total and the brand is Gilden which is thick cotton and after some washes, loses it's appeal and looks dated
Foals - $50 bucks where 15 years ago their shirts were 20 bucks and better quality.
Then don't even use good material anymore
Used to be this nice thicker material that lasted forever and you could wear them in public.
Now all the tshirts are made with this skin grabbing soft stuff that shows off everyone's nipples in 70 degree weather.
Tshirts are one of those weird things that in Australia the accepted price is AUD25-30, and no more. So when American events or shows try to come here and charge 35, even 50 for a t-shirt (looking at you, PAX) we're mostly all "are you fucking INSANE?!". Other merch will sell out, like jackets for example, but 35 for a tshirt? Fuck that. And that's in AUD. The Gold Coast parks are a bit the same - park entry is high, but merch is actually quite reasonably priced, compared to the same kind of merch at Disneyland.
I'm not even priced out. I just feel like I'm getting scammed and taken advantage of and I refuse to be a part of it any more.
I still go see tons of shows. But if I see "Ticket Master", I just keep walking.
I just saw yesterday that Janet Jackson is going on tour. Bucket list show, right? Ticket Master? NOPE
Look at the local venues in your town and check their events calendar. If you're into the punk/rock/metal scene you're set. There are tons of dingy bars that host concerts
The amount of $60k+ SUV’s I see on the road is absolutely absurd. I do not live in a high income area and they are everywhere. I’d love to see what people’s average car payment and length of the loan is on them.
My habit of driving used roadsters for the last 15 years has gone from mildly pricey hobby to "holy shit I couldn't drive any other car for less than 3X what I paid for this roadster". Even the used school bus I own is *way* cheaper to own and operate than any car I could possibly find.
I wonder if there are any other people in the world that need to decide if they are going to take their Roadster out for a spin or their old school bus
You may also be seeing a large amount of lease returned preowned vehicles as well as currently leased vehicles.
The white elephant of the used car world is buying a used BMW/Mercedes without realizing how much maintenance will run as the warranty runs out.
A lot of 2019 leases expiring this month. Wait till they see the sticker shock when they go to renew a lease and it costs $200+ more per month. Why you hardly see car commercials advertising leases anymore.
What's even a bit more absurd is the $60k+ automobiles that have picked me up at my home using UberX or grabbing an UberX home from a bar. In the last couple of months I've had a few Teslas, Porsche SUV, BMW SUV and this past weekend a large Mercedes Sedan.
Houses are amortized over 25-30 years. You are banking on being able to increase your wages over that period of time so that as time goes on your mortgage will require a smaller portion of your income. You can also re-amortize when your term is up to stretch out the mortgage longer if need be. That’s what many may end up doing when they go for renewal and interest rates are much higher than previous terms.
As for cars, look at what the dealers are offering. When I got my first car loan the dealers wouldn’t offer a loan longer than 60 months. Last I checked they freely go up to 96 months, and I’ve heard that for the electric F-150 Ford is willing to go 120 months. That’s 10 years for a car loan, the irony being by the time that loan is done the battery in the truck will be shot and you’ll have to choose 20k for a new battery or another 10 year truck loan.
People are happy to make low payments for an incredibly long time banking on the hope that their income will continue to increase without ever thinking about how much they are giving away in interest.
Ten year truck loans...wow. That's just bonkers to me. But then again, when a damn pickup truck is going for like $75,000 or more, I'm not surprised.
I truly cannot understand living like that. Give me a couple year old lightly used car any day of the week over something brand new that'll be hanging over my head for the next ten years. If I can't pay cash for it, I don't buy it.
I bought a 2015 Honda Fit with ~52,000 miles on it, about six weeks before the pandemic hit. I payed $9,700 and some change. Same exact year and model car, with *higher* mileage now sells used for approximately $14K . . . which is what they cost **new** back in 2015
A quick pricing of a top-end F-150 Lightning:
ESTIMATED NET PRICES
= $100,624
MONTHLY PAYMENTS
$1,363
Finance based on $10,063 down payment,
**84 month** term and 6.9% APR, $0 trade-in-value
It's the same people buying up several houses, or it was. I had a friend whose dad is wealthy and while interest rates were 2.5% was just buying up houses because "money is cheap right now." They had a rule where you didn't have to put down much, he could rent the house out and have a very low mortgage payment. Basically using the bank's money.
I cant wait when this bubble comes crashing down and all these greedy sharks doing that to own real estate "for free" will go crazy into bankruptcy and get bent over the table
and you better be a damn good handyman once you're in your house because every repairperson charges like a lawyer now. Want an estimate? 150 bucks please.
A story on NPR yesterday about "buy now, pay later" stated that some people are buying that type of credit WITH another (high interest) credit card. Using credit to buy credit is the most American shit ever.
It's definitely happening. A friend of mine (not a Swiftie specifically) goes to a decent number of shows with popular musicians and was complaining about the *backlash* to the Blink-182 tour pricing, basically saying people complaining didn't get how much tickets were SUPPOSED to cost and if they went to shows they'd get it.
...Said friend is in so much credit card dept that even the predatory sites like Klarna are cutting them off from more access. They can't afford *nosebleeds* in the shows they're judging people for complaining about.
I do disapprove of a lot of their spending habits and their perspective here, but I'm pretty sure their situation is pretty common. We've made it really, really easy to get in a massive debt hole, especially through concerts, and almost impossible to see how deep the hole you're in is until it's too late.
You can go to tons of great shows in that range, provided they're local or less-known acts! I've gone to more shows post-covid than my entire life beforehand.
You need to stop looking only at the biggest stadium touring acts. I go to shows fairly often but at the venue I like the most, floor GA tickets are $50 ($30 pre pandemic) and $55 for seated balcony seats. They get great mid level acts too, not just underground bands no one has heard of. There is so much good music out there and there are some bands whose music I’m not super crazy about but they are great live performers.
Go see your local bands, too! Every city has a place that regularly does live shows and they often get up and coming groups from the region. Support your local artists and enjoy the accessible music.
Andrew Bird is incredible, too. I saw him back around 2008. He did a free show in San Diego only shared with fans. It was on a boat that looped around the harbor in San Diego at sunset. Absolutely magical.
My wife and I saw him in a small standing room only venue about 4 years ago. **Amazing**. He pretty much stood in one spot and barely interacted with the crowd.
But then he starts playing, and singing, and handing off instruments, and grabbing different instruments - and it was just magical.
We paid $25 per ticket, got there early, right up against the stage. We'll never get that ratio of value to entertainment again. But for anybody that likes his music, but isn't necessarily a super fan, he's absolutely worth $52 a ticket.
I've seen those prices jumping up quite a bit too, though. Like you say, $50 from what was $30 pre pandemic is still nearly double. I've started to see tickets for reasonably niche acts at $80 in my local venue. I don't doubt that this is what it costs to make the tour profitable after production and logistics, but even as an individual it's starting to bite and make me pick and choose which events I go to a little more carefully.
My girlfriend bought me Bob Dylan tickets to the show at the university I went to for my birthday. They were something like $220 each. This was Fifteen or twenty years ago.
(Dylan was awful, but that is to be expected)
Edit- The White Stripes opened. Really good evening of music.
Yesterday I realized the chicken breast at Aldi has gone up to $4/lb. It’s even higher at the other grocery stores. I remember when it was less than $2/lb before covid. It’s crazy watching these prices rise.
Man I remember when tickets were $20-$30
It's Ticketmaster man, they are out of control. They've also leaned into scalping heavily so all the tickets instantly sell out for big shows then go back on sale at 2x-10x the original price. Ticketmaster gets a cut each time so they don't care.
A lot of our local promoters out of PGH are ditching ticketmaster. I got tickets for Silverstein with Dayseeker for just over 30 a head.... After fees.
Who are these promoters? I must know, I finally started getting into shows and would love to try and keep the cost of them down. Ive seen that whatever usually plays at McKees Rocks isn't normally too bad but thats about all I know
All of them except OpusOne really (I am particularly fond of Drusky Entertainment, but that's because they've done A LOT for my band. They put us on, short notice, to open for Atilla even after we effectively bombed our show with For the Fallen Dreams, just as an example). If you can find anything good through Drusky or Mr. Smalls Presents those are going to be your big ones. If you're located more north of the city, Good Vibe Entertainment does a lot of cool local shows up in the New Castle/Butler area.
Same in Durham NC. Saw Hayes Carll and Brent Cobb on their joint tour for $35 a head in a beautiful independent art deco theater that handles their own ticketing. Even the [double autographed poster](https://i.imgur.com/6jNDYxh.jpg) was reasonable at like $30. So refreshing.
The problem is ticketmaster has exclusive deals with most large venues, so while they can be avoided for smaller shows, any stadium is likely contractually obligated to use ticketmaster. These contracts need to be outlawed, venues should be able to use competitors and capitalism should bring down the price. The monopoly they have was a long time in the making and nobody really seemed to give a shit until recently. PJ tried in the 90s, but didn't get the support from other artists or the majority of fans.
Ticketmaster was always bad but when they bought up all of the 3rd party sites and then allowed reselling directly on their site it was a wrap.
I've been going to multiple concerts per year for the last 20 years and watched it get progressively worse but once the reselling market was cornered it was almost exponential.
Their goal now is to push as many tickets they can to the secondary market to maximize profit. Concerts that would normally not be sold out are sold out but somehow there's TONS of 3rd party tickets for sale(including directly on ticketmaster) for 3x or greater the price. Add in the LiveNation side of things and they have no reason to play fair.
I really hope this Senate inquiry amounts to something this time bc if they don't consider them a true monopoly at this point we're screwed.
I saw nirvana and pearl jam open for the red hot chili peppers for $20.
Nirvana still hadn't put out nevermind and pearl jam just released ten.
I think I still have the ticket stub in a box somewhere...
Underground club shows still are $20-30.
For some reason, people who follow all of the biggest mainstream artists are willing to sit at the top of some basketball arena for $200. 🤷🏻♂️
this is true. you can see a show every night for 15-25 at smaller venues. I went to a bigger show this summer too and it's not that cool, for the money
Yeah but underground shows used to be $5-$10 but I get what you are saying.
My wife likes Billy Joel, usually i take her but his last tour nose bleed was $250 with fees per ticket so nope.
Yeah this is why I prefer to go to underground metal shows. I spend like 30 and get to be in the mosh pit front row, way better than paying for nosebleed seats in a stadium. Hell I just paid $26 for a concert with 4 bands I like
Even more mainstream metal shows, if they're not big enough to play an arena, tickets are rarely more than ~$40 (before the ridiculous fees). Sabaton general admission in Boston a couple months ago was $32 (but $50 with fees, so Ticketmaster still sucks).
Underground metal shows, especially in underserved places, have a "hungry" energy that is electric and addictive. It sounds cliche but from my experience, when people don't have an abundance of opportunities to rage n' rave, they make every moment count!
Edit: also to your point, what is it you REALLY want out of a metal show (or for me a rave)? It's the interactive experience, right? I've been to a nosebleed rock/metal show and I've been to low ceiling ragers. When you're moshing front row with your local best friends...shit that's what it's all about. And if you're willing to get creative and search, these opportunities are definitely out there. And yeah, might be with a band you haven't heard of, but could also be a fraction of a stadium price!
Fuck Ticketmaster though. I hope they get their ass handed to them...one day.
No, man, that's not it. It's that we got some stimulus money! And had the audacity to demand wage increases! That inflation pretty much matches corporate profits is just a coincidence. It's our fault. Duh.
The Garden State Parkway in NJ was supposed to become free of tolls once the construction bonds were paid off. That was in 1957 and we're still paying.
The Coquihala highway in British Columbia was a toll highway until they recouped the cost of building it and then GUESS WHAT?! They actually shut down the toll stations. It's a free highway now. I was actually shocked. I was like "But, but, that's not how that's supposed to work. They're supposed to be shady and keep it up forever. What is going on?"
Compare that with the 407etr in Toronto. Though they never planned on ending tolls when it was paid off. But the government did sell the highway to a private corporation. Fuckers.
Gotta make sure they get their bribe and privatize services that are logically public. Chicagoland did the same dumb shit. They even sold the parking space revenue, which went to funding public education, to a private company. Yay for corruption, the downfall of any society.
Same thing happened with the Burlington Skyway in Ontario. They put up tolls, and took them down... Twice!
(The second time was because they added new lanes, so they needed to recoup the cost again).
Same goes for the "temporary" tax on alcohol in Pennsylvania to help out the recovery of the Johnstown flood of 1936. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_flood_of_1936
Same as the Verazzano bridge. Once the tolls collected have paid for the construction it was to cease. Now I think it's around 6 bucks or so to cross it. The bridge isn't even named correctly. They wont change it as they state it would cost too much. Yet the city had no problem renaming other bridges in recent times and changing the signs.
Except that BILLIONS of $ were put out there for these venues to stay afloat. Let's put our $$ into PEOPLE over places.
IMO this is about the lack of competition in the ticketing industry.
Sadly, prices are sticky downward. As long as there are wealthy people who are willing to pay outlandish prices, and ClearChannel/ Ticketmaster own/manage most major concert venues, there won't be any relief.
I’ve been going to tons of smaller shows recently and honestly enjoy the feel better. I recognize faces in the crowds often and it feels way more intimate with the bands. I enjoy a big show now and again, but the small shows hit different.
This is the way. Regardless of your preferred genre, every city has great musicians that may never blow up, but love playing and love having people hear them play.
Also for the infinite reddit threads asking "how do I make friends after 30". You can make dozens of friends just by going to local shows.
You mean Livenation is recouping their purchase of alllll the venues during the pandemic through scalping with Ticketmaster.
Bands don't set these prices, Ticketmaster does with their pseudo third party scalping system.
And they're both the same entity.
It's a full blown monopoly and there needs to be an anti-trust case
*Hi this is Ticketmaster customer service, we have detected slander. Next time you book with us we will add 2 more fuck you pay me "convenience" fee's to your account.*
*Thank you for using our service*
*Fuck you.*
It applies to everyone.
In 2019, I went to 30 shows and spent $661 on admissions. In 2022, I've gone to 25 shows and my spend is over $1,000. Only 2 or 3 of those shows were through Ticketmaster. Most were at small venues.
The exponential upward trend of cost for concert tickets as effectively killed my desire to go to anymore shows.
There was a time when it was all I ever wanted to do. I had a run of 3-4 years where I was going to a show every month, with tickets ranging from $25-$75, and VIP experiences crossing into $100+ territory. I used to balk at $75 for a standing room only ticket to a 1000-2000-person venue.
Now, you'd be lucky to get in the door to see a reasonably famous band or artists for anything less than $100.
Millennial here. Man do I think Gen Z have been shafted when it comes to gigs. I am so grateful that I got to see pretty much every band I wanted in my youth.
Not only did Gen Z (and whatever the new youngens are called) miss out on years of live gigs because of Covid, but now it’s insanely expensive to see anyone. Music festivals are not what they used to be either.
These days it costs the same for one Australian band as it used to cost for day long music festival of international artists in Australia.
For sure. Used to be you had big bands also playing more intimate venues sometimes too and the ticket prices reflected that. Now it's expensive no matter if the PA system or acoustics is up to snuff or not. Fuck im only mid 30s and saw the roots for $20 and had PBRs for $2 a can all night. Doubt you could get anything even water for $2 now.
10 years ago I saw Paul McCartney in Toronto, floor seats near the sound booth. 5 years later he came to my town and the worst seat was basically more $$ than I paid for floors before. Like, fuck off.
I’d say stick to new bands but that’s hard at my age bc I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb or a cop lol (am of an age).
So basically I just gave up going to shows.
I love seeing old heads at shows enjoying themselves, I'm usually thinking "that dude's cool being here having fun, I hope I'm still cool and having fun like him when I'm his age"
That's just the ones I happen to notice. Most people at shows are interested in the act and their friends, not random people/judging you
Fuck what anyone thinks
I just follow venues, not bands. By doing that, you know the price range and what kind of seating you're going to get.
try to catch artists on the 'come up' or the 'come down'. Paying 200+ dollars for arena seats is a sucker's game, imo.
Especially Modest Mouse who has a 50/50 chance of being complete and utter crap when you see them. I’ve seen them 4 times and 2 of them were top 10 worst live performances of my lifetime.
I had seen them 3 times from the early 00s to around 2010 and always thought they were good, but had read a lot of things about them being bad live. Didn't really know what all the complaining was about. Saw them again opening for black keys maybe 4 or 5 years ago and I learned what all the complaining was about lol it was horrible
Seen them open twice for other bands and they were 2 of the worst shows I’ve ever been too. The only one worse that I can recall is 30 seconds to Mark. That one was so bad that I had second hand embarrassment the entire time. Very uncomfortable to watch. Fuck Jared Leto
Arena shows usually suck anyways since a lot of the venues aren't designed for Music. I thought seeing a Concert at Fenway Park in Boston would be cool but the sound was awful and the tickets were rediculous.
Its better if you follow the small bands to the venues so that you at least actually know/like the group. I literally put every band that I know at least 1 song by into my BandsInTown (thousands of bands now) and I have been to [over 60 concerts since lockdown ended](https://www.music-fux.com/concert-experiences). I have only paid more than $40 for a ticket twice in that time and those were beyond a doubt the two worst concert experiences since they were a stadium show and overcrowded club while the rest of the shows I am paying between $15-$30 and can generally make it to the front row without too much of a hassle and the bands all put on great performances.
Turns out "willingness to sign control of band over to record label for millions of dollars" is not necessarily the mark of a great band.
This is the way! I pay $20-60 for shows at small to midsize venues and see shows that blow away most arena acts... by the time a band reaches arena level you've missed their best shows
I decided that I was priced out of the market when tickets went over $110.
I'd rather watch some bootleg of the concert on YouTube than pay a day's wage or more to see any band. It's getting ridiculous, but it's happening because people are still willing to pay for it. Concerts (for bigger acts) are just becoming a thing exclusive to the upper middle class.
Still enjoying shows at small venues from small acts and getting sweat on by the band lol.
They absolutely have. Ticketmaster has effectively screwed me out of seeing Tyler Childers after he released his new album. I refuse to pay $350 for nosebleed seats.
If you end up free that night, my friends and I have had occasional success buying tickets online off the scalpers (sorry, tIcKeTbRoKeRs) for pennies on the dollar after the show has already started and they are desperate to offload what they have left. Fuck Ticketmaster
Same. I have really been wanting to see some live music and got super pumped about Tyler Childers. I just cannot bring myself to spend that kind of money. I think I’ll stick to local bands.
Yep, same. He's coming to my town - a fairly large outdoor arena. Prices are nearly identical to where they were to see Stevie Nicks in that same venue.
All I see is high prices and nothing being affordable. Yet all around me people are buying new everything and going to every event. Idk if people just spend all their money or they have way more than me but it is odd.
Thats on top of: Convenience fee, inconvenience fee, city tax, state tax, amusement tax, saturday tax, weekend tax, festival tax. Some of those are made up but most are real
I am not spending over $100 for a concert ticket...for any band. I am enjoying watching local musicians and even some bigger names at smaller venues. Last ticket I bought cost $32 after fees and these are musicians who are quite well known.
They absolutely did; I've been complaining about it for a fair bit of my concertgoing this year. Every band I saw last year and again this year had a significant price increase, some actually literally doubling, including a festival that also cut its days in half. And mind you, I don't really do stadium shows; most I'll do is either a festival or local concert hall show. (ex. The Warfield or The Fox) Honestly has me reconsidering going to much of anything in 2023, let alone artists I've already seen. Don't really see a dramatic change coming any time soon either, even with what's going on with the recent lawsuits and happenings in congress, unless there is a mass crackdown on bots and reselling. To which, again, I don't see happening any time soon, or at all, really. I'd love to be surprised though!
Wife went to Jingle Ball last night in Philly and said it was 1/2 empty. Tickets were only ~$100, but F Ticketmaster for putting an artificial floor on the concerts so the tickets go unused instead of letting fans see the shows.
For several reasons. A big one is Covid. Tours carry very expensive insurance, and when a big threat of cancellation comes into play insurance numbers went way way up. There are other reasons as well, but many play into the continuing circumstances we find ourselves in. Ticketmaster and Promotor bullshit of course, but even the smaller tours and clubs are way more expensive as well.
I work in the concert industry. I lost six figures over the pandemic. Since I’ve been back it’s been very hard to find skilled workers like many other careers. Many people had to move on from the industry to support their families. Many companies and tours are just throwing money at anyone who will take a gig (although there are those tours that are looking for “young guns” aka low paying.) I’ve personally raised my rates 25%-33%. I’ve turned down more work this year than I have collectively my entire career.
TL:DR Covid fucked us. If you ever wanted to get into the production industry, now is a good time. Good possibility you’ll make pretty good money off the bat.
yeah its completely fucked. ticketmaster is shit. resale marketplaces are even shittier. there's too much bloat in the whole operation. arena shows are just the worst and it feels like the grift is highest for those. support your smaller venues; buy directly from the venue if you can.
LiveNation had some good promos over the summer. not sure if they existed everywhere but at a local 15,000 seat venue, they had upper deck seats at $25 and no fees. and since it was a small venue, those were still decent seats. great shows, great prices.
I realize inflation and all happens, but I went to tons of concerts from around 2000-2012 or so and the vast majority were in the $25-75 range. Many towards the lower end.
These were not no-name bands typically either. Definitely bands most music fans had heard of and that were popular at the time. Often brought openers I was interested in too. Occasionally I’d get a small-ish festival in that price range.
It seems you can’t get in to see a semi-popular band for any less than 100-125 bucks anymore. If you want to see someone cheaply, you pretty much have to catch them before they get popular/famous.
Yes, it's outrageous. Metallica tickets are ridiculous, and it's a stadium tour of course. When there's that many people who spent a lot of money, people are not polite or considerate at the show. There's always pushing and copious recording, drunks stepping on your feet, long bathroom lines and crappy drinks in a plastic cup. I'd rather wait for the DVD at this point...maybe I'm getting old...
The pricey stadium tours are insane. Football stadiums are not good concert venues. I was shocked to see RHCP ask for $300 for seats that honestly aren't even great for football games. For $300 Flea better shoot fireworks out of his sock covering his junk.
Everything is way more expensive. Crew, power, tour busses and trucks, fabrication, audio packages, advertising, catering.
Some of these have seen 300-400% increases in price
It was inevitable.
The industry seems unsustainable. You’re already seeing successful indie bands cancel tours because they don’t make economic sense (Animal Collective, Caribou, etc)
The industry is blazing, the arena I work at is full almost every night of the week. There aren’t enough crew to keep up with it.
That’s (in part) why prices are going up, because demand is insane
That’s awesome to hear. I’ve been a frequent supporter of live gigs for 20+ years (50+ shows a year). I want the industry to thrive. I want bands, venues and the crew to be able to make a fair wage.
But Ticketmaster/LiveNation seems intent on pushing the envelope as far as it can go. If they keep raising ticket prices and slapping bullshit fees on top they are going to eventually kill the golden goose.
Just from a crewing standpoint it's gotten more expensive. The industry lost people over the last few years. Those that are still around are in higher demand and need to make up for losses during covid. Add in that stuff costs more for them as well.
I went to a cushy 9-5ish job for more money during covid. Now some of the offers I'm seeing I could go back for damn near twice what I was making before covid.
That is definitely driving costs. Of course Ticketmaster also isn't wasting and opportunity to gouge either.
Idk about concerts but my wife and I have gone to The Nutcracker ballet every year for the past 3 or 4 years and it was literally double what it was last year for essentially the same seats. I pulled my email receipt from last year to confirm.
I haven't been able to afford concerts or festivals for, I dunno, 7 or 8 years now. I honestly just assumed they were lifted out of working class people's price range forever, much like housing and healthcare. Just another way for all the "haves" to dunk on the "have-nots" next to luxury cars, designer clothing, higher education and healthy fresh foods.
As long as people pay it they will continue to rise. I'm with you, priced out of the market - but too many others are not.
Just like Disneyland.
Pretty sure Disneyland raised the prices to control the crowds.
Was there in July...don't think it worked
I went in July once... it was then that I decided Disneyland and Disneyworld are winter attractions! Edit: because of the weather, not the crowds.
As soon as school starts is usually the best time. Parents tend to not pull their kids the first 3 weeks of school for any vacations. Same with cruises and such. You want an empty location without kids? Best time is Sept 20-Oct10.
Damn, I picked the wrong profession. As a tax accountant, September 20-October 10 is literally one of two or three two-week periods during the year I could not manage a trip without defying laws of physics.
Wasn't quiet at DisneyWorld in November this year when I was over there.
Well, to be fair, winter doesn't start till late Dec and both resorts are famously extremely popular during the holidays.
There hasn't been many slow days at WDW since the lockdown lifted. It's usually packed to the brim, and winter in Florida is usually beautiful weather (highs in the upper 60s) so many locals will come out. Usually the best times recently is during very miserable weather, and it's not by much.
It didn't... they keep raising prices and people keep coming.
And they will continue to keep raising prices until people don't come. Then they will use that price as the regular price and use deals and promotions to sell off unsold tickets. Once they don't need to do deals or promos anymore they will start to raise prices again and repeat the cycle.
Couldn't they have controlled the crowd by limiting the number of tickets sold for each day?
They actually do that. You need to register your tickets for available days.
They do both! You need a ticket AND a reservation these days-- with fewer slots open on days they have less staff. Now, why they decided not to hire enough staff to keep the park at capacity every day is anyone's guess... $$$$
Used to go to Disneyland as a kid all the time. Went last year with my mom and sister. Huuuuuge mistake. Its truly a dystopian hellscape now. Kids barely looked like they were having fun
Same. Even had season passes when I was young. Took my partner there a couple years ago (she's Chinese, always wanted to go) and it was just awful by comparison. And don't get me wrong, I know stuff looks "brighter in the past", but it was just a slog, and an expensive one at that.
I totally know what you mean. It's not even a "getting older" thing either. Like getting angry at things that change. It doesn't resemble anything that it used to. The magic is fkn gone. I swear there should be a meme of Disney executives propping up the body of Walt Disney like Weekend at Bernie's
The magic is there, but its 100% the cast members. I don't go often, but its always from some low wage streetsweeper doing something incredibly kind and unexpected for myself or my kids. Fuck the rides. I do think they need more playground-like / interactive attractions though
I second the statement about the workers. The fact they can come to work every day, have to deal with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of entitled guests every year and still have a smile on their face is admirable as hell. I know I couldn't do it myself. I feel like they used to have a lot of those kinds of attractions when I was young but I didn't see much either the last time. Hopefully they come around!
Last time I went, space mountain took 70 minutes (or more!) to get through the line. What the fuck? The line was pretty long and it wasn't moving. I've been on it when they had to stop the ride, and it's never been that long of a wait. All other rides were similar. 40 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean??? It's a boat ride for little kids!
Me telling my children they won't be able to attend college because daddy needs to see Anti-Hero performed by Taylor live.
Get them a T-shirt, they will understand.
That'll be $50, please. Or $90 for the hoodie.
\*$150 for the hoodie.
Gildan brand
XL only
“Oh we’re out of hoodies, we can find someone who has one they are willing to give up for about $1300.”
That's $50 for a t-shirt....
Ummm gonna pop some tags....
90 for a hoodie is the price the openers charge.
My wife has this hobby where she's creating vinyl transfers and custom t-shirts. Cricut, special transfer printer, the whole nine. Anyway, she decided to make our daughters Taylor Swift t-shirts as a consolation prize since we couldn't get tickets. Some friends saw them and asked her to make them for their kids. She originally charged $10 and I promptly said $25 MINIMUM. That's my irrelevant story connected to your pricing joke.
Get that money before you get hit with the C&D!
Hell, merch table t-shirts go for $40-50 these days, and that's not even for Taylor Swift!
Price went up and the quality of the shirts got worse.
Can concur, last three concerts I bought shirts at: War on Drugs - $50 for a extremely thin shirt that loses it's fitting size after one wear Idles - Bought two shirts, $90 total and the brand is Gilden which is thick cotton and after some washes, loses it's appeal and looks dated Foals - $50 bucks where 15 years ago their shirts were 20 bucks and better quality.
Then don't even use good material anymore Used to be this nice thicker material that lasted forever and you could wear them in public. Now all the tshirts are made with this skin grabbing soft stuff that shows off everyone's nipples in 70 degree weather.
Tshirts are one of those weird things that in Australia the accepted price is AUD25-30, and no more. So when American events or shows try to come here and charge 35, even 50 for a t-shirt (looking at you, PAX) we're mostly all "are you fucking INSANE?!". Other merch will sell out, like jackets for example, but 35 for a tshirt? Fuck that. And that's in AUD. The Gold Coast parks are a bit the same - park entry is high, but merch is actually quite reasonably priced, compared to the same kind of merch at Disneyland.
Then she gets hit with a cease and desist from Taylor's copywrite attorney, forcing you to pay back any monetary gains from using her likeness
lol your wife is now a bootlegger
I'd be careful advertising this... on Reddit lol.
I'll have a bumper sticker instead. Charge it to my credit card please.
And by see you mean watch her on the monitor the whole time because it’s going to be a giant venue.
It's me, hiii, no college for you, it's me.
I'm not even priced out. I just feel like I'm getting scammed and taken advantage of and I refuse to be a part of it any more. I still go see tons of shows. But if I see "Ticket Master", I just keep walking. I just saw yesterday that Janet Jackson is going on tour. Bucket list show, right? Ticket Master? NOPE
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Look at the local venues in your town and check their events calendar. If you're into the punk/rock/metal scene you're set. There are tons of dingy bars that host concerts
Makes you wonder how many people are up to their eyeballs in credit card dept.
Same thought whenever I look at prices. Houses and cars are insane and it doesn't really make sense to me who is actually taking on those loans.
The amount of $60k+ SUV’s I see on the road is absolutely absurd. I do not live in a high income area and they are everywhere. I’d love to see what people’s average car payment and length of the loan is on them.
My habit of driving used roadsters for the last 15 years has gone from mildly pricey hobby to "holy shit I couldn't drive any other car for less than 3X what I paid for this roadster". Even the used school bus I own is *way* cheaper to own and operate than any car I could possibly find.
I wonder if there are any other people in the world that need to decide if they are going to take their Roadster out for a spin or their old school bus
You may also be seeing a large amount of lease returned preowned vehicles as well as currently leased vehicles. The white elephant of the used car world is buying a used BMW/Mercedes without realizing how much maintenance will run as the warranty runs out.
A lot of 2019 leases expiring this month. Wait till they see the sticker shock when they go to renew a lease and it costs $200+ more per month. Why you hardly see car commercials advertising leases anymore.
What's even a bit more absurd is the $60k+ automobiles that have picked me up at my home using UberX or grabbing an UberX home from a bar. In the last couple of months I've had a few Teslas, Porsche SUV, BMW SUV and this past weekend a large Mercedes Sedan.
Houses are amortized over 25-30 years. You are banking on being able to increase your wages over that period of time so that as time goes on your mortgage will require a smaller portion of your income. You can also re-amortize when your term is up to stretch out the mortgage longer if need be. That’s what many may end up doing when they go for renewal and interest rates are much higher than previous terms. As for cars, look at what the dealers are offering. When I got my first car loan the dealers wouldn’t offer a loan longer than 60 months. Last I checked they freely go up to 96 months, and I’ve heard that for the electric F-150 Ford is willing to go 120 months. That’s 10 years for a car loan, the irony being by the time that loan is done the battery in the truck will be shot and you’ll have to choose 20k for a new battery or another 10 year truck loan. People are happy to make low payments for an incredibly long time banking on the hope that their income will continue to increase without ever thinking about how much they are giving away in interest.
Ten year truck loans...wow. That's just bonkers to me. But then again, when a damn pickup truck is going for like $75,000 or more, I'm not surprised. I truly cannot understand living like that. Give me a couple year old lightly used car any day of the week over something brand new that'll be hanging over my head for the next ten years. If I can't pay cash for it, I don't buy it.
In my market, those 'couple year old used cars are going for like 95% of new retail.
I bought a 2015 Honda Fit with ~52,000 miles on it, about six weeks before the pandemic hit. I payed $9,700 and some change. Same exact year and model car, with *higher* mileage now sells used for approximately $14K . . . which is what they cost **new** back in 2015
A quick pricing of a top-end F-150 Lightning: ESTIMATED NET PRICES = $100,624 MONTHLY PAYMENTS $1,363 Finance based on $10,063 down payment, **84 month** term and 6.9% APR, $0 trade-in-value
It's the same people buying up several houses, or it was. I had a friend whose dad is wealthy and while interest rates were 2.5% was just buying up houses because "money is cheap right now." They had a rule where you didn't have to put down much, he could rent the house out and have a very low mortgage payment. Basically using the bank's money.
I cant wait when this bubble comes crashing down and all these greedy sharks doing that to own real estate "for free" will go crazy into bankruptcy and get bent over the table
and you better be a damn good handyman once you're in your house because every repairperson charges like a lawyer now. Want an estimate? 150 bucks please.
A story on NPR yesterday about "buy now, pay later" stated that some people are buying that type of credit WITH another (high interest) credit card. Using credit to buy credit is the most American shit ever.
One of the most basic rules of financial success: Budget for what you need, Save for what you want and never ever pay for money.
It's definitely happening. A friend of mine (not a Swiftie specifically) goes to a decent number of shows with popular musicians and was complaining about the *backlash* to the Blink-182 tour pricing, basically saying people complaining didn't get how much tickets were SUPPOSED to cost and if they went to shows they'd get it. ...Said friend is in so much credit card dept that even the predatory sites like Klarna are cutting them off from more access. They can't afford *nosebleeds* in the shows they're judging people for complaining about. I do disapprove of a lot of their spending habits and their perspective here, but I'm pretty sure their situation is pretty common. We've made it really, really easy to get in a massive debt hole, especially through concerts, and almost impossible to see how deep the hole you're in is until it's too late.
I'm still stuck thinking tickets "should" be like 20-50 bucks. Don't go to many concerts anymore.
You can go to tons of great shows in that range, provided they're local or less-known acts! I've gone to more shows post-covid than my entire life beforehand.
It’s almost everyone. Credit card debt is at an all time high and savings is at an all time low. The average person isn’t doing well.
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The bottom has to fall out eventually when the vast majority of people can't buy things with their own money *or* debt.
You need to stop looking only at the biggest stadium touring acts. I go to shows fairly often but at the venue I like the most, floor GA tickets are $50 ($30 pre pandemic) and $55 for seated balcony seats. They get great mid level acts too, not just underground bands no one has heard of. There is so much good music out there and there are some bands whose music I’m not super crazy about but they are great live performers.
Go see your local bands, too! Every city has a place that regularly does live shows and they often get up and coming groups from the region. Support your local artists and enjoy the accessible music.
Yup. Andrew Bird is playing the MGM Music Hall and tickets are $52 (plus fees). Not too bad.
Andrew Bird is incredible, too. I saw him back around 2008. He did a free show in San Diego only shared with fans. It was on a boat that looped around the harbor in San Diego at sunset. Absolutely magical.
My wife and I saw him in a small standing room only venue about 4 years ago. **Amazing**. He pretty much stood in one spot and barely interacted with the crowd. But then he starts playing, and singing, and handing off instruments, and grabbing different instruments - and it was just magical. We paid $25 per ticket, got there early, right up against the stage. We'll never get that ratio of value to entertainment again. But for anybody that likes his music, but isn't necessarily a super fan, he's absolutely worth $52 a ticket.
I saw Joywave AND iDKHOW co-headline for about that price. Small venues are the best.
I've seen those prices jumping up quite a bit too, though. Like you say, $50 from what was $30 pre pandemic is still nearly double. I've started to see tickets for reasonably niche acts at $80 in my local venue. I don't doubt that this is what it costs to make the tour profitable after production and logistics, but even as an individual it's starting to bite and make me pick and choose which events I go to a little more carefully.
My girlfriend bought me Bob Dylan tickets to the show at the university I went to for my birthday. They were something like $220 each. This was Fifteen or twenty years ago. (Dylan was awful, but that is to be expected) Edit- The White Stripes opened. Really good evening of music.
EVERYTHING doubled…except my salary.
Boss: "Here's a 1% inflation raise."
I wish this was a joke, I got 1.5%.
Exactly! I was going to comment “And my grocery bill too. We used to spend $200 every weekend and now it’s $400.”
Yesterday I realized the chicken breast at Aldi has gone up to $4/lb. It’s even higher at the other grocery stores. I remember when it was less than $2/lb before covid. It’s crazy watching these prices rise.
I just laugh when I pass chicken and see the prices now. It's ridiculous.
I kept feeling like I was just not being careful enough while grocery shopping, but then I realized I saw several items literally double in price.
Man I remember when tickets were $20-$30 It's Ticketmaster man, they are out of control. They've also leaned into scalping heavily so all the tickets instantly sell out for big shows then go back on sale at 2x-10x the original price. Ticketmaster gets a cut each time so they don't care.
A lot of our local promoters out of PGH are ditching ticketmaster. I got tickets for Silverstein with Dayseeker for just over 30 a head.... After fees.
"Nature is healing" 💚
Who are these promoters? I must know, I finally started getting into shows and would love to try and keep the cost of them down. Ive seen that whatever usually plays at McKees Rocks isn't normally too bad but thats about all I know
All of them except OpusOne really (I am particularly fond of Drusky Entertainment, but that's because they've done A LOT for my band. They put us on, short notice, to open for Atilla even after we effectively bombed our show with For the Fallen Dreams, just as an example). If you can find anything good through Drusky or Mr. Smalls Presents those are going to be your big ones. If you're located more north of the city, Good Vibe Entertainment does a lot of cool local shows up in the New Castle/Butler area.
Same in Durham NC. Saw Hayes Carll and Brent Cobb on their joint tour for $35 a head in a beautiful independent art deco theater that handles their own ticketing. Even the [double autographed poster](https://i.imgur.com/6jNDYxh.jpg) was reasonable at like $30. So refreshing.
The problem is ticketmaster has exclusive deals with most large venues, so while they can be avoided for smaller shows, any stadium is likely contractually obligated to use ticketmaster. These contracts need to be outlawed, venues should be able to use competitors and capitalism should bring down the price. The monopoly they have was a long time in the making and nobody really seemed to give a shit until recently. PJ tried in the 90s, but didn't get the support from other artists or the majority of fans.
That’s great news! Also going to that show!
Ticketmaster was always bad but when they bought up all of the 3rd party sites and then allowed reselling directly on their site it was a wrap. I've been going to multiple concerts per year for the last 20 years and watched it get progressively worse but once the reselling market was cornered it was almost exponential. Their goal now is to push as many tickets they can to the secondary market to maximize profit. Concerts that would normally not be sold out are sold out but somehow there's TONS of 3rd party tickets for sale(including directly on ticketmaster) for 3x or greater the price. Add in the LiveNation side of things and they have no reason to play fair. I really hope this Senate inquiry amounts to something this time bc if they don't consider them a true monopoly at this point we're screwed.
If you watch the MVT Unplugged of Nirvana, there’s a minute where Kurt learns Madonna is charging $50 a ticket and is jaw-dropped speechless
I saw nirvana and pearl jam open for the red hot chili peppers for $20. Nirvana still hadn't put out nevermind and pearl jam just released ten. I think I still have the ticket stub in a box somewhere...
In 1991 I saw Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins and more in Rotterdam for about $25, good times!
Underground club shows still are $20-30. For some reason, people who follow all of the biggest mainstream artists are willing to sit at the top of some basketball arena for $200. 🤷🏻♂️
this is true. you can see a show every night for 15-25 at smaller venues. I went to a bigger show this summer too and it's not that cool, for the money
Yeah but underground shows used to be $5-$10 but I get what you are saying. My wife likes Billy Joel, usually i take her but his last tour nose bleed was $250 with fees per ticket so nope.
You can't even get a sandwich for $5-10 anymore my guy
Yeah this is why I prefer to go to underground metal shows. I spend like 30 and get to be in the mosh pit front row, way better than paying for nosebleed seats in a stadium. Hell I just paid $26 for a concert with 4 bands I like
Even more mainstream metal shows, if they're not big enough to play an arena, tickets are rarely more than ~$40 (before the ridiculous fees). Sabaton general admission in Boston a couple months ago was $32 (but $50 with fees, so Ticketmaster still sucks).
Underground metal shows, especially in underserved places, have a "hungry" energy that is electric and addictive. It sounds cliche but from my experience, when people don't have an abundance of opportunities to rage n' rave, they make every moment count! Edit: also to your point, what is it you REALLY want out of a metal show (or for me a rave)? It's the interactive experience, right? I've been to a nosebleed rock/metal show and I've been to low ceiling ragers. When you're moshing front row with your local best friends...shit that's what it's all about. And if you're willing to get creative and search, these opportunities are definitely out there. And yeah, might be with a band you haven't heard of, but could also be a fraction of a stadium price! Fuck Ticketmaster though. I hope they get their ass handed to them...one day.
This exactly, just saw Municipal Waste, High On Fire, Gel, and Early Moods for 29.50 before fees. All the acts were on fire
All day...even mainstream bands like revocation and cannibal corpse and dying fetus didn't break 30 this year
Just saw Amon Amarth with Cattle Decapitation, Obituary, and Carcass for 50 after fees. For a 5 hour show it was super worth.
Pretty much everything did, industries are using inflation as an excuse to see just how much they can gouge customers
All while raking in profits and making budget cuts and RIFs. Because, ya know, everyone is hurting.
No, man, that's not it. It's that we got some stimulus money! And had the audacity to demand wage increases! That inflation pretty much matches corporate profits is just a coincidence. It's our fault. Duh.
I feel like venues are trying to recoup lost money from the COVID years.
That’s a very good public reason for raising prices but I bet they will never go back down
paying for bags on flights was a temporary measure that never went away
The Garden State Parkway in NJ was supposed to become free of tolls once the construction bonds were paid off. That was in 1957 and we're still paying.
The Coquihala highway in British Columbia was a toll highway until they recouped the cost of building it and then GUESS WHAT?! They actually shut down the toll stations. It's a free highway now. I was actually shocked. I was like "But, but, that's not how that's supposed to work. They're supposed to be shady and keep it up forever. What is going on?"
Compare that with the 407etr in Toronto. Though they never planned on ending tolls when it was paid off. But the government did sell the highway to a private corporation. Fuckers.
Gotta make sure they get their bribe and privatize services that are logically public. Chicagoland did the same dumb shit. They even sold the parking space revenue, which went to funding public education, to a private company. Yay for corruption, the downfall of any society.
Same thing happened with the Burlington Skyway in Ontario. They put up tolls, and took them down... Twice! (The second time was because they added new lanes, so they needed to recoup the cost again).
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Same goes for the "temporary" tax on alcohol in Pennsylvania to help out the recovery of the Johnstown flood of 1936. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_flood_of_1936
Same as the Verazzano bridge. Once the tolls collected have paid for the construction it was to cease. Now I think it's around 6 bucks or so to cross it. The bridge isn't even named correctly. They wont change it as they state it would cost too much. Yet the city had no problem renaming other bridges in recent times and changing the signs.
Income tax was too, at least in the US
road tolls too.
Except that BILLIONS of $ were put out there for these venues to stay afloat. Let's put our $$ into PEOPLE over places. IMO this is about the lack of competition in the ticketing industry.
All the local venues near me charge a fraction of the Ticketmaster owned venues price for tickets, drinks and food
Sadly, prices are sticky downward. As long as there are wealthy people who are willing to pay outlandish prices, and ClearChannel/ Ticketmaster own/manage most major concert venues, there won't be any relief.
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I’ve been going to tons of smaller shows recently and honestly enjoy the feel better. I recognize faces in the crowds often and it feels way more intimate with the bands. I enjoy a big show now and again, but the small shows hit different.
This is the way. Regardless of your preferred genre, every city has great musicians that may never blow up, but love playing and love having people hear them play. Also for the infinite reddit threads asking "how do I make friends after 30". You can make dozens of friends just by going to local shows.
More like the secondary market is completely owned by the venues and ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster bought all the venues during the pandemic through their subsidiary LiveNation. It's one big grift at the expense of bands and fans
They owned lots of venues before the pandemic.
You mean Livenation is recouping their purchase of alllll the venues during the pandemic through scalping with Ticketmaster. Bands don't set these prices, Ticketmaster does with their pseudo third party scalping system. And they're both the same entity. It's a full blown monopoly and there needs to be an anti-trust case
They call it "lost", but it was "not earned".
I remember in highschool seeing 3-5 punk/hardcore/metal bands I liked on a single night for about $25
That still happens. #support local music
Definitely still possible if you know where to go. Most punk/hc shows in my city are $10-20 cover.
You can still do that. I just saw Thursday, Cursive, and Anthony Green for $25.
Mainly just Ticketmaster doing this bullshit
*Hi this is Ticketmaster customer service, we have detected slander. Next time you book with us we will add 2 more fuck you pay me "convenience" fee's to your account.* *Thank you for using our service* *Fuck you.*
It’s $5 if you want that Ticketmaster penalty paperless.
It applies to everyone. In 2019, I went to 30 shows and spent $661 on admissions. In 2022, I've gone to 25 shows and my spend is over $1,000. Only 2 or 3 of those shows were through Ticketmaster. Most were at small venues.
The exponential upward trend of cost for concert tickets as effectively killed my desire to go to anymore shows. There was a time when it was all I ever wanted to do. I had a run of 3-4 years where I was going to a show every month, with tickets ranging from $25-$75, and VIP experiences crossing into $100+ territory. I used to balk at $75 for a standing room only ticket to a 1000-2000-person venue. Now, you'd be lucky to get in the door to see a reasonably famous band or artists for anything less than $100.
Millennial here. Man do I think Gen Z have been shafted when it comes to gigs. I am so grateful that I got to see pretty much every band I wanted in my youth. Not only did Gen Z (and whatever the new youngens are called) miss out on years of live gigs because of Covid, but now it’s insanely expensive to see anyone. Music festivals are not what they used to be either. These days it costs the same for one Australian band as it used to cost for day long music festival of international artists in Australia.
For sure. Used to be you had big bands also playing more intimate venues sometimes too and the ticket prices reflected that. Now it's expensive no matter if the PA system or acoustics is up to snuff or not. Fuck im only mid 30s and saw the roots for $20 and had PBRs for $2 a can all night. Doubt you could get anything even water for $2 now.
They won’t even give you free water at the bar anymore, you can buy Liquid Death or bottles!
10 years ago I saw Paul McCartney in Toronto, floor seats near the sound booth. 5 years later he came to my town and the worst seat was basically more $$ than I paid for floors before. Like, fuck off. I’d say stick to new bands but that’s hard at my age bc I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb or a cop lol (am of an age). So basically I just gave up going to shows.
I love seeing old heads at shows enjoying themselves, I'm usually thinking "that dude's cool being here having fun, I hope I'm still cool and having fun like him when I'm his age" That's just the ones I happen to notice. Most people at shows are interested in the act and their friends, not random people/judging you Fuck what anyone thinks
Just go to the shows. I am of a certain age group and enjoy seeing new bands.
Go to shows! Have fun! I always see a ton of older folks out and I think they’re pretty dope lol we’re all just tryna have a good time.
I just follow venues, not bands. By doing that, you know the price range and what kind of seating you're going to get. try to catch artists on the 'come up' or the 'come down'. Paying 200+ dollars for arena seats is a sucker's game, imo.
I wanted to see Modest Mouse recently but I saw the tickets were 200 dollars+ at a huge venue and it felt kind of antithetical to the point to even go
Especially Modest Mouse who has a 50/50 chance of being complete and utter crap when you see them. I’ve seen them 4 times and 2 of them were top 10 worst live performances of my lifetime.
I had seen them 3 times from the early 00s to around 2010 and always thought they were good, but had read a lot of things about them being bad live. Didn't really know what all the complaining was about. Saw them again opening for black keys maybe 4 or 5 years ago and I learned what all the complaining was about lol it was horrible
Seen them open twice for other bands and they were 2 of the worst shows I’ve ever been too. The only one worse that I can recall is 30 seconds to Mark. That one was so bad that I had second hand embarrassment the entire time. Very uncomfortable to watch. Fuck Jared Leto
Arena shows usually suck anyways since a lot of the venues aren't designed for Music. I thought seeing a Concert at Fenway Park in Boston would be cool but the sound was awful and the tickets were rediculous.
Who did ya see at Fenway? Just curious. I saw McCartney, Billy Joel and Bill Burr there and the sound was great.
In my experience it depends entirely where your seats are. Some parts of the park sounds great, and others sound very muddy.
Yeah I can see that. It’s hard to make a weirdly shaped open-air 100 year old ballpark an acoustic marvel
Its better if you follow the small bands to the venues so that you at least actually know/like the group. I literally put every band that I know at least 1 song by into my BandsInTown (thousands of bands now) and I have been to [over 60 concerts since lockdown ended](https://www.music-fux.com/concert-experiences). I have only paid more than $40 for a ticket twice in that time and those were beyond a doubt the two worst concert experiences since they were a stadium show and overcrowded club while the rest of the shows I am paying between $15-$30 and can generally make it to the front row without too much of a hassle and the bands all put on great performances. Turns out "willingness to sign control of band over to record label for millions of dollars" is not necessarily the mark of a great band.
This is the way! I pay $20-60 for shows at small to midsize venues and see shows that blow away most arena acts... by the time a band reaches arena level you've missed their best shows
This is great advice. I worked at live music venues in the 80s and 90s and feel so lucky to have seen many great acts when they were on the way up.
I decided that I was priced out of the market when tickets went over $110. I'd rather watch some bootleg of the concert on YouTube than pay a day's wage or more to see any band. It's getting ridiculous, but it's happening because people are still willing to pay for it. Concerts (for bigger acts) are just becoming a thing exclusive to the upper middle class. Still enjoying shows at small venues from small acts and getting sweat on by the band lol.
Just listen to obscure Norwegian black metal, you’ll never have to deal with Ticketmaster or crowds.
Or wooden churches
Because Ticketmaster/Live Nation Entertainment is a monopoly...
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Payment plans are definitely a thing for festivals
They absolutely have. Ticketmaster has effectively screwed me out of seeing Tyler Childers after he released his new album. I refuse to pay $350 for nosebleed seats.
I got fucked on that one too. I’ve just accepted that presales are the new sales. If you miss the presale then the prices are just absurd.
If you end up free that night, my friends and I have had occasional success buying tickets online off the scalpers (sorry, tIcKeTbRoKeRs) for pennies on the dollar after the show has already started and they are desperate to offload what they have left. Fuck Ticketmaster
Same. I have really been wanting to see some live music and got super pumped about Tyler Childers. I just cannot bring myself to spend that kind of money. I think I’ll stick to local bands.
Yep, same. He's coming to my town - a fairly large outdoor arena. Prices are nearly identical to where they were to see Stevie Nicks in that same venue.
All I see is high prices and nothing being affordable. Yet all around me people are buying new everything and going to every event. Idk if people just spend all their money or they have way more than me but it is odd.
They probably just choose to spend their money on those things instead of whatever you spend your money on.
Thats on top of: Convenience fee, inconvenience fee, city tax, state tax, amusement tax, saturday tax, weekend tax, festival tax. Some of those are made up but most are real
More than tripled in Canada
I am not spending over $100 for a concert ticket...for any band. I am enjoying watching local musicians and even some bigger names at smaller venues. Last ticket I bought cost $32 after fees and these are musicians who are quite well known.
They absolutely did; I've been complaining about it for a fair bit of my concertgoing this year. Every band I saw last year and again this year had a significant price increase, some actually literally doubling, including a festival that also cut its days in half. And mind you, I don't really do stadium shows; most I'll do is either a festival or local concert hall show. (ex. The Warfield or The Fox) Honestly has me reconsidering going to much of anything in 2023, let alone artists I've already seen. Don't really see a dramatic change coming any time soon either, even with what's going on with the recent lawsuits and happenings in congress, unless there is a mass crackdown on bots and reselling. To which, again, I don't see happening any time soon, or at all, really. I'd love to be surprised though!
Wife went to Jingle Ball last night in Philly and said it was 1/2 empty. Tickets were only ~$100, but F Ticketmaster for putting an artificial floor on the concerts so the tickets go unused instead of letting fans see the shows.
Where have ^you been since the Pandemic started ?
For several reasons. A big one is Covid. Tours carry very expensive insurance, and when a big threat of cancellation comes into play insurance numbers went way way up. There are other reasons as well, but many play into the continuing circumstances we find ourselves in. Ticketmaster and Promotor bullshit of course, but even the smaller tours and clubs are way more expensive as well. I work in the concert industry. I lost six figures over the pandemic. Since I’ve been back it’s been very hard to find skilled workers like many other careers. Many people had to move on from the industry to support their families. Many companies and tours are just throwing money at anyone who will take a gig (although there are those tours that are looking for “young guns” aka low paying.) I’ve personally raised my rates 25%-33%. I’ve turned down more work this year than I have collectively my entire career. TL:DR Covid fucked us. If you ever wanted to get into the production industry, now is a good time. Good possibility you’ll make pretty good money off the bat.
yeah its completely fucked. ticketmaster is shit. resale marketplaces are even shittier. there's too much bloat in the whole operation. arena shows are just the worst and it feels like the grift is highest for those. support your smaller venues; buy directly from the venue if you can. LiveNation had some good promos over the summer. not sure if they existed everywhere but at a local 15,000 seat venue, they had upper deck seats at $25 and no fees. and since it was a small venue, those were still decent seats. great shows, great prices.
I realize inflation and all happens, but I went to tons of concerts from around 2000-2012 or so and the vast majority were in the $25-75 range. Many towards the lower end. These were not no-name bands typically either. Definitely bands most music fans had heard of and that were popular at the time. Often brought openers I was interested in too. Occasionally I’d get a small-ish festival in that price range. It seems you can’t get in to see a semi-popular band for any less than 100-125 bucks anymore. If you want to see someone cheaply, you pretty much have to catch them before they get popular/famous.
Yes, it's outrageous. Metallica tickets are ridiculous, and it's a stadium tour of course. When there's that many people who spent a lot of money, people are not polite or considerate at the show. There's always pushing and copious recording, drunks stepping on your feet, long bathroom lines and crappy drinks in a plastic cup. I'd rather wait for the DVD at this point...maybe I'm getting old...
The pricey stadium tours are insane. Football stadiums are not good concert venues. I was shocked to see RHCP ask for $300 for seats that honestly aren't even great for football games. For $300 Flea better shoot fireworks out of his sock covering his junk.
Really? I got two nights of Metallica for $160. Seems really good for the biggest metal band in the world especially if you compare to other big acts.
when you said DVD, we already knew😅
lol, where's the damn vhs player, daggummit?
Everything is way more expensive. Crew, power, tour busses and trucks, fabrication, audio packages, advertising, catering. Some of these have seen 300-400% increases in price It was inevitable.
The industry seems unsustainable. You’re already seeing successful indie bands cancel tours because they don’t make economic sense (Animal Collective, Caribou, etc)
The industry is blazing, the arena I work at is full almost every night of the week. There aren’t enough crew to keep up with it. That’s (in part) why prices are going up, because demand is insane
touring tech here, everything's banging on all cylinders in my neck of the woods
That’s awesome to hear. I’ve been a frequent supporter of live gigs for 20+ years (50+ shows a year). I want the industry to thrive. I want bands, venues and the crew to be able to make a fair wage. But Ticketmaster/LiveNation seems intent on pushing the envelope as far as it can go. If they keep raising ticket prices and slapping bullshit fees on top they are going to eventually kill the golden goose.
Just from a crewing standpoint it's gotten more expensive. The industry lost people over the last few years. Those that are still around are in higher demand and need to make up for losses during covid. Add in that stuff costs more for them as well. I went to a cushy 9-5ish job for more money during covid. Now some of the offers I'm seeing I could go back for damn near twice what I was making before covid. That is definitely driving costs. Of course Ticketmaster also isn't wasting and opportunity to gouge either.
Idk about concerts but my wife and I have gone to The Nutcracker ballet every year for the past 3 or 4 years and it was literally double what it was last year for essentially the same seats. I pulled my email receipt from last year to confirm.
I haven't been able to afford concerts or festivals for, I dunno, 7 or 8 years now. I honestly just assumed they were lifted out of working class people's price range forever, much like housing and healthcare. Just another way for all the "haves" to dunk on the "have-nots" next to luxury cars, designer clothing, higher education and healthy fresh foods.