Poll: "Premium" concert ticket prices - Are they justified?

Concert tickets - The top-notch seats are way expensive these days.� Is it worth it?� Do you shy away from high ticket prices?� And do you think they are justified, taking those high ticket prices away from scalpers by beating them at their own game?

I don't think I shy away from the prices so much as the acts that are demanding the high prices.

Why pay $150 for 30th-row seats for someone whose last decent album (which, admittedly, I love) came out the year before I was born when I can pay $8 for a general-admission ticket to a venue the size of the concessions area of the arena?

And as a bonus, I can probably chat with the performer at the $8 concert without having to have won a radio contest for backstage passes.

(I thought about this a whole bunch when BNL started getting "big" -- I realized then that, good on them, but all I was getting for the extra money I was paying was worse seats. It helped that right around that time I was introduced to this band called Milky Sübstance.)

For real... the most I generally pay is $20-25 to see Lowen & Navarro, who are both divorced and supporting children, so I'll shell out a little extra money considering they're still playing small enough places and they're extremely accessible... and $25-30 to see Weird Al because I can understand the money for the production value of a show like that- when you consider a 5 man band, road crew, costume maintenance and video screen/stage setup, that's not a bad deal at all.� I'll only go to arena shows every couple of years, to check out someone fun I hadn't seen live before (Depeche, Rush, etc.) other than that, small club prices and ACOUSTICS have me spoiled.

Yeah, I agree. It's so hard to justify that kind of expense when we can get so many shows by amazing smaller performers for the same total.

I used to do a lot of the high priced stadium shows. Mostly because I had no other option...I didn't know the smaller music. And also I was young and the "events" atmosphere of it all affected me more. I paid $200 to see Paul McCartney and about $100 to see Pink Floyd. Those were the biggest tickets I've done, though I saw many other big budget tours like Aerosmith and Rush and such. I don't regret it, really...they were great for what they were. I just wouldn't do it anymore. I'm a different person and my entertainment dollars have better ways of being spent now. :)

i've only gone to two stadium shows in my life--both last fall, actually (rem, and simon & garfunkel)--both because i don't have that much money and because there are so many great acts i can see for $20 or less, often even free.

I don't know that I can�agree with that first part.� If�there were a�famous performer who played big arenas, and you really wanted to see them, it wouldn't be the same thing to go to three local shows instead.� Sure, it might well end up costing less money and possibly even being more fun, but it's still not the same.� It's not like you can mathematically say that a certain number of less famous performers are equal to one more famous artist.� (Well, maybe YOU can, but I can't.)

That said, I do think that tickets for a lot of shows, especially for more famous artists, are so expensive as to make people less likely to attend.� I don't necessarily mind if tickets way up in the front cost a lot, but having to pay a lot for a seat where you can hardly even see the performer is somewhat ridiculous.

I don't get it - since when do you have to pay money to see concerts?

When you're not on stage? :-)

Heh.. life is sad when you play more concerts than you see. I'm going to miss the Ann Arbor Folk Fest next weekend when Peter Mulvey plays. But speaking of expensive concerts.. it's a good thing I'm not going. :)

I used to say I would pay that much if Simon and Garfunkel started touring again, but seeing as I couldn't afford to go when they did, I can't say that anymore ;-)

I don't know what my upper-limit is really. In the end, I prefer to see smaller acts at smaller venues. I was thinking at one point that I wouldn't see GBS again, since they were going for $25 last time the were nearby. Then again when I heard they were touring this way again, I was more than prepared to spend the $25 (and then it turned out to be much less).

I guess it comes down to some combination of how much I like a band, how much money I have, and what the venue is. Honestly, I'd probably be willing to pay more to see a band I liked at a small venue than I would to see a band I liked a bit more in a big arena.

It seems at every recent large sold-out concert I've been to, both scalpers and fans have been selling tickets far below face value before the show.� When Ani played at Central Park this summer, tickets were selling at face about an hour before the opening act, and were down to 1/2 or 1/4 of face when the opener was playing.� When Dave Matthews�& Friends played at Madison Square Garden last month, you couldn't sell the 'cheap' seats for $10... and come 20-30 minutes before show time, you could literally find someone who would GIVE you a ticket.� There were homeless people asking for a miracle and getting it... presumably just so they could come in out of the cold (a sad story in itself).

It seems to me that ticket prices are often so high that they fail to attract enough legitimate buyers.� Combine that with the difficulty competing for tickets in the scam that is Ticketmaster, and the fans stay home, many not knowing that they CAN get seats if they just go to the venue and hang around for a few minutes.

The whole process is so broken.

I prefer in general rather smaller concerts at more intimate venues anyway. High prices are usually not the problem. And as my eye-sight is limited I can really see the artist:)
OTOH even Ani -playing here in Germany last year- wasn't expensive at all (�17) in a cool small venue. The most expensive show ($35) I attended last year was Arlo at Club Passim which was definitely worth every penny...

Excluding Phish shows, I hadn't been to any huge stadium concerts for a couple of years, until I went to see Bruce Springsteen last fall. Like Andrea, I used to go to to those a lot, since they were really the only music I really knew. My first concert ever was the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour '89. It doesn't get much bigger!

Honestly, I was pretty bored at the Springsteen show. We were so far away, I just couldn't get involved. Apparently it was the 2nd highest grossing tour of all time (after the Stones in the mid-90's).

I'd never seen him live though, and I'd probably shell out to see another legend should the opportunity arise.

I will pay any price for good Rush seats.

I paid BIG bucks to see Peter Gabriel and it was worth every dime. And considering what the budget of that show must be, I think he's lucky if he breaks even. And the bulk of the show was new, fresh material with of course some of his old tunes mixed in. :)

There are few performers that I will pay arena prices to see. But then, there are few performers I like that play in arenas.

The reason I posted this was due to a new way Dream Theater were issueing the good seats.� The 1st 5 rows were going for $250 a pop, although they included a meet and greet with the band, a photo op with the band, and a t-shirt.� Other packages went for $100 and $75 a pop for lesser seats and packages.

Fans complained, as they tend to do.� Then it was revealed by the drummer of the band that the money of the premium seats were only going towards the higher cost of the stage show, not the band themselves.� And, the fact that the band has done VERY cool things for the fans at shows, like playing 3-4 hours shows at each venue, surprising fans with a cover of an entire classic metal album, or say doing an intimate show at a small club in Times Square (Ellen, you out there?), I believe him.

Furthur noted was the fact that there were VERY few of these premium seats available, and only 20 of the $250 seast available for the center 4 seats in the 1st 5 rows.� And for those who thought fans wouldn't buy them, they were wrong.� They were scooped up in seconds.

This doesn't change the fact that I'm personally pissed about the DT shows.� Not because of ticket prices, but because the NYC area shows take place the same weekend as Beatlefest!!!!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

I realized why I haven't voted here. I'm not really sure what the poll means. Would I pay the premium prices? With my present finances no. I am spoiled by seeing artists in small venues and my entertainment dollar is better spent on that. If I had more money I'dsee Simon and Garfunkel and Dylan, and other performers. It isn't a matter of being justfied as personal economics. If they can sell the tickets at the high prices they might as well.