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SUBJECT: | Concert Ticket Prices-Gimme a Break! Back to Subjects |
dgaw59 Mar 14 2011 at 11:05 AM |
We just looked at ticket prices for our favorite artists this summer: 120-155. I realize people have to make a living and the music business has changed, but this is over-the-top; no one is worth seeing that much... |
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mugsy Mar 25 2011 at 1:51 PM |
I think people have missed my point from my earlier post. I too have paid and will pay $100 or so to see Pat. But $141 for Balcony seats is ridiculous (IMHO) and $900 for orchestra isn’t even worth talking about. |
john Mar 24 2011 at 6:01 PM |
Nissen, I have to disagree with your comparison between a jazz player and an NFL game. Recent tickets were priced at £65 for Pat and Keith Jarrett. Compare that with the £75 I paid to see the England Scotland Rugby International – 22 men playing (32 if you include the substitutes). Do the maths - £65 per man playing jazz or £2.34 per man playing international rugby. You can’t argue with those figures – it’s obvious which is the better value. Cheers John. |
dgaw59 Mar 24 2011 at 1:14 PM |
I can appreciate the expenses of touring and the changing financial nature of the music business but many of these artists (Paul Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor etc.) whom I actually admire are not exactly hurting for cash. There are hordes of comparably talented musicians who play for a fraction of these prices. Yes I would possibly pay 75-80 to see PM or someone of similar caliber but over the 100 range is absurd especially in times like these. And the ridiculous prices for sporting events are merely laughable and not worthy of comparison or conversation. |
hman01 Mar 24 2011 at 8:40 AM |
I guess this also depends on how many concerts you like to go to.Many of us can’t afford to go to a lot of concerts.But,because Pat Metheny gets priority status IMHO,I’ve seen him 12 times over the years.When he comes to my area,I will always see him,regardless of cost.But,I still don’t have a lot of money to go to a lot of other shows.So,the Charlie Sheen "Violent Torpedo of Truth,Defeat is Not an Option" tour is a no go for me.I’ll save that money for my next Pat Metheny concert.WINNING!!!! |
songsurfer Mar 23 2011 at 7:55 PM |
I saw the Orchestrion concert twice; once in Toronto and once in Buffalo and I must say that the ticket price is no rocket science and truly justified considering the logistical nightmare to haul around all that gear all over the globe. I often wondered how many sleepless nights Pat has had over the logistics of Orchestrion. |
barley Mar 23 2011 at 4:41 PM |
Nissen, put your hand on your wallet and enjoy. Lucky, lucky Nissen. |
Nissen67 Mar 23 2011 at 11:42 AM |
I have to jump in here and say that any thought of Pat (or any other jazz great, like Jarrett, et al) being too expensive is ludicrous and must be countered in balance with the reality of what it costs to go see a professional NFL or MLB game - which thousands of people regularly pay many times what any jazz show costs to sit in nosebleed seats to watch a game. Why should artists at the level that we are speaking about be expected to get less than that? After all they give us? Seeing the PM shows over the last nights reminded me what how lucky we are and what a bargain it is to see these guys at any price. I have say when I hear people muttering about paying 100 dollars at the high end for music at this level it irritates me. Even the symphony, an Opera or a Broadway show - not to mention the Barbra Streisands and U2’s of the world - are way WAY more than a typical jazz show. Jeez. |
BobSmith Mar 23 2011 at 7:59 AM |
Let’s see...11 bucks for general admission for the Offramp Tour circa 82...80 bucks per for Orchestrion 2010 (and they weren’t even close to the best seats). Still, if anyone has paid his dues and earned his bucks the hard way it’s Pat. As for most of the other schlock out there, if they were depending on me to finance their lifestyle they’d be working at Mickeedees--not that I have anything against working for a living. |
wright Mar 22 2011 at 9:55 PM |
Js21, I am fairing well, thank you very much, and hope you have blended in well with the locals north of the Mason-Dixon line. Was on the island last week and wondered if you had resettled. Yep, Little Five Points is a great place for good music. Good food on every corner and Bohemians everywhere. |
jsjj21 Mar 22 2011 at 10:39 AM |
Hey Wright! How’s my Georgia connection? Variety Playhouse is a cool venue. Got to watch Steve Smith and Vital Information there about 6 or 7 years ago and stood right in front of Steve Smith. It was quite the drum clinic! |
Oystein Mar 22 2011 at 4:45 AM |
All the music in the world is digitally available with a few clicks on our computers, and at a low cost because we dont`t have to buy the whole album to get our favourite song anymore. Spotify and other sites don`t pay the artists that much, and gives us the music for free if we can stand the commercial breaks. This lowers the artist`s income, and doing concerts has become their way of making money now. |
Bob Meyrick Mar 22 2011 at 3:04 AM |
Hmmm, for recent the Kurt Elling/Richard Galliano/SNJO concert at the Barbican (Pat’s UK venue of choice) I paid the top price of £27. Something of a bargain at £1.17 per musician! |
songsurfer Mar 22 2011 at 12:40 AM |
@wright - I just saw Al Di Meola @ the Blue Note in NYC and the ticket price was $30.00 at the bar and $45 at a table for a relatively short set of 90 minutes. Still an excellent deal considering that it included an informal meet and greet, because Al’s dressing room was just beside the washrooms. ;) |
wright Mar 21 2011 at 2:30 PM |
Paid 30 American dollars to see Al Di Meola Saturday night in a packed Variety Playhouse. Very reasonable price for two hours of superb music. And, it was great to see so many young people in attendance. |
fendweller Mar 21 2011 at 6:44 AM |
Things changed around the turn of the millennium. On the Imaginary Day tour, we paid £17.50 for PMG tickets in the UK. Then, when Speaking of Now was out, we were suddenly paying double that. OK, that was the Albert Hall and the deal might have worked differently, but I remember being taken aback by the doubling in price. It’s kept on going up ever since. Currency fluctuations, disproportionate fuel price hikes and higher insurance premiums are probably big factors. As is the fact that there’s been zero inflation in the retail price of recorded music for some time. Any business needs profit margin, and I fancy playing live now provides it. |
dgaw59 Mar 18 2011 at 7:46 PM |
much to PM’s credit he’s charging 50- 38 for some shows in Florida next week. That’s a bargain! |
john Mar 16 2011 at 8:00 PM |
mugsy, even Pat’s prices are creeping up. Last 2 visits to London, stalls tickets were £65 - around $100 each. Cheers John. |
yossarian Mar 16 2011 at 7:19 PM |
I go to very few concerts these days but I’m privileged to have seen some of the true greats over the years. Here in the UK prices are very high. I reckon this is something to do with insurance costs and the venues’ loss of government subsidy. Then there is reduced CD sales. Yet seeing PMG last year was probably the highlight of the year and what price would I put on it? It didn’t cost anymore than a ticket to a top Premier League soccer match, and unlike a soccer match, I was assured with a pleasurable outcome! |
mugsy Mar 16 2011 at 4:36 PM |
I just saw an ad for Paul Simon. He is coming to the SF Bay Area and when I checked out the prices, I almost died. The cheapest seats - way up in the balcony was $141. The prices went up to $975 EACH for orchestra. This is (IMHO) out of control! I so appreciate that (so far) Pat and company have made his concerts affordable - otherwise I don’t know that I would be able to attend, and that would be a very sad state. |
HAMBONE Mar 16 2011 at 12:56 PM |
I attend as many concerts as I can, as long as they are in my budget. Once the price is out of my range, I look elsehwere. And I’m lucky that I am only 1+ hours from Philly and 2+ from NYC. And I’m even luckier that Pat has always been in my range,in ticket prices and geographically. |
harn Mar 16 2011 at 10:42 AM |
And yet still many big gigs are sold out or at least very full. |
barley Mar 15 2011 at 4:31 PM |
zargb5, for you and the vast majority of music lovers that is the truth. Attendance at concerts is indeed a luxury that only a lucky few can afford. |
zargb5 Mar 15 2011 at 8:55 AM |
i haven’t been to any major gigs for ages. i just can’t afford it, not that and hotel bills, food, travel costs etc. |
Antoñete Mar 14 2011 at 4:47 PM |
The record industry just tries to keep making a profit with little effort. Twentysomething years ago they told us: "CD sound is unbeatable. Forget your vinyls and buy them again in CD to have a real digital sound experience for a lifetime". (note: here in Spain, vinyl price was something like 4€ and CD 18€). Now, cause nobody can take 300 vinyls in his pocket and then listen to them, they tell us: "Vinyl sound is unbeatable. CD sound ain’t warm". Price of the new vinyls in Spain? 35 to 45€. Meanwhile concerts tickets, the only other product they can sell today, rising up prices 200percent. But they don’t realize they have now the whole planet as market. And contact everyone of those millions of customers is so easy, that we can buy their products without geting up the bed. And I’m sure they have some different things they can sell to any of us. They must find a way to sell their products at very low cost to a market of millions of customers. The tools already exist. I think. |
Dazedcat Mar 14 2011 at 2:54 PM |
Only when people finally refuse to pay and find other things to do, only then will you see prices drop. Not until this. Which of course means it’ll never happen. |
Pete_Vancouver Mar 14 2011 at 1:38 PM |
Would it be uncharitable of me to envision the Ticketmaster head office being subsumed and carried out to sea by a viscous debris-strewn tsunami , to be devoured into a bottomless whirlpool from whence nothing could return ? ( apologies to Japanese readers of a sensitive disposition ) . |
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