Before I go any further a couple of things. This is not a negative post - I am a huge fan, and am very grateful to these guys for the pleasure they've given me through their music. Please don't pay out here. This topic however needs to get fleshed out.

It's been said in the past that these guys just don't do it for the money - in fact you'd never get these guys out of their mansions if it was just about the money, as they have more than they could ever possibly spend, right.

It seems to me that at worst there's a cynical undercurrent in relation to these guys and money, and their open perspective of making no excuses for maximising their earning potential.

The Stones long ago resolved that their album releases were never going to reach the heights of say "Some Girls" again, but I think the touring is a very seperate thing, whereby it's absolutely about the money, and raking in as much as they can, as well as of course basking in the kudos of having the biggest, most successful tour of all time when they manage to pull that off.

If this isn't the case, I would like to ponder why their ticket prices and merchandise etc is so much more exy than anyone else's, by a significant margin?

As a huge fan, I sometimes ponder what these guys give back to the fans. I was a fan club member (still am) for Licks, and got to see a theater show because of that, which was of course fantastic. But what else do / have these guys given back to the fans, and should they feel any obligation to?

Sometimes I can't help but ponder the possibly that the Alan Klein "price of an education" fuckup in relation to their pre 1970's work still burns them (particularly Mick) up, and to some extent may be driving this?



I'm a necessary talent behind ev'ry rock and roll band
I'm sharp...

I think you have a reasonable argument. I place most if not all the blame on the costs to put on shows + the management. With the money spent on staging/PA/lighting they could build their own venue and just play there anytime they wanted. Not to mention transportation costs. This is how my friends can justify spending $100 a ticket (cheap considering the money that could be spent). Its no longer a mere concert but an 'event' to attend. The show is guaranteed to blow away any firsttime attender and thats the draw. Once you're a legend you dont have to playup your name anymore. Jagger could write "The Stones" on a sheet of cardboard and hang it up outside MSG a week before the show and people would go nuts. Blame the management for the skyhigh tickets. My two cents, and then some.

During the somewhat recent tours that preceeded the high ticket prices, namely '89 and '94, scalpers/brokers were often getting $300 or more. I think the question became, if people are willing to pay it, why not charge that much face value? Why let the scalpers/brokers make so much why the act can?

I agree with inopeng. Why should the scalpers make the money when the management and the Stones can make it themselves.
Regarding scalpers you should check also the brokers side and it is quite intersting that like tickets at the Hollywood Bowl tend to get "cheaper" (whatever cheap is in this case) and some even promote "special prices". Also do not forget that we have to pay the tickets prices for the Rolling Stones' entourage who receive a lot of tickets free. I do know that some of die hard fans are also in favor of this. Saw it myself in Vredenburg. Some of these entourage tickets are also sold. It's hard to prove but it's a fact.

but in the overall scheme of things, what % of total ticket sales would be by scalpers? I wouldn't have thought a high enough % for the Stones and their management to resolve that this was the impetus for everyone to therefore have to pay exorbitant prices.

I'm a necessary talent behind ev'ry rock and roll band
I'm sharp...

Totally agree Tom. 30% of the sales go via brokers, that's what i assume. Some have own homepages with the same ticketsource and some have only listings on ebay and are more private run. I do not know how the ticket prices are getting out in the US. I have tickets 9th Row for Petco (A8 ok) which are 99 USD where as a friend has Row 24 with USD 450. I don't think that such decisions are made by the management rather than someone else. So you see that this is all a bit strange

Cheers Lodge, an interestig insight for me , thanks.

For one of the Lix shows I bought a 10th row center ticket, the day of the show, at the height of all excitement for 100 dollars. That was a PAIR of tickets actually. It was one of these "sold out" shows too.
So all these $450 prices are mainly on paper,for suckers.

That was for the Licks tour, Chelsea, where face value for those seats was only 1/3 of what those seats cost now. But I get your point. I'm not willing to pay $450 to see this band anymore, whom, frankly, I don't consider the Rolling Stones anymore. (I would gladly have paid $1000 to see them 30 years ago.) So I'm just gonna wait until the week of the show to buy my tix, when there's certain to be many, many sellers who are desperate to sell for less than face value.





-- Keep on rollin'. Keep on. Keep on. Keep on. --