If I include travel cost, tickets, collects items, boots... WOW if I had put that all to a pension I could have retired way before Hyde Park last summer.
I have always spent tons of money on The Stones. It could be cd's, dvd's, concerts and hotel rooms and T-shirts but the experience is always ... PRICELESS!
I'm in the spent-way-too-much, don't-regret-a-thing, can't-take-it-with-you group. And as long as I enjoy their shows, which I do, and as long as I can afford it, I'll go on spending money on them!
Being a very big fan for 44 years, I have not spent much! I am no fool.
I figure US$540 in 44 years. That includes 4 concerts (when the concerts were worth a shit) 1969, 1972, 1975, and 1981. (sorry but I missed them in 1978). The above figure includes about 15 vinyl LP's, when LP's cost in the range of US$2.99 to US$7.99. It also inlcudes about 20 CD's at about 12 US bucks each. Throw in a few DVD's.
As for the future: I plan on spending practically nothing!
Gotta allow for inflation with regard to shows and such we all went to in earlier decades. It's inevitable that tickets, albums etc. bought in recent years cost more, so that kind of skews the demographic.
The 50 & counting tour did surely exceeds all spending from 1973 to 2007 on concert tickets and travels. Mind you in the 70ies I and early 80ies I slept in the car. Since the 90ies I took my wife along and stayed in hotels. Overseas trips to concerts bring more costs. For me the fading funds since the beginning of October last year have been worth twice or more the penny/cent. The concerts have been more than outstanding (my oppinion). All in all we feel blessed by all the trips we did, the people we met and friends we discovered again. The last shirt does not have any pockets so I'd rather spend what I can and save what I want, but can't take nothing with me except if my thoughts are still flying in the sky.