The great British music magazine "Q" has an interesting article on the high cost of concerts and what the future will probably look like as well as who's making the most money (try and guess) these days.

2006's most expensive gigs:

MADONNA 160 Pounds (about $300.00 USA)

ROLLING STONES 150 Pounds (almost $300.00 USA)

GEORGE MICHAEL 100 Pounds - WHAT !?!? GEORGE "Mr.1980's" MICHAEL ??? You Brits can have strange taste

BILLY JOEL/EAGLES 75 pounds each - (about $140.00 USA) - opps, American's can have STRANGE TASTE !!!

"FOLLOW DA MONEY" In 2002 the Rolling Stones made almost $40 MILLION from touring the USA. They ONLY made $1 MILLION in the USA from CD sales in that year.

The Future - More and more concert seats will be sold via auctioning off of tickets which brings in 30% to 100% more in revenue (so be sure to get a higher credit limit on your credit cards)

Will this change your concert going habits? More or Less Concerts?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-07-17 22:07 by MicksBrain.

Come on kids, any comments?

Another list by Q. It used to be a decent mag. And as far as seeing the Stones is concerned wild horses wouldn't keep me away. Auction or not.

After paying $20.00 for a $12.50 ticket in 1975, I find the current prices obscene beyond reason.

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

Yeah, I remember those days.... $5.50 for the 1969 tour...but look at their hotel in "Gimme Shelter" - not quite THE RITZ or 4 SEASONS....

No matter how you look at it - the prices ARE a ripp-off. As a result, there are not many sell-outs on this tour and the atmosphere is not the same. Still, thats the way they want it.......and we keep on paying.........

MicksBrain Wrote:
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> Come on kids, any comments?

Yeah, I've got one. Heard on UK news today that the government was floating the idea of making ticket re-selling (scalping in other words) illegal.

BINGO ! What the f*** took them so long ? About f***ing time too !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-07-18 00:27 by paulywaul.

O.k., it's expensive. So let's ask another question. What do (and did) you get for your money? Who's opening for the acts mentioned? Some decades ago it costed the same to see Tanita Tikaram (Twist in my sobriety) do a 70 minute concert than to see the Stones.
What about Elton John? Placido Domingo? They are not on the list. How much were U2? How much is Rod Stewart doing the Great American Songbook? Who opened up for them? How much were these bands worth?
I think the real rip-offs of that list are George Michael, Billy Joel and Eagles. They haven't released an album in years! I love Q, but do they see a difference in that?
Madonna might be different on that list. But: Can anyone find out sales figures of Madonna's latest album as of A Bigger Bang on other threads?! I don't think she made that much.
In 2003, in Germany The Pretenders (at least a very good "retro" act) and AC/DC opened for the Stones. AC/DC did a 100 minutes the whole stuff with bells and school uniform. I think most of you would agree that all three acts are worth seeing them - how much would they have been if you had attended 3 concerts? O.K., this time it's different, young bands but, thank God!, it's not Motley Crue! (Hey, where are GunsNRoses gone?)

Paulywauly, yeah, I read that too....don't worry, they'll figure out a way around it - They tried to do it here and it didn't work....

Q Magazine used to be a great read - cover to cover - but these days it's just boring and not worth spending the beer tokens on.

MicksBrain Wrote:
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> Come on kids, any comments?



Here's my comment. The exchange rate is 1:2. It's 1:1.8

I saw The Who in 1975, with Keith Moon of course: $7.00

Buying cold beer from my friend's older sister: $2.00

Buying 4 hits of high powered LSD purple haze microdots for me and 3 buddies $8.00

Seeing laser lights for the first time while tripping: Priceless

Holy Crap lukester. Seeing the who in their prime stoned and drinking for under 20 bucks WOW!. Damn, that must have been nice, to see the Who now I payed 200 bucks for tickets in the nose bleed section of the United Center. Ironically, thats still cheaper than what I would have paid to see the Stones earlier this year in the same venue and same seating location ( I didnt go because I was on my way to grad school and knew I would need the money).

x



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-07 21:24 by Beelyboy.

i dare anyone to defend the ticket prices. we all know they're obscene. but we still pay em. and that makes me ashamed

Lukester Wrote:
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> I saw The Who in 1975, with Keith Moon of course:
> $7.00
>
> Buying cold beer from my friend's older sister:
> $2.00
>
> Buying 4 hits of high powered LSD purple haze
> microdots for me and 3 buddies $8.00
>
> Seeing laser lights for the first time while
> tripping: Priceless

Wow. And you didn't even mentioned the relaxed sexual attitudes in the '70s. Gosh, I'm so glad I grew up in the '80s with Ronald Regan, AIDS and Duran Duran. Ugh! That's it, I'm building a time machine and travelling back to the '70s. But as usual I'll probably fail and have to settle for getting as close as possible - putting on my vinyl copy of Sticky Fingers, turning on the lava light and doing a few dozen bong hits. A poor substitute, but we must all do what we can to keep the spirit alive.

I only get nosebleed seats. Last time I saw the Stones, it felt like I was watching a flea circus.

MicksBrain Wrote:
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> The great British music magazine "Q"

see, thats where you made your first mistake

Q has been little more than an unreadable pile of crap for about 5-6 years or more. The decent journalists jumped ship to other mags like Uncut and Mojo and left a once fine magazine to the mercy of barely literate kids and musically ignorant hacks who feel the need to pad several dozen pages of each issue with pointless lists that they thought up in their teabreak and which are blatant spacefiller.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-07-18 04:30 by Gazza.

MicksBrain Wrote:
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> Come on kids, any comments?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/06 22:07 by MicksBrain.


Do you MickC understand the difference between million and billion?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-07-18 03:49 by Hurriganes.

Don't know about y'all, but it was just as hard for me to pay 15-20 dollars in '75, as it is to pay 150-200 dollars now; maybe harder.

Don't know about y'all, but it was just as hard for me to pay 15-20 dollars in '75, as it is to pay 150-200 dollars now; maybe harder.
Wish they'd come back thru town, so I could do it again

Oops, apology for "double" post

Q magazine is probably selling their own magazine with the Stones on the cover as they roll into UK later this summer, may be even with more than one cover photo, just to make sure they sell more than one magazine to any hardcore Stones fan. As for ticket prices, the Stones have always been market leader. No big nes really, it's been like that for 30+ years.

Bjornulf

paulywaul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MicksBrain Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Come on kids, any comments?
>
> Yeah, I've got one. Heard on UK news today that
> the government was floating the idea of making
> ticket re-selling (scalping in other words)
> illegal.
>
> BINGO ! What the f*** took them so long ? About
> f***ing time too !!

Very Nice! So Denmark already passed the law. Holland, too. In Norway, they're writing the laws to ban scalping now. And then the UK... This is brilliant, people!

>Very Nice! So Denmark already passed the law. Holland, too. In Norway, they're >writing the laws to ban scalping now. And then the UK... This is brilliant, >people!

Interesting, will this lower the ticket prices or what? The US already has this law and might also have the highest ticket prices. Nowadays the "artists" or better the groups of business mans scalp their own tickets.

The only way is to not buy, and in Europe most people did so they got their disaster by cancelling a lot of shows (don't believe anyone who will tell you it's because of Keiths accident!)

Just to let you know
I paid 40 Euros for Front of Stage on Sunday for Munich and I was more or less first row Keith's Side.

Interesting article from Pollstar:
[www.pollstar.com]

If you've followed this board regularly for the last year and you want tickets for the UK gigs, there have been many chances to get front block seats for Twickenham (both), Glasgow and Sheffield. £60 each. I know the prices are terrible on the whole but if you're patient and a frequent IORRer you can score amazing fairly priced tickets.

If EU took the concert goers seriously we would have laws like they have for treating and transportation of animals. They rip your water and food and your little pocket camera and inside they even take away your water bottle cap because it might turn this little bottle into a weapon. And these beefy local security people seems to bother everyone at their own amusement at times. I am a very patient guy because I want to enjoy the show and not worry about all these things. But at some stage I think the market and the authorities forgot that concert goers are no longer teenagers at a festival but grown up people with rights. So the ticket price and the way they sell them is just a little part of the story.

Bjornulf

Yeah, we have seen a tiny little coin doing a million harm while hitting a visitors goalkeeper. Seen many times Mick dodging flying objects too. Completely true, but where to draw the line? No coins in the pocket, no belts... Funny accidental comparison this EU laws for transportation of animals - just watched the fans in the middle of the tongue in NFL half time.