Maybe this is a subject that can be discussed without getting into the dreaded political arena?

$3.85 for a gallon of regular where I live (Ann Arbor, Michigan). How much is it where you live?

I drive a Diesel car, 1 litre is around Euro 1,30 now.

Most of the concert venues I visit regularly are within 60 miles of my home, so getting to the shows is no big problem, but as gas takes a bigger and bigger chunk out of my paycheck each week, there is definitely less money available to buy concert tickets.

Approaching $10 a gallon here in the UK

As Bruce said, wish I was 'Born in the USA'

Quote
stonesrick
Approaching $10 a gallon here in the UK

As Bruce said, wish I was 'Born in the USA'

That boggles my mind. If it ever got that high in the States, life in this country as we now know it would be changed forever. I think people would begin to riot. (Ooops, political. Sorry)

I don't care about the price of gasoline so much having a cut on me going to see any shows because it's a rare occasion someone I like enough to go see comes to New Orleans. Either I'll pay for the tickets and the gasoline if I can afford it or not.

I'm gonna have to give up either eating or drinking - Damn! I'm gonna miss food!

philadelphia $3.58 a gallon

I've been told to expect $2.94 a LITRE for unleaded by the autumn!

Thats $13.24 a gallon

Quote
ablett
I've been told to expect $2.94 a LITRE for unleaded by the autumn!

Thats $13.24 a gallon

To what extent is that going to have an impact on your life? Less money for Who tickets, right?

I don't know, maybe we're just really spoiled here in America. Maybe we have no right to complain about $4 a gallon gas. Maybe we should be thankful it's ONLY $4. But we're Americans. We feel we're entitled to live "the good life" whatever that may mean. And if anyone tries to take away our toys, we're gonna get really angry.

It's a good thing, it makes people investigate and rediscover there own surroundings again, instead of going far away ;-)

(my neck itches... ...someone feel like scratching it with an axe?)

Jelle

Forgot to answer the question. Up to now it doesn't affect me much, but I spend around 300 euros a month on petrol and I'd love to spend that money on something else...

"And if anyone tries to take away our toys, we're gonna get really angry"

Ohhhh, you could open a minefield with that one buddy.....

Food's going through roof.... breads almost double what it was 3 years ago

Electric and gas rising....

Tax bills is rising, especially if your at the lower end of the pay scale.

EVERYTHING! So yes, a huge impact on life

A few things that I'm trying to do -

Grow a small garden (luckily I live in the SERIOUS country and have plenty of room.)

Plant trees - Planted about 700 pines recently as well as some fruit and ornamental trees (magnolias, maples, etc.)

Driving a WHOLE lot less. I used to love to drive dirt roads and listen to music, but it costs too damn much. So I basically built a sports bar in my back yard.

My truck burns ethanol as well as gasoline, but lately that seems to be getting a lot of blame (unfairly I think) for food prices.


I'm open for suggestions (realistic please). I live 8 miles from my job, so walking isn't an option. Mass transit out here is 2 people on a tractor! I can meet the Dominoes guy only 20 miles from my house.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-08 18:22 by Elmo Lewis.

No, as I dont usually drive to shows. Fly or take the train. Filled up yesterday, $3.45 per gallon. There's more to this gas price race than meets the eye.

JR

Wonder how much higher the tickets prices will increase for the next Stones tour
of the USA with the much higher gas prices?

I do some on-off work with some various promoters and they are taking a hit. Shows are bombing and most summer shows that would have soldout quickly are not.

A lot of the outdoor sheds are far from the cities, people are considering the 50 + mile round trip into their show budget.

The big acts will still draw, but it's the mid-level, theater and club shows are taking a pounding.

Neil Diamond is doing great business, but most of the older people who see him go to one show a year. (I'm 40 and have seen him 4 times since 1979..he's good) Sad though, they were offering several pre-sales before the Public On-Sale and finally on the day of the Public On-Sale Ticketmaster (Ticket Exchange) had their legal scalping site running full steam offering the best seats 2-3x above face price. It's free enterprise, but that site was designed for people who wanted to get rid of tickets because "something came up". I feel there should be a 10 day waiting period between the first day of public on-sale and when people can re-sell on the Ticket Exchange site. It's too fishy.

I pay for the tickets and my Boss pay's for the gasoline.

__________________________

forget the price of gas...the gouging from LiveNation and the other ticket monoplies is what stops me...

Saw a news report the other day saying that Amtrak (America's train service) is seeing a big upswing in bookings.
They attribute that directly to gas prices.

Not so much the price pf petrol as the dreadful transport infrastructure that now exists in the UK.

I'd have loved to have been able to make the 400 mile trip to see Mick Taylor last Monday in London, but being a bank holiday, my one-way journey alone could have taken anything between 3 and 10 hours.

Since the railways were privatised some years back, the motorways have become clogged up with huge lorries, to the point were long-distance driving is now somthing to be avoided at all costs.

Here in my State, West Australia, the average city price is $1.52 a litre, thats around $6.38 agallon AUD$=94cUS. Of that the Govt takes 62c a litre. What I dont understand is if we have so called world parity pricing, how come Australia with its vast gas supplies and some oil of our own, do we have different prices around the globe. We are paying 60c a litre for LPG and this state has the biggest gas reserves in the world.I think the chinese buy our gas at around 2c a litre.

Is the price of concert going affecting what you spend on gasoline? I ponder! Fuel affects it all including the beer you love so much! Cheers!

Quote
stone-relics
No, as I dont usually drive to shows. Fly or take the train. Filled up yesterday, $3.45 per gallon. There's more to this gas price race than meets the eye.

JR

Damn Straight JR, there's a 2 - 3 year waiting list for the custom construction of your own super yacht, Tiffany's has no problem selling it's highest end VERY EXPENSIVE jewelry, it's the $1,000 + - area - what the middle class buy - that is now slow moving as far as sales goes, the VERY expensive Real Estate in Manhattan is selling the quickest, Luxury Hotels are not having problems with their rooms but Las Vegas (a very middle class destination) is down about 10% in attendance for the first time since a 1% drop after 9/11/2001..... There's been a shift were the super rich have gotten richer at the sacrifice of the upper, middle, and lower middle class - FIGURE IT OUT (it's not hard). Not Political, just A FACT....I'm not buying this "gas crisis" as REAL for a second - just making a few rich fat cats even fatter while they still have time.....

To answer your question, I don't go to concerts any more so no effect here. I don't even drive too much anymore (luckily I work out of the house most of the time) but my next car will be a hybrid to keep global warming down, use less fuel.....

Only that Sheryl Crow writes crap songs about it and makes me no longer want to bother seeing her

Quote
HelterSkelter

To answer your question, I don't go to concerts any more so no effect here.

I'm sure you've discussed this before, but why? Are all the people you like dead?

Ethanol - The Great Ripoff.

It takes 1.25 gallons of gasoline to make 1 gallon of Ethanol. That's typical US government thinking and action.

The US government has basically eliminated any other choices or venues for making ethanol because the farmers, well, need I go any further with THAT one? There are lots of other plants that can make ethanol but they farmers and the government seem to have some kind of monopolised contract....

Gasoline is 3.65$ or so where I'm at. And I make a point to NOT buy gas that has ethanol in it. If I can. So if we were in Europe where in most places they use Euros then think of the cost of gasoline - it would be considerably less money. It would be cheaper - except the reality in Europe for fuel is that it already is expensive and way so more than in the US and would cost even MORE in the US if we had European prices because the US dollar SUCKS ASS.

You can not compare US prices with European prices. Firstly, the gasoline and benzine in the US is of lesser quality. To be technical: in the US most refiners use "fluid catalyst cracking units", which produce a mediocre quality benzine. In Europe most refiners have "hydrocracking units", which produce diesel. In order to produce benzine European refineries use isomerisation, alkylation and reforming processes, which all produce high quality benzine. Higher quality benzine means more miles per gallon. (Sorry for this techical blabla, I work as a consultant for refineries).

Second, the main difference is taxing: in Europe there is about 200% tax on fuel oils, of which the social system, health care, public transport, roads etc. are payed. In the Netherlands we even get 30% tot 50% of the morgage we pay back from our government.

In the end, the raising fuel oil prices will hit the US harder than it does Europe, as the US does not have a system to fall back on. Most Americans live quite far from their work and are fully depending on their car for transport due to a lack of a good public transport system. Also, in general American cars are big, benzine guzzling vehicels, while in Europe we got used to small efficient cars.

But in the end, fossil fuel prices as are today are not high -they just have been way too low for the 30 years due to the sheer abundance. Even at $125 a barrel, crude oil is still cheaper than Coca Cola.


Mathijs

Good post Mathijs, the high gasoline price will not affect anyone from concert going here in Norway I think.
Even when costomers are complaining that the price pr litre today is close to $3.
But nobody talks about that the same petrol stations are selling water bottels for $4 a liter and the same quality of warer are free all over.

Excellent post Mathijs, that is some info I'm gonna need to memorize I think.......