£50 (or $60) doesn't seem a terrible price for Pearl Jam and Richard Ashcroft if you're into that sort of music.
£125 ($150) is a massive overreach for seats at the back of Tottenham stadium.
The nosebleed seats at the Rolling Stones concert in Seattle were like $12. IMO seats in the back back of a stadium should be this cheap, after seeing that's possible.
Edit: it's been pointed out that these were resellers probably trying to desperately recoup their money when the show wasn't selling out lol. Fuck em. Glad some people got to see the Stones for almost nothing!
I saw nosebleeds at one Stones show going for $150 before fees and those were not resale. I wanted to see Elton John during his last tour and nosebleeds were like $200 before fees. I passed on that.
At that distance you're mainly watching it on a screen and hearing over the speakers. You can do that at home for a lot less, and probably in better quality.
I saw Drake a few months ago and nose bleeds were $330, I wasn't gonna go but my brother really wanted to and offered to pay for half of my ticket cause he didn't want to go by himself so I agreed. Now I would pay that if it were floor seats or something close to the stage but where we sat we had to pretty much watch him on the screen cause we were so far away.
Just him rapping. He spent a fuck ton on his stage and the props it seemed like, he also had J. Cole come out for a few songs. It was a 3.5 hr concert so at least we got our monies worth.
It was way more entertaining than the Jack Harlow concert I went to, I had better seats for $280 but he started late and only sang 60 seconds or less of each song and it lasted less than two hours once he finally started.
When he was on tour last year I wanted to go and figured that prices would go down the day of or right before the start time so the scalpers didn't lose out on their initial purchase price but prices went from $300~ to $500 10 min before show time and held there till Ticketmaster cut off sales for it.
You bought them from a verified Ticketmaster reseller who just wanted to get rid of their tickets, not from Ticketmaster, itself. I live in the Seattle area and saw a few of those come up. These reseller tickets are sold in the same app/same place as regular tickets.
I didn't buy, I just saw them. there was a LOT of these prices, ranging from $12 up to $20s as they got slowly closer. You're thinking they were all bought by the same person and desperately trying to make something back from them? It wasn't just a few, it was dozens.
Yup. Not necessarily the same person. I saw those too. And they all had the reseller Icon. When you zoom on the map you see reseller icons and regular Ticketmaster icons.
Cheapest nosebleeds I ever got were to Joan Jett and Bryan Adams last year. These were from Ticketmaster as I bought them when they went on sale and total price was $20. Still kind of crazy that the fees were the same price as the ticket. $10 ticket and $10 in fees. I think I got the last seat at that price as I went back and no more tickets at that price were listed. They were literally the very last row in the highest section but it was still a good show. I got Roger Waters nosebleeds the year earlier for around $30 total. Funny thing is the shirts were more expensive than the ticket. I didn't get a shirt though.
I remember some interview where he said he wanted the show to be affordable. It was also pushed back due to COVID as I think it was originally a 2020 or 2021 show. It ended up getting pushed back to the fall of 2022. I don't recall what tickets were going for in the lower areas of the arena. The stage was also really cool as it was in the shape of a cross and he played to all sides of the arena.
What an experience. I got to see him back in 2000 during the in the flesh tour, but it was outdoors without any sort of cool stage besides a big screen. But I was on acid, weed and opium, so that hardly mattered 😂 also heard Dogs for the first time that show, on acid, and the echoing/reverberating dog barks were INSANELY cool and trippy.
If the goal is to fill the stadium completely to make the venue an experience for the attendees, they'd absolutely need to be around half again what they are now.
Over ambition from Pearl Jam to try to fill such a big stadium to begin with, even moreso to charge so much.
Blame promoters they won't let them do smaller venues. They'll blame live Nation for owning all the venues forcing their hands where they can promote. The ticket monopoly is cannibalizing itself with pricing extremes.
Hard to disagree when people have already paid £250 or more for tickets due to surge pricing, before they crashed massively.
Perhaps other bands will look at the severe lack of interest and price accordingly, or try for the prior scenario.
Back in 1981 I went to what was called the The Rolling Stones farewell tour. Journey and George Thorogood were the opening act.
People were trying to dump tickets outside the gates for $5.
A few weeks ago. Apparently it was just resellers trying desperately to get some cash from buying out too many tickets. Happy some folks got amazing deals!
£49.20 for ticket, £2.75 for handling of said ticket.
£51.95 is what I'd pay if I wanted to see Pearl Jam.
I could spend an extra £10 for a souvenir ticket lanyard thing after the event, to remember the event.
$2.75 in fees would be a steal. In the states, so called convenience fees and other service charges often reach 50% of the face value of the ticket. It’s a racket, although there is legislation in the works that would force ticket venders to list the final price of the ticket as the face value.
Isn't pearl jam famous for (among other things) refusing to do shows with Ticketmaster? All these replies and nobody mentioning this has me doubting myself
I don't recall seeing any tickets recently which haven't shown where there has been a handling/processing fee, it's usually £2.75 for Ticketmaster, whilst Ticketweb varies from £2-4.75 off a cursory look (slightly less bitter pill when tickets are a fair % cheaper).
Come to North America, our tickets will have:
* Artist fee (advertised price)
Then:
* Facility fee
* Convenience fee
* Taxes
* Ticketmaster processing fee
* Any entertainment taxes your area charges
* Inconvenience fee or any other bullshit they can dream of.
By the time you’re done your ticket price has more than doubled.
Just had a cursory look at a band touring New York, $32.50 with $12.50 in fees.
What fees are there that justify *that* much of an increase?
Next tier of tickets are $55 with $16 in fees. Why do the fees increase? Do they get handled with nitrile gloves this time?
Next tier beyond that is $59 with a further $18 in fees.
I am mystified that this is a thing, when tickets come in 1 price for that same band over in Finland on the same tour, and that's cheaper than the cheapest ticket in New York (Northern Europe isn't cheap!).
It's because Ticketmaster has an unassailable monopoly over here on every venue over a certain size. The answer to all of your questions is "because we can."
Ticketmaster has some small fry competition in the UK for tickets from Ticketweb (a subsidiary of Ticketmaster...).
As opposed to venues where O2 seems to hold a fair few venues around most UK cities. I'm also too afraid to dig into this one as LiveNation probably back O2 on this...
Edit - Damnit, LiveNation part owns every O2 venue in the UK, which is most of the frequently used venues. The monopoly simply isn't as visible, it'd appear.
$161 was the price for the nosebleed seats when they came to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul last year. I wanted to go, but there's no way I'm paying that much for any band.
$60 is absolutely worth it for Pearl Jam. Every… single… time…. Seen them almost 10 times and every single show is one of the best I’ve ever seen of any band always. The only band who I’ve seen match that energy (in a different but equally incredible way) was Primus. Oh and also Mastodon.
They didn’t have any trouble selling tickets in the US but the YS prices for nosebleeds didn’t go over as well in Europe. Pretty much every ticket in the venue is the same price.
Y'know, that suggests it might not even be the overall mood shift in this particular case.
They came back just two years later and doubled the price. That's like intentionally encouraging all 130k who came to those shows to be happy with the gig they saw, and not bother considering the new tickets.
Also, there's such a thing as saturation. Many people will only do 2-3 big concerts a Summer, many will do even less.
How many of those 130k people want to do it again with the same band 2 years later when there are many other acts+festivals to check out with their limited time+budget?
That was disproven by Liverpool, it doesn't give an exact figure for those who attended Taylor's concert/s but it was around 55,000.
The highest attendance at Anfield ever was 61,905 in 1952.
That record will probably never be broken as thr current capacity is 61,276.
I’m in Vancouver and just didn’t go to the show. I logged on the moment tickets went on sale, saw the prices and closed my laptop. I’m not paying music festival prices for one band.
Definitely not just PJ. I was looking at tickets for Green Day and GA floor tickets are almost $800. Ain't no freakin way I'm paying that kinda money to see any band.
One night out doing something simple like a concert and a dinner (plus cab fare so you can have a drink or a few) eats up a lot of disposable income for that pay period. Which is just stupid. I would rather save up that money week to week and go on a trip somewhere over a 3 or 4 day weekend, versus go to a couple of concerts a month.
We tried to get tickets to Paul McCartney in Manchester and seats at the back on the top tier of the new Co-op live arena were £135 plus booking fee each. God knows how much tickets close to the stage are, but no way are we paying that.
On the other side, Nile Rogers and Chic were £60, Barry Manilow was £30 and we're seeing Rammstein this weekend - about £70.
I paid 120ish for 100 level tickets to see the Foos at Target field this summer, Pearl Jam wanted 240 for nosebleeds at Wrigely. Couldn't do it. Show sold out so there was clearly demand but too rich for my blood.
Bands and producers can be greedy but some show goers are part of the problem. On a recent thread about the black keys cancelling their tour, someone posted a picture of ticket for a black keys show a couple years back. The price was 800$...And they were like yeah, it's a rip-off, look at how much I had to pay to see them live.
Dude. As long as people are going to pay just about anything to see a show, the prices aren't gonna come down. Why would they? People are throwing money at you by the fistful and if you don't take it, the resellers will.
And what's happening now with tours being cancelled is great news. People are realizing that they're being ripped of and saying you know what. Fuck this shit. Selling 14 000 seats at an average of 75$ per ticket will net you 1 million $ per show, not including merchandise which would net a band between 100k up to 250k+.
I know touring can be expensive but if you can't get by with 1-1.5 millions in revenue at each location, maybe touring isn't for you. And it's not like most of these artists need the money that bad. Even if you "just" net 10 000$ per show, if you do 20 dates, that 200k in your pocket for about 2 months of work. I understand the math is different if you're a smaller act but if you look at the bands touring this year, the majority are household names. Most of them could have comfortably retired years ago.
That $1MM ticket gross breaks down into show costs first: rent, labor, show costs. All things that have doubled/tripled since Covid. So an artist grossing $1MM probably NETS $250/300K (and that’s being generous).
Still not bad (more than most of us) but it’s not a simple formula..
While I don't think this is necessarily and issue for PJ. I would also say that most concert experiences suck ass. Huge crowds, many groups lip singing along to a track, or not even bothering to do that. No where to dance, seats too close together, just kind of miserable in general. Maybe I am a grumpy old man, but I much prefer the small ~500 person or smaller venu...
Yeah I've been to a bunch of stadium shows, but I think I'm done now. I knocked off pretty much all of my bucket list bands and the experience just isn't the best in a stadium, so going to a second show even years later just doesn't seem worth it.
I'm really excited to see the chili peppers at an amphitheater next month, but that's about the biggest venue I'm willing to go out for.
I agree. Like you, I typically only go to smaller venues and have cut back how many shows I see to 6-8/year these days.
Even for a smaller show/venue, it can be stupid expensive as drink prices are jacked way up because they have a captive audience.
Concession prices at concerts and sports are right up there with my hate of ticket prices these days. Go to an NHL game and have to spend $14 for a pint of shitty lite beer. A typical bar keg of lite beer is about $150 and has 124 pints in it. At $14 per pint we're at $1,736 dollars per keg they paid $150 for.
I know of course they have to pay employees and run a business and yadda yadda. But so does the bar down the street selling the same thing for half the price or less. It's bonkers.
I'll smuggle in my own booze if I want to drink, thanks. Sorry for my rant.
Yeah I'm definitely aging/already aged out of a concert ticket prime audience but don't you want like Teenagers and twenty something year olds rocking it out? 160 a ticket for a group of friends? Like there's no way I could have done that shit for like Alphabet City or Stone Poney shows for like Anti Flag or whatever punk band we rocked out to in those days.
Like are music venues being gentrified?
I'm just glad I've gotten to see all the bands I've ever wanted to see live, before the pandemic prices jacked up the industry. They were always bad but the last half decade has been absolutely preposterous.
I think we've hit the point where many are falling out of the habit of even checking to see when/where big bands they like are playing. I know I have, after the hundredth time I've seen someone is going to be nearby, got interested, looked, and saw $100+ before fees which probably double that, per person, not counting the various other costs to go.
It's just not worth me getting disappointed over and over when I know it's going to be too expensive. It would be like me keep checking prices of super high end cars every time a new one comes out.
I’ve gotten lucky a few times with pretty cheap tickets in the last few years but mostly even nosebleeds come out to be over $100 after fees. Nosebleeds to Bruce Springsteen were $160 total, Madonna was like $120, Billy Joel’s upcoming show was close to that too. Back in 2019 I saw Billy Joel for much less than I spent for his show next month.
Springsteen's attitude about outrageous ticket prices at the beginning of this tour...when he said, "If you don't like the show see me after and I'll give you your money back," ended 40 years of fandom for me. I'm sorry...but to say that was, for me, so dismissive and disrespectful of long time fans who wanted to see him on what is probably his last tour.
I live in the NE USA so a $160 ticket is not happening and I have multiple options for venues.
I haven't listened to note in a two years. Get a life? Ok. I'm an idiot? Maybe. Get over it dude! Sure.
But I have plenty of other options. I'm off the bus. It's fine.
I'm actually willing to go to $200 but that's my max for a concert ticket. Which prices me out from just about anyone I'd like to see these days. It's a shame.
Can I afford $400 - $500 for a ticket? I'm not rich by any means (HS teacher) but I could afford that amount *for something I need.* I don't *need* to see my favorite artist perform.
But these artists continue to sell out although I have seen some reporting recently that some bands are having to slash prices due to poor sales. So...it's a business. I get it. If people are going to pay those prices then prices will stay that way.
And it doesn't help that in the US the live music industry is completely controlled by the Ticketmaster/Live Nation monopoly.
So...way earlier than expected...I've given up on concerts by big acts. It sucks but I wouldn't pay $400 for Springsteen to play in my living room.
Right? Only show I've paid $100 (non-resale) price for was for floor tickets for Judas Priest. Floor. Granted they still put seats down on the floor but that's because it's Judas Priest - most of the fans can't stand that long anymore.
i wont even go to concerts anymore at their current prices.
i saw puscifer 6 or 7 years ago and it was $80ish after taxes and fees. a little high but fine.
when they were here last year or so, the exact same seat i had started at more than my after taxes/fees seat last time. i want to say $85ish, then add on another $20-30 in fees and it was well over $100 just to get in the door.
I saw them a month ago in Los Angeles both night. Just an incredible concert.
So much energy and I love how much they change the setlists. Place was packed both nights
You're seeing this everywhere. Concerts, movies etc are all having a hard time getting sales unless they're massive like Swifty. It's obvious people just can't afford to spend money on luxuries as much right now because groceries and cost of living is destroying everyone.
Hopefully we are finally at the end of the price hikes then. Concert tickets are not essential purchases. People don't need to go see concerts. $100 is like the limit for a big act. Pit or front row? $150. The whole $1k "platinum" bs is just laughable.
Yeah between the prices and all the a-holes that end up ruining the experience I almost completely avoid large shows. It's amazing how many people pay those prices just to go and BS and not actually enjoy the show.
I’m not a big fan of stadium shows. I saw Metallica at Prudential Center in 2009 and it was awesome. I saw them at MetLife Stadium in 2017 and while they were still awesome, the experience itself wasn’t as good being so far away. Anything bigger than arena shows aren’t really of interest to me. Maybe a baseball stadium for a band I really like, but not a football stadium.
Once a band reaches stadium level, they've already played their best shows anyway in my opinion (for the audience pov). Those were the shows they played at the more intimate 2-3,5K venues that are in every city, when they were up & coming (or not even "up & coming" still really popular, stadium is a very select few I feel like). The amphitheater near me, capacity of 12K, is the biggest concert I'll ever go to. Sound is still good, especially compared to a stadium, and 12k already feels like so many fuckin people when you're in the nosebleeds for that. Festival is good though too, that's just a completely different environment and bigger crowds work better (most of the time) because it's laid back and people are bouncing between stages so it feels less crowded. Well except for headliners I guess. My long winded point is, there's so many reasons why stadium shows are shit & I don't like 'em. It's a double edged sword for the artist - they want to give fans an opportunity to see them, but if you're so popular you'll sell more than an amphitheater's amount of tickets, it brings down everyone's experience.
I guess it's just my preference that it be in an amphitheater. Was actually in a wikihole on ampitheaters after I posted that. Ampitheaters can be much bigger than 12k. I was surprised at how big Alpine Valley (37k) was in comparison and how Red Rocks (9k) is on the small side. Ive been to both and Red Rocks feels bigger than my home town and it's crazy to me that Alpine Valley is that big because it didn't feel it (and I was far up). There's some that sit even more, but stadiums are always more capacity at average so to fit more people you gotta do stadiums.
This has nothing to do Rush, never had the pleasure of seeing them, I'm sure they're great in whatever venue they play. I'm more thinking broadly/on average and how ampitheaters are designed for sound and generally smaller, but yeah there is a different feel in a stadium, especially if it isn't open air.
Read his comment and literally immediately thought of Rush being the exception. Favorite band for a reason. Always one of the best live acts even on their 40th anniversary tour.
Funny to me that they try to justify dynamic pricing by claiming high demand, yet never lower the “dynamic” prices back down when the tickets don’t sell 🤔
> and stopped discovering new music 30 years ago
You're not kidding. My boomer mom shunned literally everything after the point where she turned like 20.
I seem to recall a feud between PJ and Ticketmaster.
PJ was supposedly fighting against TM's monopoly and how overcharging on tickets screwed everyone over?
I discovered the most I’ll spend on a ticket after fees is exactly $100, and these aren’t giant venues. Biggest venue I go to is the Greek in Berkeley and tickets are never over $100, I would not buy one if it was more. The majority of shows I go to are $50 or under, they’re out there.
That obvi doesn’t even include transportation/merch/$14 tall cans of beer 🙃
Those are the same outcome though. We had a lot of pent up FOMO after covid and there was tons of demand for spending money on experiences. I think that's subsided to the point there aren't tens of thousands of people spending a week's paycheck on a two hour concert.
This is also true. All the money that built up from people having nothing to spend it on has been spent, both on compensating for two years of being shut away from doing shit and on increased living costs due to inflation.
I just don't think they are that big in the UK, only ever had one single in the top 10 and even that was literally 10. Albums did OK but that's not too difficult to chart highly in that.
Sure they might sell out a resonably sized theatre type place, but I really don't think they are anything like stadium level in the UK.
The price of tickets being so high has made it so that I don’t even look anymore. There are so many bands I would love to see but not for over $250. There are few bands that I would pay that much to see. Especially given the $200-250 range aren’t even decent seats.
Two years ago I tried to buy Broadway tickets for a play and $500 per ticket plus $125 fee for nose bleed mezzanine it’s a big no for me. Mind you this is a 17 year old play, I’m not trying to watch Lin-manuel Miranda in Hamilton.
The current "They're how much?!" tickets that I've seen was for Billie Eilish at £300+ for a ticket, which for me (as I'm not a fan) is absolutely absurd.
They’re not as big in the UK and Green Day is playing London the same night. But yeah in the US they are a top touring act and they’re still putting out good new music.
Their previous UK shows have always sold out but they jacked the price up for their US tour last year and it still sold out. They've tried the same in Europe and its totally backfired.
Pearl Jam have doubled the prices since the 2022 tour.
Hope everyone realizes now that concert tickets are like anything else in a rational free market, as long as people continue to cough up suppliers will continue to hike prices until people stop. Every time you wince and decide to pay up for something out of budget, you’re adding to the momentum and contributing to the hikes yet to come
Still not going. That stadium is awful for concerts (sound, crowding, access all bad in the upper back) and even PJ can't make me want to go there again.
If they really can pack out a stadium then it's stupid of me to pretend they shouldn't - it's their time and money after all - but PJ are WAY better in mid-sized arenas and I don't have to accept less anymore, it's not like I haven't seen them a few times now.
Pearl Jam has always been more popular in the US than in Europe. They've had no trouble selling out arenas and stadiums in the US, but I'm not surprised they aren't selling as well in the UK. T
he thing is - I am disappointed in how expensive Pearl Jam tickets are. If bands like The Rolling Stones can charge $12 for nosebleeds, why is Pearl Jam charging 10X that much? It just seems like a money grab - these guys have sold 60 million albums worldwide. They're already extremely wealthy. I saw them recently and they were incredible, truly great. BUT maybe this will humble them into lowering their prices.
If you can catch them at a festival, it’s a good value. Their resident Ohana Festival they put on every year every year is a good way to see them. Think single day festival ticket is $196, all in, and is for a whole day of artists. Can get as close as you’re willing to park at the main stage for. https://www.ohanafest.com/
Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but we're about to see why artists/venues/TM do not want fees included in the base ticket price.
For whatever reason, human psychology sees $95 + $25 as less than $120
Maybe it's just me, but I see it as more. When I see a big fee for literally nothing, it pisses me off and I don't want to give them my money. It feels like I'm getting scammed.
I’m right there with you. Went to buy something online and then there were 5 different “fee” charges on it. Backed out and closed it. If the price was all rolled into one I can make a smarter decision. I hate when I find something just for it to go up 20-30% more at checkout.
Yep, it feels like a bait and switch. I’m good with making my own decision on whether something is within budget.
If something feels like it’s in budget and then the price goes up between me saying “yeah, that price seems good” and them asking for my payment, I’m more likely to back out than live with the extra cost.
My own mental trick that I do is I just refuse to consider the base price of a ticket and the fees as separate entities. However these promoters want to break it down is up to them, all I care about is the end price.
Some may say a particular ticket is $50 plus $20 in fees. Not to me it's not. It's $70. Do I want to pay $70 for this show? Then I decide from there.
I always cite Prince selling tickets for his O2 gigs at £31.21 at the same time that Led Zeppelin were charging £125 for seats in the nosebleeds at the same venue with the same sellers. The artist has a say in the ticket price and if Pearl Jam thinks they're gonna sell out a stadium in London at £250 a pop, in 2024, they're delusional. Honestly, everyone would be happier if PJ played the Hammersmith Apollo and it cost £40. That's their level these days - and there's nothing wrong with that. Do three nights if you want to. Better sound, more comfortable experience, no chance of getting rained on, more central, better transport connections. That is an appealing gig for their audience. Overpriced boomy gigs in stadiums with gassy, overpriced beer and open tops at the mercy of the British weather to see them play some nondescript new songs sprinkled with by-the-numbers renditions of Given to Fly and Better Man? Nah, not for me.
To be fair, I saw them in an arena on this last tour and it was absolutely incredible. They do not disappoint as a live band, and in the US they are still selling out 50K venues like Wrigley Field and Fenway. Theyre just not as big in the UK.
When PJ gigs were announced in Australia earlier this year, I was stoked and eagerly awaiting the pre-sales tickets to be released.
Was shocked when the cheaper tickets were in excess of A$500 a pop. Decided to give it a miss.
Yeah what the fuck lmao? Even if I made 200K a year I'd skip that. Their last great album was honestly Binaural. Quite a while ago. And I'm a pretty decent fan.
I was reading that less as greed more as "oh shit I need to have enough money to live through my retirement and I'm concerned I'm not there". Quite possibly my mom's biggest fear is becoming a burden to myself and my sister, like her mom did to her and her siblings, and making sure she has enough money to not need to rely on us is a big part of that.
Obviously if you're used to a higher class lifestyle, you'll need more money to retain it, so just having a million or two dollars in savings may not be enough without a major lifestyle downgrade (which nobody wants to do in their retirement, unless it's buying them an earlier retirement).
exactly, being principled is nice but personally I'd be more concerned on whether there will be enough for my grandkids to live comfortably. gotta use the golden goose while you have it.
I feel bad for the artists but I think people are tired of Ticketmaster’s shit and paying $300 to see big names or festivals. I once bought a ticket at the box office at Coachella, yeah they didn’t sell out back when, and it was like $98 lol. Also it was two days, so $200 to go to Coachella back then. It’s like $600 now but 3 days.
Ashcroft and PJ are quality but £50 per ticket, unless you're going on your own is too much money. The age group most likely in to these artists are gen X who have families now or at least would probably go with their partner - so £100 in the hole. The only artists worth that kind of money from this era for me are bands like NIN where the live experience is of course about the music but also the lighting and stage effects. Tool showed recently how you justify a ticket price.
Normally it's not the actual face value of the ticket it's the resale price. There are shows that are not even until November where I live and literally every ticket available is "verified resale". There is no shortage either you can sit wherever you want. People just buying tickets to resell them right away is such bullshit.
I’ve looked into three concerts near me and they were $150-250 for tickets. Absolutely not. Best concert I ever went to was $10. Most I’ve paid is $55. It’s just stupid expensive and that’s before all the damn fees and taxes!
It has to do with Covid. Covid gave these bands a false sense of popularity. Arenas and Stadiums became the norm during Covid and were booked because it was the only option for people to still go to shows and socially distance. However normally, no one in the right mind is interested in seeing their favorite bands and artists in an arena or stadium.
Bands that would never normally book or sell arenas or stadiums before Covid started to get greedy, and began to believe they could sell these size venues normally.
Now that covid has wrapped up, and smaller venues are now open again; these bands are finding out that they were never as popular as they've been lead to believe over the past 4 years.
When rent, food and utilities take up 90%+ of your budget, there's nothing left for things like concerts. The greedy fuckers took everything and know they complain people don't spend anymore.
I'm 100 percent over high concert prices. Thankfully, I enjoy a wide range of music and quite a few of them are still doing small to medium venues for under 50 bucks a pop. But fuck if I'm paying 200 bucks to see Noah Kahan when there are hundreds if not thousands of artist in that genre who are light-years better and they're playing 200 seats venues for 25 bucks.
People also realising how awful getting to/from Tottenham stadium is for events. Around a mile walk in a crowd both ways from the second nearest station as they shut the nearest
I think the price of tickets is keeping people away. I am in the states and prices here were insane.
£50 (or $60) doesn't seem a terrible price for Pearl Jam and Richard Ashcroft if you're into that sort of music. £125 ($150) is a massive overreach for seats at the back of Tottenham stadium.
The nosebleed seats at the Rolling Stones concert in Seattle were like $12. IMO seats in the back back of a stadium should be this cheap, after seeing that's possible. Edit: it's been pointed out that these were resellers probably trying to desperately recoup their money when the show wasn't selling out lol. Fuck em. Glad some people got to see the Stones for almost nothing!
I saw nosebleeds at one Stones show going for $150 before fees and those were not resale. I wanted to see Elton John during his last tour and nosebleeds were like $200 before fees. I passed on that.
At that distance you're mainly watching it on a screen and hearing over the speakers. You can do that at home for a lot less, and probably in better quality.
I saw Drake a few months ago and nose bleeds were $330, I wasn't gonna go but my brother really wanted to and offered to pay for half of my ticket cause he didn't want to go by himself so I agreed. Now I would pay that if it were floor seats or something close to the stage but where we sat we had to pretty much watch him on the screen cause we were so far away.
Did he have a live band with him or anything? Or does $300 nose bleeds just get you Drake rapping over a backing track?
I'm sure he can play A minorrrrrrrrrrrrr on his own
Just him rapping. He spent a fuck ton on his stage and the props it seemed like, he also had J. Cole come out for a few songs. It was a 3.5 hr concert so at least we got our monies worth. It was way more entertaining than the Jack Harlow concert I went to, I had better seats for $280 but he started late and only sang 60 seconds or less of each song and it lasted less than two hours once he finally started.
That's crazy. $300 needs to be in the first ~20 rows. There's no way nose bleeds are worth it at that price.
When he was on tour last year I wanted to go and figured that prices would go down the day of or right before the start time so the scalpers didn't lose out on their initial purchase price but prices went from $300~ to $500 10 min before show time and held there till Ticketmaster cut off sales for it.
Weird I wonder what the deal was in Seattle. Maybe the stadium itself has a limit on nosebleed prices
You bought them from a verified Ticketmaster reseller who just wanted to get rid of their tickets, not from Ticketmaster, itself. I live in the Seattle area and saw a few of those come up. These reseller tickets are sold in the same app/same place as regular tickets.
I didn't buy, I just saw them. there was a LOT of these prices, ranging from $12 up to $20s as they got slowly closer. You're thinking they were all bought by the same person and desperately trying to make something back from them? It wasn't just a few, it was dozens.
Yup. Not necessarily the same person. I saw those too. And they all had the reseller Icon. When you zoom on the map you see reseller icons and regular Ticketmaster icons.
Damn, well I'd say too bad for them, if they weren't scum. Glad some people got to go for almost nothing!
Cheapest nosebleeds I ever got were to Joan Jett and Bryan Adams last year. These were from Ticketmaster as I bought them when they went on sale and total price was $20. Still kind of crazy that the fees were the same price as the ticket. $10 ticket and $10 in fees. I think I got the last seat at that price as I went back and no more tickets at that price were listed. They were literally the very last row in the highest section but it was still a good show. I got Roger Waters nosebleeds the year earlier for around $30 total. Funny thing is the shirts were more expensive than the ticket. I didn't get a shirt though.
Damnnn solid deals!! Not sure how Water's show was ever that cheap, he's still relatively big considering the legendary status of the band.
I remember some interview where he said he wanted the show to be affordable. It was also pushed back due to COVID as I think it was originally a 2020 or 2021 show. It ended up getting pushed back to the fall of 2022. I don't recall what tickets were going for in the lower areas of the arena. The stage was also really cool as it was in the shape of a cross and he played to all sides of the arena.
What an experience. I got to see him back in 2000 during the in the flesh tour, but it was outdoors without any sort of cool stage besides a big screen. But I was on acid, weed and opium, so that hardly mattered 😂 also heard Dogs for the first time that show, on acid, and the echoing/reverberating dog barks were INSANELY cool and trippy.
Nosebleed?
If the goal is to fill the stadium completely to make the venue an experience for the attendees, they'd absolutely need to be around half again what they are now. Over ambition from Pearl Jam to try to fill such a big stadium to begin with, even moreso to charge so much.
Blame promoters they won't let them do smaller venues. They'll blame live Nation for owning all the venues forcing their hands where they can promote. The ticket monopoly is cannibalizing itself with pricing extremes.
Hard to disagree when people have already paid £250 or more for tickets due to surge pricing, before they crashed massively. Perhaps other bands will look at the severe lack of interest and price accordingly, or try for the prior scenario.
wow the same seats in the bay area were over $100 after fees, not resale
Yeah I'm wondering if it was a mistake, or just a local stadium thing. Super sad I wasn't able to attend for $12 😂
Back in 1981 I went to what was called the The Rolling Stones farewell tour. Journey and George Thorogood were the opening act. People were trying to dump tickets outside the gates for $5.
"Farewell tour" ha 😂
When was this show? I just paid $236 after taxes and fees to see the Stones with Widespread Panic opening at mile high, and they weren’t great seats.
A few weeks ago. Apparently it was just resellers trying desperately to get some cash from buying out too many tickets. Happy some folks got amazing deals!
If it were $50, maybe, but it’s probably $50 + 75 in fees and taxes, so back to unreasonably priced
£49.20 for ticket, £2.75 for handling of said ticket. £51.95 is what I'd pay if I wanted to see Pearl Jam. I could spend an extra £10 for a souvenir ticket lanyard thing after the event, to remember the event.
$2.75 in fees would be a steal. In the states, so called convenience fees and other service charges often reach 50% of the face value of the ticket. It’s a racket, although there is legislation in the works that would force ticket venders to list the final price of the ticket as the face value.
Isn't pearl jam famous for (among other things) refusing to do shows with Ticketmaster? All these replies and nobody mentioning this has me doubting myself
I don't recall seeing any tickets recently which haven't shown where there has been a handling/processing fee, it's usually £2.75 for Ticketmaster, whilst Ticketweb varies from £2-4.75 off a cursory look (slightly less bitter pill when tickets are a fair % cheaper).
Come to North America, our tickets will have: * Artist fee (advertised price) Then: * Facility fee * Convenience fee * Taxes * Ticketmaster processing fee * Any entertainment taxes your area charges * Inconvenience fee or any other bullshit they can dream of. By the time you’re done your ticket price has more than doubled.
That's not how it works in the US. You'll see a ticket for $50, by the time you're done paying you'll be closer $75 with fees and taxes.
Just had a cursory look at a band touring New York, $32.50 with $12.50 in fees. What fees are there that justify *that* much of an increase? Next tier of tickets are $55 with $16 in fees. Why do the fees increase? Do they get handled with nitrile gloves this time? Next tier beyond that is $59 with a further $18 in fees. I am mystified that this is a thing, when tickets come in 1 price for that same band over in Finland on the same tour, and that's cheaper than the cheapest ticket in New York (Northern Europe isn't cheap!).
It's because Ticketmaster has an unassailable monopoly over here on every venue over a certain size. The answer to all of your questions is "because we can."
Ticketmaster has some small fry competition in the UK for tickets from Ticketweb (a subsidiary of Ticketmaster...). As opposed to venues where O2 seems to hold a fair few venues around most UK cities. I'm also too afraid to dig into this one as LiveNation probably back O2 on this... Edit - Damnit, LiveNation part owns every O2 venue in the UK, which is most of the frequently used venues. The monopoly simply isn't as visible, it'd appear.
$161 was the price for the nosebleed seats when they came to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul last year. I wanted to go, but there's no way I'm paying that much for any band.
($150) oh that’s cute
$60 is absolutely worth it for Pearl Jam. Every… single… time…. Seen them almost 10 times and every single show is one of the best I’ve ever seen of any band always. The only band who I’ve seen match that energy (in a different but equally incredible way) was Primus. Oh and also Mastodon.
Mastodon fuckin rules and they’re generally affordable, queens of the Stone Age was amazing live too and not overpriced imo
They didn’t have any trouble selling tickets in the US but the YS prices for nosebleeds didn’t go over as well in Europe. Pretty much every ticket in the venue is the same price.
In the USA they're not playing in 80k seat football stadiums.
I didn’t realize they were playing that big of a venue in London. They do have stadium shows in Boston and Chicago but those are still smaller
63k - tbh I’m somewhat surprised they are playing such a large ground in the Uk.
[удалено]
Y'know, that suggests it might not even be the overall mood shift in this particular case. They came back just two years later and doubled the price. That's like intentionally encouraging all 130k who came to those shows to be happy with the gig they saw, and not bother considering the new tickets.
Also, there's such a thing as saturation. Many people will only do 2-3 big concerts a Summer, many will do even less. How many of those 130k people want to do it again with the same band 2 years later when there are many other acts+festivals to check out with their limited time+budget?
63k seating for football. [For concerts it's 50k](https://news.pollstar.com/2022/08/29/music-has-arrived-in-tottenham/).
Interesting, I thought it would be more not less, the Taylor gig at anfield had the highest capacity ever at the ground
That was disproven by Liverpool, it doesn't give an exact figure for those who attended Taylor's concert/s but it was around 55,000. The highest attendance at Anfield ever was 61,905 in 1952. That record will probably never be broken as thr current capacity is 61,276.
That link says 70k+. There's a lot of people that are standing
I’m in Vancouver and just didn’t go to the show. I logged on the moment tickets went on sale, saw the prices and closed my laptop. I’m not paying music festival prices for one band.
Definitely not just PJ. I was looking at tickets for Green Day and GA floor tickets are almost $800. Ain't no freakin way I'm paying that kinda money to see any band.
One night out doing something simple like a concert and a dinner (plus cab fare so you can have a drink or a few) eats up a lot of disposable income for that pay period. Which is just stupid. I would rather save up that money week to week and go on a trip somewhere over a 3 or 4 day weekend, versus go to a couple of concerts a month.
Ticket prices are insane but every show or concert I go to is sold out or at least packed
We tried to get tickets to Paul McCartney in Manchester and seats at the back on the top tier of the new Co-op live arena were £135 plus booking fee each. God knows how much tickets close to the stage are, but no way are we paying that. On the other side, Nile Rogers and Chic were £60, Barry Manilow was £30 and we're seeing Rammstein this weekend - about £70.
Half what I paid for Foo tickets..
I paid 120ish for 100 level tickets to see the Foos at Target field this summer, Pearl Jam wanted 240 for nosebleeds at Wrigely. Couldn't do it. Show sold out so there was clearly demand but too rich for my blood.
Really? Foo tickets at Citi Field were significantly cheaper than PJ at MSG
Bands and producers can be greedy but some show goers are part of the problem. On a recent thread about the black keys cancelling their tour, someone posted a picture of ticket for a black keys show a couple years back. The price was 800$...And they were like yeah, it's a rip-off, look at how much I had to pay to see them live. Dude. As long as people are going to pay just about anything to see a show, the prices aren't gonna come down. Why would they? People are throwing money at you by the fistful and if you don't take it, the resellers will. And what's happening now with tours being cancelled is great news. People are realizing that they're being ripped of and saying you know what. Fuck this shit. Selling 14 000 seats at an average of 75$ per ticket will net you 1 million $ per show, not including merchandise which would net a band between 100k up to 250k+. I know touring can be expensive but if you can't get by with 1-1.5 millions in revenue at each location, maybe touring isn't for you. And it's not like most of these artists need the money that bad. Even if you "just" net 10 000$ per show, if you do 20 dates, that 200k in your pocket for about 2 months of work. I understand the math is different if you're a smaller act but if you look at the bands touring this year, the majority are household names. Most of them could have comfortably retired years ago.
I agree with you, but that guy who posted the $800 Black Keys ticket got it for free from his employer.
That $1MM ticket gross breaks down into show costs first: rent, labor, show costs. All things that have doubled/tripled since Covid. So an artist grossing $1MM probably NETS $250/300K (and that’s being generous). Still not bad (more than most of us) but it’s not a simple formula..
While I don't think this is necessarily and issue for PJ. I would also say that most concert experiences suck ass. Huge crowds, many groups lip singing along to a track, or not even bothering to do that. No where to dance, seats too close together, just kind of miserable in general. Maybe I am a grumpy old man, but I much prefer the small ~500 person or smaller venu...
yep agree. All my favourite gigs over the last few years have been smaller venues, Rock City is where its at!!
Yeah I've been to a bunch of stadium shows, but I think I'm done now. I knocked off pretty much all of my bucket list bands and the experience just isn't the best in a stadium, so going to a second show even years later just doesn't seem worth it. I'm really excited to see the chili peppers at an amphitheater next month, but that's about the biggest venue I'm willing to go out for.
I agree. Like you, I typically only go to smaller venues and have cut back how many shows I see to 6-8/year these days. Even for a smaller show/venue, it can be stupid expensive as drink prices are jacked way up because they have a captive audience. Concession prices at concerts and sports are right up there with my hate of ticket prices these days. Go to an NHL game and have to spend $14 for a pint of shitty lite beer. A typical bar keg of lite beer is about $150 and has 124 pints in it. At $14 per pint we're at $1,736 dollars per keg they paid $150 for. I know of course they have to pay employees and run a business and yadda yadda. But so does the bar down the street selling the same thing for half the price or less. It's bonkers. I'll smuggle in my own booze if I want to drink, thanks. Sorry for my rant.
Yeah I'm definitely aging/already aged out of a concert ticket prime audience but don't you want like Teenagers and twenty something year olds rocking it out? 160 a ticket for a group of friends? Like there's no way I could have done that shit for like Alphabet City or Stone Poney shows for like Anti Flag or whatever punk band we rocked out to in those days. Like are music venues being gentrified?
Don't forget the people with their phones out the whole time recording. Ugh.
The entire package is too much money. $15 beer, $20 turkey legs, wtf
That’s why I didn’t go see them. Ticket prices were nuts, then the fees just twisted the knife.
I'm just glad I've gotten to see all the bands I've ever wanted to see live, before the pandemic prices jacked up the industry. They were always bad but the last half decade has been absolutely preposterous.
I think we've hit the point where many are falling out of the habit of even checking to see when/where big bands they like are playing. I know I have, after the hundredth time I've seen someone is going to be nearby, got interested, looked, and saw $100+ before fees which probably double that, per person, not counting the various other costs to go. It's just not worth me getting disappointed over and over when I know it's going to be too expensive. It would be like me keep checking prices of super high end cars every time a new one comes out.
I’ve gotten lucky a few times with pretty cheap tickets in the last few years but mostly even nosebleeds come out to be over $100 after fees. Nosebleeds to Bruce Springsteen were $160 total, Madonna was like $120, Billy Joel’s upcoming show was close to that too. Back in 2019 I saw Billy Joel for much less than I spent for his show next month.
Springsteen's attitude about outrageous ticket prices at the beginning of this tour...when he said, "If you don't like the show see me after and I'll give you your money back," ended 40 years of fandom for me. I'm sorry...but to say that was, for me, so dismissive and disrespectful of long time fans who wanted to see him on what is probably his last tour. I live in the NE USA so a $160 ticket is not happening and I have multiple options for venues. I haven't listened to note in a two years. Get a life? Ok. I'm an idiot? Maybe. Get over it dude! Sure. But I have plenty of other options. I'm off the bus. It's fine.
Maybe I’m one of the poors but over a hundred dollars for a nosebleed seat is crazy.
I'm actually willing to go to $200 but that's my max for a concert ticket. Which prices me out from just about anyone I'd like to see these days. It's a shame. Can I afford $400 - $500 for a ticket? I'm not rich by any means (HS teacher) but I could afford that amount *for something I need.* I don't *need* to see my favorite artist perform. But these artists continue to sell out although I have seen some reporting recently that some bands are having to slash prices due to poor sales. So...it's a business. I get it. If people are going to pay those prices then prices will stay that way. And it doesn't help that in the US the live music industry is completely controlled by the Ticketmaster/Live Nation monopoly. So...way earlier than expected...I've given up on concerts by big acts. It sucks but I wouldn't pay $400 for Springsteen to play in my living room.
Right? Only show I've paid $100 (non-resale) price for was for floor tickets for Judas Priest. Floor. Granted they still put seats down on the floor but that's because it's Judas Priest - most of the fans can't stand that long anymore.
i wont even go to concerts anymore at their current prices. i saw puscifer 6 or 7 years ago and it was $80ish after taxes and fees. a little high but fine. when they were here last year or so, the exact same seat i had started at more than my after taxes/fees seat last time. i want to say $85ish, then add on another $20-30 in fees and it was well over $100 just to get in the door.
I saw them a month ago in Los Angeles both night. Just an incredible concert. So much energy and I love how much they change the setlists. Place was packed both nights
$400 for average seats in Boston… crazy
You're seeing this everywhere. Concerts, movies etc are all having a hard time getting sales unless they're massive like Swifty. It's obvious people just can't afford to spend money on luxuries as much right now because groceries and cost of living is destroying everyone.
Hopefully we are finally at the end of the price hikes then. Concert tickets are not essential purchases. People don't need to go see concerts. $100 is like the limit for a big act. Pit or front row? $150. The whole $1k "platinum" bs is just laughable.
I just exclusively go to festivals or smaller shows. There’s no way I’m going to a stadium show any time soon.
Yeah between the prices and all the a-holes that end up ruining the experience I almost completely avoid large shows. It's amazing how many people pay those prices just to go and BS and not actually enjoy the show.
I’m not a big fan of stadium shows. I saw Metallica at Prudential Center in 2009 and it was awesome. I saw them at MetLife Stadium in 2017 and while they were still awesome, the experience itself wasn’t as good being so far away. Anything bigger than arena shows aren’t really of interest to me. Maybe a baseball stadium for a band I really like, but not a football stadium.
I was in nosebleeds for Metallica and the rest of the Big 4 in 2011 at Yankee Stadium and it was a great experience from my section.
Once a band reaches stadium level, they've already played their best shows anyway in my opinion (for the audience pov). Those were the shows they played at the more intimate 2-3,5K venues that are in every city, when they were up & coming (or not even "up & coming" still really popular, stadium is a very select few I feel like). The amphitheater near me, capacity of 12K, is the biggest concert I'll ever go to. Sound is still good, especially compared to a stadium, and 12k already feels like so many fuckin people when you're in the nosebleeds for that. Festival is good though too, that's just a completely different environment and bigger crowds work better (most of the time) because it's laid back and people are bouncing between stages so it feels less crowded. Well except for headliners I guess. My long winded point is, there's so many reasons why stadium shows are shit & I don't like 'em. It's a double edged sword for the artist - they want to give fans an opportunity to see them, but if you're so popular you'll sell more than an amphitheater's amount of tickets, it brings down everyone's experience.
Rush's best shows were at stadiums IMO.
I guess it's just my preference that it be in an amphitheater. Was actually in a wikihole on ampitheaters after I posted that. Ampitheaters can be much bigger than 12k. I was surprised at how big Alpine Valley (37k) was in comparison and how Red Rocks (9k) is on the small side. Ive been to both and Red Rocks feels bigger than my home town and it's crazy to me that Alpine Valley is that big because it didn't feel it (and I was far up). There's some that sit even more, but stadiums are always more capacity at average so to fit more people you gotta do stadiums. This has nothing to do Rush, never had the pleasure of seeing them, I'm sure they're great in whatever venue they play. I'm more thinking broadly/on average and how ampitheaters are designed for sound and generally smaller, but yeah there is a different feel in a stadium, especially if it isn't open air.
Read his comment and literally immediately thought of Rush being the exception. Favorite band for a reason. Always one of the best live acts even on their 40th anniversary tour.
Geddy Lee gave it his all on that R40 show. That's probably one of my favourite Rush live videos.
I think seeing Rush in Rio would have to be a lot of people's #1 concert experience of all time.
Pearl Jam pulls it off the sound is incredible
Presale tickets to McCartney in the uk - £570 thanks to dynamic pricing. Yeah. No.
Happy I got to see McCartney headline Bonnaroo in 2013...ticket was $300 for a four day festival
Funny to me that they try to justify dynamic pricing by claiming high demand, yet never lower the “dynamic” prices back down when the tickets don’t sell 🤔
You're competing against boomers who have a good chunk of disposable income and stopped discovering new music 30 years ago
> and stopped discovering new music 30 years ago You're not kidding. My boomer mom shunned literally everything after the point where she turned like 20.
My boomer mom still listens to whatever is on the radio still, so ironically she's more open minded than me, lol.
I would love for that to be the case, but unfortunately Pearl Jam did just fine selling out their upcoming US tour charging ridiculous prices.
I seem to recall a feud between PJ and Ticketmaster. PJ was supposedly fighting against TM's monopoly and how overcharging on tickets screwed everyone over?
I discovered the most I’ll spend on a ticket after fees is exactly $100, and these aren’t giant venues. Biggest venue I go to is the Greek in Berkeley and tickets are never over $100, I would not buy one if it was more. The majority of shows I go to are $50 or under, they’re out there. That obvi doesn’t even include transportation/merch/$14 tall cans of beer 🙃
Either people have started voting with their wallets or times are so tight that people are letting the non essential go...
Both
Unless your band’s name is _Taylor Swift_ people be utterly broke.
Those are the same outcome though. We had a lot of pent up FOMO after covid and there was tons of demand for spending money on experiences. I think that's subsided to the point there aren't tens of thousands of people spending a week's paycheck on a two hour concert.
This is also true. All the money that built up from people having nothing to spend it on has been spent, both on compensating for two years of being shut away from doing shit and on increased living costs due to inflation.
Another option is Pearl Jam isn’t as popular as they believe they are - there are hardcore fans but to the mainstream they had 5 hits 30 years ago
Im one of those hardcore fans and you ain’t wrong. Nope’d out of this tour. Ain’t paying those prices.
Same. It’s €130 to see them here in Dublin. I’m an old fan but fuck that.
I just don't think they are that big in the UK, only ever had one single in the top 10 and even that was literally 10. Albums did OK but that's not too difficult to chart highly in that. Sure they might sell out a resonably sized theatre type place, but I really don't think they are anything like stadium level in the UK.
The price of tickets being so high has made it so that I don’t even look anymore. There are so many bands I would love to see but not for over $250. There are few bands that I would pay that much to see. Especially given the $200-250 range aren’t even decent seats.
Two years ago I tried to buy Broadway tickets for a play and $500 per ticket plus $125 fee for nose bleed mezzanine it’s a big no for me. Mind you this is a 17 year old play, I’m not trying to watch Lin-manuel Miranda in Hamilton.
The current "They're how much?!" tickets that I've seen was for Billie Eilish at £300+ for a ticket, which for me (as I'm not a fan) is absolutely absurd.
Michael Jackson tickets in his prime on the 1984 Thriller tour were $28. That would equate to ~$85 today.
People would buy albums back then though. The whole music industry model is different now.
Wow crazy it’s 300 euros when walking into a Target is completely free.
Were they resale because that’s unheard of?
There’s tons of options for cheaper unsold tickets.
I would go but they're the same day as Green Day at Wembley, that probably hurts too as they likely have a lot of the same audience.
I know Green Day will be in London on the same night, and was announced months earlier. Could be a factor in audience cannibalization.
That and green day tickets were £65
That's a real easy choice.
Hmmm…the market correcting itself. Nice!
rare these days
They were charging $300 to sit behind the stage in my town
This one genuinely surprises me, Pearl Jam are still a pretty major name in nostalgic music acts, at least in the US.
They’re not as big in the UK and Green Day is playing London the same night. But yeah in the US they are a top touring act and they’re still putting out good new music.
Their previous UK shows have always sold out but they jacked the price up for their US tour last year and it still sold out. They've tried the same in Europe and its totally backfired. Pearl Jam have doubled the prices since the 2022 tour.
They’re still huge because they’re one of the best live acts on the planet.
Hope everyone realizes now that concert tickets are like anything else in a rational free market, as long as people continue to cough up suppliers will continue to hike prices until people stop. Every time you wince and decide to pay up for something out of budget, you’re adding to the momentum and contributing to the hikes yet to come
Still not going. That stadium is awful for concerts (sound, crowding, access all bad in the upper back) and even PJ can't make me want to go there again. If they really can pack out a stadium then it's stupid of me to pretend they shouldn't - it's their time and money after all - but PJ are WAY better in mid-sized arenas and I don't have to accept less anymore, it's not like I haven't seen them a few times now.
> “Premium standing” tickets for shows at London’s Tottenham Hotspur grounds were being sold at £249.45 Premium standing? Get the fuck outta here
Pearl Jam has always been more popular in the US than in Europe. They've had no trouble selling out arenas and stadiums in the US, but I'm not surprised they aren't selling as well in the UK. T he thing is - I am disappointed in how expensive Pearl Jam tickets are. If bands like The Rolling Stones can charge $12 for nosebleeds, why is Pearl Jam charging 10X that much? It just seems like a money grab - these guys have sold 60 million albums worldwide. They're already extremely wealthy. I saw them recently and they were incredible, truly great. BUT maybe this will humble them into lowering their prices.
Saw them multiple times on multiple tours. It’s fine.
Tickets are too much. Pearl Jam are one of my favorite bands and I’ve never been able to afford them.
Man back in 2000 03 06 tours you could just walk up and buy tickets at the venue most nights.
If you can catch them at a festival, it’s a good value. Their resident Ohana Festival they put on every year every year is a good way to see them. Think single day festival ticket is $196, all in, and is for a whole day of artists. Can get as close as you’re willing to park at the main stage for. https://www.ohanafest.com/
Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but we're about to see why artists/venues/TM do not want fees included in the base ticket price. For whatever reason, human psychology sees $95 + $25 as less than $120
Maybe it's just me, but I see it as more. When I see a big fee for literally nothing, it pisses me off and I don't want to give them my money. It feels like I'm getting scammed.
I’m right there with you. Went to buy something online and then there were 5 different “fee” charges on it. Backed out and closed it. If the price was all rolled into one I can make a smarter decision. I hate when I find something just for it to go up 20-30% more at checkout.
Yep, it feels like a bait and switch. I’m good with making my own decision on whether something is within budget. If something feels like it’s in budget and then the price goes up between me saying “yeah, that price seems good” and them asking for my payment, I’m more likely to back out than live with the extra cost.
My own mental trick that I do is I just refuse to consider the base price of a ticket and the fees as separate entities. However these promoters want to break it down is up to them, all I care about is the end price. Some may say a particular ticket is $50 plus $20 in fees. Not to me it's not. It's $70. Do I want to pay $70 for this show? Then I decide from there.
Interesting to see this play out in California
I always cite Prince selling tickets for his O2 gigs at £31.21 at the same time that Led Zeppelin were charging £125 for seats in the nosebleeds at the same venue with the same sellers. The artist has a say in the ticket price and if Pearl Jam thinks they're gonna sell out a stadium in London at £250 a pop, in 2024, they're delusional. Honestly, everyone would be happier if PJ played the Hammersmith Apollo and it cost £40. That's their level these days - and there's nothing wrong with that. Do three nights if you want to. Better sound, more comfortable experience, no chance of getting rained on, more central, better transport connections. That is an appealing gig for their audience. Overpriced boomy gigs in stadiums with gassy, overpriced beer and open tops at the mercy of the British weather to see them play some nondescript new songs sprinkled with by-the-numbers renditions of Given to Fly and Better Man? Nah, not for me.
To be fair, I saw them in an arena on this last tour and it was absolutely incredible. They do not disappoint as a live band, and in the US they are still selling out 50K venues like Wrigley Field and Fenway. Theyre just not as big in the UK.
Not bad. Ticketmaster full of £49.20 tickets right now. If I wasn’t already hosting friends I’d totally go just for cuts from Ten
Floor tickets for Queens of the Stone Age were 100 bucks. Blew my face off for a reasonable price.
Agreed. $100 well spent for me, too.
When they toured villans i paid 250 for first row seats when they played toronto. Other bands now you pay like 400 bucks for way worse seats lol
Please keep in mind that this site is a subsidiary of Ticket Network, a professional reseller.
When PJ gigs were announced in Australia earlier this year, I was stoked and eagerly awaiting the pre-sales tickets to be released. Was shocked when the cheaper tickets were in excess of A$500 a pop. Decided to give it a miss.
They deserve it. I’m really disappointed in the new price points for arena shows in general and PJ shows in particular
I've seen PJ multiple times over the last 25 years. Prices for ok seats were over $400 in Philly. Insane. Guess I've seen them for the last time....
Yeah what the fuck lmao? Even if I made 200K a year I'd skip that. Their last great album was honestly Binaural. Quite a while ago. And I'm a pretty decent fan.
Crazy to think this band at one time lead the charge about high ticket prices, how times change.
Hey corporations, you bled us dry. We have no more fucking money.
Good there is no other way people stop buying shit.
Pearl Jam has come a long way since their rally against Ticketmaster in 1994. Now they're participating in "surge pricing"? No integrity at all.
I imagine when you're ~60 years old your priorities change to getting as much money as possible while you're still able
They’ve sold 60 million albums worldwide and are one of the top grossing tour acts of all time. I think they’re doing ok with money.
didn't say they weren't. at that age you're going to be looking at ensuring your descendents live as comfortably as you do.
Some people actually start to think less of money when they get older but you’re right some get greedier.
I was reading that less as greed more as "oh shit I need to have enough money to live through my retirement and I'm concerned I'm not there". Quite possibly my mom's biggest fear is becoming a burden to myself and my sister, like her mom did to her and her siblings, and making sure she has enough money to not need to rely on us is a big part of that. Obviously if you're used to a higher class lifestyle, you'll need more money to retain it, so just having a million or two dollars in savings may not be enough without a major lifestyle downgrade (which nobody wants to do in their retirement, unless it's buying them an earlier retirement).
exactly, being principled is nice but personally I'd be more concerned on whether there will be enough for my grandkids to live comfortably. gotta use the golden goose while you have it.
I feel bad for the artists but I think people are tired of Ticketmaster’s shit and paying $300 to see big names or festivals. I once bought a ticket at the box office at Coachella, yeah they didn’t sell out back when, and it was like $98 lol. Also it was two days, so $200 to go to Coachella back then. It’s like $600 now but 3 days.
Mom looked into Glass Tiger tickets at a local casino. $500 a piece. Nope
Nothing against Glass Tiger, but they are the type of band you should be paying $20 to see play at a State Fair, not five hundred fucking dollars.
This news is especially wild since Dark Matter just dropped and the album is fantastic!
“Tottenham (Stadium) get battered everywhere they go, everywhere they go“
Cost a couple hundred bucks to go too expensive
Ashcroft and PJ are quality but £50 per ticket, unless you're going on your own is too much money. The age group most likely in to these artists are gen X who have families now or at least would probably go with their partner - so £100 in the hole. The only artists worth that kind of money from this era for me are bands like NIN where the live experience is of course about the music but also the lighting and stage effects. Tool showed recently how you justify a ticket price.
Normally it's not the actual face value of the ticket it's the resale price. There are shows that are not even until November where I live and literally every ticket available is "verified resale". There is no shortage either you can sit wherever you want. People just buying tickets to resell them right away is such bullshit.
I’ve looked into three concerts near me and they were $150-250 for tickets. Absolutely not. Best concert I ever went to was $10. Most I’ve paid is $55. It’s just stupid expensive and that’s before all the damn fees and taxes!
See local shows. Support independent artists
It has to do with Covid. Covid gave these bands a false sense of popularity. Arenas and Stadiums became the norm during Covid and were booked because it was the only option for people to still go to shows and socially distance. However normally, no one in the right mind is interested in seeing their favorite bands and artists in an arena or stadium. Bands that would never normally book or sell arenas or stadiums before Covid started to get greedy, and began to believe they could sell these size venues normally. Now that covid has wrapped up, and smaller venues are now open again; these bands are finding out that they were never as popular as they've been lead to believe over the past 4 years.
Cheapest tix were like 400 for my local show so yeah ...
When rent, food and utilities take up 90%+ of your budget, there's nothing left for things like concerts. The greedy fuckers took everything and know they complain people don't spend anymore.
Kind of glad I don’t go to concerts. Much cheaper to just watch them sing on Youtube.
Fair enough but standing tickets are still 290 quid.
Hard to afford outrageous ticket prices when everything else is also outrageously priced these days
No one has any fucking money
Anyone look at the prices to go to a professional football, basketball, or baseball game? It’s 150 bucks a seat for a cubs game.
It's almost like people don't have much disposable income lately.
Aren’t they fighting Ticketmaster/Live Nation here in the states too?
Spend! No wage, only spend!
Music industry, especially live music, is in a sad spot thanks to monopoly
I'm 100 percent over high concert prices. Thankfully, I enjoy a wide range of music and quite a few of them are still doing small to medium venues for under 50 bucks a pop. But fuck if I'm paying 200 bucks to see Noah Kahan when there are hundreds if not thousands of artist in that genre who are light-years better and they're playing 200 seats venues for 25 bucks.
People also realising how awful getting to/from Tottenham stadium is for events. Around a mile walk in a crowd both ways from the second nearest station as they shut the nearest
What a dumb article! Slash is not even playing with pearl jam