To ask if you've refused to pay ridiculous prices for concerts?

Yes - even had the Lana Del Rey tickets secured and in the basket. Then thought, to hell with this, it’s daylight robbery.

buyers need to pushback against this bs

I don't know how anyone affords it, but clearly they do because these events sell out so quickly that it's almost impossible to buy tickets even if you can pay!

I saw Taylor at Eras for £89 which is fine and I probably would have paid more if I had to, but not for anyone else.

DD likes Take That but the cheapest tickets I could find were £150. £450 for 2-3 hours of entertainment for the 3 of us is just not value for money.

SD seems to go to a gig every other week, I have no idea where her Mum gets the money.

I agree with those saying go t a festival. We’ve just paid £400 for a three dayer but it includes vip, private bars, comfortable seats and proper loos. Plus being near main stage. Basic tickets were less than 200-established bands and singers plus some highly rated newer acts. And best of all, no camping so get to stay in nice hotel with proper showers! I suppose you pay what it’s worth t yo. However, the original point is valid-that ticket prices, like house prices have risen way, way above inflation and it's a shame fans with less money can’t go. Instead, it’s become like big sporting events-many of the people going don’t go for the music but because it’s a big name.

It’s simple economics- whether it’s a mars bar, Bruno Mars Tickets or a trip to Mars!!

Every purchase you make is based on :
how much is it?
do I have the money?
do I really want it?
Is it worth it - do I want to pay that much?

Concert tickets are no different from anything else you buy and any form of entertainment is not an essential but a luxury.

life isn’t fair - that is just a fact. And that means for some people they are starving and struggling to feed their kids whilst others are out fine dining.

some people afford concerts without a thought and for others it is just too much money for their budget and so they don’t get to see the band.

funny old world really. 🤔

Paid forty euro for delta Goodrem two years ago. She didn’t even sell out and it was my best gif and I’ve seen oasis, Coldplay, rem, sting and loads of other top bands. Keep an eye out for your favourite artists!

Theatre tickets are going the same way - £250 to see Paddington...

Well, that's the dumb tourist price. It's not what I'd pay as I'd look for cheaper seats, special offers, going on a less popular day, or wait for the buzz to die down, or go before it becomes popular.

And if you are going to pay £250+, for a few quid more you could go to festival and see several artists you like. It's not worth it for a single band or artist though, IMO.

Yes, I don't pay stupid prices. Up to £100 is ok for someone I really want to see. There is no-one I'd like to see so much that I'd pay £250 a ticket though.

I have never paid anything like. And the extra cost doesn’t go to the seller so there’s no incentive to buy up loads of tickets in the presale and hike up the price to make a huge profit.

Very different thing.

Please. It doesn’t cost them £200 to sell two tickets on their website. They’re just as greedy as the rest!

Twickets too? But at least they take money for their service not greed.

Robbie at Barrowlands next week is £142 which is not reasonable for there
at all!

@ScarletLipstick It’s not just the third party sites that do this. If you buy tickets and then can’t attend, and put them on Ticketmaster for resale, you can only put them on at face value (quite rightly). But Ticketmaster themselves will hugely inflate the price they sell them on at. I put two Billy Joel tickets on Ticketmaster and they sold them for £100 more (each!) than what I was selling them for. The whole industry stinks.

Personally, I’m more than happy to pay whatever to see a band/artist I like. I always go for one of the premium or hospitality packages, as I appreciate the absence of queuing, better seats and private bar etc.

That being said, my friend and I frequently end up with guest list passes, so it’s not often we have to actually have to buy tickets. The last concert we went to in Manchester at Coop Live, we had a box FOC.

An aside, I really do believe that people underestimate the true cost of touring, the production outlay and infrastructure.

Yes it is and they have control over ticket prices. There was an interview with Paul Heaton about ticket prices and he said he refuses to charge more than £35 and in order to do that he insists on being personally present at all planning meetings.

And all those people buying from third party sites are part of the problem. Ticket touts managing to buy loads of tickets for popular gigs and then tripling and quadrupling the price. If people didn’t buy tickets at inflated prices they wouldn’t bother taking the ones at the standard price making it fairer for everyone. So if you buy tickets from Viagogo you should ashamed of yourself.

Several years ago Ed Sheeran said they wouldn’t accept any third party tickets to his gigs and there people there being turned away (with the obligatory sad face photo in the local paper tge following day). Difficult to have any sympathy and hoped a message had been sent out re buying from third party sites. But from this thread sadly that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Ticket prices are often very expensive. We go to Lucca Simmer Festival - prices are more reasonable there. Of course there’s the price of flights and accommodation to factor in. I’m also a big fan of twickets and have had some great deals of there for resale tickets.

Reminds me of that interview with Nirvana from back in the day where they were asked about the ticket prices for a show they were doing, and they were like “I don’t know, something like $13?” - they were then told how much tickets for Madonna’s show during the same week were and Kurt Cobain’s jaw hit the floor 🫠

I think some artists are having a say about keeping prices down. I only paid £60-70 to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds this summer, but it seems to be a festival- style event that they've had input in putting on themselves.

Otherwise, going abroad can help (which is why I've ended up buying a ticket to see Pulp somewhere obscure in eastern France for £60 😬).

Yes it definitely is a choice

Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran/The Cure/Robbie Williams all refuse dynamic pricing

others do not and clearly Harry Styles has not

Sabrina Carpenter clearly didn’t she was the most expensive by far of DD concerts and one of hers at the 02 was double the price of a Wembley Eras tour - the only reason we bought them is it was her 16th birthday

it says a lot about Oasis actually that they didn’t

I agree but a lot of the younger generation are buying CDs again. I have started to do the same and it is great! We spend a lot of our weekends in HMV and it is packed.

I also agree that new bands at small venues is the way forward.

I have also noticed this.
DH and I went to one of those “by candlelight” concerts a couple of years ago. It was the Lord of The Rings score (not my thing but DH loves the books and movies). It was SO beautiful. The atmosphere. The music. All of it.

40 quid.

Yeah….i was offered a ticket to go and see Oasis in L.A, but I really couldn’t justify the cost. So I didn't go.
I really wish I could have though 😟

Bands with a conscience will fight for their fans: the Cure did this a couple of years ago https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/17/the-cures-robert-smith-convinces-ticketmaster-to-refund-unduly-high-fees-after-fan-anger

And people say classical music is elitist! I've never paid more than £35 for a concert, usually around £25 for excellent music.