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

Exactly this.

The greedy bastards don't deserve my money.

I won't do it. I don't really like 'popular' artists per se but I tried to get tickets for Kendrick Lamar (who I do like) for me and DS last year in Brum and they were 2-500 pound each. Just ridiculous, IMO.

Also tried to get tickets for System of a Down and they were even worse.300 quid for STANDING?!!

What really annoys me is dynamic pricing - not just because you can see prices rising in front of your eyes but because artists can opt out of it. They just don't because they're greedy.

I'll be watching festival line ups for anyone I want to see for the forseeable. Day tickets, hell even weekend tickets, are so much cheaper.

How any family can warrant over a grand for a couple of Taylor Swift or Harry Styles tickets is beyond me.

Yup i've pretty much given up on gigs except for local folk ones that cost £8. I COULD afford to see Oasis but fuck that

My DD had a budget of £150 for Harry Styles, so managed to get tickets for her third choice, on pre sale. She'd set around £100 for My Chemical Romance and couldn't get tickets by the time she got through. We used to be able to get £46 tickets, I've seen The Police, Eminem, Oasis, Noel Gallagher, UB40, Lionel Richie, Mark Knopfler, the Killers etc for that. Now, realistically you need to spend £150, or get really lucky.

Yeah, there was a lot of negativity about "Taylor" selling seats for thousands but that was all people with FOMO buying resale halfway through the tour! If you could buy one a year in advance they were fairly reasonable. With support act it was 4.5 hours.

What also makes me horrified is that people fork out £100s for a ticket just to see this teeny tiny dot on a stage.

This is my thinking about a lot of enormous/stadium events. Maybe I'm just old and boring, but many of them are now televised - so I'm always going to get a far better (free) view from the BBC's vast array of top quality cameras operated by skilled professionals when sitting in my own armchair, than I would being in one single place a quarter of a mile away, having paid hundreds of pounds for the privilege.

I'm a huge Eurovision fan, and did try to get tickets when it was in Liverpool, as it seemed a shame not to even try when it was on home territory, but the only ones left were £500 each, so no way; but at home, watching on the TV, is undoubtedly far and away the prime viewing spot, albeit maybe without the atmosphere (and crush) of 'being there'.

And YES @CraftyNavySeal totally agree about the seats up in the gods - you just end up watching the screen and no atmosphere to speak of. If I'm desperate to see someone I'll always try and get standing as I know I can't afford the reasonable seats. Same with theatre - hate paying £70/80 to be staring at a canopy or missing half the stage.

I was recently talking to my 16 year old son about this - he's mad about music and would love to go to loads of gigs & has a Saturday job but tickets at £150+ are beyond his and most teenagers' reach. When I was a teen in similar circumstance I went to loads of gigs not just small venues even big ticket Wembley arena ones weren't that much. I went to Live Aid FFS - £25!!! That can't be more than £70/80 nowadays. George Michael's Faith tour paid for myself from my Saturday job c.£10 then £30/40 now.

I got through for oasis tickets but after about 6 hrs. It was £300+ per ticket. I was like nope, I’m not paying that.

I paid £120 to see Justin timberlake about 14yrs ago and I thought that was so expensive! My friend was like how much omg what do I do, shall I still get them. In a bit of a panic we bought them lol. Amazing seats and what a concert. I wouldn’t spend anymore than £150 now and I think that’s expensive.

We have been going to the Nutcracker ballet every year for years.

We're not bothering so much anymore as the prices are just rising too quickly.

It's years since we went to the Royal Ballet version, we started seeing the "cheaper" English National but even they're getting too expensive.

With the tax bracket thresholds frozen, people will only have less and less money year on year and this kind if thing is going to get a lot worse.

@Netcurtainnelly YANBU!

What also makes me horrified is that people fork out £100s for a ticket just to see this teeny tiny dot on a stage.

If you can't get tickets with a good view, then I don't see the point. I've been to see Foo Fighters and U2 and various other artists, but only ever bother when I can get good seats.

I also think any re-selling above face value and any sales outside the venue should be banned.

Same for football matches and the cost of a season ticket. It was always the irony that the average salary of a season ticket holder was very low.

Its the dynamic pricing thats also rubbish! Feel less are doing it these days but theres still a few out there.

That and the added fees. Paid 86 for Bruno Mars and the ticket themselves only 70. Understand if got sent the ticket itself but all on the phone. Know more to it then that but still...

I don't think I've ever paid more than £40 for a theatre ticket and I go a fair bit but I get the cheapest ticket. If it's a concert I want front floor.

I haven’t not bought them as a protest, but at times I’ve not bought them as I can’t afford it!

Id I had enough money I’d still buy the tickets if I wanted to see the band enough.

We understand it, but it’s grossly unfair. We used to pay a £12 for an album, and £40 for a gig ticket. Now they’ve sold out to streaming platforms, they’re getting more exposure for their material, but expecting concert-goers to pay twenty times the cost of an album for a ticket to their gig.

Concert-goers are being stung with paying for free music for everybody. And like everything in our capitalist society, it’s only the wealthy who will ever be able to go. It’s the same with theatre or football tickets.

Oh yes I know who you mean now - she was great!

I don't have enough spare cash. I don't think I've been to a proper concert since about 2010.

Take the kids to panto, and also been to see a Taylor Tribute with them and Six The Musical. I sometimes go to theatre (last time I watched Girl on a Train with the girls) and will spend up to £50 a ticket. A big pop star concert I just can't afford.

Apparently he's getting 2million a show, IDC, I'm still going, I'm Harry mad, but no matter what he donates he'll be getting a lot, but so is everyone playing those venues and I go to a lot each year.

I just can't wait to see what it'll be, what songs we get and how it'll differ from LOT, because that was phenomenal too.

People can choose to pay or not. I won’t pay crazy prices.

I couldn’t justify spending that much money on a concert. If I was loaded, then maybe.
I don’t love any artists that much, so far DD enjoys tribute rock bands at around 30/40 a ticket x2, that’s my limit.

Artists used to make their money from record sales, and their gigs were are marketing function of that.
Now with music streaming, it’s the opposite way around - they make less on their studio music and more on the associated gigs.

I can still remember the absolute horror on my parents' faces - and splutters of sheer disbelief at who would and could pay that - in the 80s when they heard how much tickets to see Shirley Bassey cost.

They were £25!

Little bit patronising.

OP knows that, but is curious how others are feeling about it 🤷🏻

I stopped having fomo years ago so for me the high prices just aren't worth it.

Well I would have paid any amount for the Harry Styles tickets, anything.

Anyone else: I agree with you and wouldn’t watch Oasis if they were out in my back garden, I would close the curtains. I go to a few concerts but don’t pay big prices, it’s just not worth it to me.

I think it’s getting to the stage now where you can only go to concerts or gigs of your absolute very favourite. It’s just too expensive to go more than once a year.
I agree these shows cost an enormous amount to run safely, it’s not like Harry got all the money. He probably donated a lot of it anyway, he is a nice guy.

Black Sabbath is my all time favourite band. I refused to pay a starting price of £400 for tickets for their final show last July. That price is obscene for seated or standing tickets. No band is worth that. I wouldn’t even pay that if Kurt Cobain rose from the dead.

I paid £60 for a Sabbath standing ticket in London pre-Covid! £50 for AC/DC, £50 for Metallica. I’ve seen Sabbath many times before so could let this one go especially as Ozzy was literally on his last legs.

I know the cost of everything has gone up a lot in the last few years but ticket prices seem to have multiplied significantly and disproportionately more than everything else.

On top of that you have to pay the price for a train to Birmingham, an overnight stay etc. it soon adds up. I miss the days so much of just seeing cheap pop punk bands at my local concert venue.

I saw 5ive at the Brighton Centre in Oct for around £50 with friends and the show and seats were incredible and local so barely cost me anything more. You can have great experiences without breaking the bank if you get lucky! I’ve just realised I don’t have to see my favourite bands EVERY time they tour. Once or twice in a lifetime is fine for me.