Concert tickets

[Pumpkittenspice]

I just bought a pair of Lana Del Rey tickets (two standing tickets for £112 each.) It’s a stadium gig, but the prices were insane. I’m talking over £100 for nosebleed seats!

I’ve been wondering since when did concert tickets get SO expensive? I’ve been attending concerts for fourteen years, and I swear these high prices have sprung up out of nowhere.

Since COVID I think. It's ridiculous now 😒

Part of it the rise of streaming. Musicians make much less money from that than album sales. Tours used to be to promote albums but now they are the primary source of income.

It's this. And people will pay for it which makes it worse. Something needs to be done about Ticketmaster and the monopoly they have though.

Ahhhh! That makes so much sense! Thank you

I'm so jealous!! They were sold out when I got to the front of the queue. They are so expensive but I'd happily pay to see Lana, hope she adds more London dates.

It was the pre-sale! There will be a general sale too, so you still have another chance

I also think streaming’s promotion of particular artists means these days all the focus is on a handful of mega famous bands/artists who can therefore command very high prices. Whereas there used to be a bigger group of less famous/less dominant artists.

I paid £120.66 today for an LDR ticket for my daughter. I must be very old because I can't name one LDR song. Have so much stress in my life at the moment (parental death, sorting out the funeral etc) and there I was panicking about bloody LDR tickets.

The tickets were cheaper when we saw her at Hyde Park last year. Pisses me off when I see artists cashing on their young fans. Doesn’t need to be like this Paul Heaton doesn’t charge fortune for his gigs. Appreciate his music is not likely to appeal to LDR fans! 😀

I had tickets for her last tour, bought for DD for her birthday present and to be her first concert. That was obv cancelled and LDR cited illness, but covid was coming so I'm sure it was something to do with that too.

I was also a bit stressed about whether I'd manage to get tickets as I've missed out on other artists before. I was able to get a code for the 9am presale from Lana's site, and was lucky enough to find tickets that I could afford. £170 some of them! I paid £75 last time and they weren't the cheapest seats. This time I'm further back and still paid £103 each.

Oh well. She's ecstatic, which is what counts.

I am a regular at gigs, and have paid lots for both Oasis and Taylor so the venue and pricing doesn’t surprise me, But LDR was incredibly rude to fans and staff at Glasto a couple of years ago, and regularly plays shortened sets. I’m not sure I’d take the risk.

The rise of the internet has made ticket buying easier in some respects so demand has risen Yes, touring is the artists income now but the big names are really cashing in now. They work on the principle what WONT they pay and price accordingly. I won't pay these prices because I saw eg Springsteen at his v.best for 12 pounds or 20 pounds. Lots of hate for Ticketmaster but it's the artist in conjunction with TM that sets the prices. There are also sly deals such as a cut of the service fees, a cut of the concessions eg food and drink sold in the venue and car parking. A big artist can dictate/negotiate these add ones. Taylor is rumoured to take 85% of all revenues at each show. If everyone or enough people said no to going the artist would be forced to reduce their prices. But you won't say no.

Oh, no way?!

She was late at Glastonbury and Reading in the last couple of years.

She was about 20/30 mins late at Hyde Park. Something with her hair I think. She did put on a good show and she came down off stage and met some fans at the front.

During her 2023 Glastonbury headline performance, Lana Del Rey was cut off mid-set due to the festival's strict curfew:

What happened
Del Rey was about 30 minutes late to her set on The Other Stage. She told the crowd that she was rushing through her set because her hair took too long to do. The mic was abruptly cut off, and the crowd booed.

Del Rey's reaction
Del Rey was clearly annoyed and upset. She said, "I'm so f*ing annoyed that we have to rush this set". She also led the crowd in an a capella rendition of “Video Games”.

The hosts' reaction
The hosts of The View criticized Del Rey for disrespecting people's time. They said that it doesn't matter who it is, and that people's time is not more valuable just because they are famous.

Del Rey's reflection
Del Rey later spoke about the incident in an interview with The Sunday Times, admitting that she was still frustrated.

Just back from watching LDR at Liverpool. Dd loved it. There were happy tears.
Well worth the fuss, stress and expense after all.

I agree - my two sons want to see Kendrick and Tyler the Creator but they’re too young to go on their own (mid teens and here in Aus you have to have an over 18 in the group) but I just can’t justify another $350 on a ticket for me for concerts I don’t even want to go to.

They tend to do one or two dates per city here so I guess simple supply and demand applies.

Ive told my two they can go to concerts when they’re older but it’s a shame because I used to be at various festivals and concerts all the time as a teen and I don’t think it was expensive like this.