To think that £72.00 is too much to go see Prince concert!

[Scarletohello]

Just heard Prince is playing 4 gigs in the UK IM May. Am a huge Prince fan so checked price of tickets. CHEAPEST is £72.00! ( highest is £135.00)

Is this ridiculous or is this normal these days?

So disappointed.

When he did a residency at the O2 a few years ago he only charged £32.00, so really wasn't expecting it to be so much. :(

[Scarletohello]

Also for those of you who can't get to see the real thing, this Prince tribute band is actually pretty good!

www.endorphinmachine.co.uk

[Caitlin17]

fairy are you sure that is Foo Fighters and not a tribute band? I can't find any dates for the real band. Foo Fighters would be a bit more than £13.

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

I don't like him £72, so I won't go. Ultimately Prince is running a business so it makes sense for him to charge as much as the market will tolerate.

I buy all my tickets from/through //www.ents24.com
If there are face value tickets available then they will sell/link to them, but when they've run out they send you to a secondary site where tickets can be over face value but aren't necessarily. They list gigs and events where they're not selling tickets (eg in pubs where you pay on the door) so I want to support them providing that info for free.

I don't actually think booking fees are a rip off, but they feel like it because of the unusual way ticket prices work. The ticket sellers are usually paying face value for the tickets they sell you. The booking fee represents their costs + profit. It'd be like Tesco pricing milk at 20p + 80p buying fee, because the farmer's price is 20p. I agree though that it can be annoying to see an expensive ticket price that you're just about willing to stretch to only to find that it's not the total price.

[gilliangoof]

Spell check on phone, meant Foo Fighters

[gilliangoof]

LOL at too fighters being better than prince.

[gilliangoof]

I think it is expensive for a concert but Prince is worth it.

[PeachandBlack]

I've paid 99 for my Birmingham ticket plus train fare and hotel. He is worth it.

Fans will understand my NN!

[Cuddleswithcats]

I'm going to see him in Manchester, I love him but have never seen him live. I'm sure it will be worth every penny. I am soooo excited!

[fairyfuckwings]

Go and see Foo Fighters instead. They're much better and I've just got 4 tickets for £13 each for Manchester. In fact it's so cheap I thought I'd buy some for Liverpool too!

[MidniteScribbler]

Sounds fair to me (even taking in to account the exchange rate). I can just imagine the costs involved in putting the productions together, and by the time the venues take their cuts, the ticket sellers, all the performers, agents, producers, promoters etc get paid, there's probably not that much left for the artists considering the work involved. I am also aware that the additional costs in getting the shows to Australia would be pretty huge. I probably shouldn't tell you what I paid for a front row seat to Mythbusters Live in August.

Ticket scalpers here can be arrested and fined. For most events, sellers have put limits on how many tickets a person is able to buy to an event so that someone can't ring up and buy 20 tickets to resell. You can legally sell/buy a ticket (eg if you can't make it to the event, or someone pulls out on you, etc), but not for more than face value.

[FelixFelix]

A few friends got tickets for Leeds for 90 odd quid. Massive rip off.

I was desperate to see Fleetwood Mac last year but it was £130 a ticket

[Figster]

Id pay it I'd even pay the higher rates as I think they the cheapest.

Saw him at the 02 he was amazing unfortunately can't go this time but my friend is v jealous

[Morgause]

I don't like him, so I wouldn't!

But I'd spend twice that to see a band I do like. And have.

[melodycool]

As you can guess from my name, I'm a HUGE fan. I'd pretty much pay anything to see him - just the most amazing and talented artist ever.
His shows are on another level and even non-fans agree.
I chased him around London in February during his Hit and Run tour pt1 - ( concerts were announced on the same day and you had to queue up and buy tickets in the door ) - prices ranged from £10 to £70 for those, with no "middle man" taking a cut.
I can't believe he's returning to the Uk so soon!
I'm going to Birmingham to see him ????????????

[WilsonFrickett]

I got tickets for Glasgow soooooo excited.

Op, think about it this way: he is playing the four largest venues outside the south. The venue will Charge ££££££ - they have staff costs, taxes, the cost of actually building the venues (the hydro is brand new and cost a few mill to build) and they have to make a profit.

Then there is the cost of the tour itself - he has to pay for his musicians, crew, set, transport, rehearsal costs etc etc and also make a profit.

And he's only doing 4 nights total, so the start up costs are huge to then not do a massive tour. (the last O2 residency was 17 nights, hence the ticket prices could be lower because he was playing longer)

I'm not pretending gig tickets don't cost a lot of money, of course they do. But the product you are seeing also costs a lot of money...

[augustusglupe]

Have a great time nick & Rinky!! I got 3 tickets for Manchester!! Still can't believe I got them...I also missed out on Kate Bush tickets and Fleetwood mac, but now I don't care!! Give me Prince anyday Last saw him at the 02 in 2007 and paid a fortune so really glad to get these at face value....and so was DH

[ilove]

I'll keep quiet about what we paid for Monty Python tickets then...

[MsRinky]

I'm going too, am very excited.

[nickstmoritz]

I am going woohoo!!! It is a lot of money but after missing out on Kate Bush tickets I am chuffed. I bloody love Prince and I have seen him 3 times already over the years. He is fantastic live. Going with my best mate on a Monday night and I can't wait!!! :)

[Caitlin17]

Ticketmaster and Ticketweb are primary sale sites. There will be booking/admin fees but that shouldn't add much more than a fiver. Anything significantly over the face value is a re-sale site.

I wouldn't pay £72 to see Prince because I don't like him. I do pay in the range of £75 -£100 for The Royal Ballet and have just paid £95 for the Marinsky Opera in this year's Edinburgh festival.

[Tinkerball]

I made my own Boy George wig for a fancy dress party a few years ago, it was great fun, plaiting and twisting and tying in all the ribbons! My DH bought a orange jumpsuit and took a brush and also went as him - in his community service phase!

[SoonToBeSix]

I think Spider was jk

[FreudiansSlipper]

it will be worth it

but yes it is expensive

[Scarletohello]

It's lunchtime Fri ( I think!)

[TwinkleSparkleBling]

Oh I am just so excited now. I want to try and get tickets but I'm being really stupid...

Tickets for LG go on sale 12pm Friday, so is that 1) Thurs night into Fri morning 2) Fri night into Sat morning or 3) 12 lunchtime Fri????