...to feel like I don't want the hassle of going to concerts any more?

[TempestTost]

I am not a huge concert goer, I've always tended to go to pubs more often. Mainly just because of the cost. But there are a few artists I've been willing to go out and get concert tickets for from time to time, especially if the venue is one I like (not too big, seats reasonably comfortable.)

I've been hearing more and more people over the last few years complain about the difficulty of getting tickets, and just recently experienced it myself. I heard tickets would go on sale for a musician I like, someone i've seen three or four times before.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get online until about an hour after they went on sale, but I wasn't too worried. Last time I saw him, it was a smaller venue, and I got ok tickets a few days after they were available - this was 4 years ago. He hasn't blown up in popularity since then, he's an established guy with a following but not Taylor Swift by any means.

Anyway - I went online an hour after the sale opened, and absolutely nothing was available. But they were available for resale all over the internet. Clearly a huge number were immediately snapped up for resale. I managed to find some for about double the price, though the better seats were far more than that. (Though I am still not sure they will be legitimate once I get to the door, and there isn't any good way to find out.)

In hindsight, I'm almost wishing I hadn't bought them - I was in a bit of a panic because I'd told my daughter that I could get tickets. But I feel like, until venues get some kind of handle on this, it's almost better not to bother at all. There is something really nasty about the whole thing. I also can't decide if I think the venues and artists are somehow complicit, or are also victims.

This is actually a bigger venue than the one I am going to which holds about 1000.

This is what I mean - it seems even smaller venues, with mid-level artists, are now being sucked up into this.

I've never found Steve Earle jacks up his ticket prices. It's the resellers that do that. There's nothing about smaller venues that makes it impossible for resellers to snap up all the tickets. It's just new that they seem to want to.

My Oh and i are bikers so luckily get to see some good bands at biker nights and rallies are reasonably priced and get to see maybe four or five bands over a weekend but most are not bands that would fill big venues, at the end of the day live music is live music

See also stubhub 😡

I’m of an age demographic where tickets start appearing on Twickets closer to the date. It’s a sobering thought that a significant percentage of ticket buyers my age are often too ill (or dead) to go to the gig, so good seats often come up.

I'm fairly clear that I won't be attending another arena gig as long as I live. Overpriced, poor experience and, to be honest, most of the bands that cater for a market big enough to fill a 1,000+ capacity venue no longer excite me all that much (OK, that probably sounds more snobbish than it's meant, but I feel like I've done my time listening to megastars).

I'm also fairly happy that I can continue to visit small venues, pay maybe £10-15 for a ticket, and see talented, committed musicians doing their thing. Plus, the beer is often better, the crowds are friendlier and contain fewer drunken arseholes and there are about 20 venues of this type within a 45-minute drive of home so no need to faff on with accommodation. I'd consider travelling to see a couple of European bands whose music I really like, but these acts are also fairly small scale, so would be playing similar-sized venues just in Berlin or Helsinki rather than Newcastle or Middlesbrough.

The only 'event' stuff I'll consider now would be something like Stockton Calling - a day-long festival of small venues in one town showcasing a couple dozen local bands plus a few better-known headliners. Even then, I'm probably looking at £30-40 for tickets and similar travel.

I would accept that bigger bands are more consistent. They'll have a bit more stagecraft about them, or just be more confident playing live. I've gone to a few gigs where I've only known the band's studio output, then found that the live show can't live up to it. At the same time, I've been to some concerts with low expectations and been hugely impressed by the outcome. If you can live with unpredictability, this is a way forward.

I'll go to smaller venues but not the 02 and the like. Saw someone at the 02 recently and like others have said they were a speck in the distance and we were looking at screens. Add the fact that they were charging £16 for a glass of wine .... the loo queues were horrendous .... and it took us 45 minutes to queue for the tube home. Or maybe I'm just getting old!

I feel fairly lucky that I live close to Brighton and so also in driving distance for London.

It keeps the cost down as no overnight stays and we have started going to things more often rather than less. We get a fair few good acts in Brighton - most recently we saw the Pet Shop Boys.

DD and I saw a band at Wembley Arena a few weeks ago - £80 each. DS and I have just booked to see Twenty One Pilots next year at the 02 - £90 each. This would be probably the most I would pay with a few exceptions.

DD is gutted not to have been able to get TS tickets and we both dread BTS and/or Seventeen announcing tours as we know it will be hard to get tickets - I'd almost rather they didn't come to the UK but I know that's mad.

Completely agree with you OP.

I usually stick to smaller, local gigs now for the same reason.

On the odd occasion there's a big act I want to see, I'll try and get tickets at the initial time of release. If they are sold out. I refuse to pay jacked up prices via resellers.

I have no issue with them being sold back at face value for resale if the original purchaser can't attend.

Choose different gigs.

The most recent gigs I have been to, one was about £20 (band with a top ten album, gig was sold out), one was £15, and the gig I'm going to next month is a ridiculously cheap £11 (which is sold out).

Of course artists are going to charge top dollar if people pay it - widen your horizons, check out up and coming bands and you'll get a great night for a price that's often cheaper than a night in the pub.

My daughter loves gigs - as she's at school I have to buy them for her. Shes up to 15/16 booked for 2024 so far.

I must have the knack as the only one I haven't been able to get for her was Olivia Rodrigo for last years tour.

We are also lucky in that a record shop near us puts on gigs - she saw one of her favourite bands in a 20k venue one weekend and 4 days later in a 900 seat approx venue - that sold out in 4 seconds!

I gave up going to concerts years ago for that very reason.

I've been to all kinds of festivals concerts and gigs over the years and have all but stopped going now. Partly due to audience behaviour and partly due to cost. Tickets should not be able to be resold, once bought that is it, they're yours and can't be moved on. Ticket insurance should come in the price so if you can't attend you can get your money back and the tickets are then put back onto the original system.

Why should it be entirely banned? I’ve sold tickets before when I couldn’t go and I didn’t make a profit on them.

I don't have an issue with resale when it's done via placed like Ticketmaster or a legitimate site like Twickets. You can get some great last minute bargains on Twickets!

Rammstein 🤘🤘🤘

I'm done with concerts - uncomfortable venues with no atmosphere (in Cardiff anyway), loads of money, difficult parking etc.
Took dd to the Niall Horan concert in Cardiff recently - security made me bin my tangfastics on the way in this depriving me of any comfort. Even though they sell food and drink in the venue. Mostly watched it in a screen anyway. The one before that was Coldplay and I swear getting out of the car park took more time than the concert lasted. Could barely see anything and it cost £300!
I'm getting old, I think cos I just cba anymore.

Some tickets now are nothing less than extortionate. I do go to lots of concerts but some bands I would like to see again, I won't because of the prices. Others we have been keen to see and spent a small fortune only to have the experience ruined by pissed up people acting like idiots and blocking the view, or in the case of the Elton John concert where we had paid lots of money for seats at the front found the venue had stuck someone else in our seats as someone else was in there's! They seemed shocked that yes we did want them moved out of our seats!

Had a bad experience with Viagogo they are to be avoided awful company. I resold some tickets recently via ticketmaster at face value as cant go now and I think that's the only way they should be allowed to be sold.

I think mid-size festivals offer the best value for money and experience now, I cannot be arsed with stadium gigs at all.

This.

I do go to bigger gigs too but I'm very selective and I am a bit resentful at spending the money and being miles from the stage, ripped off at the bar and queueing for congested trains afterwards. I go to probably 2 things a year in the £50-100 bracket.

But I go and see newer or lesser known bands every few weeks, for typically around £20. A fantastic, intimate vibe, great view, not unusual to get a chance to say hello to the musicians and you're actually supporting them to earn a living rather than just adding to their millions in the bank.

I bought standing tickets for an event via Ticketmaster but then we were able to get seated tickets so I sold them via Ticketmaster Resale for about a tenner more than we paid (the most we were allowed to charge) so that we could recoup booking fees etc. It should be the only way.

The thing I've noticed attending gigs lately is some of the standing venues (02 Leeds, Brixton Academy and even Hammersmith Apollo) are dangerously overselling and I've had a couple of very uncomfortable experiences in rammed venues.

This is what Ed Sheeran does.

I think it's a good idea. Yes it's a pain if you want to transfer tickets or whatever but I think there is a way to do it. Resale of tickets at a ridiculous price is dreadful!

Twickets is great for buying and selling. I once got a VIP festival ticket with a £50 beer voucher included for £70. Absolute bargain.

At least the person selling it managed to get some money back, which they wouldn't have done otherwise because it was the morning of the festival.

I've been to a few great gigs recently in small/medium sized venues so not ready to give up on live shows just yet. But ticketing aaaargh! Thought twickets was ok but recently bought a ticket off them and when I got to the venue they said it had already been scanned 😡Fortunately one of my friends had a spare otherwise I would have been stuck outside the venue all evening 45 miles from home. Also Ticketmaster 's own transfer system sucks, I tried to transfer some tickets to a friend on the day of a gig I couldn't go to and an hour before the gig they still hadn't gone through. Presumably the delay is so they can check you're not selling on loads of tickets but given I've used the facility all of one time previously I can't imagine I would flagged up as a big time tout.

Twickets is great for genuine resales.
What annoys me about concerts now is diehard fans used to be able to get to a gig early and sit near the stage (sometimes behind a small vip area). Concerts I've attended recently now charge more for fenced of standing areas in front of the stage that go a long way back - it's disgusting.

It ain't what it used to be that's for sure