Concert experiences are progressively getting worse

[Ieatbread]

anyone else miss cheap concerts? recently went to the Intuit dome for two concerts felt like I got robbed for some steep nose bleed seats sighhh

the lights are cool I guess but the ticket price to proximity is insane.

[JOSweetHeart]

To me, how expensive tickets have become over the past several years only makes it even more important that people who attend the performances show some considerateness for not just the people around them, but towards the people on the stage too. I hate it when I run across people online who don't have anything good to say about a concert experience due to one reason or another and a lot of the time, the problem ends up being other people in the crowd who do not know how to behave themselves. You would think that paying so much to see the show would only make people be even more on notice, but sadly no. There are still people out there who end up getting noticed by the people on stage and not in a good way and if the behavior is bad enough, the person causing the problem can and will be thrown out which I for one will never object to.

God bless you always!!!

Holly (a girl who couldn't be more respectful when in a concert crowd)
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Me & my favorite singer James Otto

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[baystateoftheart]

Link


This is a good video about ticket prices.
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[LedZep]

Thankfully we don't have Ticketmaster yet. Some of the prices are still steep, especially the bigger concerts. My advice is always to go see smaller bands, especially local ones. On average those are better, cheaper concerts with way cooler crowds. The experience at those shows is not getting worse at all.
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Overall chart
Fake overall chart

2020s

[imacgill]

I used to go see around twenty five gigs a year, but now I am lucky if I go see five shows in a year.

Here in Toronto Live Nation, who owns Ticketmaster, has their dirty hands into most of the concert action including mid level venues guaranteeing that you will pay astronomical prices even for second tier acts. While smaller acts are still relatively cheap, big indie and alternative artists are now demanding steep prices even for independently promoted shows. I saw Slowdive two years ago and paid around $57. They are playing Massey Hall this week and floor tickets are around $90. That is a pretty big increase in ticket prices in just two years.

[LTSings]

I saw Whitney Houston in her prime back in the late eighties. She was one of the top acts in the world at that time and the tickets were $18 each. That didn't seem particularly cheap back at the time, but it does now compared to today's prices. Now it seems pretty hard to believe I saw one of the top acts in the world for only $18.

[JOSweetHeart]

^^^ Just eighteen dollars for Whitney is amazing although, do keep in mind that she only got bigger while the 90s were happening because that is when she covered "I Will Always Love You". Was it eighteen dollars no matter where your seat was? These days, places may charge more depending on how close you are to the stage.

God bless you and Whitney's family always!!!

Holly
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Me & my favorite singer James Otto

Check him out here when you can!

[LTSings]

[CA Dreamin]

I agree they've gotten worse. I rarely go to concerts anymore for three reasons. One, too loud. Don't get me wrong, I like loud music, but I don't like having tinnitus that lasts until the next day. Two, as I've gotten older my band selection has shrunk. I've seen many the artists I've wanted to see. The artists I like have gotten older too, and some tour less frequently, or have broken up, or tragically died (ex. I was really bummed when The Cranberries canceled their show in LA in Oct 2017; and even more bummed when she died three months later). And three, the biggest reason, just too freaking expensive, as we've all said. The cost of live entertainment is going up in other areas too, such as sports, theater, and amusement parks. Inflation is high, but price increases in the last 10-15 years definitely exceed the rate of inflation. Live Nation/Ticketmaster has too much power, and I feel it's a microcosm of economic shifts I'm not particularly a fan of. As this point, I prefer attending smaller shows...smaller artists, smaller crowds, smaller venues, smaller price of admission.

[Romanelli]

It's important to remember that (NOT IN ALL CASES) people do not buy albums the way they used to. Which means that that part of an artist's income has gone down. As well, streaming sites are...how can I say this delicately...

THE DEVIL

...and are ripping artists off at a ridiculous rate, especially the smaller and less established ones. This has been WELL documented...and no one seems to care. But even the larger acts aren't making money from music sales the way they used to. Which is why the existence of merch (otherwise known as crap) has risen to ridiculous levels. So what the smaller artists are left with is live shows. For which they have to have increased prices, because touring is not cheap. In order for a smaller band to be able to even afford their tour and make a small amount of money per band member, they have to charge $20-$30 per ticket. That's for unknown bands. After expenses (which are not small), you make almost nothing.

So, it's not outside the norm to have to pay $20-$30 for a ticket to see a band you've never even heard of.

Now, start increasing that amount based on how well known the band is. And remember that the bands you know well are not selling albums like they used to.

I'm not saying that it's good for bands to charge in the thousands of dollars for tickets. But I DO understand that touring is not cheap. And album sales are DOWN because of streaming services. The bigger the band, the bigger the show. The bigger the show, the higher the expenses. Lots of people have to get paid. And the only place that money is gonna come from is your pocket.

So. Buy those tickets (to a reasonable point). Stop streaming music, especially for smaller and lesser established artists...it may be convenient, but it's not helping anyone except for the streaming service. Buy albums. Hold them in your hands and appreciate the work, time and money that went into it. This is an album site...this should not be lost on us.

Music is art. Artists survive by being financially supported by those who appreciate what they do. Art can be appreciated for free, but not supported for free. And I hate to say this...but complaining about concert ticket prices while using websites to obtain their recordings for free...that's a problem.
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