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Ticket prices
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"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you " That's Sharon Osborne controlling the purse strings for you  | |||
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"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you " It's really frustrating. I used to go to loads of gigs but now it's such a mission to even get tickets when they go on sale and the prices are ridiculous. I went to get an American comedienne tickets the other day and they were £85! Just refuse to pay it. | |||
"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you " Absolutely and Ticket Master are one of the worst I logged on for Don Henley tickets at 9am the day they went on sale with the aim of close to the front tickets . Within 1/2 hour of tickets up and open for sale, someone was selling front row tickets for the same concert on "Get me In" and were asking £1000, half an hour after they went up for sale. . Ofcourse ticket master & get me in are the same company, bunch of rip off wankers as is the person who bought and put straight back up for sale | |||
"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you Absolutely and Ticket Master are one of the worst I logged on for Don Henley tickets at 9am the day they went on sale with the aim of close to the front tickets . Within 1/2 hour of tickets up and open for sale, someone was selling front row tickets for the same concert on "Get me In" and were asking £1000, half an hour after they went up for sale. . Ofcourse ticket master & get me in are the same company, bunch of rip off wankers as is the person who bought and put straight back up for sale" ive heard they they keep so many back see what the demand is and then put them on a more expensive site if they sell well | |||
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"As much as I love concerts, it is a big rip off. The last one I fancied going to wanted £85 , I refused to go but my friend went and she said they were on for an hour and a half. That isn't much for your money" m I paid £60 for Springsteen who did 3 1/2 hrs straight through There are exceptions to the the rule  | |||
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" There are exceptions to the the rule "I don't dispute that. I was just talking about the one | |||
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" There are exceptions to the the rule
I don't dispute that. I was just talking about the one"Yes I know. Doing the maths £85 X 10000 Divided by 1 1/2 hrs That's some hourly rate | |||
The difference on cost between European and UK festovals is huge. And don't get me started on Jane's Addiction tickets for last Monday. | |||
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"I'm hopefully get to g free tickers fir Sabbath but small festivals are cheaper than that
The difference on cost between European and UK festovals is huge. And don't get me started on Jane's Addiction tickets for last Monday. "Can I have your sabbath tickets if I say please? | |||
"bands cant make any money from album or singles sales due to people downloading etc for free so consequently the only way to make money is to raise prices for gigs and merchandising so all those clever arses who were filesharing for free in the noughtys you reap what you sow " Before the advent of the Internet, big bands toured to promote the album, the tickets were sold artificially cheap as loss leaders to get the fans in. Nowadays (as stated) it's the other way round | |||
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"It's a real bug bear of mine lately, more so since ebay blocked the sale of tickets and forced sales through StubHub (where it's not so easy to pick up bargains and what's more ebay make more money off of it). Agree totally with all that's been said, but an additional gripe from me for what has been a recent change - seats and standing tickets always used to be about the same price (and lets face it who actually stays seated when the headliner comes on), yet in the last couple of years a gap has opened between them. As an example, I recently wanted tickets for Madness at the O2 in December, normally I'd get standing, but want to take my 12 year old so was looking for seats. £17 difference in price (£65 per seat -vs- £48 standing)!!! To add insult to injury, as a longstanding fan I had access to pre-sale, so thought I'd at least be able to get seats close to the stage - wrong!! The only ones available via pre-sale were the blocks at the back. In fact when tickets went on general sale, it was still the blocks at the back, so what happened to the front blocks? Held back for sales at even more inflated prices through GetMeIn and the like is my guess!! Mr G" Don't forget the extortionate charges ticketaster add to their sales. And that they own the resale sites too. Robbing bastards | |||
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"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you That's Sharon Osborne controlling the purse strings for you "We support local live music pub bands etc | |||
"As an aside can I make a plea for people to get out and discover small upcoming acts, live music really needs all the support it can get at present. I find it really frustrating going to see a brilliant but relatively unknown act and there only a handful of people there. Without our support small venues are dying and youngsters have little chance of breaking through." Too right x | |||
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"I understand putting on a tour is a massive undertaking 3 years ago I saw alter bridge Nia in Brum Shine down supported £25 !!!!!" Ticket prices will often reflect the show you'll see. I've worked with acts like Quo and Crosby,Stills and Nash. They basically turn up with a PA, 200 pre rigged par cans and their kit. On the other side, I've worked with Justin Timberlake who spent over $1m on a section of stage and toured with $3m worth of projectors which provided a pretty amazing 3 dimensional video stage show. The first two acts put on a simple music show as that's what their audience want, the latter is an event designed to overwhelm the senses and make you go 'Wow!' A top end Quo ticket is about £70, top end JT ticket was £750 (granted that's for a VIP meet and greet package with private bar and withers in the middle of the arena- so you get a bit more for your money). JT is still one of the best shows I've seen, even though I don't like his music much, but it's rare to get charged a fortune and not get that reflected in the contents of what you're seeing beyond the music. | |||
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"Completely agree. My gig life has actually improved. Less big flashy arena shows. More grotty little venues with bands that actually care about their craft. " These are the great gigs too! | |||
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"we go to more pub and club gigs these days, promoters seem to work pricing on the principle of how much the market can stand. Sabs are way overpriced, Bad Company are best part of £60, just daft. Even Saxon are nearly £30. If you think that in early 80s an average metal gig would have cost you £3.50-4.50 and the bands new album was a similar price, and in 2016 the music is £8-12 depending on format and the ticket price is anything from £30-107! There's a few bands i'll still cough up for, but ozzy singing badly for over a hundred quid is no longer one of them! " Well put | |||
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"we go to more pub and club gigs these days, promoters seem to work pricing on the principle of how much the market can stand. Sabs are way overpriced, Bad Company are best part of £60, just daft. Even Saxon are nearly £30. If you think that in early 80s an average metal gig would have cost you £3.50-4.50 and the bands new album was a similar price, and in 2016 the music is £8-12 depending on format and the ticket price is anything from £30-107! There's a few bands i'll still cough up for, but ozzy singing badly for over a hundred quid is no longer one of them! Well put " thank you  | |||
"Saw Garbage at Rock City last night for £30, and that's as expensive as I've paid recently. Levellers and Ferocious Dog there in November for about £25 I think. Rock City always seems to be pretty decently priced, although £3.50 for a pint of Carlsberg is a bit steep :D Still - I'm with the 'go to your local smaller venues and see some new bands instead' lobby." Over a fiver a pint in london academy venuts. £3.50 is a bargain! | |||
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"Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money " Which is why Glastonbury Festival tix at £280 (approx.) don;t seem so bad... | |||
"As a musician with music available to purchase, if I relied on sales, I couldn't feed my dog, let alone pay my bills. I make my money by performing live. Same at all levels. " I'd happily pay the entrance at this level As many have said. They are very supportive of the smaller venue scene It's the fat cats who I have issue with | |||
"As a musician with music available to purchase, if I relied on sales, I couldn't feed my dog, let alone pay my bills. I make my money by performing live. Same at all levels. I'd happily pay the entrance at this level As many have said. They are very supportive of the smaller venue scene It's the fat cats who I have issue with " I think it's more the dodgier ticket agents you have issue with- I'm sure an investigation was started into their practices a few years ago, not sure if anything came of it | |||
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"Completely agree. My gig life has actually improved. Less big flashy arena shows. More grotty little venues with bands that actually care about their craft. " My type of music is not to bad and yes they care about what they are doing. Mind you the old bugger that was big in the 70 & 80 need to stop it for some now can't hold a note like they use to. And the are asking from 45 up to £125 Per tickets. Way to much. I mean I love Brian Adams but when I heard him at new year I was glad I didn't buy the tickets for his tour for his voice is going.   | |||
"As a musician with music available to purchase, if I relied on sales, I couldn't feed my dog, let alone pay my bills. I make my money by performing live. Same at all levels. I'd happily pay the entrance at this level As many have said. They are very supportive of the smaller venue scene It's the fat cats who I have issue with I think it's more the dodgier ticket agents you have issue with- I'm sure an investigation was started into their practices a few years ago, not sure if anything came of it" There was and the report was issued fairly recently - various recommendations came out of it but most of them were of the "self-regulatory" type so carried very little weight to prevent the sharp practices of ticket agencies and those that sell through them in what is effectively legalised ticket touting. Mr G | |||
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"As a musician with music available to purchase, if I relied on sales, I couldn't feed my dog, let alone pay my bills. I make my money by performing live. Same at all levels. I'd happily pay the entrance at this level As many have said. They are very supportive of the smaller venue scene It's the fat cats who I have issue with I think it's more the dodgier ticket agents you have issue with- I'm sure an investigation was started into their practices a few years ago, not sure if anything came of it There was and the report was issued fairly recently - various recommendations came out of it but most of them were of the "self-regulatory" type so carried very little weight to prevent the sharp practices of ticket agencies and those that sell through them in what is effectively legalised ticket touting. Mr G" Ahh, self regulation! Works well with the press and parliament types too | |||
" If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact." I can't say I saw anyone say that | |||
" If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact. I can't say I saw anyone say that" Errrrrrrrrr | |||
" If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact. I can't say I saw anyone say that Errrrrrrrrr" Did I miss someone saying that every penny goes to the artist only and they have no expenses for anything else? | |||
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"I'm hopefully get to g free tickers fir Sabbath but small festivals are cheaper than that
The difference on cost between European and UK festovals is huge. And don't get me started on Jane's Addiction tickets for last Monday. "Can't believe I missed Jane's Addiction in London. Dammit! | |||
" If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact. I can't say I saw anyone say that Errrrrrrrrr Did I miss someone saying that every penny goes to the artist only and they have no expenses for anything else?" I think you took that a bit too literally. It was meant more along the lines of many people either don't consider or don't understand the huge amount of work and expense involved in putting on a successful and entertaining event- just money- venue- artist | |||
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"Those of you under the impression that your £80/£90/£100 etc just drops right in to the pocket of the artist need to consider the following. Something like Black Sabbath will have around 40+ tour crew to support the show, which usually consists of something along the lines of..... Tour manager Promoter rep and admin staff Instrument technicians Sound engineer or two (FOH & Stage mixers) and sound tech Lighting engineer, racks engineer and lighting tech Tour electrician 2-3 camera ops a vision mixer/ director and an engineer ( because you want to see from anywhere in the area don't you?) Catering staff 3-4 Tour security They all need a tour bus to live on, so that's about 5 busses costing about £250000+ to buy (so not cheap to rent)...plus a driver for each. All the kit needs to be moved, so add in about 10 arctics for that size show- each needing a driver (although they do double up as spot operators). Trucks and buses also use a lot of fuel and have a lot of operational regulations to run them. Then you'll need about 25+ local crew to rig and derig the show depending on its size. Did I mention the huge cost of investing in the best sound, lighting, video and staging kit to keep up with the growing demand from audiences for better shows than last time- or they'll be straight on social media for a good old moan? All this lovely kit needs to be stored and maintained between shows, so more staff and you need experts in sound and lighting to design the shows so they're fantastic in all the very varied venues they visit. All this kit is usually hung from the roof, so you need highly skilled rigging staff to accurately calculate loading and determine the correct rigging points, so it doesn't land on your head- which qualified riggers install using expensive cherry pickers which need to be bought or leased and are subject to strict maintenance requirements for from H&S. Every chain and span set used to rig this equipment is also subject to an annual safety inspection which requires several days hire of external experts to certify it's safe. An average large venue show (4500+ audience) will load in about 6am and won't finish the load out until about 1am- so that's a 19 hour show, not the 90 minutes or so the audience see. Then there is the venue. An arena size venue needs about 100 full time staff to keep it running (or a lot of agency staff and agency staff aren't cheap). On show day, this number will expand dramatically with casuals to cover security, stewards, catering, medical, car parks etc. (Also, cleaners. You really don't want to be a cleaner at a gig! If the puke isn't bad enough, I know cleaning staff that have had to clean and unblock toilets by hand after some d*unken arse has shit on every surface possible and filled the bowl with paper- I won't even go in to detail on the people who have releieved themselves in the main venue area as they're too d*unk or lazy to walk 20m to a toilet.) The building has to be maintained and is subject to numerous H&S regulations to keep you and all the staff safe and make sure you go home at the end of the show. This is only scratching the surface of what's involved in a show, which is why a lot of venues have simply disappeared in the last 10-15 years. Most venues (big and small) make little money from the ticket sales, they make their profit from food and beverages and things like parking fees. Most artists make little money from ticket sales, they make their profit from t-shirt sales and corporate sponsorship deals. I agree that some of the ticket companies such as ticket master behave like total bellends, but that's not the venue or band- many acts are starting to look to alternative ticket agencies for this very reason and the venues have pretty much no input to the ticket agencies but take a lot of the shit related to their shoddy practices. If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact. The recent Take That tour employed 230 touring crew, 150 local crew, the venue staff and around 100 members of the public each night who were part of the show (unpaid but fed and paid some expenses). In excess of 600 people were needed for that show- it's rare for large scale show to need less than 100+ people to run it and all that comes from the ticket price before any profit can be considered......starting to sound like a bit of a bargain price now isn't it? " to this...the show you see is the tip of the iceberg..the artist doesn't just swan in, sing and go home.
Thousands of man hours got them there. | |||
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"Just bought 2 tickets for Jean Michelle jarre in Brighton £80 each, in my eyes not the most expensive tickets I have bought." Saw him at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium in 1993, tickets were about £25. I'd have paid that just for the laser display alone, what an awesome gig | |||
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"Simple answer: see smaller bands. I've been to loads of gigs recently and I haven't paid more than 25 quid for a ticket. I guarantee you'll have a better time at, say, a Wildhearts show in a medium-sized club than you would straining to see Ozzy shuffling around from half a mile away in the NEC while clueless knobheads who only go to one gig a year and only came because they know him from The Osbournes are jostling you and spilling the warm beer you paid £8 for." Wise words. I got tickets for the 1997 (ish) Sabs reunion shows when Bill was with them, and while they were good enough then, there was a chap within earshot bemoaning why they werent playing Crazy Train...! I couldn't bring myself to pay £70 let alone £107, but enjoy OP, hope you love it. Seeing Ginger Wildheart in Wolves soon and always a good VFM performer | |||
"Simple answer: see smaller bands. I've been to loads of gigs recently and I haven't paid more than 25 quid for a ticket. I guarantee you'll have a better time at, say, a Wildhearts show in a medium-sized club than you would straining to see Ozzy shuffling around from half a mile away in the NEC while clueless knobheads who only go to one gig a year and only came because they know him from The Osbournes are jostling you and spilling the warm beer you paid £8 for. Wise words. I got tickets for the 1997 (ish) Sabs reunion shows when Bill was with them, and while they were good enough then, there was a chap within earshot bemoaning why they werent playing Crazy Train...! I couldn't bring myself to pay £70 let alone £107, but enjoy OP, hope you love it. Seeing Ginger Wildheart in Wolves soon and always a good VFM performer" Hell Yeah, you can't beat The Wildhearts for a fun night out. | |||
"Simple answer: see smaller bands. I've been to loads of gigs recently and I haven't paid more than 25 quid for a ticket. I guarantee you'll have a better time at, say, a Wildhearts show in a medium-sized club than you would straining to see Ozzy shuffling around from half a mile away in the NEC while clueless knobheads who only go to one gig a year and only came because they know him from The Osbournes are jostling you and spilling the warm beer you paid £8 for. Wise words. I got tickets for the 1997 (ish) Sabs reunion shows when Bill was with them, and while they were good enough then, there was a chap within earshot bemoaning why they werent playing Crazy Train...! I couldn't bring myself to pay £70 let alone £107, but enjoy OP, hope you love it. Seeing Ginger Wildheart in Wolves soon and always a good VFM performer Hell Yeah, you can't beat The Wildhearts for a fun night out. " amen to that | |||
"Simple answer: see smaller bands. I've been to loads of gigs recently and I haven't paid more than 25 quid for a ticket. I guarantee you'll have a better time at, say, a Wildhearts show in a medium-sized club than you would straining to see Ozzy shuffling around from half a mile away in the NEC while clueless knobheads who only go to one gig a year and only came because they know him from The Osbournes are jostling you and spilling the warm beer you paid £8 for. Wise words. I got tickets for the 1997 (ish) Sabs reunion shows when Bill was with them, and while they were good enough then, there was a chap within earshot bemoaning why they werent playing Crazy Train...! I couldn't bring myself to pay £70 let alone £107, but enjoy OP, hope you love it. Seeing Ginger Wildheart in Wolves soon and always a good VFM performer Hell Yeah, you can't beat The Wildhearts for a fun night out. amen to that "Did you know he suffers with depression? | |||
"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you " What venue was that? I checked on ticket shafter earlier and standing general admission for Birmingham started at £75 per ticket plus admin fee of course | |||
"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you What venue was that? I checked on ticket shafter earlier and standing general admission for Birmingham started at £75 per ticket plus admin fee of course" They range from £75 to £107 £75 tickets will probably include selling popcorn during the interval | |||
"I have been to 100s of gigs over the years A massive fan of live music. Does anyone else feel that ticket prices nowadays are getting out of control. Seems the less you need the money the more they charge. Sabbath tickets go on sale tomorrow Id love to go but it's £107 a pop. Crazy money I'm not prepared to go into debt to line pockets of the millionaire promoters Shame on you What venue was that? I checked on ticket shafter earlier and standing general admission for Birmingham started at £75 per ticket plus admin fee of course They range from £75 to £107 £75 tickets will probably include selling popcorn during the interval " Ok not sure if your are joking there, but unreserved standing is exactly as it means, you can stand and watch anywhere with that box, have never at a concert bought anything but unreserved standing at any venue, mainly cause i think sitting down at a rock concert is lame (unless you have to of course due to illness etc) and have never been asked to sell any kind of crap in the intervals  | |||
" If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact. I can't say I saw anyone say that Errrrrrrrrr Did I miss someone saying that every penny goes to the artist only and they have no expenses for anything else? I think you took that a bit too literally. It was meant more along the lines of many people either don't consider or don't understand the huge amount of work and expense involved in putting on a successful and entertaining event- just money- venue- artist" I think most people could figure out it is not just the artist that needs paying. | |||
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"Simple answer: see smaller bands. I've been to loads of gigs recently and I haven't paid more than 25 quid for a ticket. I guarantee you'll have a better time at" I agree, the best concerts I have been to gave been the more intimate ones, not all have been famous or as big singers/ bands but mostly more enjoyable for me than the bigger venues | |||
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"Simple answer: see smaller bands. I've been to loads of gigs recently and I haven't paid more than 25 quid for a ticket. I guarantee you'll have a better time at I agree, the best concerts I have been to gave been the more intimate ones, not all have been famous or as big singers/ bands but mostly more enjoyable for me than the bigger venues "Plus it's supporting the local music scene too | |||
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" If you still think you're just handing over your hard earned straight to the main act, consider this fact. I can't say I saw anyone say that Errrrrrrrrr Did I miss someone saying that every penny goes to the artist only and they have no expenses for anything else? I think you took that a bit too literally. It was meant more along the lines of many people either don't consider or don't understand the huge amount of work and expense involved in putting on a successful and entertaining event- just money- venue- artist I think most people could figure out it is not just the artist that needs paying." You'd be surprised. I hear about a lot of the complaints and some are pretty ridiculous- such as the person who had a meltdown because they were stuck in traffic and the show was started without them or demanding they get better seats at a sold out show, because they're at the back- despite choosing or agreeing to that seat when they bought the ticket. Trust me, some people are fucking cretins! | |||
