Rock and Roll Concerts: Today vs. Yesteryear

Why did it do that. 1. is supposed to be 1969. and 2. is supposed to be 2025.

Oh I guess 1 and 2.

I wrote 1999 and 2000 and it became that ^^^

I wanted to take the Wife to Red Rocks to see the Goo Goo Dolls. When she found out the seats I wanted were $500 per seat, plus parking, she kiboshed the trip and we're going to Florida instead next month.

I don't know maybe you guys like this format like this format but what's wrong with how I write in the box coming out the exact same. What's wrong with double and triple spacing. It helps people read.

Ski I said the same thing. It's fucking nuts.

In 1977 at the Boston Garden - floor seats for Pink Floyd were $15.00 and balcony seats $10.00. Of course I had an above minimum wage job that summer delivering bagels etc. at $2.50 an hour.

What pisses me off these days are not only are the prices astronomical but you have to buy up to a year in advance.

I saw Fleetwood Mac for free back in 1975 or maybe it was 1976.

and a friend of mine took his then girlfriend to a Weekend concert at SoFi Stadium and paid $700 a ticket about a year or two ago.

The most I myself ever paid was $25 for a dinner show to see Tony Orlando up in Tahoe with my wife back in the late '80s. I did not like paying that much to see Tony Orlando. The only saving grace was the opening act which was the Smothers Brothers.

^ I know Fleetwood Mac toured in the summer of 1976 because I saw them in Foxboro Stadium with the James Montgomery Blues Band, Boz Scaggs and the Eagles. Don't recall much which is either due to age or the quart of Southern Comfort that I drank.

Beyond how the tickets are handled, I really don't like the dynamics between the entertainers and the crowd.

Too many entertainers think their role is to preach during the concert more than play music.

And then you have the predictable shit at the end where the band leaves the stage and the crowd begs them to come back for first and second encores to "prove" it was a really awesome show and the stars really connected with the audience.

Then there is the general break down in how people behave in public, which leads to disputes among concert goers. Whole thing is fucking tiresome. Then you can look forward to the traffic jamb getting out.

Finally, anything that relies on porta-potties for toilet facilities is off my list any more. I honestly would rather shit in the woods.

I think that happened a lot at Woodstock.

The Who hitting “See me, Feel me…” is one of the most special moments of the entire Woodstock festival.
I saw them in the 80s. Don’t remember the ticket prices, but had to be cheap because we could afford it. Saw them mid 90s. I think I paid just over 100.

I think the first lollapalooza was $30-35

In 1982, I saw The Stones at a sold-out Carrier Dome for $15, and I had good seats. And no, Hell's Angels weren't security.

I put a ton of blame on corporate greed, StubHub and Ticket Master. Scalping became easy with the ability to buy a LOT of tickets over the Internet then re-sell for stupid wicked prices. The Swifties got seriously burned and pissed of a few years back.

The only place I'll go now is a jazz bar.

The only place I go now is a jizz bar.

I get one hell of a lot more satisfaction watching and touching and experiencing girls than I do watching musical performers at high prices.

Prices where I live jumped about 25% this year. Goo dolls were $46 last year, same venue resale were asking $200. Lot if empty seats. Skipped that one.

Fuck the Goo Goo Dolls

They can suck my balls

During high school, I used to go to concerts in Chicago all the time, but I never had enough money to buy the top-tier tickets. However, there was one artist I really wanted to see up close, so I bought a ticket in the front center section of the Auditorium Theatre. The year was 1969, the act was the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the most expensive seats were $6.00. Well worth the splurge.

Unfortunately digital tickets have killed any sort of bargain secondary market. Also the shows and tours used to exist to promote the album and sell merch; they still sell merch but mostly the ticket sales are the product. Artists used to want full stadiums even if 1/4 of the tickets were given away by local radio stations, now corporations are keeping the nose bleeds expensive even if it means they don't sell.

I saw Goo Goo Dolls open for Bush in the 90s. It was a good show by both bands.

@rightfield you realize the encore is a piss break for the performers, right? It also gives the crew a chance to reset if anything got unplugged or whatever. It's a planned break before the finale.

I saw the Beatles at Atlanta stadium in 1965 for $4.50. Those were the cheap upper deck seats. The expensive seats in the lower level were $5.50. That extra dollar made a lot of difference to our group of 15 year olds.
Fast forward to the Paul McCartney concert in Atlanta about 5 years ago. That ticket set me back $300 and wasn't anywhere near the stage.
I now jokingly tell people that I paid $300 to see ONE Beatle in 2019, but in 1965 I got to see (4) Beatles for less than $1.25 each. Concert posters are out of control.

Musical acts cannot make money on album sales anymore so touring and ticket sales are the only way they can get paid. So instead of touring to promote album sales, the tour is the primary revenue source. This has contributed to high ticket prices, along with the fact that there are a lot of levels involved in putting on a concert tour and everyone wants to get paid - especially LiveNation who seems to have a monopoly on these things.
Having said this, it seems that the typical ticket cost for all live events (concerts, sports, etc) is now somewhere around $250, which is more than I’m willing to spend - especially since that’s going to be X2, plus parking, travel, dinner, etc. But as long as people are willing to pay it, the prices will continue to go up.