Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to torontomike.com. I received the following submission late last night.
Expensive Concert Tickets
I am a person who has gone to a lot of concerts in my lifetime. I love going to them, but ticket prices for concerts are getting ridiculous.
My brother tells me today he was given a concert ticket as a gift for his birthday. It is to the Evanescence concert in July. I asked him how much was the ticket? He replies $57.
Excuse me.
Isn't this a band with only one album under their belts. The concert is at the Molson Amphitheatre, so that also inflates the cost of the ticket, but I don't want to get in to that.
This band is not worth almost $60. Even though they will probably sell out the show, faster then Good Charlotte has for the same venue.
What happened to reasonable concert ticket prices?
Marc Felice
The price of concert tickets is something I've wanted to rant about for a while. I appreciate you raising the subject.
Evanescence is a band nobody had heard of just eighteen months ago. Until "Bring Me Back To Life" started burning up radio playlists, a ticket to their concert in a very intimate setting was probably $15. They've had one successful album with a few hits and suddenly they're a $57 ticket? Unbelievable. Some bands get away with murder.
Heaven forbid you want to check out an act like U2 or another band with massive crossover appeal. A ticket to a show like that will set you back a c-note easy. Bring a date and you can double that insane amount. Fuggetaboutit. At one time, I may have attended a variety of concerts to see bands I like. Once James and the big fat mortgage came to be, all my disposable income evaporated.
About two years ago I decided the only bands I'd pay to see are The Tragically Hip and Pearl Jam. I saw both last summer and it sounds like a Hip show will be announced soon. I'll buy lawns at the Molson Ampitheatre so I can save a few bucks and enjoy my band under the beautiful night sky. This is important if I'm to stare at the stars during "Bobcaygeon" when Gordie sings "I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time". But I digress... My point is the ticket usually costs me about $40 and I leave my date at home with my two year old because she's sick of seeing the Hip anyways. I think $40 is reasonable to see a band that good who have paid their dues for almost 20 years and released several albums. $57 for Evanescence is highway robbery. Of course, I wouldn't pay $5.70 to see them. I wish they'd just go away.
