The cost of seeing bands live....

[Cyclops]

Joe Bonamassa is playing Motorpoint on 9 March 2018. I saw him in the autumn of 2015 and really enjoyed the show - he was onstage with no break for two hours plus - so I wanted tickets for his next visit. But the cost! on the floor of the venue, tickets are £100; on the sides, £89.20. The stated capacity of Motorpoint is 5,000. At those prices, the gig will gross the best part of half a million! And there are the usual handling and exhorbitant posting charges on top - unless you go to the box office (as I did - after collecting my tickets, the cashier then said they were filming the show!). I think I paid around £50 in 2015. Even November Deep Purple tickets only (!) cost me £70.

Contrast these prices with the £25 to see the Classic Rock covers show at St David's in January, 2018. I've seen this before and recommend it. I know I will enjoy this as much as Joe B. I only paid £25 to see Walter Trout at the Tramshed - standing about ten feet away from Trout.

Prices for some live shows are getting ridiculous - yet the Joe B show is already 75% booked. I guess it's down to mugs like me who want to see bands no matter what the cost. And I'd estimate the age of 90% his audience to be 50+ - ie those with greater disposable income.

[Charlie]

I was planning on trying to get tickets for The The at the Albert Hall a few weeks back until the day before release when ticket prices were confirmed.
£90 for the upper tier and £140 for ground level.
Couldn't justify paying that much, then booking fee on top.

Interesting post yesterday on here about the prices of video games, I remember back in the early nighties paying between £30 and £40 for games, now games cost roughly £40 to £60 for new releases.

Quite how gigs have shot up so much is crazy.

[itkman]

It's also down to the fact that bands make a lot less through record sales these days. Gigs are now the main earners for a lot of bands.

I recently moved and got a lot of my old CDs out of storage as I didn't have room for them in my old house. Many of the older CDs (mid 90's to early 00's) had stickers on them with the price, around the £13.99 mark. I never pay more than a tenner for a CD these days, not sure what £13.99 is in today's money but I'd imagine it's around the £20 mark.

I'm not sure where the missing £4-5 used to go but you can be sure it's not the record companies taking the hit.

[Rhiwbina Blues]

the motorpoint is not fit for purpose, my gf is under 5ft and has no chance of see the bands on stage so paying over £50 for a ticket is a waste of money. The sooner the new 12000 seater arena is built the better as long as it has a standing area as well

[Vindec]

The sooner the new 12000 seater arena is built the better as long as it has a standing area as well

In which your girlfriend still wont be able to see.

[TH63]

It's also down to the fact that bands make a lot less through record sales these days. Gigs are now the main earners for a lot of bands.

I recently moved and got a lot of my old CDs out of storage as I didn't have room for them in my old house. Many of the older CDs (mid 90's to early 00's) had stickers on them with the price, around the £13.99 mark. I never pay more than a tenner for a CD these days, not sure what £13.99 is in today's money but I'd imagine it's around the £20 mark.

I'm not sure where the missing £4-5 used to go but you can be sure it's not the record companies taking the hit.

About five euros

[itkman]

About five euros

[Mrs Steve R]

It's also down to the fact that bands make a lot less through record sales these days. Gigs are now the main earners for a lot of bands.

I recently moved and got a lot of my old CDs out of storage as I didn't have room for them in my old house. Many of the older CDs (mid 90's to early 00's) had stickers on them with the price, around the £13.99 mark. I never pay more than a tenner for a CD these days, not sure what £13.99 is in today's money but I'd imagine it's around the £20 mark.

I'm not sure where the missing £4-5 used to go but you can be sure it's not the record companies taking the hit.

Just buy all the instruments and make the music yourself.

[WJ99mobile]

Said this the other day. John Legend was £70!

[itkman]

Just buy all the instruments and make the music yourself.

[Rhiwbina Blues]

The sooner the new 12000 seater arena is built the better as long as it has a standing area as well

In which your girlfriend still wont be able to see.


she can sit in the seats lol

[I.8.POLITICAL.CORRECTNESS]

Joe Bonamassa is playing Motorpoint on 9 March 2018. I saw him in the autumn of 2015 and really enjoyed the show - he was onstage with no break for two hours plus - so I wanted tickets for his next visit. But the cost! on the floor of the venue, tickets are £100; on the sides, £89.20. The stated capacity of Motorpoint is 5,000. At those prices, the gig will gross the best part of half a million! And there are the usual handling and exhorbitant posting charges on top - unless you go to the box office (as I did - after collecting my tickets, the cashier then said they were filming the show!). I think I paid around £50 in 2015. Even November Deep Purple tickets only (!) cost me £70.

Contrast these prices with the £25 to see the Classic Rock covers show at St David's in January, 2018. I've seen this before and recommend it. I know I will enjoy this as much as Joe B. I only paid £25 to see Walter Trout at the Tramshed - standing about ten feet away from Trout.

Prices for some live shows are getting ridiculous - yet the Joe B show is already 75% booked. I guess it's down to mugs like me who want to see bands no matter what the cost. And I'd estimate the age of 90% his audience to be 50+ - ie those with greater disposable income.

for that I'm going to want a 4 star hotel over night too

[NYCBlue]

I was planning on trying to get tickets for The The at the Albert Hall a few weeks back until the day before release when ticket prices were confirmed.
£90 for the upper tier and £140 for ground level.
Couldn't justify paying that much, then booking fee on top.

Interesting post yesterday on here about the prices of video games, I remember back in the early nighties paying between £30 and £40 for games, now games cost roughly £40 to £60 for new releases.

Quite how gigs have shot up so much is crazy.

That is outrageous. I'm was hoping Matt Johnson will do some shows over here, but I'm not paying that much.

[Cyclops]

That is outrageous. I'm was hoping Matt Johnson will do some shows over here, but I'm not paying that much.

That's exactly what I said when I saw the Bonamassa prices. Then I cooled down and thought I want to see him again.

Last time he was in Cardiff, he was going down with a cold (like many Yanks do when they come to the UK) and he cancelled the following day's gig. I made sure before booking that Cardiff is the opening night of his 2018 European tour.

[Mrs Steve R]

:fingers: I thought it was funny

[Heathblue]

Just buy all the instruments and make the music yourself.

Just buy a computer (applicable to modern muzik artists)

[Mrs Steve R]

Just buy a computer (applicable to modern muzik artists)

Oi don't start on me, I was just joking about my juice thread.

[Cyclops]

Oi don't start on me, I was just joking about my juice thread.

Racist - reported !

[bobh]

Prices have gone up a bit since I paid eight quid to see Led Zeppelin (plus a days worth of support bands) at Knebworth '79

[Eric The Blue]

That is outrageous. I'm was hoping Matt Johnson will do some shows over here, but I'm not paying that much.

I managed to get a ticket for his show at the Troxy next year. £50 odd. I reckon by the time he's finished his mini tour he'll have enough money to take another 20 year break!

[Eric the Half a Bee]

It's also down to the fact that bands make a lot less through record sales these days. Gigs are now the main earners for a lot of bands.

I recently moved and got a lot of my old CDs out of storage as I didn't have room for them in my old house. Many of the older CDs (mid 90's to early 00's) had stickers on them with the price, around the £13.99 mark. I never pay more than a tenner for a CD these days, not sure what £13.99 is in today's money but I'd imagine it's around the £20 mark.

I'm not sure where the missing £4-5 used to go but you can be sure it's not the record companies taking the hit.

Bank of England's inflation calculator says £13.99 in 1991 is the equivalent of £27.56 in 2016 (it only goes to 2016 and thought I'd choose a quarter of a century).

You've got a point that I've thought of about cd prices. I wonder how manufacturing costs have changed in quarter of a century? Back in 1991, CDs were still a bit of a luxury as cassettes were still the most sold format. I remember buying my first personal CD player in 1992 and it cost me around £80, which was about the cheapest I could get at the time.

CDs were no more expensive to produce than tapes (I think they may have even been cheaper to make) but had a premium attached to them as they were clearly a far superior product. Rather than record companies taking a hit nowadays, I expect they milked the excesses they made from over-expensive CDs at the time. Some of those profits may have found the artists, but I bet it mainly went to the companies themselves. File sharing has probably had an effect on musicians' income too.

[bobh]

Prices have gone up a bit since I paid eight quid to see Led Zeppelin (plus a days worth of support bands) at Knebworth '79

Putting that into perpective, IIRC beer in E London was about 50p a pint. I had just bought a flat there for £14,000.

[itkman]

Prices have gone up a bit since I paid eight quid to see Led Zeppelin (plus a days worth of support bands) at Knebworth '79

I first went to the Glastonbury festival in 1990. Tickets were around £35 for the weekend and all you had to do was send off your cheque to the address on the advert in the NME safe in the knowledge you'd receive your tickets a few weeks later.

[lardy]

Putting that into perpective, IIRC beer in E London was about 50p a pint. I had just bought a flat there for £14,000.

And now a pint in E London costs £14,000, hey hey, am i right, hey

[Cyclops]

And now a pint in E London costs £14,000, hey hey, am i right, hey

Rather expensive for flat beer