What's the most you'd pay to see a currently living artist?

Whats the most you'd pay to see a living legend up close and personal paying live?

  • $500

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No more than $1000

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Up to $5K

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2

TAE

All you have is now
As time ticks by more and more of our rock legend heroes are riding off into the sunset to that great gig in the sky. That said, there are still quite a few living legends hanging round..For me to name a few Elton, Neil Young, James Taylor, David Gilmore etc...

So I happen to go to James Taylor's site and it shows he has concerts scheduled in May...yeah right...OK so lets just say that some how some way they are actually able to put on these shows...So I search and see that He will be playing in San Diego at a local Indian Casino the day before the wife's birthday...Eureka! Oh that would be a cool surprise! So I click in and see what the tickets are going to be ...all the main center seats are gone but to the left there are a few..the ones up close $750 WTF! I'm old and cantankerous and picky...If I am not within 50 feet or so of the artist performing what's the use other than being able to say I saw XYZ from a football field away..It was awesome!...not ...I mean back when I was a kid chasing tail and able to sneak around it didn't matter. I'd buy cheap seats and work my way up front...too old for that shit these days..

So anyway I said hell no clicked out ... I went and saw Crosby Still's and Young about 10 years ago and spent $350 and thought it was absurd but it was a small venue and I was about 75 feet from the stage... I sucked it up but swore I'd never spend that much to see anyone ever again...

So to see a living legend up close and personal perform...What is the most you'd be willing to pay? To me $750 is absolutely bullshit but I live in a don't get out much, living in my own private Idaho bubble.
 
There are times when it pays to be cynical, stingy and poor......
There isn't a person alive I'd pay money to see.
Maybe I'd e-mail them ! :laughings:
 
I don't think many people would pay to see dead people? Or if that's even allowed. I'm afraid that nobody for me is worth paying more than theatre prices for. So here in the UK, that means 25 to 30 UKP. I'd perhaps go up to 40 for an Alan Parsons gig - which oddly was the last paid for gig I went to. In pre-covid times I work with many of these people on shows, so there are very few that would see me actually spending my money on. This of course is just me...............
 
I voted $250 but not sure I'd even go that high. I paid up near $200 for Joe Bonamassa. Great show but not sure I'd go any higher for anyone.
 
No more than $50-$75 for this old schooler, and that would be for Paul McCartney.

Lynyrd Skynyrd was scheduled to play our local Strawberry Festival so I checked out their pricing... $700 !!! The other artists were several hundred lower. No music for this boy that year.
 
I paid $240 to take a lady friend to see Diana Krall a couple of years ago (two tickets). That's the most I've ever spent. When Fleetwood Mac was here, the tickets were something like $90. A friend asked if I wanted to go and I balked because of the price. Then she said "no, its free". Her cousin had gotten the tickets and then he couldn't go. It was a really good concert.

One problem with looking at online prices is that there's the venue's price, then there's the ticket reseller prices. I was looking at a concert, and the highest price if I walked up to the box office was something like $60. If you went online, tickets were listed for $2-300. Can you spell S C A L P E R? Then you have the "VIP Experience", artist Meet and Greet, etc that command a big price.

I've passed on a few concerts that I would have loved to see because the prices were ridiculous.
 
I hate meet and greets - because I have to organise them in one of my roles. They are horrible. I have never met one artiste who likes them. Thankfully they're usually good actors. Many fans are genuine, but some are vile. They've paid their money, and demand closeness - they want arms around the stars, they want them in between the band members, they are even rude and shout at them. When I get an email saying the production company have arranged a meet and greet, I know they'll all hate me when I have to tell them. I've got rather good at getting these so called VIPs, sadly many with no manners and deep pockets, in, photo'd/phoned and out as quickly as I can. Many of the names are hugely nervous before the shows so you can't do them pre-show, and often the punters put them in a bad move, and at the end they just want to get away from people - usually ALL people to wind down, shower, drink, smoke - whatever. The antics of the so called VIPs often disgust me - shouts of "OI" or "over here" sicken me. It's always contractual, never for pleasure, because it's really horrible. On some shows, I have to grab selected crew members and get them to stop the musicians running off an the end to stay for the photos or meet and greets. They hate it. They hate me for making them do it, and I hate it even more. Many find the process of selling pretend friendship distasteful, and hate the production company for it too. The only time I have had to start looking at my watch is when disabled kids or adults are involved. Most of the turns are very happy to spend time with the parents with disabled kids, or groups of mentally handicapped fans. The drunken loud mouthed ones who want pictures to pretend they're friends of the band are the worst - some are really awful!
 
At the end of 2018 I read Michelle Obama's memoir and I thought most of it was brilliant. It was the first autobiography I'd read by someone that was actually of my generation, whose experiences and memories were directly comparable. Anyway, a few months later, she was in London to do these talks and though I wasn't interested myself, I thought it would be a nice surprise for my wife as she and some of her friends {and some of my friends} had been talking about possibly going to hear her. So I inquired about tickets and the cheapest was nearly £500 {$680}.
The book remains my endearing memory of her !
 
I wouldn't pay to see any living so called artist. There isnt any I could think of with much going for them.

Regards paying to see anybody else? Same applies I think.
 
Off the top of my head, not sure I really want to pay to see any artist except to support new groups, mainly for support. I guess the whole "experience" drive is no longer there. I would rather see younger folks with a passion for their music than just being a part of people living in the past.
 
The most I HAVE spent is $140/ticket for me and my now ex. Plus $50 to join the fan club to get first access to tickets - this was for the Who's Quadrophrenia anniversary tour several years ago. The fan club membership came with a reproduction poster which I then sold on ebay for $30. Sitting about 15 rows back on the floor, it was worth it.
Before that I passed on CS&N tickets @ $200 each - I saw them from about 10 rows back in 2003, I think for $50. Since then, I've passed on Simon & Garfunkle, Roger Waters and others at over $200 a ticket (not even reseller tickets).
I don't like the big arena or shed shows these days, so don't even contemplate these overpriced artists.
 
Well at least amongst us old timers here it seems I am in good practical and realistic company. So who the hell fills these venues? I mean they're selling out....The whole center section from the front row back was already sold out on a show that might not even happen in May?

We rent a condo down in Encinitas (North San Diego) for at least a week or so each summer. Everything in the complex is worth over a million. A lot of Tesla's, Mercedes, BMR's, Jags and 60's classic cars "disposable income people" I guess if you're made in shade kind of wealthy dropping $750 to see somebody is no sweat... I just don't think even if I ever was able to get to that kind of level of monetary comfort level I could stomach it.

Now in Fantasy land if I could say see Hendrix at @ 24 years old playing with the original experience ..Or be able to watch the Beatles working in the studio @ White Album time I could cough up some quarters to see that...but that is just fantasy shit... I'll start another thread here that discusses that subject.
 
I was thinking about the concerts that I've attended in the past several years:

Tommy Emmanual (5 times - I'm a BIG fan)
Tedeschi Trucks
Govt Mule (3 times)
Experience Hendrix (2 times)
Joe Bonamassa
Guitar Army (Robben Ford, Lee Roy Parnell, Joe Robinson)
Diana Krall
Marcus King (2 times)
Eric Johnson
Fleetwood Mac
Brian Setzer Orchestra
Buddy Guy


Going back about 10 years ago, I went to a bunch of concerts at the local Caesars casino.
Michael McDonald
David Clayton Thomas
Chicago
Heart
REO
Bare Naked Ladies
Pat Benatar
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Boston
Styx
Grand Funk Railroad
BB King

I still enjoy going to concerts. I'm hoping '21 will let me attend a few more. (Tommy Emmanuel is SUPPOSED to be here in April)
 
I paid 25 quid to see the Stones back in '82 and that was a huge amount for me. I should have spent it on some ganja !
 
Not much anymore really. I did pay $450 for second row center seats for the first tour of Operation Mindcrime (Queensryche). That was when I still was young enough to take LSD tho...

Then was lucky enough to have connections to get backstage to most that I wanted to see for free.

I suppose if PINK were still touring, I might pay to see that show. Seen Kiss too many times to count or care anymore.
 
I'll pay up to $150 for someone I really want to see, like Roger Waters The Wall. My concerts are between $20 for small clubs to $75/$100 for larger venues. I'll pay less for the classic rockers because I saw most of them in their prime, and rarely do they surpass that in old age. The only reason I think The Wall in 2010 is better than the original shows in 1980 (I have a VHS) is the technology for the artwork projection has grown substantially. There were numerous points during the second act that the projections looked 3D. It was incredible.

My Led Zeppelin ticket was $11 face value. You can't even park your car for that anymore.

There are a couple of things that many don't know about concert tickets. My experience is as a single concert goer. My wife stopped going with me years ago.

You would think the most expensive tickets are the best seats. That's not always the case. If you can get to the box office or ticketmaster fast enough you'll find that for stadium shows, the very front rows are not expensive. They're meant for the true fans. They get eaten up by brokers in a flash. So, you have to be quick. An example: Rolling Stones years ago, the first 5 rows were $45 each. 6th row started at $150. It's like that for a lot of shows.

Ticketmaster has resales and they're clearly marked. But, if you don't know any better you think that's the regular ticket price.

A sold out show is rarely ever sold out. Tiny venues possibly, but even those end up with tickets. Stadiums and large venues will 99% of the time put tickets back on sale starting a week before the concert. They come back in dribs and drabs. Usually they're singles. But, they're also usually in the front rows. An example: The Dixie Chicks toured Canada years ago and they were ending in Toronto. When I first looked the show was sold out. A week before I could have gotten a 6th row seat. The two nights before I got a front row center seat. The reason for this is, tickets are sent out for promotion, when they're not going to be used they're put on sale.

If you're willing to go by yourself or don't mind being split up, there isn't a show you can't get into for cost or less than cost.

I went to hundreds of shows where I would only pay $5 (now I'll go up to $20 - $30) I'd stand outside and ask "anyone got an extra ticket?" There are plenty of people who do. There were many shows I'd get in for free, because unlike scalpers I was going into the show, and people would rather give their extra ticket away then sell it cheap to a scalper. The Pretenders were playing a small club, and a scalper threatened my life for trying to get a ticket instead of him, even though he interrupted my haggling . The guy gave me the ticket for free, just to spite the scalper.

Good Times!
 
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It's interesting, I love music but I don't actually love live shows. So I wouldn't pay that much really, but that's just a personal preference.

I said $250 but actually under the right circumstances I'd pay a good bit more than that. I'd pay $1000 to sit front row for Paul McCartney. Unfortunately in real life that would probably cost 10x that much.

I saw the Misfits were going to do a reunion show with Danzig and they wanted $450. I was like no way. I've seen the Misfits. I've seen Danzig.
 
It's interesting, I love music but I don't actually love live shows. So I wouldn't pay that much really, but that's just a personal preference.

I said $250 but actually under the right circumstances I'd pay a good bit more than that. I'd pay $1000 to sit front row for Paul McCartney. Unfortunately in real life that would probably cost 10x that much.

I saw the Misfits were going to do a reunion show with Danzig and they wanted $450. I was like no way. I've seen the Misfits. I've seen Danzig.

I have a friend who sat front row for McCartney and she paid about $250. It was at MSG. She did the check ticketmaster a few days before the show.

There isn't a show anywhere that if you try hard enough you won't get a ticket for cost or less than cost.

It's the thought that it's impossible and expensive to get in that causes people not to try.
 
I've got front row tix for TE in February. Hoping when its rescheduled, its a date I can attend!

OMG I worked with a guy who thought Emmauel was damn near a God. Years ago I took my wife to France. We were walking through a town he had just performed in. I took a poster from the wall. He almost cried when I gave it to him.

Enjoy the show if it happens.
 
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