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Taylor Swift Concert Prices

My brother in law in Rhode Island is significantly unhappy with his spouse and daughter who spent $1K each for a ticked to hear TS at Patriot Place (in a driving rainstorm, to boot).  I also think it is absurd but pointed out to him that most artists these days make the bulk of their revenue off concerts, with the decline in physical media and the very poor payments from streaming.  He was more impressed when I told him that for what they spent one could get a decent surround system that could play concert Blu rays.

  I know of quite a few people who are dissapointed that they can’t spring that kind of dough to either personally attend or be able to buy a ticket for their kids, and others who have spent for TS tickets but who are agonizing about what they are passing up by doing so, like a family vacation, for example.

  Audiophiles make the same types of decisions, but at least the products that we buy are not for one night of music pleasure.  My sister in law would actually have a stroke if her husband were to spend a few grand for a decent system (he wants one, and we have had this discussion through the years).  I would argue that she just handed him ammo for the next skirmish they have.

  

mahler123
tngiloy
14 posts
 

Just for fun I dug out an old ticket stub from a Dire Straits concert at Red Rocks from 9/4/1985. $14.30. Taking inflation into account that ticket would be $42.

Think I'll  buy a BR and enjoy in my HT. Chair is more comfortable. Beer is much cheaper. Line for the bathroom is much shorter, and I can pause while taking care of business. Can control volume and don't have to stand for the whole concert. 

At the same time I can't blame Swift, or any act, to charge what they can. That's the (not-so) free market at work.

bassdude
455 posts
 

While PT Barnum may not have said it... it, nevertheless, may be apropos:  "There's a sucker born every minute!"  

stuartk
2,326 posts
 

Personably, I can’t imagine paying that much to see any artist but if I had unlimited funds, I might well hold a different view.

As is so often the case when the topic of "perceived value" arises, it’s all about the context. For example, I recently spent 6K on an acoustic guitar. It’s likely the last guitar I’ll ever buy, after playing for 50 years but some might think me nuts..

More to the point, the OP doesn’t tell us whether his "significantly unhappy" friend can easily afford 2K worth of concert tickets or not-- in other words, whether his displeasure is more about the actual amount or more about how it was spent. Both, perhaps?

However, I will join the chorus of fond remembrance of the old days. My first concert experience was the G. Dead at the San Diego Sports arena in ’73. I believe my friends and I paid around $5.00 apiece. Furthermore, the "party favors" were free -- people just passed them around communally, back then.

@thecarpathian

+1

 

 

devvy's avatar
devvy
1 posts
 

man, for $2k for concert tix, even for TS, you can get a really decent pair of headphones for hours and hours of very pleasant listening

mahler123 OP
3,024 posts
 

So the aforementioned Chicago concerts are this weekend.  I just realized that we have a Chicago Symphony concert Saturday night, the last in our series for the year.  Normally we park in Grant Park South for about $17.  There are no spots to be had in GPS for Saturday; the best we can do on Spot Hero is a lot about 5 blocks away for $40.  We probably will have to leave about 1.5 hours earlier than the norm and all the restaurants have no seating 

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