Concert Ticket Prices - Not a Rant - Just an Observation

I’m not a major concert-goer. I do look for new bands playing small venues and I enjoy those. Some of these are as low as $15. Some as high as $50. I recently saw Marcus King at a tiny venue. Tickets were $90.

I haven’t seen a band in a large venue in ages. 

I recently ’discovered’ a band that I was blown away by. Came across them on YouTube. They’re called The Red Clay Strays. They are relatively new from a recognition standpoint. I figured I’d look up their tour dates and maybe find a concert in a small-ish venue.

Well, my first surprise is that this band has already hit the big time. I ’discovered’ them a year too late. They are already playing civic arena sized venues almost exclusively.

I figured that since they’re coming to a couple of cities near me I’d go to a show. That’s when I got my second surprise. They’re ticket prices are in the $350-500 range. Yes, there are some for around $175 but most of those are single seats in the nose bleed sections of civic arenas.

I’ve heard that Taylor Swift and Springsteen tickets are $1000+.

I looked up Rush tickets and they’re in the $350-600 range.

I got to thinking about ticket prices. I went to see a lot of concerts in high school and college. Early to mid 80s. I remember seeing the big bands like Foreigner and Journey, often with 2 opening acts for $12.50. That never seemed like too much even for a high school kid with no allowance and an after school job for cash. An AI search indicates that that was indeed the typical price for big artists even bands like The Who, Fleetwood Mac and Rush.

A Google search indicates that $12.50 in 1982 was about like $80 is now. But tickets for the big acts are not $80. They are 4-8 times more than that now. That’s quite a phenomenon that vastly out paces inflation.

That brings me back to seeing the Red Clay Strays. They’re coming to my area in October. They usually sell out. Tickets for these shows were moving fast almost 4 months before the show. 

My wife and I decided to go. We have some old friends, two couples, who also love this band and who have been extremely generous to us over the years. We decided to get six tickets and treat them to the show. We could not find six seats in a row at any price. Even as we browsed seats were disappearing. We finally found 4 seats in a row with two right behind them.

We bought the six tickets. Good seats too. Our friends are thrilled and we are thrilled to repay some of their kindness to us. It will be great to see them and get together for this.

Yes ticket prices are shocking even for a new act like the Red Clay Strays which, in fairness seem to have hit it big. But their shows are selling out and a tight wad like me bought six of them. 

So it seems like they are charging what the market will bear.

Hope they put on a good show.