Everyone loves going to a concert, they’re super fun events and normally my favorite kind of entertainment. No one loves paying the prices, especially now that LIVENATION has, pretty much, a monopoly over the industry. A concert ticket now, for a top artist, can run anywhere from $100 for nosebleeds to $500+ for pit. Even for smaller artists in smaller venues, I still see GA tickets, or even lawn tickets, for $75 plus “fees”. In the last two weeks, I have gone to see Twenty One Pilots ($214 for lower bowl, got lucky winning the ticket lottery, was 70,000th in line), and wanted to see Olivia Rodrigo (lost the ticket lottery, wasn’t going to pay $241 for obstructed view seats). Add on $30 parking, and you’ve got one expensive night.

For one off shows, like TOP’s show in Ohio, it was worth it to me. I paid my $214, made the road trip, and enjoyed the show. However, for Olivia Rodrigo, who will likely tour again, I couldn’t swing $250 for some scalped tickets, even though the show was just down the road in Charlotte. The same night Gregory Alan Isakov was playing downtown at an amphitheater. I wanted to still go to a show, and I like some of his songs, so I considered going, until I saw tickets were $74.95 before fees. That was just too much to pay for an artist that isn’t in my top 5.

So what do you all think? Have prices gotten out of control? Are you still willing to pay high prices to see your favorite artists? Are you less likely to go see a “side” artist because of ticket prices?

I lean towards no for big artists, but absolutely yes for smaller artists. I saw Magdalena Bay at a small outdoor venue in St. Petersburg (Florida, not Russia lol) last year. Tickets were around $40, and the show was absolutely incredible. I've also had great experiences seeing Smino and JID for similar prices.

No. People just pull out their phone and record, not even paying attention to the concert half the time. Just watch it on TV or something

It depends on the size of the artist, the location, and the hype. I paid like $30 to see one of my favorite singers in a small venue in NYC that could fit like 100 people max back in 2021. Two years later I paid $100 for a concert at Madison Square Garden for the cheapest seats. I know that the better seats were going for more than $1,000 and that doesn't make sense, especially when those same seats were under $300 in smaller cities.

I'm with zander on this one. I just rejected going to a concert because just a couple blockheads banging it on the floor wasn't worth what they were asking, which probably was due to the venue being more high profile.

If the concert has a massive display or needs massive infrastructure to be performed then I can understand where is the money going. But if there's no such display then what are we paying for? If there isn't a varied lineup of artists which requires dealing with several bands or whatever, then why asking for such high prices?

I can maybe make an exception for exclusive concerts, like a band who has never come to that city or has been more than a decade since they came or things like that. But it needs to be a very detailed examination of the circumstances to qualify as such, otherwise even if the band has rarely come here it's still not worth going to see them live like this.