Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dulouz]

$377
Rolling Stones ticket price may show you can't always afford what you want
By DAVE TIANEN
[email protected]
Posted: June 3, 2005
Paint it green.

When the Rolling Stones announced last month that they would play the Bradley Center on Sept. 8, the ticket prices were listed as $160, $95 and $60, excluding service charges.

Now it turns out there is a fourth ticket tier: $377. Those Bradley Center seats will include most of the floor seats in the front half of the arena, according to a spokeswoman for the venue.

The $377 tickets, which include service charges, will dwarf the cost of other major shows in recent Milwaukee history when they go on sale at 10 a.m. next Saturday.

To put it in context, the top ticket for the Sept. 25 U2 gig at the Bradley Center is $160 excluding service charges, and the top ticket for McCartney's October show at the Bradley is $250. When Elton John and Billy Joel played the Bradley Center in 2003, the top ticket was $197.

Top tickets at some other venues on the On Stage tour are even more expensive. At www.ticketmaster.com, reserved field seats for the Stones show Sept. 9 at Soldier Field in Chicago top out at $450. Other stadium gigs, including the tour-opening date Aug. 21 at Boston's Fenway Park, also reach $450.

Other arena dates on the tour top the Bradley's $377 seat. Floor seats for the Stones show Oct. 17 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami are listed at $400, as are seats for the Oct. 3 date at Washington's MCI Center.

"The most expensive ticket is $454 in San Francisco," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief at the entertainment trade magazine Pollstar. "I think it's a new high. That's the most aggressive ticketing I've heard of, and they're getting it in many markets."

Bongiovanni is reluctant to say the Stones have set a new standard for concert pricing.

"Let's face it, how many acts are there that could even think about asking for that? You figure most people don't buy just one ticket. How many people will pay $1,000 to see the Rolling Stones? It has to be a small market."

Controversy surrounding steep prices at Rolling Stones concerts is not new. One wag dubbed the band's 1999 No Security Tour as the "Exiles on Wall Street Tour." The Stones played the Bradley Center on the No Security Tour, and prices for that show topped out at $250 - at the time the most expensive concert in Bradley Center history. That show was the band's most recent visit to Milwaukee.

When the Rolling Stones announced their 2005 On Stage tour, the media release stated, "In keeping with the band's philosophy of making their shows accessible to all fans, tickets for the show will be available in a broad range of price categories." The top price listed on the release was $160.

[Cthulhu]

We're just going back to the good old days, when only royalty and select members of the nobility could listen to quality live music.

[JongnoGuru]

[just because]

Who would really pay that much....

I wouldn't pay 70 cents to see the Rolling Stones

[Bulsajo]

[Cthulhu]

The music is quality but you're right--can't say the same about the musicians.

[funplanet]

I've paid more, no big deal...but those prices have also gottem me in for band meets, etc

I will probably spend close to 10K for this upcoming tour for some US, Euro, and Asia shows...

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Nobody makes people go to these ridiculously overpriced, overproduced, overamplified, overpromoted concerts. I love the Stones but I wouldn't pay anywhere near such amounts to have my ears blasted off and see Jagger from two kilometres away.

The greed of these promoters is going to catch up with them. The people seeing the concerts are boomers looking for some 60s or 70s nostalgia; most other people plain can't afford to go, or think the prices are outrageous. The industry is not cultivating a new generation of concert-goers. Or are people willing to pay $200 to see Maroon 5?

What is more likely to me is that in the future the concert scene will break apart into specialty pieces; those very rich who will pay $500 to see Pink Floyd in a small venue, and a much larger market who will only pay small amounts to see a band in a bar or as part of an outdoor festival. And many people just won't see live music at all if they can watch it online or on a DVD.

The greed of Jagger is also legendary. There's a story about the song 'Bittersweet Symphony'. The main riff is actually from a Stones song that sat around forgotten in a BBC archives for decades, apparently. The Verve used it on the song, and Jagger insisted on large royalties, almost crippling the new band. I'm not surprised they're setting records, again, on high ticket prices.

Ken:>

[Kuros]

[mindmetoo]

[funplanet]

no matter where you are in a Stones stadium show, the sound is almost always superb, clear, and sharp.....

that's the difference earning a billion here and there can make...

[dulouz]

This is beyond me, its not my scene anymore and hasn't been for awhile at least since Jerry Garcia died. I like much much smaller clubs. Stones or not, I can't think of calling an evening like that fun.

[funplanet]

nothing more religious than seeing the stones in a club or small theater

[JongnoGuru]

[Swiss James]