What was your most expensive concert?

This morning I logged onto to Tickemaster to check for Metfan pre-sale tickets to see Metallica. I was shocked and appalled to find out the tickets ranged in price from $170-208 each. Ummm. Yeah. No thanks. C’mon boys. I have been supporting you for over 30 years. Have all of your albums. Bought your boxsets. Saw you live. Became a member of your fan club. Gave you great reviews. Defended you this week here on these pages. But if this is the way you treat your loyal fans, I may have to dial it back a few notches. I’m sorry but multi millionaires do not need to gouge the average joes that love your music. The Rogers Centre holds over 50,000 people in seats. Plus the general admission on the field. Do the math. The figures workout to over $1 million dollars for about 3 hours of work. Some of us may not make that in our entire life. I loved when you made a surprise show last year at a bar in Toronto and tickets were $25-50, and we were asked to donate an item of food for the food bank. This latest concert ripoff just lost all cred I gave you then though.

Ok. Enough of my rant. Please let me know in the comment section your thoughts on this. Am I wrong?

Also, what was the most you ever paid for a concert with the details?

 

60 thoughts on “What was your most expensive concert?”

  2. It was worth it. $200 is not. I’d never pay $200 for any event I can think of. It’s nice that you get a Metallica CD with the ticket. But that’s a $12 CD. Also devious because that counts as an album sale for the charts.

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    • WOW. Double WOW. For one seat?

      I did not mention there are “experience” tickets at the Metallica show that are over $500.

      Only a superfan in my opinion would spend that much.

      Are Jay Z and Madonna your top favourite musicians?

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  4. The Rainbow tickets I just bought were probably the most at £65 a ticket. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than that. Seen Rush a few times, they would have been about £50ea I think. Manowar were up there too but they threw in a CD with the ticket. Can’t see me spending more than that to see anybody!

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    • I would pay what you did for those bands, maybe more I would LOVE to see Rainbow. I have wanted to see them and never got the chance.
      However, I have seen Metallica. So no way I spend the money they want. I can see 10-20 awesome shows at small venues for the price of 1 Metallica ticket in which I will most likely need binoculars to see the band. Nope. No way.

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  5. Those Metallica ticket prices seem pretty high, but don’t other big-name arena & stadium artists (like U2, The Eagles, The Stones, etc) charge similar prices? I’m not saying it’s right or justified but that seems to be the going rate and as long as they sell out venues that won’t change anytime soon. Sure, the venue, promoter, crew, etc need to be paid, but I’m sure the artists still pocket a ton of money at each show, and that doesn’t even include merchandise sales. Sadly the state of the industry.

    Adjusted for inflation (and my financial situation), the most I ever paid for one concert ticket was The Who at Shea Stadium in 1982. I was 16 years old and had to buy from a scalper. Paid $50 for general admission on the field. That’s gotta be the equivalent of a couple hundred dollars now.

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    • U2 was about $100 about 5 yrs. ago. They only announced 1 concert on Monday, but quickly added Tues-Fri and sold out all 5 nights.

      My guess is Metallica could do the same, but perhaps not at those prices.

      As for The Who concert, that was their “final” concert, so you had to go.

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    • $50 in 1982 is like $128 today.

      I bet scalpers will be asking $400-500 and up for these Metallica tickets for that $128 seems not so bad now.
      Plus at 16 we all seemed to have liquid cash for stuff.

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  6. That is high and also in line with others of that caliber. What are the expenses to put on such a show? Are they paying for additional security and the like… also, what are their techs and others being paid? Some artists pay better wages than others. Even so, I’d be interested how all the merchandise is priced since that is pretty much pure profit. Then again, fuel for their I private plane must be high…. 😉

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    • There is a contest Metallica has in which the winner gets to fly to a show with a band member. I would be up for that, even if I drew the short straw and got Lars.

      Funny how the band just came to Toronto and the tickets were reasonable.

      I am sure the crew etc. is expensive but $200 is too much. Considering all the other factors. Fuel, hotel, parking, food, beer.

      $600-800 later for 2, for one night of fun.

      How about your most expensive concert?

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      • Flying to a show in Hawaii would be a good prize. Maybe Paris.
        Yes, I was thinking about price differences between cities… there’s probably a formula to calculate the highest ticket prices that will sell out the venue.
        I’ve been to some of those high-priced arena concerts and the boxes. The most expensive… in terms of relative amount, was double face value for The Cult, which was $80 or so. They played a small venue and it was a great show. I don’t know why they decided to play a small venue at a low ticket price… maybe that says something about the band and their relationship with their audience as well as their music.

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      • Great band. But their popularity slipped in the 90’s and into the 2000’s.
        That may explain the lower ticket price.
        I saw them at a free show in New York State about 6-8 years ago.
        After their last album there will probably never be a free show again.

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      • The ticket price was around $40 for a 900-capacity venue, which was amazing. The show sold out almost instantly and I was lucky to get tickets on the sidewalk. I was surprised that the re-seller walked away with double given the crowd.

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      • Scalpers are one of the lowest form of human being .
        I saw a guy pull a knife on another guy and steal his tickets outside of a Motley Crue concert.
        Then the undercover cops tackled him to the ground. It was shocking and awesome at the same time.
        I was also outside of a concert just trying to recoup my costs to a concert I had to miss.
        Then a scalper told me “That’s how people get stabbed you know.”
        I was on his turf and selling tickets for face so I was cutting a sale from him, so he sort of threatened me.

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  7. Wowzers.

    I think the most I’ve paid )so far) was Maiden last year, I think those seats were $120. But we got upgraded to front row in the restaurant for free, so I ain’t complaining!

    But that may change. I think Brother Craig got me a Metallica ticket for July…

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      • Keep going.

        There were 3 levels. I think between 350-500.

        Yeah. No thanks. They will have other shows the next night or 2. I am 99% sure.

        I also bet there are cheaper options on regular sale day.

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      • Yeah, I thinkn he said $470 each, something like that. I wouldn’t pay it. It’s all moot anyway since his wife decided she wanted to go and he only got 2 so there ya go.

        That would be the night to be there, though, because it’s a Sunday night. I wouldn’t get there on a work night (if it spills to Mon-Tue nights, for example).

        Yeah, cheaper options but way back. And the sound in Skydome isn’t the best. You’d HAVE TO be on the floor.

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      • The days of poor sound were back in the Skydome days.
        They have really upgraded the sound.
        Plus it is an awesome experience there in the summer with the dome open.
        Seeing the moon/stars and some of the cityscape while watching a concert is awesome.

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      • Yeah, still… I’m really disappointed it’s so expensive to get in. I’ve never seen them before, and I really want to, and I really love the new album, so tix that expensive making it prohibitive to get in just plain sucks.

        I remember playing in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament on the floor of the Skydome, back in high school. They had 50 half-courts set up on the floor. Super cool. Was middle of summer, roof was open, and I will always remember coming off a pick and going up for a jumper and all I could see was CN Tower aligned with me perfectly… Glorious.

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      • When Blackberry were doing good they bought out Skydome and had all of their employees and friend there for free.
        My buddy got my wife and I on the floor for free.
        It was awesome. Perfect atmosphere. It helped me put up with Bono’s douchiness for a few hours.

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  8. My brother bought us tix to see Maiden in June. Lower level and floor were starting at $175 U.S I believe..
    Bro said he went a level up still a decent view and they were 97 U.S….we went with those….

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  9. Van Halen 2012! $177 U.S ……got lucky there as well as my brother paid for it! It’s cool since i’m 10 years older than him and when I was 20 and he was 10 whenever the new releases would come out i would send him to pick me up the disc and told him to grab himself the cassette version as well as he was into tapes….Still remember telling him when he was 11 and the day And Justice For all came out i told him to go get it and so he did he hoped his bike rode across town and when I got home after work Boom! New album!
    Did it this way for years…
    He now calls it Payback but I never intended it to be that….

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  10. Just remembering that we saw Stone Temple Pilots open for the Rolling Stones in 1994 at the Ex (albums were Purple and Voodoo Lounge). We were 35th row from the stage (seats on the floor!) right in the center…

    We paid $54 each and thought that was highway robbery! Haha. Try getting that close to the Stones for that now!

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    • Not bad for a Meet n greet.

      I usually wait outside the venue between sets and you can chat with the performers and get autographs, but I have been at a fe meet n greets, but usually when I won them on the radio.
      The last one I had was with an Australian band called The Lazys and we hung out and drank beer and shot the hay for an hour before the show.
      Just me, my wife and the band.
      Really relaxed and fun. I learned a ton of stuff about music in Australia

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      • I try to keep around the 50 mark for shows if possible, although with airfare and tickets Cropredy for Fairport Convention will be around $1200 each, but not sure that counts.

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    • I would have paid that for Dylan.
      I never saw him. It sounds like it would not have been money well spent.
      I would love to read about a post of that night from memory.
      That sucks that it was not good. I bet you were looking forward to that evening based on his lofty collection of work.

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