What the Hell Is Going On with Ticket Prices?
What the hell is going on with ticket prices? I’m aware that shows cost a great deal to put on, but we’ve entered silly territory. I know this because I’ve been going to gigs for years, and even now I’m at the point where I’m priced out of the market for some things.
I’ve also been following the Oasis ticket discourse online and, please don’t hold it against me, but I like Slipknot. When they announced their Wembley date, I looked at getting a ticket, but not for £150 - £250 I’m not.
Let’s look at that in two ways for a moment. On the one hand, say I did have the money for the ticket spare. I’ve still got to get to London, maybe stay over and, God forbid, eat and drink. By the time you’re finished, you’re looking at an obscene amount, close to £1,000, for one gig. That’s two weeks’ holiday somewhere in Europe.
On the other hand, if I just support smaller touring bands and local artists in my hometown, whose tickets probably average around £10-£20, that’s around 50+ gigs I can go to against one.
I don’t know how we solve this. Things tend to go up in life, not down, and we’ve still got a tout problem, but that’s another story. Unless the gig-going community protests by simply not buying these overpriced shows, it will carry on and prices will keep rising.
Either there are a lot of music fans out there clearly earning too much, or they’re borrowing money they can’t really afford, just to watch multimillionaires run through a bunch of mediocre 30-year-old songs. But who am I to judge? Each to their own, whatever floats your boat and all that. I’m just pissed off that I, and many others, are being pushed out of the top end of music: something I think we can all agree makes the world a better place, but only if you can afford it.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Some of the big names are starting to give something back, with Coldplay and Sam Fender among those putting tour revenue back into grassroots venues. It’s a start, and hopefully more of the stadium-fillers will follow, because without those small rooms none of them would have got where they are.
So if you’d rather put your money where it really counts, check out the venues below to see who’s playing when. Grassroots gigs are where the next big thing is cutting its teeth, and you might just end up getting a lot more bang for your buck.
There’s loads more…Google Live Music Venue’s Nottingham.