hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 First off, yes this is probably a pointless post, not groundbreaking by any means, moreso just frustration. I really wanted to see Neil Young live on his upcoming tour but the tickets levels went as follows $57 $78 $118 %192 $275I was absolutely amazed to see he would be selling tickets for that much. What's worse is that tickets went on sale at 10 and the cheapest tickets were already sold out. However from checking a minute ago there were still some good $192 seats haha. At least I got 6th row tickets for my morning jacket, which ended up being cheaper than the cheapest neil young seat. Sorry for the rant, I was just amazed at these prices to see someone playing solo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vacant Horizon Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 First off, yes this is probably a pointless post, not groundbreaking by any means, moreso just frustration. I really wanted to see Neil Young live on his upcoming tour but the tickets levels went as follows $57 $78 $118 %192 $275I was absolutely amazed to see he would be selling tickets for that much. What's worse is that tickets went on sale at 10 and the cheapest tickets were already sold out. However from checking a minute ago there were still some good $192 seats haha. At least I got 6th row tickets for my morning jacket, which ended up being cheaper than the cheapest neil young seat. Sorry for the rant, I was just amazed at these prices to see someone playing solo it has been an issue. there's also an main neil young thread for this stuff here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 it has been an issue. there's also an main neil young thread for this stuff here. i guess i could have put it in there. it's funny checking the chicago shows on ticketmaster, there are none of the lower price range tickets available because they sold out, however a random search got me 5th row tickets for night one, and 2nd row tickets for night two. of course, as a pair it would run close to $600 so, no thanks. i think that says a lot when you sell theaters out from the back to the front. what a mess Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sweet Melinda Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I feel your pain. That's excessive and ridiculous and a complete piss off. I felt like that a while back for Mark Knopfler. Sort of like 'What? How much? Are you kidding me?". It puts a really bad taste in your mouth. Also recently I saw that Ray Lamontagne was coming nearby and thought I might check him out. $80? Really? And you are...? Not a great way to encourage/attract a new fanbase. Wonder how much tickets were before the Grammy's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 I feel your pain. That's excessive and ridiculous and a complete piss off. I felt like that a while back for Mark Knopfler. Sort of like 'What? How much? Are you kidding me?". It puts a really bad taste in your mouth. Also recently I saw that Ray Lamontagne was coming nearby and thought I might check him out. $80? Really? And you are...? Not a great way to encourage/attract a new fanbase. Wonder how much tickets were before the Grammy's. absolutely, what happened to thinking 30 or 40 for a concert was a lot, not that is considered cheap Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tinnitus photography Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 support your local shithole...most tickets are under $20 for >1000 ppl clubs... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 support your local shithole...most tickets are under $20 for >1000 ppl clubs... Yeah, for sure! I think last year I saw Blitzen Trapper, Built to Spill and the Sadies and for all three I paid like a combined $50! Much easier to justify than $80 or more for a single show Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brianjeremy Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Yeah, for sure! I think last year I saw Blitzen Trapper, Built to Spill and the Sadies and for all three I paid like a combined $50! Much easier to justify than $80 or more for a single show Exactly the choice I made about Neil last summer. He came probably the closest he will ever come to my hometown...but the tickets were outragious. So, I chose instead to see several shows for the price of one Neil ticket. I had ~6 great concerts vs. one concert experience. Although I haven't seen Neil and would love to see him live, but the simple fact remains that I am never going too see him because the cost is too prohibative for a teacher's and a social worker's pay. Once I realized that, I was okay...still doesn't stop it from sucking. I know Neil doesn't give two shits about it either way. He's sitting on a load of money, laughing his ass off all the way to the bank. He just doesn't care about the fans or their bitching about the ticket cost. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
solace Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 he's the only person i've paid over $100 for ($120 and $140, but both were 2nd and 4th row tickets), but i agree $150-250+ is just ABSURD Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shakespeare In The Alley Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Not that I don't agree that the prices are high, but I have a hard time believing Neil himself is personally setting all these ticket prices. Especially on these recent tours, with the theaters he's playing. Those places just aren't cheap to book, so the tickets, naturally, won't be cheap to buy. The $60 I paid for a balcony seat to see him in April is definitely towards the higher end of concert tickets I've bought, but it was still in a reasonable range for me. If it was out of my range, I skip it and use the money to see whatever smaller shows are around me. No big deal. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Not that I don't agree that the prices are high, but I have a hard time believing Neil himself is personally setting all these ticket prices. Especially on these recent tours, with the theaters he's playing. Those places just aren't cheap to book, so the tickets, naturally, won't be cheap to buy. The $60 I paid for a balcony seat to see him in April is definitely towards the higher end of concert tickets I've bought, but it was still in a reasonable range for me. If it was out of my range, I skip it and use the money to see whatever smaller shows are around me. No big deal. For someone that's notorious for doing things his own way, I have a harder time believing he doesn't have a say when it comes to prices. As I said, I'm going to the Auditorium Theatre to see My Morning Jacket and the most expensive Tickets for that were like $55. I can't see the price difference between booking those two places to be that high. And looking at other bands playing there like Jethro Tull and Paul Simon, the most expensive tickets for those shows are like $120 which is less than half what Neil is charging. And i'm not so much disappointed in not being able to go as I am that he is charging that much. I never took him for the greedy musician type, but i guess i was wrong Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 These kinds of prices are the same reason I skipped the last U2 tour. It was either $250 for the "good" seats, or else buy the $50 GA ones but have to line up ridiculously early to get close enough to actually be able to see them and be exhausted by the time the show actually started. At the same time, though, when prices are lower, scalpers just gobble up the tickets. Look at the LCD Soundsystem farewell show at Madison Square Garden next week. I couldn't do any of the in-person presales because I live five hours away, and the Pitchfork presale happened when I was teaching. I had to rely on the general sale, and tickets were gone in a flash, only to show up on Stubhub for hundreds--if not thousands--of dollars. I wish there could be some sort of happy medium where artists can make a profit but fans aren't bled dry and aren't forced to compete with scalpers. The artists charging this much obviously don't need the money. For the price of one Neil Young ticket, you could get two weekend passes for Solid Sound. That seems pretty ridiculous, even for an artist I have a lot of respect for otherwise. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
auctioneer69 Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I'd love to see a Congressional Inquiry into 1. ticket prices and 2. how so many end-up with ticket resellers immediately. Tickets touts now have websites called Stubhub and the like. Just an awful, awful fucking rip-off. That said I did pay about $80 to see Neil for the second-time about three years ago. Absolutely amazing and maybe more so because he played with an intensity and passion that would have put people a third-of-his-age to shame. I decided to incorporate Coachella into vacation time this year based on the fact that at $100 a day it's still great value over what individual tickets cost. Guaranteed warmth and sunshine In April coming from Seattle add tremendous value to the equation too. Bit luke-warm on the headliners apart from Arcade Fire. Whom despite their wanna-be street-cred still cost me $70 (including fees) last year. Other than that I am only doing club shows. The bummer is that a number of our friends aren't coming because tickets sold out within 6 days. That didn't happen because Led Zeppelin had reunited to play or David Bowie was doing his first live show in a decade. Rather an enormous amount immediately ended up with re-sellers. My guess is that Ticketmaster have increased sales to resellers and are taking kick-backs to compensate for the lower revenues they are experiencing overall because of the recessions. MOTHERFUCKERS! It makes me mad that we the consumer have no recourse. Imagine if the same thing happened with plane-tickets? It would be banned. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 I'd love to see a Congressional Inquiry into 1. ticket prices and 2. how so many end-up with ticket resellers immediately. Tickets touts now have websites called Stubhub and the like. Just an awful, awful fucking rip-off. That said I did pay about $80 to see Neil for the second-time about three years ago. Absolutely amazing and maybe more so because he played with an intensity and passion that would have put people a third-of-his-age to shame. I decided to incorporate Coachella into vacation time this year based on the fact that at $100 a day it's still great value over what individual tickets cost. Guaranteed warmth and sunshine In April coming from Seattle add tremendous value to the equation too. Bit luke-warm on the headliners apart from Arcade Fire. Whom despite their wanna-be street-cred still cost me $70 (including fees) last year. Other than that I am only doing club shows. The bummer is that a number of our friends aren't coming because tickets sold out within 6 days. That didn't happen because Led Zeppelin had reunited to play or David Bowie was doing his first live show in a decade. Rather an enormous amount immediately ended up with re-sellers. My guess is that Ticketmaster have increased sales to resellers and are taking kick-backs to compensate for the lower revenues they are experiencing overall because of the recessions. MOTHERFUCKERS! It makes me mad that we the consumer have no recourse. Imagine if the same thing happened with plane-tickets? It would be banned. Yeah scalpers are messing it all up and it does seem like ticketmaster gives tickets to them before anyone else. Look how ticketmaster refers you to a scalping site is tickets are sold out, it's pathetic. And the ticketmaster charges are getting out of hand as well. They are close to $20 for some shows and probably average about $15 for a show, it's horrible. That combined with already high prices makes it unaffordable. And the thing with Neil Young that gets me is that the tickets are extremely expensive and it ONLY him, it's not like it's u2 where the whole band gets paid, it's just him. I would love to know what his paycheck is per show he plays. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lamradio Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 He charges that because he can... And I guarantee every show will be a packed house... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tinnitus photography Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 U2 aren't playing in a 1500-2000 capacity theater, either. i think that either Neil's guarantee was super high and the promoters needed to jack up the prices accordingly, or he wanted to beat the scalpers. we'll see how many empty seats there are...that should determine whether the price point was set correctly or not. the show i went to in Worcester last year had the prices and no empty seats. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 He charges that because he can... And I guarantee every show will be a packed house... Well after a full days of being on sale I can still get two tickets for the first night in the 4th row, and for the second night in the 3rd row. It'll be a packed house i'm sure, but they aren't selling every ticket at face, because there aren't that many people willing to shell out almost $300 to see Neil young Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jc4prez Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Not that I don't agree that the prices are high, but I have a hard time believing Neil himself is personally setting all these ticket prices. Especially on these recent tours, with the theaters he's playing. Those places just aren't cheap to book, so the tickets, naturally, won't be cheap to buy. I've seen many acts at the theater in question with tickets priced at 45 dollars for the best seats, this is a money grab. As someone else said, he's doing it because he can. Its really a shame too, I feel like I grew up at last chance for a kid to see some of these acts (i'm 25). I saw neil with good seats for 50, saw the stones for 60. In the past several years tickets prices have gone through the roof it seems like. Its totally unnecessary, bands like phish and radihoead haul around HUGE lighting rigs and play sold out concerts all over and charge around 50 dollars. Phish just raised there prices by ten dollars but were kind enough to through in free sbd recordings with all tickets (which previously cost 10 dollars per show). Both of these bands are turning profits, there is no reason a solo acoustic show needs to be this expensive. Its easy for older folks to say go to your local club, I agree people should but tell me this: when you were 15 who did you want to see in concert? Were they playing the local club? And when you did see this artist that was larger then life for you what kind of impact did have on your love of live music? Some of my greatest memories growing up were getting to see these legends who changed my world view, I know I'm not alone on this. Its really sad to me that some other kid in high school right now won't be able to have their mind blown by Neil Young, they won't hear the roar of the crowd as he plugs in or the way the man can silence a crowd at the piano or on acoustic guitar. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magnetized Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I'm reading this thread with a great deal of interest, because the price/value ratio in ticket pricing for shows has really struck me recently. Not to overstate it, but I actually do think there's a sort of moral component to ticket pricing. And I have paid pretty ridiculous amounts of money in the past for a must-see event ($500 to one of those Stubhub agencies for floor tickets to Springsteen for the E Street reunion tour was the most outrageous, followed by $250--face value--for a Stones show in 2005.) But these were big band/spectacle shows where production costs were high, I'm sure, and they were artists I'd seen many times before and just could not miss. One the other hand, just for example, I saw Tweedy solo in Charlottesville in December for around $35-$40 (can't remember exactly) and then saw Randy Newman at the same theater earlier this month for $50. Both were absolutely incredible solo shows at a beautiful venue with superb acoustics, and I would gladly have paid double what I did to see either one of them. And Dr. Dog and Drive-By Truckers are playing at a club in Norfolk for $18 each. And Phish at a beautiful smallish amphitheater in Portsmouth is just $60--big show, lights, etc. And let's not forget Solid Sound, one of the most amazing values ever at $100 for an entire weekend of bliss. Yes, Neil Young is a legend, but honestly, he's not exactly in his prime. Randy Newman's pretty legendary, too, and so is Willie Nelson, and they just don't rip off fans this way--not for a solo show. And this may not really enter into the equation, but there are some damn good DVDs that give you a taste of the Neil Young live experience. I honestly feel like he's milking it for all he can, and it does in fact piss me off to think of him doing that. So there! Take that, Neil! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vacant Horizon Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I'm reading this thread with a great deal of interest, because the price/value ratio in ticket pricing for shows has really struck me recently. Not to overstate it, but I actually do think there's a sort of moral component to ticket pricing. And I have paid pretty ridiculous amounts of money in the past for a must-see event ($500 to one of those Stubhub agencies for floor tickets to Springsteen for the E Street reunion tour was the most outrageous, followed by $250--face value--for a Stones show in 2005.) But these were big band/spectacle shows where production costs were high, I'm sure, and they were artists I'd seen many times before and just could not miss. One the other hand, just for example, I saw Tweedy solo in Charlottesville in December for around $35-$40 (can't remember exactly) and then saw Randy Newman at the same theater earlier this month for $50. Both were absolutely incredible solo shows at a beautiful venue with superb acoustics, and I would gladly have paid double what I did to see either one of them. And Dr. Dog and Drive-By Truckers are playing at a club in Norfolk for $18 each. And Phish at a beautiful smallish amphitheater in Portsmouth is just $60--big show, lights, etc. And let's not forget Solid Sound, one of the most amazing values ever at $100 for an entire weekend of bliss. Yes, Neil Young is a legend, but honestly, he's not exactly in his prime. Randy Newman's pretty legendary, too, and so is Willie Nelson, and they just don't rip off fans this way--not for a solo show. And this may not really enter into the equation, but there are some damn good DVDs that give you a taste of the Neil Young live experience. I honestly feel like he's milking it for all he can, and it does in fact piss me off to think of him doing that. So there! Take that, Neil! there are folks out there who think neil can do no wrong. just read thrasher's wheat. i'm a huge fan, but i can't pay those prices. i also can't travel for shows anymore. it's got to be low price and low hassle. i did get to see the first leg of this tour and it was awesome, but not worth the money i spent. my other favorite bands seem to be able to keep prices at a sane level, wilco, dbt, rush. why not neil. he's ruthless. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tinnitus photography Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 why even compare Randy Newman or Willie Nelson to Neil Young? It's ludicrous. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 why even compare Randy Newman or Willie Nelson to Neil Young? It's ludicrous. ok, well paul simon at the same venue is topped out at like $120 and i've seen Tom Petty for around $55. is that more comparable? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tinnitus photography Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 did Tom Petty play in a theater? and was the price for Petty's 'good' seats last year for the outdoor sheds he played? $150. and i wouldn't pay $10 to see Paul Simon. but that's just me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hwllo Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 did Tom Petty play in a theater? and was the price for Petty's 'good' seats last year for the outdoor sheds he played? $150. and i wouldn't pay $10 to see Paul Simon. but that's just me. ok, well elton john is playing at a small venue in illinois and the most expensive tickets are $150. he's probably more popular than neil young, though i don't like that much, the fact remains, that he is a "legendary" type performer, who is playing by himself and charging $125 less for good seats. I have stood up for neil before and am a huge fan, but there's no way i can justify what he's doing now, no matter how hard i try Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tinnitus photography Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 according to my Googles, Peoria Civic Center has a 12,000 seat capacity. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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