Neil Young ticket prices

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

If Neil played small/midsized theaters with $50 max tickets, scalpers would totally buy up as many seats as possible, and fans would still have to pay the higher prices, but they'd be paying it to the scalping folks. It's a sad reality, but I'd be shocked if it didn't play a role in setting prices.

[hwllo]

according to my Googles, Peoria Civic Center has a 12,000 seat capacity.

 

 

 

aah, thought it was smaller. but what difference does it make really? I saw Wilco at the Pabst theatre and had 5th row tickets that were like $50. I know wilco isn't neil young, but you can't tell me Neil Young is worth 4 or 5 times more than Wilco.

[hwllo]

If Neil played small/midsized theaters with $50 max tickets, scalpers would totally buy up as many seats as possible, and fans would still have to pay the higher prices, but they'd be paying it to the scalping folks. It's a sad reality, but I'd be shocked if it didn't play a role in setting prices.

 

i think for the tom waits tour he did a few years back he made every ticket will call ONLY, which greatly affected the amount of scalping. There's ways to try and stop scalping, and i guess doing something like blowing up the prices of your shows is one way, but it's also a way to lose fans, not that he cares

[Orkie]

These prices are absurd and nothing more than greed. Tickets for Waters show started at $55. I paid $125 for incredible floor seats and Waters brought MUCH more show to the arena and a show budget that ate up most of the profits.

 

This notes for you indeed. I laugh at Neil Young and his fake, corny, hippy bullshit.

[twoshedsjackson]

These prices are absurd and nothing more than greed. Tickets for Waters show started at $55. I paid $125 for incredible floor seats and Waters brought MUCH more show to the arena and a show budget that ate up most of the profits.

 

This notes for you indeed. I laugh at Neil Young and his fake, corny, hippy bullshit.

 

 

I couldn't agree more. I've loved Neil Young and Tom Petty for most of my life, and I thought they were among the few who had some integrity and respect for their fans, but seriously - screw them both. I wonder if Petty has the balls to play "Money Becomes King" these days. Hypocritical greed-heads, the pair of them. They'll never see another dime of my money.

 

It makes me appreciate a band like Wilco even more. I, probably like most of you, paid around $35 to see an "Evening with..." show. THAT was value for money.

[LouieB]

People should not be shocked that Neil is charging these kinds of prices (and yes it does boil down to Neil himself, he asks for a certain amount of money to perform, it is not just the promoters make that cash) for some years. This is not the first time people have complained about this. As some critic said the last time he came through town, Neil not only has a heart of gold, but the rest of his organs must be pretty espensive too...

 

I remember when I had to think twice about paying $5.50 for a ticket to see Frank Zappa and the Mothers in 1970. All money is relative. You want to see Neil young, you have to shell out. Heck he is a legend.

 

LouieB

[CortezTheKiller]

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.

Tinnitus already handled the comparison aspect, so I'll let that part slide.

 

I recently purchased two tickets to see Neil in April @ The Wang Theater in Boston. Each ticket was $145. When you add all the taxes, fees, & bullshit extras, the total damage exceeded $345. I agonized over the decision. I rationalized it because it's a few weeks after my birthday (I asked permission from my wife before hitting 'Sumbit'), I has received a promotion & raise @ work a week before, and the window to see him again is closing every day. There have been only 2 occasions in the past 15 years or so where I've not seen him when he's come around - w/ CS&N on the Living With War tour (newborn) and when he came around last year on essentially the same tour he's on now (ticket prices were astronomical). While Neil is "not exactly in his prime," he's pretty damn close when it comes to putting on a live performance. I've seen him right around 20 times and he has never disappointed. The ticket prices don't sit well with me, but it would sit much worse with me if I passed and he never came by again. I can't say the same thing about Randy Newman, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, or any other artist for that matter. Neil and his people know there are at least 5,000 people like me in every location he books a show. He charges those tickets to ward off scalpers, to keep the performances as intimate as possible, to limit it to hardcore lunatics, and because he can.

[tinnitus photography]

(I asked permission from my wife before hitting 'Sumbitch')

 

 

fixed that for you

[Vacant Horizon]

While Neil is "not exactly in his prime," he's pretty damn close when it comes to putting on a live performance. I've seen him right around 20 times and he has never disappointed. The ticket prices don't sit well with me, but it would sit much worse with me if I passed and he never came by again. I can't say the same thing about Randy Newman, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, or any other artist for that matter. Neil and his people know there are at least 5,000 people like me in every location he books a show. He charges those tickets to ward off scalpers, to keep the performances as intimate as possible, to limit it to hardcore lunatics, and because he can.

 

i'm with you on all of this. i'd say neil is a legend, but unlike seeing dylan, just to see the guy play like crap, when you see neil, you see neil just emit his neil youngness. the scalper issue is good point i hadn't thought about.

[hwllo]

While Neil is "not exactly in his prime," he's pretty damn close when it comes to putting on a live performance. I've seen him right around 20 times and he has never disappointed. The ticket prices don't sit well with me, but it would sit much worse with me if I passed and he never came by again. I can't say the same thing about Randy Newman, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, or any other artist for that matter. Neil and his people know there are at least 5,000 people like me in every location he books a show. He charges those tickets to ward off scalpers, to keep the performances as intimate as possible, to limit it to hardcore lunatics, and because he can.

 

 

 

i'm with you on all of this. i'd say neil is a legend, but unlike seeing dylan, just to see the guy play like crap, when you see neil, you see neil just emit his neil youngness. the scalper issue is good point i hadn't thought about.

 

Neil Young definitely still has "it" when he plays!

 

And I get wanting to stop scalpers, but at what cost? Me and my friends are all huge neil young fans. but we are teachers and waitresses and farmers and spending over $100 to see a concert is out of our price range, let alone $200 or $300. Does this mean we aren't as big of fans as people who will be sitting front row? No, it just means that we don't have the excess income some people have. It is supposed to be about the music and I feel like with prices that high it comes across as much more of a business and money-making venture for neil. Upper-class entertainment for the upper-class i guess. I just feel like he is alienating his fan base, not that he cares, but as a fan, i do.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

But music is a business, whether tickets are $50 or $150. That's not a new thing whatsoever. Neil Young, at this age, probably wouldn't hit the road if he wasn't making "enough" money doing it. You can call it greed, and I can't really argue that it isn't, but I also think it's something he's earned with a lengthy career. The money NY would make selling $20-$50 seats might not be enough to entice him into a tour at his age.

 

This kinda entirely contradicts my "it's not Neil's fault directly" point, but still.

[hwllo]

But music is a business, whether tickets are $50 or $150. That's not a new thing whatsoever. Neil Young, at this age, probably wouldn't hit the road if he wasn't making "enough" money doing it. You can call it greed, and I can't really argue that it isn't, but I also think it's something he's earned with a lengthy career. The money NY would make selling $20-$50 seats might not be enough to entice him into a tour at his age.

 

This kinda entirely contradicts my "it's not Neil's fault directly" point, but still.

 

 

i mean, i know it's a business, but as a fan, you try not to think about that. it's like sports, you don't want to be sitting in a baseball stadium, thinking of how much money the players on the owners are making off you, you go to escape your every day life so to speak.

 

And Neil Young probably has so much money from touring, records, the archives, all that, I can't see him strapped for cash. And if it takes a huge pay day to get him back on the road, then I don't want to see him anyways because he's doing it for the wrong reasons.

 

I've got no problem paying to see concerts, I've seen bands like CSNY, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Built to Spill, Spoon, Buddy Guy, and never seen tickets as high as $275. I guess I didn't want to lump Neil Young in with the Eagles, Rolling Stones and U2, but I guess you have to these days

[twoshedsjackson]

So good ol' Neil raised his ticket prices to ward off scalpers? He's screwing us so the scalpers don't have to? What a guy!!!

 

Please. When I think of the money I've given to some of these greedy old bastards over the decades, only to have them do this...Is ANYBODY doing it for the music anymore?

 

Sorry for the anger, but I feel a very real sense of betrayal, particularly in the case of Petty & Young. After all their men-of-the-people bullshit, this?

 

In the past few years I've had to pass on two amazing double-bills: Neil Young with Wilco, and Tom Petty with My Morning Jacket, because of ticket prices. Both times I went from excitement upon hearing of the show to total outrage at the screwing I was expected to take. I can't be the only one.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Didn't mean he's strapped for cash. Just that the appeal of going on the road likely isn't what it used to be, but certain dollar amounts are real hard to turn down.

 

I'd probably be more bitter about this if I wasn't seeing him at one of these shows for a very reasonable $57. It's a balcony seat, bought at the box office to avoid Ticketmaster, but still. That theater's small, and I know it'll be worth it. This entire thing gets blown out of proportion by people only looking at the higher end tickets. I know some theaters are still pricey for "bad" seats, but not all of them. Any decent theater will be set up so that there's no bad seat in the house.

[hwllo]

Didn't mean he's strapped for cash. Just that the appeal of going on the road likely isn't what it used to be, but certain dollar amounts are real hard to turn down.

 

I'd probably be more bitter about this if I wasn't seeing him at one of these shows for a very reasonable $57. It's a balcony seat, bought at the box office to avoid Ticketmaster, but still. That theater's small, and I know it'll be worth it. This entire thing gets blown out of proportion by people only looking at the higher end tickets. I know some theaters are still pricey for "bad" seats, but not all of them. Any decent theater will be set up so that there's no bad seat in the house.

 

 

It is a beautiful theatre and there isn't a bad seat in the house. And I am looking at the higher end tickets because I think there were very very limited amounts of the cheap ones. From looking at a seating chart it looks like the majority of tickets are around $200 or higher. I'd love to see a seating breakdown on the number of seats. I really wouldn't be surprised if in the 3,600 seat venue only a few hundred seats were under $100

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

From the glance I got at the seating charts when I bought my ticket, the entire balcony was $50. The orchestra seats were the most expensive, but the balcony is a big chunk of seats, and those seemed to all be $50. Probably not an even 50/50 split between $50 seats and $100+, but pretty close.

[tinnitus photography]

And Neil Young probably has so much money from touring, records, the archives, all that, I can't see him strapped for cash. And if it takes a huge pay day to get him back on the road, then I don't want to see him anyways because he's doing it for the wrong reasons.

 

projections typically fail miserably.

 

 

you have no idea what makes him get out on the road. none of us do. i mean, we can guess and hypothesize, but you seem a little too firm in your convictions here.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Just to reject the "doing it for the money means it's not worth it" thing, Leonard Cohen was 100% open about his reasons for touring the world the last few years. Money, money, money. Got ripped off, had none left, booked a shitload of tour dates to make it all back. He didn't hide that for a second. But those shows were critically acclaimed as brilliant, and worth every penny.

 

I don't mean this as a ticket price thing, although Cohen's tour had some pricey options too. I just mean to say that doing it for the money is a pointless criticism.

[tinnitus photography]

i was just gonna mention Cohen

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

I didn't get to see one of those shows.

[LouieB]

 

This kinda entirely contradicts my "it's not Neil's fault directly" point, but still.

It is entirely Neil's fault, if you want to fault him for it (but what's the point??). Neil is a multi-millionaire!! His back cateloge and his radio play and other mechanical royalties are enough to support him nad his entire extended family for years. If he wanted to go out and play for free he could do it. Of course the fans would have to pay for the expense of the venue, etc. but he could forgo every fee. He needs to pay his band (if he has one) his roadies, his managers, etc. but obviously the main cost on a show like this is his fee.

 

But really why should he? But that doesn't mean that the cost of the tickets are not his responsibility, they are.

 

LouieB

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Like Tinnitus kinda said, I'm not comfortable just assuming Neil's a multi-millionaire, and any money made touring is completely superfluous. Obviously he's got hits and years of touring and whatnot, but it's still a big assumption to make. He might need the money, I can't possibly know.

[uncool2pillow]

I am working under the assumption that Neil has been somewhat smart with his money. He holds a lot of California real estate with his ranch, he started a school for disabled children, was a major stockholder in Lionel model railroads, has sold lots of albums with Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, and as a solo artist, and has toured extensively. Granted, he's flighty and probably given to reckless behavior from time to time, but there's no reason to assume he needs the money. If the money help him and his family live the kind of life they want to and people are willing to pay the ticket cost, the good for him. I can't afford it, but it's his choice.

[cryptique]

I'd love to see a Congressional Inquiry into 1. ticket prices

Good luck with that. It's called "the free market," and not only is such pricing perfectly acceptable and legal in this economy, it's actively encouraged under the free market system. The law of supply and demand, yadda yadda yadda.

[auctioneer69]

Good luck with that. It's called "the free market," and not only is such pricing perfectly acceptable and legal in this economy, it's actively encouraged under the free market system. The law of supply and demand, yadda yadda yadda.

 

 

Tell me i I am wrong but aren't there well-established anti-trust laws in place to protect against monopolistic behavior and to protect against restraint of free-trade? I could be wrong but I think this was the basis of Pearl Jam's legal actions back in the 1990's.

 

I think the more flagrant abuse now is how massive amounts of tickets immediately end up in the hands of resellers. I'd be surprised if Ticketmaster aren't getting a massive cut on this business.