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Concert ticket prices

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Kemahkeith, Feb 28, 2026.

  1. Kemahkeith

    Kemahkeith Member
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    Don't want to date myself but my first concert was RUSH in the early 80's at the Summit
    Scraped up 50 bucks.
    20 for the ticket on the floor.
    15 bucks for a Moving Pictures tee shirt.
    5 bucks worth of nasty Jack in the crack tacos.
    And I bought 2 joints at 5 bucks each from my brother.

    So fast forward to 2026.
    Bought two tickets to the RUSH show at Madison Square Garden.
    2 tix at 526.00 each=1052 bucks

    How did all of this happen?
    Regular folks are mostly priced out of the market at this point. If it were any other band I would not even consider going.

    I remember back in the early 90s when I had just moved to upstate NY. The eagles blew everyone's shite by selling their Hell Freezes Over tour tix for 100 bucks each.

    I know prices never go down, but after this I'm out of the arena scene.
    Im headed to the local dives.
    Even the smaller venues are grabbing the cash.
    I saw the Psychedelic Furs and Gary Neuman recently.
    Those geezers got me for 125 a ticket.
    Just crazy.
     
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  2. The Captain

    The Captain Member

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    It was worse in 22 when the Pandemic was winding down.

    Seeing bands like this in stadium tours is an event, not a regular night out. That’s how you have to see it. And the market allows the price.

    That said, premium pricing is for suckers. In the rare event I need to buy a ticket to a show, I just watch Facebook groups for people desperate to get rid of their tickets. In a pinch, I just hit up a scalper outside the venue. It’s not a strategy for the nerds out there who like assurances and to plan everything out, but I’ve never not gotten tickets this way.
     
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  3. Buck Turgidson

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    Somewhere in my stuff



    I have an old cigar box my Dad gave me that has many, many, movie and concert tickets in it. I'd love to look through that again someday.
     
  4. strosb4bros

    strosb4bros Member

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    I think it depends on the band and how much work they get.

    We'll see a show at the Sphere whenever we're in Vegas.

    Saw the Eagles for $375 for the best seats in house(3 rows in front) and you could get pretty good bleacher seats for $175.

    Phish, coming up in April, are around $300 for premium seats with a great visual experience.

    The days of $80/concerts from headliners were gone long before the pandemic. Particularly for established bands like Rush - boomers have money to spend and know they can't take it all to the grave.
     
  5. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Okogie Only Fan
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    IMG_5807.jpeg
     
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  6. peleincubus

    peleincubus Member

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    I remember seeing this lineup at Lollapalooza for like $40-50:

    Alice in Chains, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Dinosaur Jr., Fishbone, Arrested Development, Front 242, Tool
     
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  7. The Captain

    The Captain Member

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    That was a great show.
     
  8. peleincubus

    peleincubus Member

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    I think the tickets were actually even 10-15 less than that. I went to every lollapalooza after that (that was a national tour) and that was more 1995ish prices. I was barely 13 when I went to that first one.
     
  9. RKREBORN

    RKREBORN Member

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    [​IMG]
     
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  10. ThatBoyNick

    ThatBoyNick Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  11. thegary

    thegary Member

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    IIRC you live upstate. Are you originally from jersey and how did you become a rox fan, just curious…
     
  12. BMoney

    BMoney Member

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    Middle class people used to be able to own a home and go on vacation. You didn't have to have a six figure income to live a good life. The change was when they decided to stop enforcing monopoly laws and slashed the top income bracket for taxation. 40 years of that has taken a toll on everything.

    If you are a billionaire, your passive, non-taxed income right now is so great that you are incentivised to keep buying properties, companies and other assets. This results in the prices for *everything*- food, rents, utilities- clothing- going up because the wealth is more and more concentrated.

    This is probably more information that you asked for, but I think the rise in prices in everything is down to this, more than anything.
     
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  13. Cannonball

    Cannonball Member

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    A combination of monopolies from ticketing companies/venues, the decline of record sales in the age of streaming, and inflation.
     
  14. ROCKSS

    ROCKSS Member

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    My first time to RUSH was at the Keil Center in St Louis which is long gone and it changed the way I looked at Concerts, I have seen them about a dozen times, and I will be traveling to see the new shows.............dam the cost but HOLY **** have costs gone way up, I don't see how kids can go see them anymore, Ticket Master has killed pricing
     
  15. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Member

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    It's pretty sad because both of my kids are REALLY into music but I can't take them to shows without having to take out a second mortgage.

    I've seen Rush 5 times and I don't remember ever paying more than $100. Sorry, not going to pay $1,500 to take my kids to see them without Neil..
     
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  16. Svpernaut

    Svpernaut Member

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    Whatever happened to congress taking a stand on the pricing collusion with ticket providers and resellers?
     
  17. The Captain

    The Captain Member

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    Learning about vertical monopolies is a fun read.
     
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  18. Buck Turgidson

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    Eddie Vedder is on the case.
     
  19. Newlin

    Newlin Member

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    My first rock concert ever attended was 100% free.

    The band was Free Fare! They played in our jr. high school auditorium during school hours for the whole school. It was a packed house!

    They even did some Cheech and Chong comedy bits.

    1970’s
     
  20. mikol13

    mikol13 Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!
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    Did no one go to the last Cure concert? Fantastic show, have not missed a beat and…

     

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