Gig Prices

[Mr Sugden]

Is it just me or has the cost of going to see bands gone shooting up over the last 5 years?

£55 plus no doubt around £8 for booking/p&p for Foo Fighters! And just about every gig at the Hydro is £60 plus.

Even going to see smaller bands these days is hitting £25/£30.

[mrcat1990]

Most definitely. You have to bear in mind touring is exceptionally expensive for bands and with the general cost of everything in Britain rising it makes touring an even higher expense. The people buying the product have to cover the expenses basically.

Eta the booking fees and call costs with Ticketshafter though are total bullshit.

[Ya Bezzer!]

It used to be bands toured to promote albums to generate sales.

Now albums either don't make any money or actually cost bands money to produce so the price of the concert ticket has to basically shoulder the entire cost of being a professional musician.

[Romeo]

Just paid £62 for 2 tickets to see the Charlatans at the Barrowlands in March.

Wife paid about £200 for 2 tickets to see Rod Stewart.

[Hillonearth]

It used to be bands toured to promote albums to generate sales.

Now albums either don't make any money or actually cost bands money to produce so the price of the concert ticket has to basically shoulder the entire cost of being a professional musician.

Hit the nail on the head - bands used to tour to promote the album, but to all intents and purposes now they record an album to promote the tour.

With the advent of widespread downloading, there was a fairly obvious sudden jump of about a tenner in average ticket prices as the band effectively papped the price of the album onto the ticket price, but recently prices seem to have went mental.

Part of it's the fact that the market's bearing the increases - if people are willing to shell out 35 quid for a second division band, that's what they'll charge, as well as the booking fee/priority ticket scams which have grown arms and legs from say a quid on top of a ticket to up to 25-30% of face value. For just what exactly?

One of the first gigs I went to when I was a kid was Rush at the Apollo. Walked up to the box office, got my ticket from the booth. £2.50 + no booking fee...about £11 these days (I checked!). They came back last year - think it was about 70 notes a skull plus who knows what on top creamed off for the privilege of the box office doing their job.

I didn't bother.

[PrestersKTID]

Foos were £60.50 plus £6 booking.

I don't mind too much paying 60 odd quid for a band i might never get the chance to see again.

Paid similar for AC/DC at Hampden and Iron maiden at Twickenham.

£45 for Kiss seems a steal now.

However when i was going regularly to gigs around 08/09 half my pals were out of work and couldnt afford the gig which meant i either went myself or didnt go.

For an O2 academy gig £30 should be top price.

But agree Bezzer, bands just make nowhere near the money on records anymore because a lot of folk will download or covert youtube clips for free. Now they tour to make money rather than solely to promote the record.

[Miguel Sanchez]

I'm going to three gigs in December for a combined cost of £42, including fees. If you go to see "big" or established acts like Rod Stewart and the Foo Fighters since they were mentioned here, in big places, it's going to cost more. Running a place like the Hydro probably costs a lot more than King Tuts or the ABC, I think the cost of the venue matters a lot more than the cost of the artist. I saw the Foo Fighters in Milton Keynes in 2011 for what the ticket says was £46.50 + fees. Considering the cost of renting the place, putting up the stage and all the equipment, the fees for the bands (they played two nights, Biffy Clyro and Jimmy Eat World played both days too) and the amount of tickets sold (think ~120,000), the mark-up for a gig at the Hydro being ~£60 all in probably isn't that large. Then again, there's few bands I'd pay that much to see and it probably varies on an individual basis. Paying £50 to see Muse at the SECC, that seemed reasonable to me. Paying the same amount to see The Killers (both in 2012) in the same place genuinely shocked me when I saw the price.

But yeah, I think it just varies by band and how much you think bands/venues should cost. It probably depends on how active a band is touring as well, if they're a younger band still playing a lot of dates regularly they can do it cheaper, an older band, not as much. Ticket fees however I will never attempt to justify.

[Tommy Nooka]

There's almost a direct correlation between ticket price and the quality of your experience. I find that the more expensive the ticket the shitter the live experience is...unless you're only going to enjoy the fireworks/lightshow.

Guy in my work paid over £180 for 2 Fleetwood Mac tickets last week.....£180, £180!!!

I wouldn't pay £180 to see The Beatles if they somehow managed to resurrect them.

Give me a BRMC/Ben Kweller gig at King Tuts over a Kings Of Leon/Bryan Adams show at the Hydro any day of the week.

[AberdeenHibee]

i've paid £120 over the past 3 weeks to see Noel Gallagher and Foo Fighters...whilst I think for me personally it is worth it (the equivalent of one big night out anyways) as gig memories are like no other. However, I am incredibly envious of the likes of my parents being able to see Rolling Stones, Bowie, U2 etc for the equivalent of a tenner in todays money

[Smurph]

I never used to complain, and have paid upwards of £40 on at least 10 occasions (I'm not in the house so can't clarify) but at least 10, I'd definitely say.

I was just looking at Gigs in Scotland there though. £32.50 to see Lily Allen at the Academy. Those were SECC prices five years ago. Echo and the Bunnymen are £26.50 at the ABC. The Ting Tings are £15 at King Tuts! £30 for UB40 at the ABC.

It seems like venues are looking at the larger venue and charging their prices from 5 years ago. I agree with Miguel Sanchez though. If you're going to see a band you think is worth it, paying over-the-odds is acceptable. I paid £140 for two tickets to see The Who last year, something I don't think I'll ever get to do again, so I was cool with that. f**k paying £35 for Lily Allen though.

[Miguel Sanchez]

I've only been going to gigs for four and a bit years so I may not be the best judge

But, the list of bands I've seen, where, and the cost, in chronological order:

2010:

Hurts, Oran Mor, £9 (+£1.70)

Klaxons, Barrowlands (got punted to the QMU), £16 (+£2.75)

We Are Scientists, ABC, £13.50 (+£2.44)

Arcade Fire, SECC, £27.50 (it doesn't say what the fees were, though I think they're bigger)

2011:

Hurts, ABC, £14 (+£2.75)

White Lies, Barrowlands, £16 (+£2.75)

Glasvegas, ABC, £16 (+2.75)

Foo Fighters, Milton Keynes Bowl, £46.50 (doesn't say what the fee was)

Interpol, Academy, £22.50 (+£3.75)

Manchester Orchestra, ABC, £11 (+£2.24)

Hurts, Academy, £16 (+£3)

Rise Against, Academy, £18.50 (+£3)

Bryan Adams, SECC, £39.50 (again the ticket doesn't include fees but I recall seeing some piece of merchandise going for £50, which out-did the Arcade Fire hoodie at £35, both of which were more expensive than the ticket to get in. Now that I think about it, the thing was £5 more expensive than the ticket so the fees were probably £5 or so)

2012:

The Xcerts, King Tuts, £6 (+£1.94)

New Order, Academy, £35 (+£3.50, this being one of those special purchases I mentioned)

Newton Faulkner, Oran Mor, £16 (+£3)

Frightened Rabbit, UWS Union, £14

Newton Faulkner, ABC, £17.50 (+£2.50)

Bloc Party, Academy, £23.50 (+£2.75)

Muse, SECC, £47.50

2013:

Frightened Rabbit, Barrowlands, £15, (+£2.25)

Hurts, The Garage, £15 (+£2.25)

We Are Scientists, Oran Mor, £13.50 (+£2.25)

Jimmy Eat World, Academy, £18.50, (+£2.50)

Frightened Rabbit, Academy, £16 (+£2.50

And coming next month:

The Xcerts, Oran Mor, £8.50 (+£2)

We Were Promised Jetpacks, QMU, £13.50, (+£2.25)

The Twilight Sad, ABC, £13.50 (+£2.25)

Honestly, looking through all of those, none of them seem especially egregious to me. As far as Glasgow venues go that I've been to I'd say that the Oran Mor & King Tuts should be £10-£15, the ABC £15-25, the Academy £20-£30 and then god knows what at the SECC, which is the worst venue out of all of those. I should add that for the majority of those I've not included the postage for sending the tickets which is probably an extra £2 on most of them. It also doesn't include gigs where I'd include the support as a band I specifically went to see, like The Xcerts playing with Manchester Orchestra or Paws with We Are Scientists. Still, prices as far as size of venues & how established the band are seem all fairly reasonable there, to me.

(Be sure to take what I consider 'reasonable' with a pinch of salt, me being the person who spent ~£300 to go to T in the Park in 2011 purely because Pulp were there as well as paying extra for friends to go and still considering it the most cost-efficient purchase of anything I've ever made in my life)

[NorthernLights]

The big tours seem to have increased massively over the last few years. I've been trawling through my box of gig tickets which dates back to 2002. A good example I found are two bands I saw in late 2008 and have either just seen or are going to see soon.

I saw In Flames at the Barrowlands in 2008 and my ticket was £17.50. Last month at the O2 ABC and it was £18.

Slipknot in 2008 at the SECC was £29.50. Seeing them in January at The Hydro and it is £44.25.

[Paris Hilltoon]

Miguel, make sure you catch Vladimir supporting at the Twighlight Sad gig.

They're worth the £13.50 alone.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Miguel, make sure you catch Vladimir supporting at the Twighlight Sad gig.

They're worth the £13.50 alone.

I hadn't seen who the support was for them yet. You got any links? I can't find anything.

[Paris Hilltoon]

I hadn't seen who the support was for them yet. You got any links? I can't find anything.

https://m.soundcloud.com/vladimiruk

[Thundermonkey]

Just paid £28 for a Ride ticket.

Worth every penny.

[Ira Gaines]

Paid 42 for Kasabian the other night. Couldn't really care. I won't pay for any gig ticket if I don't think it's going to be worth it.

Paid 20 quid for next year's Enter Shikari as well. Reasonable.

[Tommy Nooka]

I've only been going to gigs for four and a bit years so I may not be the best judge

But, the list of bands I've seen, where, and the cost, in chronological order:

2010:

Hurts, Oran Mor, £9 (+£1.70)

Klaxons, Barrowlands (got punted to the QMU), £16 (+£2.75)

We Are Scientists, ABC, £13.50 (+£2.44)

Arcade Fire, SECC, £27.50 (it doesn't say what the fees were, though I think they're bigger)

2011:

Hurts, ABC, £14 (+£2.75)

White Lies, Barrowlands, £16 (+£2.75)

Glasvegas, ABC, £16 (+2.75)

Foo Fighters, Milton Keynes Bowl, £46.50 (doesn't say what the fee was)

Interpol, Academy, £22.50 (+£3.75)

Manchester Orchestra, ABC, £11 (+£2.24)

Hurts, Academy, £16 (+£3)

Rise Against, Academy, £18.50 (+£3)

Bryan Adams, SECC, £39.50 (again the ticket doesn't include fees but I recall seeing some piece of merchandise going for £50, which out-did the Arcade Fire hoodie at £35, both of which were more expensive than the ticket to get in. Now that I think about it, the thing was £5 more expensive than the ticket so the fees were probably £5 or so)

2012:

The Xcerts, King Tuts, £6 (+£1.94)

New Order, Academy, £35 (+£3.50, this being one of those special purchases I mentioned)

Newton Faulkner, Oran Mor, £16 (+£3)

Frightened Rabbit, UWS Union, £14

Newton Faulkner, ABC, £17.50 (+£2.50)

Bloc Party, Academy, £23.50 (+£2.75)

Muse, SECC, £47.50

2013:

Frightened Rabbit, Barrowlands, £15, (+£2.25)

Hurts, The Garage, £15 (+£2.25)

We Are Scientists, Oran Mor, £13.50 (+£2.25)

Jimmy Eat World, Academy, £18.50, (+£2.50)

Frightened Rabbit, Academy, £16 (+£2.50

And coming next month:

The Xcerts, Oran Mor, £8.50 (+£2)

We Were Promised Jetpacks, QMU, £13.50, (+£2.25)

The Twilight Sad, ABC, £13.50 (+£2.25)

Honestly, looking through all of those, none of them seem especially egregious to me. As far as Glasgow venues go that I've been to I'd say that the Oran Mor & King Tuts should be £10-£15, the ABC £15-25, the Academy £20-£30 and then god knows what at the SECC, which is the worst venue out of all of those. I should add that for the majority of those I've not included the postage for sending the tickets which is probably an extra £2 on most of them. It also doesn't include gigs where I'd include the support as a band I specifically went to see, like The Xcerts playing with Manchester Orchestra or Paws with We Are Scientists. Still, prices as far as size of venues & how established the band are seem all fairly reasonable there, to me.

(Be sure to take what I consider 'reasonable' with a pinch of salt, me being the person who spent ~£300 to go to T in the Park in 2011 purely because Pulp were there as well as paying extra for friends to go and still considering it the most cost-efficient purchase of anything I've ever made in my life)

f**k sake!!!

I can't even remember the ticket price for the gig I went to a few weeks ago.

You must be keeping your ticket stubs, I did that for the first 2 concerts I went to then gave it up when I was desperate for roach material one night!

Ticket prices for the Hydro in particular are ludicrous, I went to see 2 acts performing with a 60 piece orchestra (about 70 musicians performed that night) and the ticket was about £25!

You'd be lucky to get half a set at the Hydro for that.

[Ira Gaines]

I've seen people blame the Hydro for ticket prices before, and when I've checked prices around the UK for the same act, they've been exactly the same.

[Miguel Sanchez]

f**k sake!!!

I can't even remember the ticket price for the gig I went to a few weeks ago.

You must be keeping your ticket stubs, I did that for the first 2 concerts I went to then gave it up when I was desperate for roach material one night!

Ticket prices for the Hydro in particular are ludicrous, I went to see 2 acts performing with a 60 piece orchestra (about 70 musicians performed that night) and the ticket was about £25!

You'd be lucky to get half a set at the Hydro for that.

They're in a drawer on my desk. Although I was quite surprised as I started pulling them out, it seemed like a lot more than I was expecting

I've seen people blame the Hydro for ticket prices before, and when I've checked prices around the UK for the same act, they've been exactly the same.

Are they at similarly big/new venues?