Concert season is upon us.
I love concert season.
I love sitting outside listening to music. I love sitting inside listening to music, too - but just like everything tastes better at a picnic, everything sounds better outside. That statement is probably wildly acoustically inaccurate and my musician friends will be down my throat about it, but I think you know what I mean. It's a whole - thing.
Yep, I love concert season. But I hate the price-gouging and the monopoly the evil Ticketmaster empire holds. When our family of four decides to get tickets for a show, we know we'll essentially be paying for a fifth ticket in service charges. I don't begrudge them their right to make a buck - they do provide a service - but it has gotten really out of hand. You're going to charge me for the convenience of printing my tickets out on my own computer? Really?
And then the prices of the shows themselves.
Yesterday a friend complained that she'd wanted to take her son to see Eric Clapton and Roger Daltrey (OMG, I KNOW! Right???) but that the ticket price (pre- service charges and convenience fees) was $200. I thought my love for Roger Daltrey knew no bounds. Turns out I was wrong. I don't know where the boundary is, exactly, but it is well before the $200 mark - $800 for my family - before service charges! For that kind of change, I want Roger Daltrey to brush my hair while Eric Clapton gives me a pedicure. (Looks dreamily off into the distance... Roger Daltrey (looking exactly like he looked in Tommy when he went through the mirror) is brushing my hair with his shirt off and...)
I love concert season.
I love sitting outside listening to music. I love sitting inside listening to music, too - but just like everything tastes better at a picnic, everything sounds better outside. That statement is probably wildly acoustically inaccurate and my musician friends will be down my throat about it, but I think you know what I mean. It's a whole - thing.
Yep, I love concert season. But I hate the price-gouging and the monopoly the evil Ticketmaster empire holds. When our family of four decides to get tickets for a show, we know we'll essentially be paying for a fifth ticket in service charges. I don't begrudge them their right to make a buck - they do provide a service - but it has gotten really out of hand. You're going to charge me for the convenience of printing my tickets out on my own computer? Really?
And then the prices of the shows themselves.
Yesterday a friend complained that she'd wanted to take her son to see Eric Clapton and Roger Daltrey (OMG, I KNOW! Right???) but that the ticket price (pre- service charges and convenience fees) was $200. I thought my love for Roger Daltrey knew no bounds. Turns out I was wrong. I don't know where the boundary is, exactly, but it is well before the $200 mark - $800 for my family - before service charges! For that kind of change, I want Roger Daltrey to brush my hair while Eric Clapton gives me a pedicure. (Looks dreamily off into the distance... Roger Daltrey (looking exactly like he looked in Tommy when he went through the mirror) is brushing my hair with his shirt off and...)
Whooo! Back to reality!A reality where I don't have $200 to plunk down for a show.
That same night - last night - the Scorpions were slated to appear in my town on their farewell tour. I didn't have tickets to that, either, because my daughter had an orchestra concert last night - and also because we can only budget so much money for concerts in 'the season' and that one didn't make the cut. Lead singer from the Scorps was put on bedrest - their appearance was canceled. Cinderella - who were scheduled to be the warm-up band - decided to do the show anyway. They were here - why not? They knew, however, that the ticketholders hadn't plunked down their money to see them, so THEY DID THE SHOW FOR FREE. How patently awesome is that?
I know - comparing Clapton/Daltrey to Cinderella is like comparing apples to tigers - also, it might border on the blasphemous. But come on! They did. The show. For free. They did the show so that disappointed fans would be less disappointed. I was so impressed with them - with that. If we hadn't had another gig to attend, we would've been there for sure - buying T-shirts and showing our support.
(Looks dreamily off into the distance... Tom Keifer (looking exactly the way he looked on the cover of Night Songs) is teasing my hair...)
5 comments:
You don't want to know the obscene price we paid to get tickets to see Springsteen when he came through Boston a year or so ago. We got them through a site for resale. Gouging? Good lord, I thought I'd die. It was the only thing on the list of things I wanted to do before I died so we went for it. I'd never have bought them if my husband hadn't pushed so hard.
Ticket prices have really gotten out of control. I'd settle for less special effects and more music for a decent priced ticket.
Glad to see you back. Hope your holiday weekend is fun.
jj
I have to agree with you about price gouging. We are experiencing that very thing as we plan our summer vacation. I learned that Cirque du Soleil will be playing near where we will be and I've always been curious about Cirque. Tickets are $127.50 per person (before those nasty fees). There is no way we can add an additional $500+ to our already outrageously priced vacation. So, I guess I'll have to pass. Ugh!
And... Very cool that Cinderella played the concert for free. Good for them. And good for their fans.
I hate Ticketmaster. We use them at work and they drive me bonkers and people are always complaining about the service fees.
I am so impressed by Cinderella. Never in all my life would I have thought I would write the previous sentence, but doing the show for free shows some kind of class.
P.S. I moved to WordPress. If my feed is no longer updating in your reader or dashboard would you pretty please stop by and un-follow, then re-follow. I'm sorry to ask, but it's getting awfully lonely over there.
Have a great 4th!!!
I'm looking forward to experiencing concert season through your family.
Ticketmaster is the devil... I have never EVER been a fan of the hair bands... However, Cinderella is pretty darn cool to have just done a free show like that. Very cool.
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