Playing the devil’s advocate, for me the $250 Ticketmaster price I ended up paying for SZA wasn’t worth the price. I go to many gigs and the prices have been a lot less for comparable artists that give excellent shows. If we’re comparing with overall performance, quality and value for money, Pink’s shows have offered that. It may be economies of scale playing large stadiums, but I went to both Pink shows and only paid around just over $100 per ticket for the experience.
Artists can strip away visuals, dancers and in Pink’s case acrobatics - even doing a simple rock show in the manner of Queens of the Stone Age and it still would have been good. I know a rock band is not the same as a pop artist, but queens of the Stone Age don’t operate huge visual displays or have dancers. Still a great show.
I can't believe bands get away with "in demand" ticketing - surely it's a breach of the Fair Trading Act at least in NZ?
With Paramore last year the floor tickets were advertised as $150. I bought mine on pre-sale for $150 each because I have the type of job where I can do that, but of course plenty of other people can't. The pre-sale sold out in 10 minutes and then the general sales had all the floor tickets as $300. Then at the concert Hayley Williams said that we all needed to keep going to shows because they're one of the only true forces for good in the world...............................
Of course it’s a rort, as most ticketing companies are these days (iTicket might be an exception). And that’s before the ‘fees’ scam is added on.
I booked for Civil War yesterday- $4.50 cheaper per ticket at the Lido over Event who then have the temerity to require another $3.50 for the pleasure of their business.
At least we have a choice with movies. I hate ticketing companies more than anything else.
I feel like Ticketmaster's been training us over the last couple of years to pay more and more for concert tickets, kind of like Apple did with iPhones. Question is, where does it stop? Will $1000 tickets become the norm? Or more?
I'd love to know what the true cost of putting on a show is, either at Eden Park, or at Spark Arena, vs what the profit margin is. It's hard to tell but I feel like Coldplay tickets were quite low and perhaps an indication of 'this is what's fair and reasonable' compared to SZA and Chris Stapleton which were 'let's see how far we can push this shit eh'.
Yeah I agree. I’ve been thinking about that SZA show a lot - especially the cost. I had a better time at Wednesday at Whammy Bar ($70) and The Streets at the Powerstation ($100) than I did at SZA. Then again, that Fred Again show was $170 and that was the best thing I’ve seen in the past five years. So many things go into making a show great, so I guess it’s a lottery no matter how big or small the act or venue is…
I went to Fred Again as I got a ticket on tixel for $70. My favourite part was the song Rumble incorporating Flowdan. I saw him in the Tuning Fork, was a great gig in December.
Playing the devil’s advocate, for me the $250 Ticketmaster price I ended up paying for SZA wasn’t worth the price. I go to many gigs and the prices have been a lot less for comparable artists that give excellent shows. If we’re comparing with overall performance, quality and value for money, Pink’s shows have offered that. It may be economies of scale playing large stadiums, but I went to both Pink shows and only paid around just over $100 per ticket for the experience.
Artists can strip away visuals, dancers and in Pink’s case acrobatics - even doing a simple rock show in the manner of Queens of the Stone Age and it still would have been good. I know a rock band is not the same as a pop artist, but queens of the Stone Age don’t operate huge visual displays or have dancers. Still a great show.
I'm assuming that was the point (or counterpoint!)
I can't believe bands get away with "in demand" ticketing - surely it's a breach of the Fair Trading Act at least in NZ?
With Paramore last year the floor tickets were advertised as $150. I bought mine on pre-sale for $150 each because I have the type of job where I can do that, but of course plenty of other people can't. The pre-sale sold out in 10 minutes and then the general sales had all the floor tickets as $300. Then at the concert Hayley Williams said that we all needed to keep going to shows because they're one of the only true forces for good in the world...............................
Yeah I understand artists can opt in or out of the In Demand pricing. So Ticketmaster provides the service and acts decide whether to use it or not.
Of course it’s a rort, as most ticketing companies are these days (iTicket might be an exception). And that’s before the ‘fees’ scam is added on.
I booked for Civil War yesterday- $4.50 cheaper per ticket at the Lido over Event who then have the temerity to require another $3.50 for the pleasure of their business.
At least we have a choice with movies. I hate ticketing companies more than anything else.
I feel like Ticketmaster's been training us over the last couple of years to pay more and more for concert tickets, kind of like Apple did with iPhones. Question is, where does it stop? Will $1000 tickets become the norm? Or more?
I'd love to know what the true cost of putting on a show is, either at Eden Park, or at Spark Arena, vs what the profit margin is. It's hard to tell but I feel like Coldplay tickets were quite low and perhaps an indication of 'this is what's fair and reasonable' compared to SZA and Chris Stapleton which were 'let's see how far we can push this shit eh'.
Of course. Because we know there are artists- big ones, whether you like them or not- trying to fight back.
Sigh. (Let me know what you think of Civil War! I have many thoughts.)
Well we enjoyed it. Your basic ‘war journalist’ action flick but the action was pretty intense even if some of the filler was slapped on a bit thick.
The De La Soul needle drop was horrifying AND hilarious.
Yeah I agree. I’ve been thinking about that SZA show a lot - especially the cost. I had a better time at Wednesday at Whammy Bar ($70) and The Streets at the Powerstation ($100) than I did at SZA. Then again, that Fred Again show was $170 and that was the best thing I’ve seen in the past five years. So many things go into making a show great, so I guess it’s a lottery no matter how big or small the act or venue is…
I went to Fred Again as I got a ticket on tixel for $70. My favourite part was the song Rumble incorporating Flowdan. I saw him in the Tuning Fork, was a great gig in December.