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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Re: $350.00 later... |
| Date | Tue, 03 May 2005 04:47:09 -0500 |
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Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 20:02:22 -0700
From: "AssociationWorks" <AssociationWorks@comcast.net>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Subject: Re: $350.00 later...
Message-ID: <002101c54f8c$870a1d90$b68bbc43@Franklin>
The bottom line is...
If McCartney can fill arenas at $175 a pop (or whatever ridiculous price)
....then the price is right. It sucks for poor folks, but you can't fault
him for
supply and demand. The show is worth what people will pay for it.
Exactly, Jeff. This is no different than the interminable whining (or
whinging, for you Brits) about the ticket prices of sporting events being
driven so high that those of modest means are either kept away or have to
mortgage the house in order to pay for one ducat for one night for once in a
very great while. Judging by some of the credit-card anxiety I've seen
expressed here, there's definitely some of that going on. But nobody's
putting a gun to Stacy Lynn's or Michael Kropp's or Miguel Motta's or Josh
Chasin's heads, forcing them to buy ultra-expensive tickets to go see Beatle
Paulie. And as Josh said, we're talking about Auditeers who are making this
purchase with their eyes wide open. It's hard to be naive about that kind of
money.
But there's no sense in complaining about the price of the ticket, either,
because as Jeff said it's all supply and demand. Macca will charge what the
market will bear, just like any other act. And the market for him seems
pretty bullish, considering the enthusiasm with which a bunch of Auditeers
whipped out their wallets and then gushed on Audities about their success in
scoring their tickets online. I'm sure that he'll have capacity crowds, or
close to it, at every stop on the tour. If you're going to see Macca and you
need to rationalize his exorbitant asking price by blaming it on the
lighting rig or his security entourage, go for it. Whatever helps you enjoy
the show better.
This really is the ultimate "different strokes for different folks" thread.
I'm happy for the people who are so excited about going to see McCartney.
It's cool to see other people blissed out by a live music event. I sincerely
hope each of them has the time of their lives. And let's be fair -- the
price thing was something that was brought up by the naysayers. The
ticket-buyers seemed to be much too elated about the prospect of seeing
Macca to focus much upon the cost in their initial posts.
Having said all that, I didn't for a single nanosecond consider buying a
McCartney ticket. I love the Beatles as much as the next guy, and I would
certainly enjoy the show if my seat was good enough. But I'm a man of fairly
modest means, and if I'm going to spend that big a chunk of money on music
I'll spend it on something that'll have an ongoing use, like an iPod or new
speakers. Also, I detest arena shows. I think that I've said on Audities
before that the last show I saw in a hockey barn was the Kinks and Red Rider
in the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena) all the way back in '82. If I
can't get close to the stage I feel ripped off, not to mention the fact that
the sound inevitably sucks in those places. The fact that McCartney is
playing in the other major sports arena hereabouts, the United Center, is a
huge turnoff for me. I've seen lots of major acts in big venues ranging from
open-air stadia to parks to sports arenas, and I can safely say that the
vast majority of transcendent nights of music that I have experienced in my
life have taken place in clubs where I have seen bands that practically
nobody has heard of but who nevertheless managed to remind me why I love
rock'n'roll so much. This also explains why I get so much more excited about
IPO than about any single big-name act whose tour takes them through
Chicago. For me, discovering a new band* is half the fun of being a fan. And
in my book, it's never a top-drawer rock'n'roll show unless you're close
enough to see 'em sweat.
David Bash and I were talking about high-priced concert tickets over dinner
the other day, and I figured out that the only time I've ever spent over $25
on a music ticket was to see Brian Wilson a few years ago in a show that set
me back $70. I went almost as much to hear his fantastic backing band and
the orchestra as I did to see Brian and hear his magnificent music, and the
fact that the show was held in the acoustically-perfect Rosemont Theater was
also a plus. And I *still* felt guilty after the show about spending that
much on something that was over and done with in a couple of hours. I might
spend over $100 to buy a Lollapalooza ticket this summer, but with 60 bands
on five stages spread out over two full days it's a lot easier to find the
economic value in that than in a McCartney ticket. And I won't even take
that step until I can see the full lineup and be assured that there will be
enough bands playing that I want to see to make it worth that triple-figure
investment.
To each his or her own. But count me in with Stewart Mason on this subject.
I'll see twenty to thirty club shows with that $350.
What can I say? I rock cheap, and I'm rarely cheated.
Gregory Sager
* For example, Foster-Walker Complex, a quartet of Northwestern University
undergrads who absolutely blew me away this past Sunday afternoon at Wise
Fools Pub in the next-to-last IPO show. Now I'm on their mailing list, I'm
ordering their soon-to-be-released CD, and I'll get to hop from one club gig
to another watching them hone their craft and try to work up the ladder. For
me, *this* is what it's all about.
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