Extortionate Concert Ticket Prices

WolfSong2000

I know this is probably a fairly regular vent, but what the heck...

I am a massive country music fan, and a company this year set up a big show at the O2 arena bringing over a small number of big artists from the US to perform. I wasn't able to attend, but was looking forward to attending next year and tickets went on sale today, 9am.

So, I logged on, tried to get tickets...not only were there no decent seats available (I mean, this is the O2 arena, and much as I may love country music, it's not massively popular in the UK at the moment) but the poor seats that were available were extortionately priced...£70 per "day" (evening, seeing about 3/4 bands) or well over £100 for the weekend. If I wanted "decent" seats, ebay, as usual, was selling them at a massive, massive markup.

I want to go and support country music and encourage more musicians to play in the UK, but I simply cannot justify the costs.

To put this into perspective, a few years ago I attended "the" country music festival in Nashville - CMA Fest. I got top class tickets that lasted for 3/4 days, which allowed me to see bands playing during the day, in the evening, access to a huge number of other events, etc...and I paid around the same as I would for the UK weekend tickets. Now, I know inflation means costs for the US event will have gone up, but I still suspect they represent much better value for money and if I had the money for airfare, I suspect I would be over there like a shot.

Why can concert organisers not put on a reasonably priced show here in the UK. Are they seriously *that* greedy?!

meer53

Those prices sound reasonable to me. To see 3 or 4 bands for £70 isn't that extortionate really, i've paid nearly that to see just one band.

earthstorm

Well the o2 will not be cheap to rent for the event, also the artists from the USA wont come over for free and i dare say they wont want to sleep in tents on the south bank, so who is going to pay for this along with all the riggers /roadies etc. and as you say C&W is not a big hit in the UK at the moment, so natually the tickets are going to be higher, as they dont expect to fill the o2

Also utilities in the UK are way more expensive than in the USA.

peachyprice

£100ish for the weekend? sounds like a bargain to me.

paddyrg

If they're big names, flights and accommodation add up. They won't fly economy, they won't stay in the Travelodge, the artist will have band and crew and management costs as well. You'd be amazed how fast that stacks up!

The O2 is not a cheap venue, thanks to the fact it is one of the best. I've worked in production for a couple of different shows there, got lots going for it. I wouldn't be in the least surprised if a tenner or more of the ticket price was venue costs.

Production pushes up costs too - a stage, some rigging, lights, PA, big screens (all essential at arena sized shows) all add costs. Maybe another £5-10 of your ticket price in fact.

Finally profit! The promoter's margin needs to be met as they're the ones risking hundreds of thousands of pounds on the event. Their margin is actually very slim once you factor in the promotion/press/advertising on top. I'm talking single digit percentage margins, not a lot when the risk is so huge.

£70 is a lot of money, but it doesn't go far with multiple artists in a premium venue with a decent PA and lighting setup. Is it worth it to you? Only you know that. £100 for the weekend sounds quite keenly priced though. There aren't any really bad angles or seats at the O2, no pillars to sit behind, you may get a side view I suppose, but the show designer should have considered this. If you're just far from stage, the big screens mitigate this.

You can play this one of two ways. Buy the £70 ticket and that's that, or take a chance that the promoter won't sell out and starts discounting. The O2 capacity is roughly 20,000 if they open up all tiers. That's a lot of country fans to find. It may be that as the date approaches they have to either cancel or discount. If they discount you could pay much less for a better seat. If they cancel through poor sales, that's the risk of waiting! Don't bother with eBay sellers, there are always scalpers, no point in encouraging them.

duchy

£70 is an average price for any UK arena -when was the last time you went to an arena show ?

I've attended plenty of gigs in the US - ticket prices are lower than here -just the way it is so the event you went to "a few years ago" is not a fair comparison.

KME91

Top class tickets, if they were available, for 2014's CMA fest would be in the region of 250 - 300 dollars. The O2 looks like a bargain in comparison.

Faith177

I think that's really reasonable for 3-4 groups I think I paid about the same when we went to Ozfest at O2 a while back and they had 5 bands on that day.

Agree with others about them having to pay for hotels ect so that will put some extra on the ticket

xsunnysuex

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

So, I logged on, tried to get tickets...not only were there no decent seats available (I mean, this is the O2 arena, and much as I may love country music, it's not massively popular in the UK at the moment

All the people with o2 priority probably got the good seats. They can order up to 48 hours before general release.

gpc273

The £160 for two days and seeing several bands each day is fine, but we don't all live in Londonshire. The price has prohibited me from attending,with travel from Scotland, accom and eating etc I would be paying around a grand.
May as well save and go to the US and have a holiday as well as attend a Country festival.

montyrebel

Don't like it then don't pay it, is it really that hard?