Rock legends not afraid to charge hundreds of dollars for seats

Rock legends not afraid to charge hundreds of dollars for seats By Thor Christensen The Dallas Morning News

Rock 'n' roll flourished in the Aquarian age of free love and low-priced concerts. But the cheap thrills are long gone.

Concert ticket prices are skyrocketing - especially for bands born in the anti-materialist '60s. The Rolling Stones are charging a jaw-dropping $350 for the best seats to their U.S. tour; the top tickets on Paul McCartney's just-ended tour sold for $250.

And as prices rise, so does tension between disgruntled music fans who cry "sellout" and the musicians who say they're just going by supply and demand - that if they don't charge such high prices, scalpers will.

"We're selling out concerts in 17 minutes, so somebody must think the prices are reasonable," says McCartney, who sold out Denver's Pepsi Center for a May 7 show. "We're not twisting anyone's arm."

"I've lost a lot of respect for Paul McCartney," says George Hutton, a 51-year-old Dallas music fanatic who remembers paying $10 to see the Beatles. "When your reward for more than 30 years of loyalty is a $250 ticket, you know you've put way too much adulation on your favorite artists."

Concert ticket prices have shot up 54 percent in the past five years,compared with 24 percent for movie, sports and theater tickets, according to a study by Princeton University economics professor Alan Krueger. Concert prices are rising in every seating category: Even a last-row nosebleed seat at Sir Paul's shows cost $50.

Krueger blames the price jump largely on the boom in ultra-pricey "gold circle" seats. "The artists have started pricing tickets like the airlines do, charging more to the people who are less sensitive to price, the ones who value sitting up close," he says.

Figuring out why ticket prices are soaring when the economy's still shaky is a tricky task. Some claim it's the inevitable result of rock's aging fan base.

"The boomer market has more discretionary income, so they can afford to pay more," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert business magazine Pollstar.

Others point to the late economist Sherwin Rosen's report, "The Economics of Superstars," which contends that fans will pay disproportionately more to see rock's royalty than to see an act one notch lower on the star scale.

"That's why Paul McCartney can charge 10 times as much as someone else," says Krueger. "When people want to see the best, cost isn't an issue."

Also driving up demand - and prices - is the fact that many rock legends seldom perform live. McCartney has toured the United States only four times in the past 36 years. (His previous tour was in '93.)

And before Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunited two years ago - with a top ticket of $201 - the four hadn't toured since the days of Watergate.

The Eagles ushered in the era of the $100-plus ticket in 1994, when they re-formed after 13 years for their "Hell Freezes Over" tour. Those shows also introduced "gold circle seating" into the rock lexicon. But like a lot of advertising-speak, the term is misleading.

Promoters sell up to 10 percent of a venue's seats in the highest-priced category. Confusing matters is the fact that bands and promoters often play hide-and-seek with gold circle prices - advertising the lower price categories but omitting prices for the good seats that everyone covets.

The Rolling Stones used this PR strategy last month when they announced their U.S. tour, which includes a Feb. 1 stop at the Pepsi Center. A press release said tickets would "average $85 for stadium shows, $100 for arenas." But the most desirable seats were actually $350 - a fact that fans didn't find out until they tried to buy tickets.

Fans aren't the only ones miffed about escalating prices. Tom Petty - whose tickets this summer average $29.05 for the cheap seats and $51.75 for the best - sings about concert-business greed on his upcoming CD, "The Golden Circle."

"I've (looked) into the whole golden circle thing, and it drives me nuts," he told Rolling Stone. Fellow rocker Lenny Kravitz is adamant about not "gouging" concertgoers. Most of his shows top out at less than $60. "And if that means I take home less money, so what? I already live fine," says Kravitz.

Some musicians blame the fast-rising ticket prices on Clear Channel Entertainment, the conglomerate that dominates the U.S. concert business. "The ticket price isn't up to us, man," says David Crosby. "The way all big tours go down now is one company buys the entire tour, and they give you an enormous amount of money, and then they control everything."

"That's ludicrous," says Clear Channel spokesman Howard Schacter. "Ticket prices are driven by the artist. ... The promoter has always been the easy scapegoat for the blame the artists should be taking."

"The reason the older artists charge more is because they're less worried about their reputation," Princeton's Krueger says. "They're looking to make as much revenue as they can - especially since they're making less from album sales than they used to.

"When they're young, they care about building up good will with their fans, which is why somebody like Dave Matthews shows restraint on ticket prices." Hip-hop artists and other youth-oriented pop acts also shy away from gold circle prices.

Multiplatinum singer-rapper Pink is charging an average of $28.34 for the cheap seats and $32.76 for the best ones on her ongoing U.S. tour. Country artists also rarely charge exorbitant prices, Krueger says.

But so far, the boomer rock legends are doing just fine at the ticket office despite the sky-high prices.

McCartney grossed $53 million on his recent 27-date U.S. tour, according to Billboard. The Stones have sold more than 500,000 seats - 98 percent of the available tickets - for the first 23 shows of their upcoming tour, according to the band's publicist.

And as long as fans keep paying the piper, the prices aren't likely to drop. I don't pay that kind of money to see music in basketball stadiums, and maybe everybody should not, and then it would stop happening," says Elvis Costello, whose average ticket prices this summer range from $34.12 for the worst seats to $52.80 for the best.

"These artists are putting it to us, but people are still bowing down to pay these outrageous prices," says Hutton, the disillusioned McCartney fan. "I dream of the day when the whole country says, 'Excuse me? How much? Go stick it.'"

Prices in the past eight years v1994: The reunited Eagles break the $100-per-seat barrier and introduce "gold circle seating." "We're like CEOs, and those guys always make a lot more than everyone else," explains Don Henley.

1997: Top tickets for Prince and Fleetwood Mac reach $125. "I think it's ridiculous and horrible we have to charge that much, but we do have to divide it by five people," says Stevie Nicks.

1999: The Rolling Stones crack the $300 mark for the best seats on the indoor arena leg of their Bridges to Babylon tour.

2000: Diana Ross & The Supremes charge fans up to $250 per ticket, but their reunion tour plays to half-empty arenas.

2001: Madonna lives up to the lyrics in "Material Girl" with a top price of $250; U2's best seats sell for $135.

2002: Paul McCartney's $250 top ticket price is eclipsed by the Rolling Stones' $350 seats.

They have to charge these prices. Smack aint cheap y'know.

You think it's easy to maintain a high dose drug habit?

As McCartney pointed out, no one is forcing anyone to buy at those prices. I find it rather amusing that someone would complain about the price as they hand over the money.

"We sing about beauty and we sing about truth, for ten thousand dollars a show," from "Cover of the Rolling Stone" written by Shel Silverstein and performed by Dr. Hook in a 1973 release.

"When your reward for more than 30 years of loyalty is a $250 ticket, you know you've put way too much adulation on your favorite artists."

And it only took him 30 years to figure that out.

The Rolling Stones are charging a jaw-dropping $350 for the best seats to their U.S. tour...

(Halley Joe Osment whisper):
"I see geezers from the U.K. fleecing Americans suffering from flashbacks..."

(Hey, if you're a Stones fan, don't flame me...but you must admit the age factor
is getting a bit silly for bad-boy rockers...)

"We're selling out concerts in 17 minutes, so somebody must think the prices are reasonable," says McCartney, who sold out Denver's Pepsi Center for a May 7 show. "We're not twisting anyone's arm."

Exactly. Quit whining and stop buying the tickets if you don't like the price.

"We're selling out concerts in 17 minutes, so somebody must think the prices are reasonable," says McCartney, who sold out Denver's Pepsi Center for a May 7 show. "We're not twisting anyone's arm."

Paul was always a sellout. That's why John hated him.

Dear deceased Ann,

Why should I pay for having my eardrums blasted out? Why shouldn't they pay me?

Sincerely,

Vexed in Visalia

PS: They couldn't pay me enough.

I saw Dr Hook open for Emerson Lake and Palmer. The lead singer (eye patch and all) was a role model for many of today's artists. He had his hand on his crotch the whole performance.

There is nothing wrong with rock stars charging whatever price the market will bear for their concert seats. If they don't charge the price, the scalpers will. And why should scalpers benefit instead of the actual performer?

That said, I wouldn't pay $5 to see a 60-year-old Mick Jagger pathetically preen and strut across the stage to "Satisfaction." But that's just me.

Baby-Boomers going to rock concerts? Hmm, those born between 1945 and 1955. It's now 2002, so, 47 to 57 year olds still attending rock concerts (nevermind the price). Let's see, I think I'll file that under:

CULTURE/demise/puerilematerialism:hedonism@vacuousegomegeneration.om

The nice thing about growing up in Nebraska was NO disposable income. Why waste money on tickets when you could buy 2 kegs of beer, tell 3 people the kegger is at Old Jules by the bridge, put an 8 track in the pickup with the best stereo, an wait for the 100 or so high school kids to show up, charge $1.00 per head until you broke even and party till the sun came up?

Dear Vexed in Visalia,

First off, twenty lashes with a wet noodle for me, for my response to "Deaf in Detroit" - so many of my readers wrote in to correct me, and I just didn't know that the tickets for the "Steel Wheelchairs" tour were quite so expensive. But then again, I remember paying three cents to see John Philip Sousa back in 1897, so I guess the music world has passed me by!

But to answer your question, this impulse that people have, to pay that much money to see drug-addled geriatrics, is clearly not normal. I urge all of them to seek professional help immediately.

Signed,
Deceased Ann Landers

The biggest disappointments in my (music-loving) life have been large-scale concerts. I've had good tickets, I've had bad tickets. I just don't think those huge arena deals live up to the hype. I'd rather hear a good band in a small club any day.

There are a lot of great shows in small, less expensive venues. I see Crosby Loggins, Kenny Loggin's son, playing in small clubs and bars around Santa Barbara. He is great and will probably be a big star someday, playing those expensive stadium shows. Now I see him for a $5 cover charge.

A couple of weeks ago I saw Crosby Loggins play at a show in the mountains for $15. The main act was "Dirty Knobs" featuring Mike Campbell from the Heartbreakers. Great guitar player. Exhilerating show all around.

There is more good music out there than I could find time to ever hear. I've been to the stadium shows. Now I am excited to be seeing great players in intimate settings.

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