Poll: What’s the most you’ve ever paid for a show?
This Ed Vedder tour gets me thinking… “Some shows are just *worth* the expense.” Maybe you’re a huge Stones fan, and you have $300 burning a hole in the glovebox of your Bentley. Maybe you’re a broke college student but flying to Chicago for the Soundgarden fan club show wasn’t to be missed. Maybe it was stealing a twenty from your roommate for a night at the Offramp, and it eventually cost you the relationship.
Not to play Ross Reynolds here, but what’s your story? What’s the most you’ve ever shelled out?
OR conversely, what’s the least you ever paid for the best show you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten into?
My answer: NIN/David Bowie “INSIDE” tour. Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Jose, CA. $45 before incontinence charges. That was a mountain of cash for my broke college sophomore ass in 1995.
And someone in front of El Corazon (or whatever it was called then) dragged me into the sold-out Queens of the Stone Age show in ‘01 or ‘02. I was trying to buy tickets but this guy had a +3 and only two people showed up. “Follow me,” he said, and I got to witness a kick-ass performance with Mark Lanegan on vox and Dave Grohl on skins. Free-ninety-nine.
Popularity: 24%
I paid $52.50 + fees to see U2 in 1997. It was the Salt Lake City stop of the popmart tour, and the their 1st SLC show since the mid 80’s. Rage Against the Machine opened.
Most of the time I refuse to pay more than $25
Tonight… the Ruby Doe at Nectar for $8
I paid $65 to see Pink Floyd……..in 1994!. So thats like $500 adjusted for todays inflation. Completely worth it, BEST SHOW EVER.
But, I paid $70 to see Bob Dylan and Van Morrison at the Gorge in 1997……………….SNOOOZER! Boring show and waste of money. I think Dylan was on Valium.
Also paid $90 for Sasquatch 2006, but that doesnt really count cause its a festival.
Shoot, I think Lollapalooza ‘96 was only $40ish. THAT was good value: Metallica, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Rancid, Sponge, The Ramones…
OK I beat you all so far: I paid $380 for a tenth row aisle seat at the sold-out Saturday night show of the Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge in ‘07. A recent convert to the cult of DMB (for years I was the girl saying, “turn that shit off the radio NOW!”) I said screw it, put the ticket on my credit card, went to a DMB show for the first time and had one of the best experiences of my life. When you are up so close to the band you can see Boyd’s expression as he kills the fiddle, Daves freak mannerisms and screams, and Butch’s face as he laughs at the crazy dancing girl in the tenth row. Worth. Every. Penny.
Wow! $380!
I have been seriously spoiled.
I went to 4 great concerts last weekend (2 on Valentines) for a total cost of $27. One (Foals) was $free.99 for anyone and everyone who bothered to show up.
Most I ever paid was $75 for the Stones at Foxboro. That included paying my little bro’s sucka friend $10 to wait in line at Strawberries CD’s and Tapes for me. Gotta say I only wanted to see Lenny Kravitz and kinived my way to the front for that. Then left well before the Stones were done, because arena shows are… um… the opposite of really awesome.
I’ve just found that $8 shows always end up much more fun than $80 shows.
I almost paid $260 to get into Woodstock II but then it also ended up being $Free.99 (and by almost I mean we only drove to VT because we heard the gates had been crashed!)
It’s been so long since I forked over major cash for a single headliner “concert”. I really stopped going to concerts after I was out of college and preferred smaller shows at the likes of the crocodile in seattle or st. andrews hall in detroit (while i still lived in michigan). I have paid a lot of money for going to festivals — especially austin city limits which include $175 for the 3 day pass, $380 for the plane ticket, $400 for the hotel and $250 to board the dogs.
I dropped 12 grand on Neil Diamond at the Flamingo in Vegas.
It was totally worth it though. I got laid.