~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Oooh, Violent Femmes. That must've been a great show. :D

One of the best concerts I ever attended was this little dinky-venue mini-tour that VAST did in 2007. The tickets were like $15 and there were three really good local acts that opened for them. And then apparently the club it was at was having issues with their sound equipment that night so the band had to pretty much play without the electronica portion of their songs, which sounds like it would have sucked but instead having their songs stripped down so much just made it SO much better. It was phenomenal. I missed a Shins concert last year that I'm still kicking myself for because it was reported to be A-MA-ZING, and the tickets were a mere $20 at this moderate-sized venue in SF.

I remember back in the day when Tori Amos would tour with just herself and a piano and play these small venues and the tickets were only like $25...I would have paid five times that price for it really because the shows were always these incredibly intimate experiences that left you exhilarated and drained. Nowadays she tours with a semi-band and plays larger venues and I've heard that although she still tries to maintain that personal connection with the audience, the intimacy of her old shows has been lost. I love Tori Amos but I most likely will never see her in concert again with her new touring style, no matter how good the ticket prices are.

I think when it comes down to it, and you're trying to figure out if a ticket is worth the price being asked for it, you just weigh how important it is to you to see that artist or band and that will tell you right there if the ticket price is too much. I would probably be more inclined to pay a higher price for the small venue shows of artists I love because the intimate experience of it is worth far more than big arena performances. :) Though yeah...I must admit I would pay any asking price to see DM in concert. My DM fangirliness knows no limits.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

The Femmes was pretty awesome!  I waited 10 years to see them.  See, I had this problem, they would be playing Detroit when I was in Mpls and playing Mpls when I was in Detroit.  Small venue, they played EVERYTHING!  I saw DM about 8 years ago, the Exciter tour.  They were great.  The problem was the kids sitting around us going "this must be a new song" when they played Somebody, which is one of my faves.  I used to go to so many more shows than I do now.  I want to go see Oasis again but I don't know if I will be able to make it.  That would be an awesome show, Ryan Adams is opening for them...

Ah to be in college again and able to just pick up and drive to Detroit or Chicago for a concert.  Now that I am old and have all these responsibilities...

Tickets for AC/DC in April next year went on sale at 10 o'clock this morning, and i've been trying to get two for £40 each. It's now 10:52am, it's sold out, and they're already on ebay for £250 for a pair.

Complete and utter wankers ruining it for us who just want to enjoy a good gig, and not try to make ridiculous profit off others. It does my fucking head in.

I'm in a bad mood now.....

See, that kind of shit just makes me mad. There's got to be a way for the major ticket brokers to really control who buys what and how. There was that whole controversy over here last year where independent brokers and just outright scalpers bought up tons and tons of tickets to every Hannah Montana concert and then turned around and sold them to the fans for up to ten times the face value. I read stories of parents not wanting to disappoint their kids, ending up paying thousands of dollars for a couple of tickets. Yeesh.

One thing that's started to bug me a bit...presale tickets. Granted it's worked in my favor twice already, but to me it's f'ing rude. Now, I can understand allowing fan club members ot purchase presales. That's how I got some sweet seats at a Linkin Park concert wayyyyyy back in the day when I momentarily lost my taste in music. But now some bands are just doing presales through local radio stations or other organizations. When the B-52's came through this year, the radio station I listen to urged people to buy their presale tickets, which were available three days before the tickets went on actual sale. I found out that the fan club members had already been given their earlybird chance the week before. I bought my presales and got really fucking great seats. And then I checked back the morning that tickets actually went on sale and there were barely any seats left for the general public! What a poor practice. And I wonder how many of those tickets were bought up by brokers and scalped at ridiculous prices...

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Violent Femmes was my first concert in 92.  These older kids passed me my and my friend Jill our FIRST DOOB!!!   (I hit it, she didn't.) 

Ticket prices are disgusting. Clearchannel, Ticketmaster, price gouging.  I only go to shows anymore when I'm guestlisted. 

And here's why else concerts suck:

I can't see over people's heads.  If I stand up front by the stage, people press into my back.  In crowds, drunk people turn into grabtastic leches. And last but not least, better sound quality on CDs!