June 24, 2007

A History of Concert Prices

Jeff's post today over at Imagine Echoes, inspired me to do this. If you click on these you can get the full view but I will detail them for you below. I have LOTS more ticket stubs but I thought this gave a good representation of how things have changed.

Sure the price of everything has gone up, but from paying $5 to $171 over from 1975 - 2005 seems extreme. Especially when you consider that those $171 U2 tickets actually cost me $365 each because they sold out and I had to pay a ticket broker. I would
ONLY do that for U2. Yes you read that correctly I paid $365 to see U2 (and it was worth it, but that is NOT the point!)


1975 - OC Jam featured YES as the headliner, $5.00
1975 - Aerosmith, $6.50
1976 - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, $7.50
1976 - Boston, $9.75
1977 - David Bowie, $9.50
1978 - The Rolling Stones, $12.50
1981 - Van Halen, $9.75
1981 - The Who, $10.00
1982 - Tom Petty, $11.25
1983 - David Bowie, $16.50
1984 - Def Lepard, $13.00
1988 - Michael Jackson, $31.50
(i lost a lot of tickets from 88 - 2002)
2002 - Tom Petty, $65.00
2003 - Bob Dylan, $69.50
2004 - Train, $43.50
2005 - U2, $171.00 !!!

And now for Bruce Springsteen:

1981 - $12.50
1983 - $16.00
1985 - $17.50
1988 - $22.50
1992 - $28.50
1999 - $67.50
2000 - $67.50
2002 - $75.00
2003 - $75.00



9 comments:

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

I have many of my tickets in a frame...they are both concert and sports tickets..i am always amazed at the prices...

bob_vinyl said...

Here's an inflation calculator so you can see just how much the prices have gone up in real dollars. Tickets should be affordable to kids and if they're not, it's not a good rock show. Period.

taotechuck said...

I bought four tickets to a U2 show in Tempe AZ in 1987. They cost about $10 apiece. My mother decided it wasn't safe for me to drive there from Albuquerque, and for some perplexing reason, my teenage independent streak didn't flare up, so I didn't argue with her. I sold two of the tickets, and still have two.

Are two unused tickets from the Rattle and Hum concert as cool as being there? No, but as a result of my mom's fear, I own an incredibly cool bit of rock memorabilia.

Bar L. said...

Bond, Tickets tell story don't they? I wish I had every single one of my old ones but I lost quite a few.

Bob, thanks for that link I will check it out. I agree totally.

Chuck, How Cool! (sort of). I don't know if you've read my blog long enough but I often share about my 2 unused Zeppelin tickets, $6.75 each, from their last tour. I never did get to see them :(

David Amulet said...

Obscene. Period.

-- david

Anonymous said...

It's been 17 years since I last went to a "real" concert(Clapton), and I can't remember how much I paid for my tix. Although, given my financial situation back then, I'm sure it was more than I could afford.

Jeff said...

Well comparing your Bowie ticket from 1977 which was $9.50. I saw Bowie in 2004 and the price was $33.50 and of course that was with out all of the "Convenience Charges." I saw Yes a few years back, but when I went to see them they actually upgraded my ticket when we arrived because I suppose they didn't quite sell as many as they hoped so the price on their isn't listed on the ticket, but it was probably around the same price as Bowie, and both of those tickets were for poor seats...

Jeff said...

I forgot to leave this in my last comment but thanks for the link!

MeredithBixby said...

I would like to compare these (and see more even further back in time) to a history of record prices ~

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