As a music lover, getting to see your favourite band play live is one of life’s great experiences, right? But I’m sure most of us have experienced that moment recently, after the exciting announcement of a tour. You sit there diligently waiting in a queue on Ticketmaster, hoping for the best. You finally get to the front of the queue and see the price of entry. And it’s fucking ridiculous. But you’ve got 5 minutes to choose your tickets and pay, or you’re out of luck.
I’ve had this experience a number of times recently, but it came to a head when I was looking at tickets for Slipknot’s next tour. Now I’ve followed Slipknot since their first album came out in 1999. I even met them at a signing event for the Wait And Bleed single release. But if you think I’m spending £200 per person for standing tickets, you’ve got another thing coming. For a family of four (yes, I take my kids to gigs; they love it), you’re looking at £800. And that’s not even including transport, food, drink and overpriced merch. Oh, and that’s not to mention the fact that they’ve hired Marilyn Manson, the subject of a series of sexual assault allegations, as one of the support acts.
Yes, I could pick up slightly cheaper tickets sat half a mile away from the stage, but the overall expenditure is still vastly too high. Even the absolute bargain-basement tickets run to £90. And the number of spaces available at that price is nearly always tiny.
I hear these complaints all the time. Gig tickets are too expensive, they’re hard to get hold of, they use dynamic pricing, they have hidden fees, etc etc. All valid responses to the daylight robbery of the modern concert-going experience. And it’s not just inflation. My first gig was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1999 at the peak of their popularity. Tickets were £18.50. Adjusted for inflation, those tickets today would run you £36.79.
So yes, we’re being fleeced. But what can be done about it? The answer is easy, and it will actually open you up to a fantastic year of gig going.
Every time one of these massive acts tempts you with a tour, tot up the amount of money that you would expect to spend if you were to purchase tickets. Let’s use that Slipknot show as an example for a per-person breakdown:
- Tickets – £200
- Transport – £20
- Food & Drink – £50
- T-shirt – £50
- TOTAL – £300
Obviously, I’ve chucked in some rough prices there, but you get the picture. That’s £320 for an evening out.
What I’d suggest you then do is see how many local gigs you can go to with that same money. In my experience, there are some great gigs out there that you can go to with no entry fee at all, but let’s put in a small entrance fee.
- Tickets – £10
- Transport – £10
- Food & Drink – £30
- T-shirt – £15
- TOTAL – £65
So, based on those back-of-a-fag-packet calculations, I reckon you can go to around 5 local gigs for the same price as your one Slipknot gig. Which is due to feature fewer than 50% of the band members who appeared on all of their best records.
Yes, some of the local bands you see might be shit. But some of them will absolutely knock your socks off. And you’ll almost certainly be able to see a lot more of what’s going on on a stage that’s somewhere between two and ten meters in front of you. Oh, and you’ll also be able to rock some great merch that is going into the pockets of some genuinely appreciative musicians.
So support your local scene. Have more nights out. And say no to the enshitification of live music at the top of the food chain by redistributing your money to the bottom. I can guarantee you that if people stop turning up, those tickets will start to fall pretty sharpish. And then you’ll be in the infinitely stronger position of being able to see your favourite bands and still having cash left over to support your local scene.
