Now, I love Squeeze. I’ve been a fan since the ‘Packet of Three’ EP was released 44 years ago. I’ve bought all the records, seem them live dozens of times and now they’re touring the US. Hooray!
But… I looked online last night to see if tickets were available for either of the two shows that are closest to me: Riverside and the Hollywood Bowl.
Cheapest ticket for the Riverside show? $72.00! Seventy two fucking dollars!! In Riverside! Which is a couple of hours away, which means if we (me and my mate Dave) went we’d have to book a hotel at $134.00 a night. Then there’s meals and drinks. That means we’d be spending close to $300 each for a night out. To see a band. We might as well go to Las Vegas and see Squeeze at the Virgin Hotel (formerly the Hard Rock Hotel). It’s a nice hotel (I’ve stayed there before) and the rates are good… but wait a minute… the tickets are over $100.00!
I don’t begrudge Squeeze one bit but $100+ to see them is getting a bit much. I remember the days back in the late seventies when you could roll up at the venue and pay your one pound fifty at the door to see your favorite punk band.
I fear this is going to be an issue for some time to come, what with streaming killing off record sales and 18+ months of cancelled tours and festivals.
The Cambridge Corn Exhange, an echoey barn of a venue with awful parking, has the following for sale:
OMD (a duo) £48
Jools Holland (at least there are lots of them on stage) £47
Goldfrapp £40
The best bits [sic] of Westlife and Boyzone £98
Even the tribute acts are the wrong side of 30 quid.
£100+ for a night out in town seems a bit steep.
OMD won’t be just a duo on stage, though.
No, they’ll have a big fuckoff reel-to-reel tape recorder with them too.
And the Meccano kit and plywood:
https://thefuturehappened.org/Peter-Saville
Arrf
There is usually 4 of them on stage isn’t there?
The dancer / singer / bass-player
The other main member on keyboards and singing
The drummer
The keyboard / saxophone player
Goldfrapp are cheaper than OMD?
Colour me surprised.
Just got the cheapest tickets to see Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – £37. They went up to £87. In the cheap seats it is still the third most expensive gig I’ve ever paid for (Steely Dan £100, Radiohead £40 if you are interested).
To be honest, I’m still not convinced I want to be in a crowd of other people indoors yet. I went to the cricket (100) but that is near as dammit outdoors.
Cave &!Ellis is indeed remarkably dear, compared to usual fare at Symphony Hall, in Brum. At least you get a seat. Did the Damned reunion ever take place, cos that was criminally overpriced, and in squeeze em all in standing room only?
I got the Cave & Ellis tickets for Liverpool – iirc they were £60 – had I not already agreed to go and so didn’t want to let others down, I would have baulked at that price [and as you say, that wasn’t even the most expensive – they topped out at an eye watering £90 – ] This will be the last time I pay that amount to see anybody
Squeeze has seven members including a pedal steel player and a session bassist (inevitably different from the last tour) – the last two will have been hired by one member of the core duo to piss off the other member. That kind of environment doesn’t come cheap. Plus they do put on an excellent show no matter what is going on behind the scenes…
The impression I got from Chris Difford’s autobiograpghy was that the old personality differences between D&T are a thing of the past, thanks to quitting drinking and therapy. Haven’t seen Squeeze for over a decade, mind.
I think that both are true. They seem to have found some respect and admiration for each other, but equally you can tell something isn’t right. If you look at the credits for the last Squeeze album, Difford hardly plays on it.
He doesn’t often even play live that often. I think he only plays on UK dates now. Last time I saw them he was was a shadow at the side of the stage; uncertain if he was even plugged in.
Fear of flying (and possibly lack of AA support), I believe. Which is fair enough, I’d rather he stayed happy and healthy.
He is in the US with them at the moment. Think that is his limit, he doesn’t do the tours to Oz, NZ, etc.
But then, if you look at the credits for Some Fantastic Place from 1993, Chris Difford contributed backing vocals only on 7 out of 11 tracks, and just a scraping of guitar on the others. On live shows, his contribution has always been little more than perfunctory rhythm guitar and backing vocals (apart from lead vox on Cool For Cats, of course). His main contribution has always been his magnificent lyrics.
Dual lead vocal on Take Me I’m Yours also
Think CD is also singing Someone Else’s Heart on their current US tour.
War on Drugs at the Academy in Brum another echoey barn – £45. Thinking it over.
I thought it off, put off more by the early in the week element more than the price. Don’t they understand I need my beauty Mondays thru Wednesdays. You too, Black Pumas at the Institute.
Squeeze have been steep for a while. 4 or 5 years ago I passed on them at Cliffs Pavilion in Southend because the cheaper seats were 50 quid. We held on for Glenn Tilbrook solo shows at Colchester Arts Centre instead, where you get the same greatest hits set (and what fantastic greatest hits they are) for less than half the price.
Chris Difford solo is good too.
Also for another £3 you can get a ‘classic souvenir ticket’ – ie the ticket that up until 3 years ago you got posted to you as your ticket.
@moseleymoles
Coming soon, the Platinum VIP Classic Souvenir ticket, the artwork for which was glanced over by the artist you’re about to see
We have tickets for Madness, with Squeeze supporting, at Brighton in December. Ticket price was about £60 each but I reckon that’s pretty good value for two bands that I actually want to see (Squeeze have been on my wish list for a few years).
As an aside, I saw a proposed budget for a Badly Drawn Boy US tour a few years ago (2007?) and the costs for maybe 4 weeks was £60k. This really only covered hotels, flights, transport etc. The point above, about the number of people on stage, is a good one. A venue like the Shepherds Bush Empire holds a max of about 2000. If the ticket price is £30, total revenue could be £60k but after deducting costs will be considerably less, then split what’s left between the number of band members (if that’s how they work) and management and it starts to look a lot less attractive, especially now that bands make so much less on CDs than they used to so want to make more from live shows if they can.
Most of these costs aren’t really about going to a gig though. That’s about £50, sounds pretty reasonable for Squeeze I’d say.
Makes me glad for all the gigs i saw back in the 90’s, (yeah, big up the past why dont i.) it is a damn shame, last gig for me was The Damned at the Forum, few years back. There are cheaper gigs out there, ill be seeing China Crisis in St Albans later this year, small pub venue, £20, bloody ace they are but no way spending stupid money. Cant justify it.
I hope this doesn’t annoy anyone (I don’t mean it as such), but I had a splendid time at a free concert on a sunny day in Ward Park, Bangor, NI on Sunday – rockabilly sensations the Sabrejets and the Swingtime Starlets (40s/50s harmony girl trio). Plus the usual appearance of Semaphore Dancing Man, as my souvenir (borrowed) phone clip demonstrates.
On Sunday 22 August, it’s the Outcasts + Wasted Talent (a classic punk era homage act) – also free. With SDM no doubt doing his thing there too.
In between, on August 11, I’ll be at a Bob Dylan tribute night at a social club 100 yards from my door featuring one of my fave local singer/songwriters Brigid O’Neill and pub-rock sensation Wilf Gilbert. I’m not a fan of Bob, really – but a gig for a tenner in a cosy venue round the corner… it seemed wrong *not* to go. Embarrassingly, I won two free tickets for it… but only after buying two. So two more pals are coming along.
@Colin-H
Hope you end up standing next to Van Morrison!
I fear we’re going to end up with a two-tier live music scene. Cambridge has the 1,600-capacity Corn Exchange (tickets £50), the 600-capacity Junction (tickets £25-30, even for the likes of Blossoms) and the 150-capacity Portland Arms (where I don’t think I’ve ever paid much more than a fiver). There are others, but they are not regular gig venues.
Jane Weaver is playing at the Portland Arms. I don’t see how she’s ever going to transfer to even the Junction.
Then there’s the likes of O2 and Wembley Arena, which are less of a gig, more of an event.
@fentonsteve
Pretty much that way in Dublin where the gig venue pyramid moves up from tiny venues such as the Workman’s Club (saw Robin Hitchcock there a couple of years back for I think E13.)
A little bit higher up the chain are places like Whelans (Grant Lee Philips and Josh Rouse for E30) to Vicar Street (still unused TX for Sparks (now rescheduled to next April) cost E33.65). Then there’s the Olympia Theatre – lovely old venue and great for mid-priced acts such as Alice Cooper (about E70 for standing TX in , I think, 2017)
Right at the top is the 3-Arena – With 16,000 seats arranged in a crescent, it’;s much nicer than London’s much larger O2. Cheapest tickets for the upcoming Black Crowes shows range from E120 to E150 – seems a bit excessive considering my TX for Roger Waters’ far more elaborate stage show a couple of years back were only about E100 (iirc)
While I can understand – and don’t mind paying – the high cost of mega-acts’ bells and whistles tours of enormodomes, I’d much rather go and see someone in a smaller more intimate venue.
As I live a couple of hours outside Dublin, travel, overnight hotel and food costs generally shove the cost of attendance up to around E250 so rarely go to more than one event a month.
Hope I’m brave enough to go back when – fingers crossed – things open up again!
All those E numbers are very unhealthy
Let’s not make a meal out of it
I’m not even remotely interested in going to an enormodome gig as I like to be in the same postcode to the artist I’m watching. Yes, this means I miss out on a few old favs but I can live with that because I probably saw them years before when they were at their best and on the way up.
The Roundhouse and Brixton Academy are probably about as big as I’d consider going to. I much prefer small. My hearing is an issue too, I have to protect it these days and like to know it can have a break easily if I need to. The cost isn’t a massive issue in itself but I probably do have a threshold of about £50 a ticket.
Francis Rossi is doing the rounds with one of those ‘an evening with’ type things called ‘I Talk Too Much’. This week he is here in Exmouth…£30 for a standard ticket, £40 VIP, and £75 Super VIP. Quote…
‘Super VIP Ticket holders will meet Francis, a photograph will be taken for them by our team using the ticketholder’s phone/camera and they will be able to bring along ONE item of memorabilia for him to sign. You will also be allocated the best seats in the venue (front rows), receive a VIP Merch bag, which will contain a tour lanyard and an unsigned photograph of Francis.’
To think that I blanched when asked for £125 to see Led Zeppelin at the O2 in 2007!
Some of the ticket prices mentioned here are just unbelievable.
How do ticket prices for classical and jazz compare?
And what about more contemporary acts? I dread to think what it would cost to see Rhianna or Adele. Or sundry blokes with laptops!
In future, I suspect I will often be with Colin down at Bangor Park enjoying younger, more local talents.
I have a ticket for Gogo Penguin in October and one for the Espen Eriksen Trio in September. Both cost about 30 quid. Excellent value for money.
You haven’t heard Espen?
I’m not sure if the Sabrejets (fronted by Brian Young, who fronted Good Vibrations recording artistes Rudi in the 70s) or the Outcasts (also 70s GV artistes) can be classed as ‘younger’!
Rihanna or Adele? They’re soooo last decade, Grandad!
I was pleasantly surprised that decent Little Mix tickets for the Newcastle Arena were (only!) seventy quid. Compared to what they were asking for the Genesis tour, where even the crappiest seats were well north of a hundred, that seemed like a bit of a bargain.
“And what about more contemporary acts? I dread to think”
Afterword t-shirt.
We are going to see a Swedish Pink Floyd tribute band on Saturday. night It’s about £100 a ticket. They are brilliant and play for about three hours. On the other hand it’s likely to rain and be a bit chilly and they play for about three hours.
£100 for a tribute act?
That really is insane regardless of how good they happen to be or how long they happen to play for.
Caught Roger Waters Us and Them show in Dublin for around that amount three years ago and am paying £20 less to see Nick Mason’s SOS in April next year (fingers crossed)
My first reaction is the same as yours but theatre tickets are often in that league and it’s rare to see the original artists there so perhaps that’s how a good tribute act should be regarded. At the end of the day, its a night out.
Last time we saw them during In The Flesh? they had a biplane fly over then down toward the crowd, pretending to shoot at us and they set off some pyrotechnics to go with that. Perhaps this time Rog will descend by parachute. Actually he’ll just harangue us about Israel so that’s not a good idea. An inflatable pig? Syd Barrett hologram? Who knows?
Just had notification of New Order at the Piece Hall Halifax.
Outdoor gig for those that don’t know the place.
General Admission £45
Premium Ticket (access to upper balcony level with premium bar and toilet facilities) £65
So £20 extra for a roofed area, toilets and a premium bar.
I saw them at Hemel Hempstead in 1985 for £4.50
..and you got all four of them for that..
I’ve just been on the Bank of England’s Inflation Calculator* and in today’s money, that is £13.94
(*) I am very dull.
Thanks for NO. Tickets not on general sale. Any idea who the “special guests” are?
But I see that tickets for Heaton Park and the O2 in London are MUCH more expensive. £95 upwards.
I might try for Piece Hall.
Plus very special guest LoneLady + DJ Tintin
https://www.thepiecehall.co.uk/event/new-order/
LoneLady is good, although very NO-influenced. She’s playing in January for £13.
missed that. Thanks.
Amusingly, Shed Seven are more expensive than New Order at the Piece Hall….
@paulwright
Well it won’t bePeter Hook and The Light ( well worth seeing if you get the chance though)
New Order at Heaton Park is £54.45 on all the official agent sites. Make sure you’re not on a resale one!
Yanks and Brits have nothing to complain about when it comes to the cost of seeing “international acts”. Squeeze would probably cost $150 down here AUD = USD 0.74
It’s how they make their money given that Squeeze probably make 3 pounds a month from a billion Spotify plays. Plus they haven’t played live for a year and a half. I would say those prices are very fair. I think $100 to see a well known artist is at least the norm these days
And ticket prices have been high for a long long time, most (non festival) I have ever paid (gulp):
$400 US Charity concert for transcendental meditation, included McCartney, Ringo,DONOVAN,Mike Love and others. Carnegie Hall NYC 2009
$350 CAD – CSNY Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre 2006 (2nd row seats)
150 quid * – Rolling Stones Wembley Arena, 2002. Good seats, they would cost at least double that today.
* My first Stones concert in 1982 cost 6 quid.
* My first Stones concert in 1982 cost 6 quid.
Where was that? I just checked my stash of old ticket stubs and I paid £10.50 to see them at Wembley in 1982. (It would have been £11 if I’d paid on the door, so I can’t grumble too much, I suppose.)
Pretty sure i saw the Stones, 10cc, Lynrrd Skynrrd and Todd R at Knebworth in 76 for £3.50
Ooh, you are right, Bruce was 6 quid a year earlier, although somehow I now have 8.50 for The Stones price in my head though (am currently not with my ticket stubs)
I went to see Lady Maisery at Cecil Sharp in the first week performances resumed after lockdown. I can’t remember the exact cost, but it was less than £40 for two tickets. I know there is only so far you can go in comparing apples and pears, but to be honest I get far more enjoyment out of shows at that ‘level’ than paying £50 and more to see people who are upwards of 40 years past their best.
Absolutely agree with that last comment. Surely with bands like the Stones you’re just paying to “say you’ve seen them.” I just checked some fairly recent gig footage on youtube, to me they sound genuinely awful now. I guess others must be happy with what they hear.
I’ve seen the Stones three times and never once have they been especially good
I have seen them 28 times and they were awesome about 15 times, really good on another 10 occasions or so and about 3 poor ones. Guess you were unlucky
And never ever judge a gig from YouTube, you get about 1% of the feeling of being there.
Never seen him myself but had a colleague who was a big Dylan fan. Reckoned he had seen him 100 times – 10 times he was awesome, 10 times good, and 80 times awful. I never fancied those odds.
As for the Stones, I saw the Clash rather than them in Leeds in the 80s and haven’t regretted it for a second.
Never saw The Clash, and they never “clashed” with the Stones for me. Have seen Dylan only 13 or 14 times, worst was with Tom Petty in 87, he is way more erratic than The Stones but normally there is at least one song that blows your mind. Last time for me (2017) that was Ballad of a Thin Man, the rest was pretty average. His ticket prices at least until recently have always been pretty affordable though.
I have seen The Stones a few times on successive nights. They often mix things up in the first half of the set which can yield some obscurities, stuff like Doo Doo Doo…, Parachute Woman, Memory Motel etc 2nd half then is solid hits that you have heard a million times, one night that may be very underwhelming and it appears they are going through the motions, exact same songs the following night something happens between them and it becomes almost transcendental. Absolutely magical. Haven’t seen them since 2013 though, but a friend who had seen many shows and got jaded took a break, but went to one last time out and loved it. I may yet try and see a 2021 show, depending on border restrictions. This could be the last time ….
Somebody like Springsteen is always great, but sometimes the thought of not quite knowing what you are going to get on any given night is exciting.
That used to be the attraction of seeing New Order and Van Morrison (not together, obvs).
I’ve seen Van twice and both times he was brilliant (if short). Having heard other’s experience I have decided not to risk any more.
I’ve seen the Undertones 8 times (or is it 9) and they have never been less than totally brilliant. BUT, I could be a bit biased.
It’s not Van’s fault he’s only 5’5”.
Not counting the hat.
I’ve seen Van on numerous occasions between ’83 and ’91, and he’s been transcendental, electrifying, perfunctory and a moody little git… sometimes all in the same show. Haven’t bothered since the loss in quality of his material has been matched by the largely begrudging, clock-watching nature of his attitude towards his paying customers. And after the last year’s shitshow, I wouldn’t cross the dark end of the street.
Seen Van six times. Once (Dominion in 83) he was mesmerising; twice he’s been not far off, and three times he’s been dreadful (two of them on 1979’s Wavelength tour). Sadly, the last of the three dreadful ones was a never again phoned in performance in Cork about five years ago.
Van comes in at 25 shows on the Dai-ometer. Between 1982 and 2017 with a large number between 96 and 99 when I went to anything within an hour or two of Bristol. Way more consistent than Dylan and on a good night, nobody better.
I might see Van on saturday.
https://www.wickhamfestival.co.uk/#
But then, I might not, as I feel i should be boycotting him. I’ll get back to you.
Still tickets available, £200 (or 1/2 that if NHS) You have to sit/stand through three other whole days of stuff as well mind. (I bought mine the year before last for a good deal less, but more than the discount, as that wasn’t offered then, as covid wasn’t invented…..)
And he is not why I’m going, btw, or the old codgers topping sunday night, it is the plethora of scottish bagpipe rockers.
Sorry, while have watched the odd song, have no intention of watching a whole gig on YouTube
Seen Springsteen four times and he’s never disappointed me once. Ditto Neil Young (six times and always excellent) and Richard Thomposon (5 x – all good in different ways).. Would have seen them all more but I spent over 30 years working in places where there were few if any real gigs you’d want to go and see
Oh I completely agree about not getting the full atmosphere and gig experience from youtube but on the clips I’ve seen, just musically they just sounded sloppy, lazy and phoned in.
Lady Maisery are fab, and would be lost in a big venue! Saw them at St Georges in Bristol just pre-Covid, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We paid something similar to you as well, which was very fair indeed for a brilliant evening’s musical entertainment. I spent more than that at the merch table!
These gig fees are why I find the minor festival circuit more attractive. The one down the road from me (Bingley) is about £80 for the whole weekend and was/is due to have Pixies, Wedding Present, Libertines, Primal Scream (replaced by Rag n Bone man), Embrace, Peter Hook and White Lies. And of course I can walk there and sleep in my own bed.
Ok, this is not the top notch circuit, but to be honest there is as much there for me there as there was at Latitude which I see was £265. (and I do like Latitude, but wish it wasnt six hours away)
I was under the impression that Bingley Weekender had been cancelled again. I’ll find out soon, it’s supposed to be this coming weekend, and if it’s on and I open my windows I’ll hear it.
No, it’s cancelled.
Sorry for not being clear- rearranged for 2022 without Primal Scream but with Rag n Bone man (which left me feeling disappointed and my kids suddenly more interested).
Kids, eh? Is there anyone duller than R&BM? Makes Ed Sheeran look like Freddie Mercury.
Well, Primal Scream for one. Astonishingly overrated band IMHO. At least R&BM can sing.
Meanwhile at the other end of the spectrum, I got an email earlier with a tempting opportunity to pay £9 for Average Sex at Sneaky Pete’s in September…
I get that most weekends for free.
I should clarify – Sneaky Pete is not involved. Usually.
MOOSE!
Are they opening for Cigarettes After Sex? 🤔
Seeing a band live is the new “buying the record”. They won’t make any money otherwise.
Given that people have – until COVID, anyway- always gone to gigs, i think buying a T shirt or poster from the band’s merch stand is the new buying the record
Yep. I went to a tiny gig a couple of weeks ago. Ticket was only about £16 but I spent £30 at the merch stand.
Buying a record from the merch stand is the new buying the record …
In the past bands used to often lose money on tours but didn’t mind because their record sales invariably went up, doesn’t happen any more hence higher prices.
Buying a record from the merch stand can often be a way of acquiring a work that’s both no longer available new via the dodgers, and is also advertised for stupid money 2nd hand.
Quite often an artist will have a suitcase full of back catalogue CDs that they traipse around and flog from the trestle table at gigs, selling them for some time after the record company has deleted the things and chancers have ripped their own copies and put them up for sale for daft amounts.
You need to do some research before you get to the merch table!
@Vulpes-Vulpes
Agreed. A lot of times the releases on offer at merch stalls ag gigs are ones the artists haven’t got an earthly of shifting elsewhere. They basically rely on fans being gig happy and not looking too carefully at what they’re buying.
Checking to see that the copy of Aqualung I was going to buy at the Jethro Tull concert I went to in Dublin about two years ago was the most recent Steven Wilson version I was horrified to see the little (c) copyright sign on the back said that the CD was from a reissue that had in fact come out about 10 years before.
I’ve always looked to buy direct from the artist if I can, and some do some decent deals, 3 CDs for £30 type of thing. It’s when bands want £15 / £18 for stuff that’s £10 or less online when it feels like they are taking the piss. See also £40 t shirts.
Ironically It’s the big acts who least need the money who tend to charge the most for stuff
Yes. I bought a t-shirt from Fonda 500’s merch table after their most recent Cambridge gig. They gave my daughter a matching t-shirt for free, and a signed CD. And she had her picture taken with the band. I attempted to converse with ladybass Bod, but my tongue was suddenly too big for my mouth and my knees went all wobbly.
I went home and bought a load of Bandcamp downloads of F500 stuff (which I already had on CD) just so they made enough to cover the cost of the van back to Hull.
As a general rule of thumb, when the band is running the merch themselves the prices tend to be more reasonable. There’s even a chance of some top bantz, like being told to piss off by Dennis Greaves of Nine Below Zero when I asked for a discount because I was buying more than one.
It may not be their fault. I doubt this happen at the sort of smaller gigs I mainly attended, but when I last saw the Richard Thompson Band at Cliffs Pavilion Southend the support act explained that they wouldn’t be selling merch in the lobby during the interval because The Cliffs’ commission meant they would make a loss on everything they sold.
I saw Bill Nelson at The Stables in Wavendon quite a few years back. He explained afterward that he wasn’t selling merch inside the venue because of the commission that was being lumped on. Instead, he was selling CDs out in the car park.
My cheapskate gig diary:
June 15th Hip Harp Collective play Dorothy Ashby & Alice Coltrane @ The Jazz Café £12.50
July 4th Nu Civilisation Orchestra – Parallel: Tribute to Joe Harriott @ King’s Place £20.00
July 25th vocalist Esther Bennett + piano, sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £8.50
August 1st guitarist Dominic Ashworth + sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £8.50
Coming up:
August 15th saxophonist Sam Braysher + piano, sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £9.00
September 5th vocalist Sarah Moule & pianist Simon Wallace, + sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £10.00
September 16th Stanley Dee @ The Horns, Watford £3.00
September 19th pianist David Gordon + sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £9.00
October 3rd vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais + sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £9.00
October 17th saxophonist Julian Costello + piano, sax, bass & drums @ Chandos Arms Jazz £9.00
etc.
Well, if VFM is what you’re after and you are in Brighton next Friday you can head down and see my band, Fluffmuffler, plus support from the excellent Fractured, at the Hope and Ruin for a fiver. That’s £2.50 per band. And, to be honest, if you turn up penniless we’ll probably still let you in. Can’t say fairer than that. https://www.hope.pub/event/fluffmuffler-fractured/
( Btw apologies to the mods if this is bad form.)
Madness + Squeeze in Dublin in November is 59 Euro a ticket. I actually thought that was pretty decent. Elbow at the same venue (postponed to next year) s 58 Euro.
@dkhbrit
Hope I’m wrong, but given how cautious the government here is being about stuff, hard to envisage full-scale gigs happening as early as November. Socially distanced ones maybe.
That said, there is a feeling of optimism about the place that hasn’t been evident since the start of this awful thing. They even scheduled a car boot sale here in Roscommon on Monday’s bank holiday. Predictably, it got called off due to the bank holiday rain, but wtf
Some actual stats here:
£1 in 1984 is worth £2.77 today in terms of inflation.
Looking at tickets from that year I could see Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order, The Clash (Scargills Birthday Party!), The Cure, Sisters of Mercy for a ticket price between £4 and 5….
these were at the Manchester Apollo or Brixton Academy so a roughly equivalent venue to the Birmingham Academy today in terms of scale of band and audience
So £5 x 2.77 = £13.85
War on Drugs in 2020 = £45.00
So going to gigs is three times as expensive as it was in the mid-eighties.
Yep. And new CDs, having not changed their sticker price, are a third the price now they were then.
yes – but bands could rely on some income from selling records back then, which is no longer the case.
So basically, if you’ve always bought records and gone to gigs, the overall outlay is the same but if you went to gigs and copied a mate’s CD or LP its got a whole lot more expensive.
Be interesting to know how subsidised gigs were in the 80s then – did Polydor subsidise a Cure tour say as a way of marketing the new album, of which they would then sell a large amount? Or did they just have to break even, whereas today the onus is definitely on turning a profit from gigs which can pay the wages for the year and subsidise the next album’s studio time.
@moseleymoles
iIRC, up and coming acts back then who were booked as support acts for bigger names frequently ended up paying for the privilege via low or no-payments.
Needless to say, their labels didn’t lose out. They simply clawed back any costs from the newbies’’ advances.
I don’t think tours were subsidised but the up front cost was added to the band’s debt to the label. I’m reading Route 19 Revisited, about The Clash and I’m pretty sure that’s what happened when they needed to tour.
Subtracted it from the band’s advance or added it to the band’s debt is effectively the same thing. The act pays, their label doesn’t.
That, in essence, is the way the business model operated then and still does today. The artist/artists pay for absolutely everything, in the end, if there is anything for the label to recoup from.
Teenage Fanclub are touring this autumn (though sadly not in Spain) and seem to be charging less than 30 quid/euros a pop. For a band who are clearly in the beloved category (at least by me and a smattering of others) that seems pretty reasonable. But given there are five of them these days I wonder what kind of a living it provides? Being cynical, I bet if they’d split up 20 years ago (though I’m glad they didnt) and this was a reunion tour they could charge double.
That, in essence, is the way the business model operated then and still does today. The artist/artists pay for absolutely everything, in the end. If there is anything coming in for the label to recoup from, they will.
I was tempted by a recent-ish Stones tour, but I worked out that the cost of 2 tickets alone (even sans travel, food, merch etc.) could have bought me their entire back-catalogue on CD & DVD at the time*, plus a decent takeaway, a 4-pack of beer and a reasonable bottle of plonk. I’m a notorious cheapskate, but I can’t justify those prices at all…
* i.e. not including the flurry of “official bootleg” releases