Re: U2 Ticket Prices..
Robbie Robinson ([email protected])
Sun, 12 Jul 1998 11:55:25 -0700
Matthew Berg wrote:
>
> I just happened to be reading the paper today, and I came accross an article
> about the Spice Girls show in Montreal. Anyway, they interviewed some
> people and their parents. One dad reported having spent $225 Canadian for 2
> tickets. I bought my two tickets for the Toronto shows (1 each night) for
> $110 total Canadian. I could have bought two more tickets and had a Big
> Mac. Stop apologizing for ticket prices Bono! You guys are worth the money!
>
> MattYeah, When Popmart was touring the USA last year, year-end totals
showed they sold more tickets than any other band touring
here in 1997. However, the 2nd place Rolling Stones, grossed more
$ but only because they charged more per ticket. I remember one
article from RS magazine talking about the Madison Square Garden
Rolling Stones show and the first paragraph started off gloating
that the good seats were $300 and the lousy seats were $85
(before Ticketmaster fees).
This seemed to be the rule of price at most of their shows in
America. I wouldn't even want to imagine what they would charge
for shows in places like Australia where they'd have to haul all
their equiptment to the other side of the world. They probably
just didn't do it.
>From the very beginning of U2 tickets going on sale, when everyone
was bitchin' on Wire about the prices, I was suprised that they
were so low. I keep up with what bands charge now days and what is
required to cover the cost of a big stadium show and still have
enough profit to make going on tour worth the trouble.
Truthfully, the stage was very plain and the screen was necessary
for playing places that big. The Golden Arch was really just a
disguise to cover up and suspend most of the sound system.
The only frivilous stuff was the Lemon (and would we have
wanted to live without the Lemon?;) and the toothpick and olive.
The toothpick and olive could have been despensed with, but they
weren't that expensive anyway.
No, I don't think a really good stadium show could have been
done any cheaper than they did it. It costs a lot to haul all
that steel frame work that makes up the stage around the world
and they had to have three of them leap-froging from location
to location to be ready for each show on time. It took 3 days to
build, play and tear down each stage. With transport time, they
could only play one show a week if they had only one stage.
I think the price of the tickets was fair. Of course, I hated
the huge fee that Ticketmaster insited on adding to each ticket.
>From $11 to $13. Ugh! Nothing that U2 could really of done about
that, since Ticketmaster still controls ticket sales:(
Bono just has a problem feeling guilty about charging for
something that he'd do for free he loves it so much.
The rest of their hundreds of employees have families to support,
though;). I don't think they'd go along with that :p
Robbie
P.S. Have all you Wirelings out there started you little
savings account to cover following the next U2 tour around
the world yet? Hop to it!
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on Sun Jul 12 1998 - 12:01:12 PDT