Musicology Tickets

[carynb]

I managed to get tickets for Prince's Musiclogy tour when it hits Toronto in late July. This is very good.

I've never seen him in concert, and I spent most of my high school years completely enamoured with him. Even now, I can pull out random facts about his life up until the early 90s. I haven't listened to much of his stuff in the last, well, decade, really, but the chance to see him live was just too much to resist.

However, the $13/ticket "Convenience" charge from Ticketmaster is a bit much. It must be nice to be a monopoly...

Comments

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Like Nora, I tend to think the difference in stage show explains at least part of the cost. The cost of the tour with larger backing bands, dancers, bigger sets (so more trucks/drivers) is significantly higher than just 5 guys with 5 or 6 roadies, which is how the smaller bands tour (I think). I don't really have a problem with that - part of what I'm paying for is the show.

Actually, looking at your list, it's kind funny. I would imagine that Prince - who's the least expensive of the upper tier shows - will have a more elaborate stage show than anyone on the list outside of Madonna. And Madonna ticket prices are just insane. So, maybe the stage show isn't a huge factor in the cost *g*

The Sting and Annie Lennox tickets I'd probably look at like the Justin & Christina tickets from last year - two $75 dollar tickets that you happen to get in one package, and then they don't seem so bad, either.

I think the Convenience charges have gone up, though - I can't remember having paid more than $9 before this, and I know the cost to mail the tickets out is new. What I like there is that's it's actually more expensive to have the tickets emailed to you, where you print them out yourself. What kind of insane troll logic is that?

[whynotsteve.livejournal.com]

You are right that the TM fees have gone up a little bit recently. Maybe a dollar or two per ticket. Given how convenient it is for me to get the tickets online while at my desk at work, I don't begrudge them a few extra dollars. Maybe I should.

Some shows definitely cost more to stage than others. But I don't think Phil Collins, for example, has enough of a stage show & entourage that it costs 3 times as much as Incubus. Also, the merchandise is similarly pricier at shows with higher ticket prices. Let me know how much t-shirts are at the Prince show, as I am curious.

And sorry, I'm not trying to make you feel bad about getting tickets for Prince; his show is actually not so overpriced. And he actually has more talent than any of the other artists I listed :-)

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Given how convenient it is for me to get the tickets online while at my desk at work, I don't begrudge them a few extra dollars.

The problem is, the last time I checked, there was no way around the fees. You get charged the same amount if you walk into a ticketmaster outlet to buy the tickets. If I were paying a premium for the convenience of ordering from my desk, it wouldn't feel like such a rip-off. The fact that there's no way out of the cost (or of reducing the cost) is what irritates. Or am I wrong about that? It's been a while since I went into an outlet to buy tickets, after all.

Actually, I didn't think you were trying to make me feel bad about buying the Prince tickets, even if I did sound a little defensive. You were, after all, the one who gave me the heads-up about them going on sale (Thanks!). I'll let you know about the merchandise prices. *g*

[whynotsteve.livejournal.com]

The extra $3 per order for pickup or mail is only for online purchases (at least it used to be). The rest are the standard TM fees.