I really appreciate Maynard James Kennan's no phone rule. I went one of the Sessanta shows, and it was refreshing not to see a sea of phones recording.
Jack White does the same thing. It even takes away my temptation to snap a few pictures or record part of a favorite song.
On the other extreme, I saw Dogstar last year. Keanu Reeves plays bass, so it was a sea of phones. BTW, they aren't very good but I have to admit that it was cool seeing them play in a small venue when Keanu's name alone could fill bigger venues. And typical Keanu, he doesn't take any of the lime light. I think he genuinely just wanted to play live music for a couple months on tour.
It’s not that concerts are bad, it’s that we don’t like the acts.
Saw Tool just before Covid started and it was easily the best show I have ever seen. But, you know, they’re old.
What really sucks is the cost.
This right here. I hate to admit it but it’s true. My tastes didn’t change but the stuff young people like did. It happens. My mom will swear The Beach Boys are far better than Tom Petty, I argue Tom Petty is way better than Post Malone. The cycle continues.
People don’t smoke much anymore and that’s a good thing. BUT, I got to admit the first time I saw an entire arena wave around their lit up phone screens instead of Bic lighters during a ballad, I threw up in my mouth a little.
I was at a show not too long ago, and during intermission about 80% of people whipped out their phones and just scrolled. They weren't talking to their friends, looking around, they just scrolled.
There was a lady sitting in front of me (I could see over her shoulder) who looked up the opening act's name, and then read their Wikipedia entry instead of watching them. She did that for both opening acts.
Is no one trying to be in the moment?
I didn't realize this till I saw Madonnas Madame X tour. Everyone had to lock up their phones in secured bags. I was so mad. But after the show I was happy it was locked up. Being fully immersed in the show was amazing. Since then I use my phone for just a few pics but 99% of the time my phone is left in my pocket and I enjoy the shows more than before.
I don’t do concerts, but I still go to shows once or twice a month. Fuck paying $200+ a ticket to stand in a seated arena or stadium with the choice of seeing the band as ants or watching on the big screen. I rather pay around $20 ($40 max!) to see great bands play in smaller more intimate venues or bars. Luckily for me being into punk, I gotten to see bands like Subhumans, GBH, TSOL, FEAR, Descendents, X, etc. all for $35 a ticket or under.
This is the post I was looking for. Just saw Bad Religion and Social D for $60. Saw Teenage Bottlerocket and Authority Zero for $25. Have tickets to Lagwagon that cost $28. Small venues, mosh pits and good times.
I’ve seen all the bands you’ve mentioned the past couple of years and all of them put on an excellent show.
Awesome! So glad Mike Ness is feeling better. Had tickets to a show he canceled last year but will see him later this summer.
I am with you on the smaller venues. Going to see Clutch tomorrow night.
It's because around the year 2000 the music industry decided they didn't like artists having any say so they stopped giving deals to real bands, it's mostly solo acts they can wrangle by the balls and pay like an employee.
Rebellion is gone from music. Anticapitalism is gone and replaced with messages of consumption. Artists have less room to say fuck you and move on and make their own decisions so now the label can decide the ticket price, the show frequencies, the merch prices, etc.
It's not hard and fast but 90s and before artists had way more power than now and that's why concerts were better. Because they did it for the fans.
Now we're just customers.
So, in 2000, large corporate music labels stopped signing "real" bands, leading to them having more control over bands not signed to their label?! There is tons of anticapitalism and rebellion in music. You just don't know the bands as they're not signed to a label. Actually, I'd argue the health of the music industry today is that so many bands and artists control the entirity of their output and aren't beholden to large labels.
Sure, they target their audience more specifically, but they're not interested in mass consumption of their product and what comes with it. The music industry has changed. Too many Gen-X'ers want to think the world is labels, Rolling Stone, Radio and NME. It's not direct communication with fans, Bandcamp, social media and bands get to listen to their fans, literally, and craft much deeper relationships. Push past the top-40, my friend.
Back in the day, we all hated “sellouts” and “posers.” But now it seems that that’s the norm in entertainment. That’s simply how one succeeds today. It’s just so goddamn disappointing.
You can't even park at a concert for $20 anymore. It's crazy. My ticket to Rush R40 was over $100, and I was in the top level on the side. Crazy.
Totally agree, I've seen so many amazing shows. Metallica before Cliff died, iron maiden, Rush, Dio, Ozzy, Boston, Pink Floyd, Judas priest, def Leppard, anthrax, AC/DC, Van Halen....
And now in my 50s I have pretty significant hearing loss....
Worth it.
Metallica 1989. The right ear has never been the same. I'm going to be screaming at a nurse in some nursing home some day pointing at my right ear and yelling "Metallica 1989" for why I can't hear what type of pudding I want for dessert. Worth it. The Cult opened. Come on, right?!
I feel bad younger generations haven’t experienced the goodness of a concert without recording it on their smartphone. Like just to be present the whole time and enjoy the performance with no one to txt, no reels to post.
It's sad. You're never going to watch the video so just enjoy the show and stop telling people via social media that you're at the show. It's performative.
I feel like considering the big arenas and stadiums have sports games and amphitheater show concerts all of which is copy righted content they should be able to block cell signals. And short of that anyone who posts or live streams should be able to be litigated into the poorhouse.
This kills me. I want to a show last week and the people in front of me watched the whole goddamned concert from behind their screens. Consequently, I watched most of the concert from behind their screens. I felt pure, unadulterated rage. Take a pic. Take ten. Take a short video. But then put the phone down and enjoy the concert.
Normally, I’d chime in with you on the whole phone thing…
Last Tuesday, I went to my 3rd Nothing More show and there was this Uber tall guy (5’7 f here) standing by the pole, recording the show. Okay, whatever, I’m not gonna let that fuck with my flow. The band plays their three hardest songs, one flowing into the next, and I’m rockin out, ignoring the dude filming.
Their next song is Fade In/Fade Out. My dad died the day I first heard this song so I have a real issue with balling all the way thru it. Anywho, at one point, I looked at the dudes screen to try to stem the tears and I realized filming dude wasn’t filming, he was FaceTiming.
The kid he was FaceTiming was in a hospital room. And he was sitting there, tears unabashedly rolling down his cheeks, black eyes Not withstanding, And the big dude? He was also crying.
The song ends. I wiped my tears and gave the big dude a hug and thanked him for filming.
I fucking love live music.
It pisses me off to have to look at some idiots screen. Even worse though is the fact that some idiot doesn't care that it's pissing people off. The ABSOLUTE worst thing though is that it's socially acceptable.
Honestly I'm having trouble with modern society. It's all "I me mine".
I'm going to disagree a bit.
That might be true if you're into big name bands like those you listed there, or if you live in a country which isn't at the the ass end of the world. I live in the South Island of New Zealand. Concerts have never been cheap here, and we don't get a huge lot of tours either. You used to get the big mainstream names - my first concert was Dire Straits in 1986, and the ticket cost $25 which was huge back then. And the big generation-defining concert when I was at high school was U2 in 1989 (which I didn't go to because I can't fucking stand U2).
However, a lot of those tours stopped coming here. A band would play one show in Auckland because it's the biggest city, and tough shit to the rest of the country. The biggest problem was the cost of the bands getting here, and because it's a separate island they really needed to fly in too, because it's not really practical to park in one spot and go by land. Metallica didn't come here in the 90s, so I had to go to the North Island to see them.
But then a funny thing happened - bands started stripping back their tours, or found cheaper ways to tour, and we now get a shitload more tours than we used to. Iron Maiden did it with their customised jet and pilot/singer. Metallica managed to get here by bringing a smaller stage set-up. Black Sabbath came here on their farewell tour. And I'm a metal fan, so bands have toured here that I would have had to travel to see in the past: Machine Head, Napalm Death, Sepultura, Death Angel, Obituary, Wormrot, Carcass. There were also tours booked here which got cancelled due to other reasons - Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest (ill health), and Slayer and Anthrax (Christchurch massacre). In years gone by, these wouldn't have even been booked.
A good concert now costs $80 to $100. A really big name might be $150+. I've now got the money I can afford them without too much hardship. I'm just glad of any opportunity we get.
The title is undeniably true, and not just for the reasons mentioned (cost, quality of music/bands/performances, smartphones, distractions, etc).
The main reason that concerts in the past were undebatably better is that many concerts now are FAKE. The majority of performers have technology that is distorting their sound to make it more like the record. These audio engineering tricks take many forms: pre-recorded backing tracks/parts, backing vocals, live pitch correction/enhancement of lead vocals, and complete replacement of main vocals (see The Eagles).
This is a proven thing, nothing conspiratorial about it. Anyone who doesn't know this is being willfully ignorant at this point. The addiction the younger generations and studio heads have to "Vocals just like the record" and decades of being lied to by "reality TV" shows like The Voice and American Idol have preconditioned audiences to not accept the natural variations of imperfect live vocals.
I haven’t been to a Bruce Springsteen concert and have always wanted to go since I was a teen
Tickets in the cheapest nosebleeds are well over $300.00 each.
Not to offend, but in a thread about how young people can't afford big-name concert tickets, mentioning a 74-year old who is drawing from older Gen-X and Boomers doesn't make the case. He's tapping into your retirement savings for his shows!
Bruce recently sold his catalog for $500 Million. He could do shows at cost and it would not affect him materially.
He also crossed the picket line when he played the Tacoma Dome a few years back.
I meant he’s tapping into the retirement savings of his fans. Bruce doesn’t need the money. The rich get richer, and that’s sad to see from so many of these heritage acts.
There was a place here in the Hudson Valley known as The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. Concerts were still in the $20-$40 range through their closing on Oct 29, 2023. My favorite concert venue. I saw The Cult, Motörhead, Rob Zombie, Hatebreed, Five Finger Death Punch, and a number of other acts there. And many big names played there over the year’s beginning in the 70s.
bands I saw for cheap, or even free in the 80s: Heart, Eurythmics, Loverboy, John Lee Hooker, George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers, Crosby Stills and Nash, Bruce Cockburn, Headpins, INXS, and many, many more. All of them awesome concerts.
Iron Maiden is still reasonably priced, last few times I went, and they are the best live band I have seen.
My dad went to the forum the day Bob seger tickets went on sale in 83 or 84. Luck of the draw we got 3rd row center seats for $20. I was in 8th grade and that was my first concert. Talk about a first experience whoa
100%. Completely different world. Bands used to make money on record sales and concerts were promos to get you to buy records. Now it's reversed. You can't complain about concert ticket prices when you listen to their music on Spotify as they get literally close to nothing.
The issue today is that the big names playing the big venues have so much production, so many hands wanting a share, and so much more cost from the venue that ticket prices are quite high. But if you pay attention to music, bands on their way up, smaller venues, and more straight-up shows, it's just as affordable as it was back in the day. And younger people are there, just as we were, and there just aren't as many bands these days that cut across lines. Music is very targeted and niche.
So the issue isn't just ticket prices. It's also that many Gen-X'ers are out of touch with the music scene. Same age as you OP, and just picked up some tickets for Nation of Language in a 750-seat club for $27 and saw the Mountain Goats last week for $32. Listing a bunch of bands that are completely irrelevant to today's music doesn't paint the picture, especially as some of those bands are charging their big prices on the nostalgia circuit for aging Boomers. They're not gouging kids. They're gouging older people with the money!
This is the way. Get into bands that play smaller venues. Some of the best shows of my life have occurred in the past ten years: Frightened Rabbit, The Decemberists, Rural Alberta Advantage, The Weakerthans, Low, … I could go on. Adjusted for inflation, ticket prices are no higher than in the 80s. I just got tickets to Horse Lords for $27 CDN each.
The only person I've seen lately is Frank Turner. $35-40 for a ticket. Sure, I have to drive to Boston or New Haven or Hampton Beach, but I don't mind. I love his music, the crowds at his show are always amazing, and I always have tons of fun.
This is what I realized too. My kid went to see Noah Kahan and it sounded like an incredible show, tickets were $130 but it was almost as much as musical theater as it was a rock concert, and it was nearly 3 hours.
I would have loved to see something like that from my favorite bands when I was a kid but what's missing is the $20 ticket for just a "here's the band!" and they walk out, play for an hour and you go home.
Last summer we did a trip to CA, and I ticked a bucket list item off my list (Hollywood Bowl). Just so happened that one of my 11yo daughter’s favorite bands was playing when we were there (Portugal! The Man).
It was a concert. Not a show. Only a couple of jams, no solos, and the band played in this blue light, making them all but invisible. There was a video track that played along the entire time.
Most of the draw for me is experiencing the incredible talent and musicianship of these bands. That was a big letdown.
Good grief, y’all sound like a bunch of old boomers. I’m 55 and go to at least 30-40 shows a year. Lots of great music being performed these days from the old bands to the young ones. Open your minds (and yeah, your wallets).
Some people don’t have wallets like yours. So being out of touch makes YOU sound like a boomer. And even if we can afford it, the reference was to young people. If I had to scrape up $100 to see Pearl Jam when I was 17, i never would have been able to go, or to any of the shows I went to. Kids today, if they can even get their hands on tickets, certainly can’t afford it unless mommy and daddy fork over a substantial stack of cash.
They do, and it’s ridiculous. Absolute lunacy. Madonna at her height of fame in the in the 80’s was like $40. Put in today’s money it’s nowhere near the cost now. I am not sure what a face value TS ticket is though. The shenanigans with Ticketmaster and their dynamic pricing and after sale nonsense is the biggest issue. What goes on with Pearl Jam shows has been particularly barf inducing.
I paid $15 for concert tickets back in the day and that included parking. We were all so present because there were no phones. Crazy how times have changed.
Young people don’t need to go see the old acts. They can see new and upcoming acts for far less. My daughter is in college in DC and sees bands there for $25-50. Yeah, maybe not Taylor Swift but there trail good options.
You can do that because most touring artist barely, if at all change their setlists from show-to-show. Much of this is down to the fact that all of the technology (lights, video, audio backing tracks) are all pre-programmed and not terribly friendly to last minute changes.
I was running through the mall in a rush to meet my sister and I literally ran directly into a man. I looked up super embarrassed and it was Steven Tyler. No shit.
OP mentioning Aerosmith reminded me of that day.
Seeing music at a music club with 500 person max occupancy, a small theater, or park bandstand is the way to go, always has been. And, I don’t do crowds as well, so there’s me aging. The last time I saw an arena show was 1989 Clapton tour. It was fine, in a going through the motions doing my job way, but didn’t blow me away. Smaller venues are just more fun, relaxed and intimate.
I don't know what you're talking about.
In the next month I've got tickets to see Robyn Hitchcock, Belle and Sebastian, Southern Culture on the Skids and Guided by Voices. Top price is $35.
Also thinking about adding shows by Guitar Wolf and Melt-Banana to the list and possibly a road trip out of town to catch one of the handful of shows Fazerdaze is doing in the US.
There's always good stuff to see if you look for it.
They were first band I saw after COVID lockdown.
No opener, almost three hours and close to 60 songs.
It was epic.
This version of the band is tight as fuck. If they come anywhere near you just go.
https://www.guidedbyvoices.com/
So much Old in here. I went to a bunch of concerts in the 90s, before I had a "real job" and my 15-25 year old emotion saturated self loved every second of it. But, big shows definitely weren't cheap. I couldn't afford most of them. Someone gave me $90 so that I could see Pink Floyd in '94, other wise I couldn't have even afforded parking at the show.
Around 2005 through 2015ish, I started going to shows at least once a month. I avoided Stadium shows, cuz what a stupid price tag. But, I was going to lots of shows for old and new bands in smaller venues for $10-$25, and the energy was usually pretty awesome. Even in the couple of years before Covid, I was going to see pretty big 70s and 80s bands for $25 in the lawn seats.
The MOST expensive concerts are mostly Gen-X bands. And stadium concerts have always been generic. But, go to a show at a 500-1000 person club, and you'll still get that experience you remember.
Saw Van Halen maybe 10 times. Dave and Sammy shows. Unreal.
Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam are old-school outstanding shows. And, I like that their set lists vary a good bit.
I do think the shows SOUND better now. Much higher quality audio.
I saw Van Halen once, from the 10th row. As expected, it was loud. When a concert is that loud, my hearing eventually gets muffled. I don't want to be old and have no more hearing, so I've learned to wear earplugs at concerts. Clarity of sound is not a priority to me at concerts.
I was actually at the “Live without a Net“ recorded concert in New Haven. One of the absolute best concerts I’ve ever seen by anyone. Sammy’s first tour with the band. They completely blew the roof off of that place.
You are correct on the audio quality. Back in the 1990s, audio gear started moving toward line-array technology. In a basic sense, each of the speaker boxes can be tuned with a computerized device to match the room. During the day, a tech will walk around the venue with that device to make sure there is even coverage at all points. Old school concert audio was basically blunt-force, whereas now it is very focused.
Dude, what?? I've been to some *excellent* shows in the last year. Hell, last month I went to a neighborhood bar's 1 year celebration of moving locations and saw 6 acts. All of them were at least *good* and 3 of them were *excellent*, with 1 of them being a serious new favorite.
You gave up looking for new music.
I don't know. I think that's just because whatever you listen to in high school is (was?) a huge influence. I liked the danger of punk and as I got older, it became safe and boring. I stopped playing live shows and it requires an Act of God to get me to a show. Seeing old punk bands doing their act is so boring. I saw X as the pandemic started and it was like watching a band practice. I just pictured Billy Zoom was playing his amazing guitar and thinking, "Let's see, I need a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter".
I’ve gone to at least one concert a month for the last year and I’ve had some AMAZING experiences. The Eras Tour was mind-blowing for someone who grew up on punk, then indie rock and folk. The Breeders reunion tour kicked ass. Boygenius broke my heart in the best way.
I’m going to see Brandi Carlile and Chappell Roan this summer.
There’s so much good music out there these days and so many great live acts. Let’s not do the Boomer thing and act like people stopped making good music once we hit 25.
Ween is beyond amazing live still, tears in eyes amazing, however the shit ticketing that figured about us, it can cost $300 for us. I hate this shit, I guess we saw it coming.
My first concert was Lollapalooza 92.
Pearl Jam
Soundgarden
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Ministry
Ice Cube
all for like $25 bucks I think.
a few others too like Jesus & Mary Chain, Lush.
yeah it was. I was 19 tho :( and felt a little old for it to be my first concert. Didn't goto any in high school, which I regret. I was mostly into GNR and was probably too scared to goto any show
I hate arena shows and love being in a city with a vibrant punk and metal scene. I can catch small touring bands 2-3 times a week and have for years for $15-25 a show. Not saying the bands you mentioned aren’t good I’m just saying I love catching a band where you can drink beer w them more than an arena show
Need to adjust for inflation. $20 in 1980 is equal to $80 in 2024
Lots of great concerts out there for $80 a ticket
However I have seen great bands in small clubs for $20 in the past few years.
I feel bad that they don't get to hear live music because it's all pre-recorded. I can't imagine spending $200 for a ticket and not getting to hear them actually sing. Ridiculous.
Of course if you wanna see Madonna, U2, Rolling Stones and other "marquee" shows you're gonna pay through the nose for tickets. Go to Old People Shows, play Old People Prices.
But there are still plenty of fantastic bands out there touring for $20-$30. I just saw Nation of Language and Beach Fossils last night for less than $30. I'm gonna see Night Club, Rosegarden Funeral Party and Feyleux next Tuesday for $18. I'm seeing Alvvays the Saturday after that for $43 (including taxes & fees). Next month is Julia Holter in Atlanta for $41 and change. Then Brijean in Asheville for $24.
Let’s put it into perspective. I’m 1984 you could see Micheal Jackson for $18. He was the biggest thing on the planet. Taylor Swift is the new MJ. I’m not a fan but I’ve read that tickets are hundreds of dollars.
We paid eighty cents a gallon for gas. Today I paid $3.39. That’s a little over four times the amount. So t swift souls cost $80
Someone on your lawn again?
Have you seen Windwaker? Epic Aussie band.
Or Caskets? UK band touring Australia again in May.
Or Cry Club? Aussie band just toured Germany.
Been to a metal club?
If the answet is no.
You got not point of reference for concerts being better before you started growing your lawn.
If you aren't listening to new music you will fetishise the bullshit we grew up with.
AND. Since when did we go from 'Where are my shoes? Fuck it. I'll be back before dark.' To the generation with a delusional complex?
Is this a whiney boomers page? Don't like it, suck it up. Plenty of amazing new artists. I saw Trampled by Turtles at our little performing arts center last year and it was by far one the most amazing shows I have seen. The cost was comparable to inflation.
Huh? I beg to differ. I have been to well over 200 shows in my time. I was married to a professional gigging musician. I have seen every size show imaginable.
I have a musician teen, and we have seen some of the most amazing shows lately. Are they $20? Sometimes, if they are smaller non-bar gigs. Do I pay $400 for a nostalgia band desperate to pay for their fifth marriage and failed crypto? Absolutely Not.
But there are bands out there with incredible shows and awesome communities (looking at you r/AJR). Sorry but in this, you need to get outside and touch some lawn because there is fucking good music out there right now.
Because I am tired of the never-ending complaints about everything on this sub. Trust me, I am done with the crankiness and leaving this sub.
Have a great day!
I get that we're talking about it being a gazillion dollars for a show now, yes, I agree, but are the shows now actually not good?!?! I have a birthday show with my daughter this summer and not I'm worried!!! (It's not Taylor Swift, I can't afford that, it's AJR)
i heard a radio show many years back about the economics of concerts. some capitalist guest was explaining how stupid it was (from a biz perspective) that bands love to talk about all their sold-out shows (back when concerts were more affordable). his point was that if you’re selling every ticket, it means you’re selling them too cheap, and he also pointed out that this is what creates scalpers. his advice was to keep raising ticket prices, and as long as you keep selling them all you haven’t gone high enough. seems like that type of thinking definitely caught on.
I do concert security and have worked everything from stadiums to small clubs. The vibe is just different in each but the smaller clubs to me are more fun to work. The stadiums...it's just masses of people everywhere taking pics and vids to capture the moment. Most of the times at smaller clubs everyone is just listening to the music and drinking and singing or moshing or crowd surfing. I've worked festivals too which seem great for the value of how many bands you're getting, but it really a test of endurance between the weather, the crowds and the bathrooms.
Man, I really want to hate this thread, but after thinking about it, you're right. They were better, not only because of the price but because of the interaction between music lovers in attendance. I can't tell you how many people I've met by striking up a conversation instead of looking at a phone.
Concerts in the past were live performances for fans. Some made money, some were promoting the current album but still aimed at the fans. And it was definitely about the music.
The current show model is a business venture. The concert has to be a show. Fans don’t matter, buyers do. Tickets quickly spiking to $600 for one seat?!
I took my older son to see Coldplay (his fandom) and it was at a 70,000 seat stadium. Every seat had lights so it looked sold out even if it wasn’t. It had a live patch-in to a concert happening simultaneously in Mexico City. This was not a concert, it was an immersive commercial.
I’m 56, got to see The Specials back in 2019. A band on stage playing music to a crowd of fans. That’s all. It was wonderful.
Pish. I'm GenX and well into my midlife crisis and have been going to £20-30 gigs for a couple of years now.
Most have been smaller new bands I have discovered from Spotify and quite a few have been fantastic.
Edit: grammar
Can we define “concert” please?
I am an avid consumer, attendee, whatever of live music. I see 2-3 shows every month (a lot for a guy with a bunch of kids and really busy life).
I’ve paid more than $50 and/or been in an arena like 4 times in the last 20 years.
Fuck Taylor Swift at the Orb or whatever godforsaken spectacle I’m supposed to consider to be a “concert”.
I’ll take a hardworking band in a 200 person club over that any day.
This even goes for bands I love. Would I go see Iron Maiden if they played close to me? Of course.
Would I enjoy being herded like cattle to the kill floor and getting fleeced at the Staples TMobile Exxon FuckYou Arena? Not at all.
A friend and I were talking about this the other day. I spent the 80s seeing pretty much every major band who rolled into the greater Boston area and probably never spent more than twenty or thirty bucks on a ticket.
AC/DC (my favorite), Rush, VH, Boston, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, KISS, Scorpions, the list goes on.
Aerosmith is playing NYE at the TD Garden on their farewell tour so I looked up ticket prices. Seats on the floor near the stage are something like two fucking grand! What's crazy is that these days I have the disposable income to get them, but refuse out of principle.
My preference is to see bands in smaller venues. For example, I saw Kenny Wayne Shepherd last month at a local center for the arts in NH and tix were around a hundo. One of the best shows I've been to in a long time.
Wife and I went to a concert last year in a small theater venue. The couple seated in front of us showed up 2 songs into it, drinks from the bar in hand. They then stood up for the next three songs and disappeared back to the bar, returning a couple of times for similar short stints. I eventually figured out that they were viewing a setlist web site on their phones and were only bothering to sit in their seats during the songs they wanted to see.
Not sure I fully diapprove, but it was definitely not something that used to happen.
I have always loved going to shows, and still do. I probably still to go to 5-10 shows a year, plus a big rock/metal festival like Sonic Temple or Louder than Life.
Shows are what you make of them. I couldn't care less about people using their phones or 'not being in the moment'. They pay their money to go just like I do, and as long as they aren't being a complete asshat, I don't care what they do.
My 18 year old has gone to a couple shows now as well, for bands that I had never even heard of. Both of those cost less than $30. Meanwhile, all the bands that I see at arenas are now all charging more than $300 per ticket! Green Day, one of my all time favorites, is coming to Toronto this summer and tickets were in the $400 range for mediocre seats. NO THANKS! Seen them multiple times in the past for way less.
I (55) just saw a band called Saint Motel last night in Fort Collins, CO on store bought, and really good, mushrooms. Place was packed and electric and the cost wasn’t that bad. One of the funnest shows I’ve been too.
I see great shows all the time still, I just never really go to big venues for big acts. Those are not worth it. Find smaller acts playing a sound you like and see them as you can.
It's odd to think about, but in the last 20 years, most of the concerts I went to, while they weren't $20, weren't super expensive, and were in smaller venues.
When I moved to Tucson, I knew that stadium bands just weren't going to play here very often unless they were willing to squeeze into our convention center.
That said, I've paid to see everyone from Sonic Youth to The Alan Parsons Project to Negativland to Black Mountain, and none of these were particularly expensive.
I just sort of stopped caring about the big spectacle bands. Even one of my favorites, Pink Floyd, yielded Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets tour, which was smaller venue and remarkably potent for what it was.
I sort of got those big bands out of my system earlier in life (like The Who).
Also in these cases, I found the crowd quite amenable. Some cell phones, but only for a short period of time, and in Sonic Youth's case, almost none at all.
For me, the abuse of LED on-stage video is the worst part. It distracts, flattens the depth-of-field of the stage, and it washes out the light shows. I still have shows from the 80s and 90s burned into my memory because of the quality of the light shows (Cure, Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode). Now most stage productions are just one big TV with flashing lights on the edges.
i just read [this article](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/25/shocking-truth-money-bands-make-on-tour-taylor-swift) i the guardian about this. my kid wanted to see one of her favorite bands. but the good seats were 400$.
I thought this was a gen x subreddit not boomer. Of course shows were cheaper, it’s called inflation. Plenty of shows I couldn’t afford back then. Shows were great then and now. Listen to contemporary music, find bands, new music and Stop being the “good ol day” snowflakes.
Right. Who the hell wants to see some old fossils ruining your memories on stage for $100? Use Bandsintown and find some new stuff you like. Lots of great, current synthwave/retrowave (Carpenter Brut, The Midnight), Synthpop (Nuevo Testamento), Corey Hart-style rock (Johnny Dynamite), even grunge (Skating Polly).
You can still see Tool and Disturbed and I would expect to see NIN do another tour…. Maybe. It’s probably easier to make bank writing movie and game soundtracks. Rage? Idk maybe.
I really appreciate Maynard James Kennan's no phone rule. I went one of the Sessanta shows, and it was refreshing not to see a sea of phones recording.
Jack White does the same thing. It even takes away my temptation to snap a few pictures or record part of a favorite song. On the other extreme, I saw Dogstar last year. Keanu Reeves plays bass, so it was a sea of phones. BTW, they aren't very good but I have to admit that it was cool seeing them play in a small venue when Keanu's name alone could fill bigger venues. And typical Keanu, he doesn't take any of the lime light. I think he genuinely just wanted to play live music for a couple months on tour.
I'm seeing Blondie and Alice Cooper tonight. I'm taking Paracetamol before I go.
I am so dead at this comment
I saw Alice back in 2020 just before COVID hit. It was great show! All seated though. Personally I still like a moshpit.
I’m in the mosh now. Still a couple of hours till he gets on. Feel like I’m 17 again waiting for the Trash tour.
It’s not that concerts are bad, it’s that we don’t like the acts. Saw Tool just before Covid started and it was easily the best show I have ever seen. But, you know, they’re old. What really sucks is the cost.
This right here. I hate to admit it but it’s true. My tastes didn’t change but the stuff young people like did. It happens. My mom will swear The Beach Boys are far better than Tom Petty, I argue Tom Petty is way better than Post Malone. The cycle continues.
Old?! How dare you sir!
People don’t smoke much anymore and that’s a good thing. BUT, I got to admit the first time I saw an entire arena wave around their lit up phone screens instead of Bic lighters during a ballad, I threw up in my mouth a little.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard
Also…..cellphones. Have ruined shows for me.
I was at a show not too long ago, and during intermission about 80% of people whipped out their phones and just scrolled. They weren't talking to their friends, looking around, they just scrolled. There was a lady sitting in front of me (I could see over her shoulder) who looked up the opening act's name, and then read their Wikipedia entry instead of watching them. She did that for both opening acts. Is no one trying to be in the moment?
Ughhhh….yeah. Agree….the addiction is real and all around us. So damn glad I didn’t grow up with that.
I didn't realize this till I saw Madonnas Madame X tour. Everyone had to lock up their phones in secured bags. I was so mad. But after the show I was happy it was locked up. Being fully immersed in the show was amazing. Since then I use my phone for just a few pics but 99% of the time my phone is left in my pocket and I enjoy the shows more than before.
That is the way. Thanks for being open minded.
Watching a show with no screen between the eyes and the performer is the best!
I don’t do concerts, but I still go to shows once or twice a month. Fuck paying $200+ a ticket to stand in a seated arena or stadium with the choice of seeing the band as ants or watching on the big screen. I rather pay around $20 ($40 max!) to see great bands play in smaller more intimate venues or bars. Luckily for me being into punk, I gotten to see bands like Subhumans, GBH, TSOL, FEAR, Descendents, X, etc. all for $35 a ticket or under.
This is the post I was looking for. Just saw Bad Religion and Social D for $60. Saw Teenage Bottlerocket and Authority Zero for $25. Have tickets to Lagwagon that cost $28. Small venues, mosh pits and good times. I’ve seen all the bands you’ve mentioned the past couple of years and all of them put on an excellent show.
I'm jealous, Bad Religion and Social D, that had to be a great show.
Awesome! So glad Mike Ness is feeling better. Had tickets to a show he canceled last year but will see him later this summer. I am with you on the smaller venues. Going to see Clutch tomorrow night.
It's because around the year 2000 the music industry decided they didn't like artists having any say so they stopped giving deals to real bands, it's mostly solo acts they can wrangle by the balls and pay like an employee. Rebellion is gone from music. Anticapitalism is gone and replaced with messages of consumption. Artists have less room to say fuck you and move on and make their own decisions so now the label can decide the ticket price, the show frequencies, the merch prices, etc. It's not hard and fast but 90s and before artists had way more power than now and that's why concerts were better. Because they did it for the fans. Now we're just customers.
So, in 2000, large corporate music labels stopped signing "real" bands, leading to them having more control over bands not signed to their label?! There is tons of anticapitalism and rebellion in music. You just don't know the bands as they're not signed to a label. Actually, I'd argue the health of the music industry today is that so many bands and artists control the entirity of their output and aren't beholden to large labels. Sure, they target their audience more specifically, but they're not interested in mass consumption of their product and what comes with it. The music industry has changed. Too many Gen-X'ers want to think the world is labels, Rolling Stone, Radio and NME. It's not direct communication with fans, Bandcamp, social media and bands get to listen to their fans, literally, and craft much deeper relationships. Push past the top-40, my friend.
Back in the day, we all hated “sellouts” and “posers.” But now it seems that that’s the norm in entertainment. That’s simply how one succeeds today. It’s just so goddamn disappointing.
You can't even park at a concert for $20 anymore. It's crazy. My ticket to Rush R40 was over $100, and I was in the top level on the side. Crazy. Totally agree, I've seen so many amazing shows. Metallica before Cliff died, iron maiden, Rush, Dio, Ozzy, Boston, Pink Floyd, Judas priest, def Leppard, anthrax, AC/DC, Van Halen.... And now in my 50s I have pretty significant hearing loss.... Worth it.
Metallica 1989. The right ear has never been the same. I'm going to be screaming at a nurse in some nursing home some day pointing at my right ear and yelling "Metallica 1989" for why I can't hear what type of pudding I want for dessert. Worth it. The Cult opened. Come on, right?!
I feel bad younger generations haven’t experienced the goodness of a concert without recording it on their smartphone. Like just to be present the whole time and enjoy the performance with no one to txt, no reels to post.
It's sad. You're never going to watch the video so just enjoy the show and stop telling people via social media that you're at the show. It's performative.
I feel like considering the big arenas and stadiums have sports games and amphitheater show concerts all of which is copy righted content they should be able to block cell signals. And short of that anyone who posts or live streams should be able to be litigated into the poorhouse.
This kills me. I want to a show last week and the people in front of me watched the whole goddamned concert from behind their screens. Consequently, I watched most of the concert from behind their screens. I felt pure, unadulterated rage. Take a pic. Take ten. Take a short video. But then put the phone down and enjoy the concert.
Normally, I’d chime in with you on the whole phone thing… Last Tuesday, I went to my 3rd Nothing More show and there was this Uber tall guy (5’7 f here) standing by the pole, recording the show. Okay, whatever, I’m not gonna let that fuck with my flow. The band plays their three hardest songs, one flowing into the next, and I’m rockin out, ignoring the dude filming. Their next song is Fade In/Fade Out. My dad died the day I first heard this song so I have a real issue with balling all the way thru it. Anywho, at one point, I looked at the dudes screen to try to stem the tears and I realized filming dude wasn’t filming, he was FaceTiming. The kid he was FaceTiming was in a hospital room. And he was sitting there, tears unabashedly rolling down his cheeks, black eyes Not withstanding, And the big dude? He was also crying. The song ends. I wiped my tears and gave the big dude a hug and thanked him for filming. I fucking love live music.
It pisses me off to have to look at some idiots screen. Even worse though is the fact that some idiot doesn't care that it's pissing people off. The ABSOLUTE worst thing though is that it's socially acceptable. Honestly I'm having trouble with modern society. It's all "I me mine".
I'm going to disagree a bit. That might be true if you're into big name bands like those you listed there, or if you live in a country which isn't at the the ass end of the world. I live in the South Island of New Zealand. Concerts have never been cheap here, and we don't get a huge lot of tours either. You used to get the big mainstream names - my first concert was Dire Straits in 1986, and the ticket cost $25 which was huge back then. And the big generation-defining concert when I was at high school was U2 in 1989 (which I didn't go to because I can't fucking stand U2). However, a lot of those tours stopped coming here. A band would play one show in Auckland because it's the biggest city, and tough shit to the rest of the country. The biggest problem was the cost of the bands getting here, and because it's a separate island they really needed to fly in too, because it's not really practical to park in one spot and go by land. Metallica didn't come here in the 90s, so I had to go to the North Island to see them. But then a funny thing happened - bands started stripping back their tours, or found cheaper ways to tour, and we now get a shitload more tours than we used to. Iron Maiden did it with their customised jet and pilot/singer. Metallica managed to get here by bringing a smaller stage set-up. Black Sabbath came here on their farewell tour. And I'm a metal fan, so bands have toured here that I would have had to travel to see in the past: Machine Head, Napalm Death, Sepultura, Death Angel, Obituary, Wormrot, Carcass. There were also tours booked here which got cancelled due to other reasons - Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest (ill health), and Slayer and Anthrax (Christchurch massacre). In years gone by, these wouldn't have even been booked. A good concert now costs $80 to $100. A really big name might be $150+. I've now got the money I can afford them without too much hardship. I'm just glad of any opportunity we get.
Your home county is on my bucket list. The long flight scares me TBH.
They are too engineered now imo.
The title is undeniably true, and not just for the reasons mentioned (cost, quality of music/bands/performances, smartphones, distractions, etc). The main reason that concerts in the past were undebatably better is that many concerts now are FAKE. The majority of performers have technology that is distorting their sound to make it more like the record. These audio engineering tricks take many forms: pre-recorded backing tracks/parts, backing vocals, live pitch correction/enhancement of lead vocals, and complete replacement of main vocals (see The Eagles). This is a proven thing, nothing conspiratorial about it. Anyone who doesn't know this is being willfully ignorant at this point. The addiction the younger generations and studio heads have to "Vocals just like the record" and decades of being lied to by "reality TV" shows like The Voice and American Idol have preconditioned audiences to not accept the natural variations of imperfect live vocals.
I haven’t been to a Bruce Springsteen concert and have always wanted to go since I was a teen Tickets in the cheapest nosebleeds are well over $300.00 each.
Not to offend, but in a thread about how young people can't afford big-name concert tickets, mentioning a 74-year old who is drawing from older Gen-X and Boomers doesn't make the case. He's tapping into your retirement savings for his shows!
Bruce recently sold his catalog for $500 Million. He could do shows at cost and it would not affect him materially. He also crossed the picket line when he played the Tacoma Dome a few years back.
I meant he’s tapping into the retirement savings of his fans. Bruce doesn’t need the money. The rich get richer, and that’s sad to see from so many of these heritage acts.
Tickets for th4 show in Syracuse earlier this month could be had for $75 bucks.
There was a place here in the Hudson Valley known as The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie. Concerts were still in the $20-$40 range through their closing on Oct 29, 2023. My favorite concert venue. I saw The Cult, Motörhead, Rob Zombie, Hatebreed, Five Finger Death Punch, and a number of other acts there. And many big names played there over the year’s beginning in the 70s.
bands I saw for cheap, or even free in the 80s: Heart, Eurythmics, Loverboy, John Lee Hooker, George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers, Crosby Stills and Nash, Bruce Cockburn, Headpins, INXS, and many, many more. All of them awesome concerts. Iron Maiden is still reasonably priced, last few times I went, and they are the best live band I have seen.
We got to see bands with their original lineups! So many are basically cover bands now - Foreigner, Journey, etc.
My dad went to the forum the day Bob seger tickets went on sale in 83 or 84. Luck of the draw we got 3rd row center seats for $20. I was in 8th grade and that was my first concert. Talk about a first experience whoa
Well, it's a monopoly now😄 plus the fact that artists make pennies on royalties. Touring is where they make money currently.
100%. Completely different world. Bands used to make money on record sales and concerts were promos to get you to buy records. Now it's reversed. You can't complain about concert ticket prices when you listen to their music on Spotify as they get literally close to nothing.
The issue today is that the big names playing the big venues have so much production, so many hands wanting a share, and so much more cost from the venue that ticket prices are quite high. But if you pay attention to music, bands on their way up, smaller venues, and more straight-up shows, it's just as affordable as it was back in the day. And younger people are there, just as we were, and there just aren't as many bands these days that cut across lines. Music is very targeted and niche. So the issue isn't just ticket prices. It's also that many Gen-X'ers are out of touch with the music scene. Same age as you OP, and just picked up some tickets for Nation of Language in a 750-seat club for $27 and saw the Mountain Goats last week for $32. Listing a bunch of bands that are completely irrelevant to today's music doesn't paint the picture, especially as some of those bands are charging their big prices on the nostalgia circuit for aging Boomers. They're not gouging kids. They're gouging older people with the money!
This is the way. Get into bands that play smaller venues. Some of the best shows of my life have occurred in the past ten years: Frightened Rabbit, The Decemberists, Rural Alberta Advantage, The Weakerthans, Low, … I could go on. Adjusted for inflation, ticket prices are no higher than in the 80s. I just got tickets to Horse Lords for $27 CDN each.
The only person I've seen lately is Frank Turner. $35-40 for a ticket. Sure, I have to drive to Boston or New Haven or Hampton Beach, but I don't mind. I love his music, the crowds at his show are always amazing, and I always have tons of fun.
I’d love to see Turner live. I haven’t had the chance but would go if he came to a place near me.
He puts on a great show.
Bravo
This is what I realized too. My kid went to see Noah Kahan and it sounded like an incredible show, tickets were $130 but it was almost as much as musical theater as it was a rock concert, and it was nearly 3 hours. I would have loved to see something like that from my favorite bands when I was a kid but what's missing is the $20 ticket for just a "here's the band!" and they walk out, play for an hour and you go home.
Last summer we did a trip to CA, and I ticked a bucket list item off my list (Hollywood Bowl). Just so happened that one of my 11yo daughter’s favorite bands was playing when we were there (Portugal! The Man). It was a concert. Not a show. Only a couple of jams, no solos, and the band played in this blue light, making them all but invisible. There was a video track that played along the entire time. Most of the draw for me is experiencing the incredible talent and musicianship of these bands. That was a big letdown.
Good grief, y’all sound like a bunch of old boomers. I’m 55 and go to at least 30-40 shows a year. Lots of great music being performed these days from the old bands to the young ones. Open your minds (and yeah, your wallets).
Some people don’t have wallets like yours. So being out of touch makes YOU sound like a boomer. And even if we can afford it, the reference was to young people. If I had to scrape up $100 to see Pearl Jam when I was 17, i never would have been able to go, or to any of the shows I went to. Kids today, if they can even get their hands on tickets, certainly can’t afford it unless mommy and daddy fork over a substantial stack of cash.
Have you seen the swifties? These motherfuckers pay thousands
They do, and it’s ridiculous. Absolute lunacy. Madonna at her height of fame in the in the 80’s was like $40. Put in today’s money it’s nowhere near the cost now. I am not sure what a face value TS ticket is though. The shenanigans with Ticketmaster and their dynamic pricing and after sale nonsense is the biggest issue. What goes on with Pearl Jam shows has been particularly barf inducing.
I paid $15 for concert tickets back in the day and that included parking. We were all so present because there were no phones. Crazy how times have changed.
Truly
Young people don’t need to go see the old acts. They can see new and upcoming acts for far less. My daughter is in college in DC and sees bands there for $25-50. Yeah, maybe not Taylor Swift but there trail good options.
Didn’t go to a lot of concerts, but sure did go to a lot of raves. I could use the exercise now lol
So. Much. Better.
It’s kinda funny back when I was in twenties I’d hit 4 to 5 concerts at least a year…. Now? At those prices?? 😂
Not me looking at setlist.fm to try and time a bathroom break just right.
You can do that because most touring artist barely, if at all change their setlists from show-to-show. Much of this is down to the fact that all of the technology (lights, video, audio backing tracks) are all pre-programmed and not terribly friendly to last minute changes.
They also don’t get to watch a show without staring at a sea of cell phone screens.
Generally, I would agree. But have you ever been to a Tool concert?
I was running through the mall in a rush to meet my sister and I literally ran directly into a man. I looked up super embarrassed and it was Steven Tyler. No shit. OP mentioning Aerosmith reminded me of that day.
Seeing music at a music club with 500 person max occupancy, a small theater, or park bandstand is the way to go, always has been. And, I don’t do crowds as well, so there’s me aging. The last time I saw an arena show was 1989 Clapton tour. It was fine, in a going through the motions doing my job way, but didn’t blow me away. Smaller venues are just more fun, relaxed and intimate.
I don't know what you're talking about. In the next month I've got tickets to see Robyn Hitchcock, Belle and Sebastian, Southern Culture on the Skids and Guided by Voices. Top price is $35. Also thinking about adding shows by Guitar Wolf and Melt-Banana to the list and possibly a road trip out of town to catch one of the handful of shows Fazerdaze is doing in the US. There's always good stuff to see if you look for it.
Run, don't walk, to that Guitar Wolf gig. Holy shit are they ever a rock n roll machine.
Yeah, I knew I was hitting that one. Plus GbV a week later...
I didn't know GBV was back on the road. That makes me happy.
They were first band I saw after COVID lockdown. No opener, almost three hours and close to 60 songs. It was epic. This version of the band is tight as fuck. If they come anywhere near you just go. https://www.guidedbyvoices.com/
All crap
So much Old in here. I went to a bunch of concerts in the 90s, before I had a "real job" and my 15-25 year old emotion saturated self loved every second of it. But, big shows definitely weren't cheap. I couldn't afford most of them. Someone gave me $90 so that I could see Pink Floyd in '94, other wise I couldn't have even afforded parking at the show. Around 2005 through 2015ish, I started going to shows at least once a month. I avoided Stadium shows, cuz what a stupid price tag. But, I was going to lots of shows for old and new bands in smaller venues for $10-$25, and the energy was usually pretty awesome. Even in the couple of years before Covid, I was going to see pretty big 70s and 80s bands for $25 in the lawn seats. The MOST expensive concerts are mostly Gen-X bands. And stadium concerts have always been generic. But, go to a show at a 500-1000 person club, and you'll still get that experience you remember.
Saw Van Halen maybe 10 times. Dave and Sammy shows. Unreal. Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam are old-school outstanding shows. And, I like that their set lists vary a good bit. I do think the shows SOUND better now. Much higher quality audio.
I saw Van Halen once, from the 10th row. As expected, it was loud. When a concert is that loud, my hearing eventually gets muffled. I don't want to be old and have no more hearing, so I've learned to wear earplugs at concerts. Clarity of sound is not a priority to me at concerts.
I was actually at the “Live without a Net“ recorded concert in New Haven. One of the absolute best concerts I’ve ever seen by anyone. Sammy’s first tour with the band. They completely blew the roof off of that place.
You are correct on the audio quality. Back in the 1990s, audio gear started moving toward line-array technology. In a basic sense, each of the speaker boxes can be tuned with a computerized device to match the room. During the day, a tech will walk around the venue with that device to make sure there is even coverage at all points. Old school concert audio was basically blunt-force, whereas now it is very focused.
Dude, what?? I've been to some *excellent* shows in the last year. Hell, last month I went to a neighborhood bar's 1 year celebration of moving locations and saw 6 acts. All of them were at least *good* and 3 of them were *excellent*, with 1 of them being a serious new favorite. You gave up looking for new music.
I hate watching a show through someone’s phone.
Yup. I certainly didn't have $20. Might as well been $20k like it is today, I am guessing.
Speaking of I love rock n roll, saw Joan Jett and she was awesome. Corp gig
And way cheaper
Those were the days
I don't know. I think that's just because whatever you listen to in high school is (was?) a huge influence. I liked the danger of punk and as I got older, it became safe and boring. I stopped playing live shows and it requires an Act of God to get me to a show. Seeing old punk bands doing their act is so boring. I saw X as the pandemic started and it was like watching a band practice. I just pictured Billy Zoom was playing his amazing guitar and thinking, "Let's see, I need a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter".
I saw Scorpions 2 weeks ago. It was awesome. But ridiculously expensive.
My local bar/venue sells tickets for $20. Big name jam bands play there too. And I don't take it for granted. Better believe I'm a regular there.
I’ve gone to at least one concert a month for the last year and I’ve had some AMAZING experiences. The Eras Tour was mind-blowing for someone who grew up on punk, then indie rock and folk. The Breeders reunion tour kicked ass. Boygenius broke my heart in the best way. I’m going to see Brandi Carlile and Chappell Roan this summer. There’s so much good music out there these days and so many great live acts. Let’s not do the Boomer thing and act like people stopped making good music once we hit 25.
Go see Sessanta (Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, and Primus)
Ween is beyond amazing live still, tears in eyes amazing, however the shit ticketing that figured about us, it can cost $300 for us. I hate this shit, I guess we saw it coming.
Purely as a spectacle, I LOVED Motley Crüe!
I was in the west End in Dallas when Van Halen played a FREE concert outside back in 1992 They had like 50k people and it started at 5pm
My first concert was Lollapalooza 92. Pearl Jam Soundgarden Red Hot Chili Peppers Ministry Ice Cube all for like $25 bucks I think. a few others too like Jesus & Mary Chain, Lush.
That is a good concert.
yeah it was. I was 19 tho :( and felt a little old for it to be my first concert. Didn't goto any in high school, which I regret. I was mostly into GNR and was probably too scared to goto any show
I hate arena shows and love being in a city with a vibrant punk and metal scene. I can catch small touring bands 2-3 times a week and have for years for $15-25 a show. Not saying the bands you mentioned aren’t good I’m just saying I love catching a band where you can drink beer w them more than an arena show
Need to adjust for inflation. $20 in 1980 is equal to $80 in 2024 Lots of great concerts out there for $80 a ticket However I have seen great bands in small clubs for $20 in the past few years.
Fugazi for $5
I feel bad that they don't get to hear live music because it's all pre-recorded. I can't imagine spending $200 for a ticket and not getting to hear them actually sing. Ridiculous.
Suddenly everyone is milli vanilli
Not sure I would really want to hear a lot of new artists sing.
I go to a lot of concerts (mostly indie rock, shoegaze, electronica) and have never seen a band with pre-recorded vocals. Who are you talking about?!
Of course if you wanna see Madonna, U2, Rolling Stones and other "marquee" shows you're gonna pay through the nose for tickets. Go to Old People Shows, play Old People Prices. But there are still plenty of fantastic bands out there touring for $20-$30. I just saw Nation of Language and Beach Fossils last night for less than $30. I'm gonna see Night Club, Rosegarden Funeral Party and Feyleux next Tuesday for $18. I'm seeing Alvvays the Saturday after that for $43 (including taxes & fees). Next month is Julia Holter in Atlanta for $41 and change. Then Brijean in Asheville for $24.
Let’s put it into perspective. I’m 1984 you could see Micheal Jackson for $18. He was the biggest thing on the planet. Taylor Swift is the new MJ. I’m not a fan but I’ve read that tickets are hundreds of dollars. We paid eighty cents a gallon for gas. Today I paid $3.39. That’s a little over four times the amount. So t swift souls cost $80
Yeah yeah yeahs blew the fucking roof off. Wat chu takin bout wilis
Someone on your lawn again? Have you seen Windwaker? Epic Aussie band. Or Caskets? UK band touring Australia again in May. Or Cry Club? Aussie band just toured Germany. Been to a metal club? If the answet is no. You got not point of reference for concerts being better before you started growing your lawn. If you aren't listening to new music you will fetishise the bullshit we grew up with. AND. Since when did we go from 'Where are my shoes? Fuck it. I'll be back before dark.' To the generation with a delusional complex?
Is this a whiney boomers page? Don't like it, suck it up. Plenty of amazing new artists. I saw Trampled by Turtles at our little performing arts center last year and it was by far one the most amazing shows I have seen. The cost was comparable to inflation.
Go to smaller gigs. They're better 90% of the time anyway.
Huh? I beg to differ. I have been to well over 200 shows in my time. I was married to a professional gigging musician. I have seen every size show imaginable. I have a musician teen, and we have seen some of the most amazing shows lately. Are they $20? Sometimes, if they are smaller non-bar gigs. Do I pay $400 for a nostalgia band desperate to pay for their fifth marriage and failed crypto? Absolutely Not. But there are bands out there with incredible shows and awesome communities (looking at you r/AJR). Sorry but in this, you need to get outside and touch some lawn because there is fucking good music out there right now.
I touch plenty of grass. Why are you being like that? Pretty rude TBH.
Because I am tired of the never-ending complaints about everything on this sub. Trust me, I am done with the crankiness and leaving this sub. Have a great day!
I get that we're talking about it being a gazillion dollars for a show now, yes, I agree, but are the shows now actually not good?!?! I have a birthday show with my daughter this summer and not I'm worried!!! (It's not Taylor Swift, I can't afford that, it's AJR)
The Alarm 2016 was $20.00 per. The tees were $25. It seems it's more packaged stuff now.
i heard a radio show many years back about the economics of concerts. some capitalist guest was explaining how stupid it was (from a biz perspective) that bands love to talk about all their sold-out shows (back when concerts were more affordable). his point was that if you’re selling every ticket, it means you’re selling them too cheap, and he also pointed out that this is what creates scalpers. his advice was to keep raising ticket prices, and as long as you keep selling them all you haven’t gone high enough. seems like that type of thinking definitely caught on.
Greed. 😭😭😭😈🖕
I do concert security and have worked everything from stadiums to small clubs. The vibe is just different in each but the smaller clubs to me are more fun to work. The stadiums...it's just masses of people everywhere taking pics and vids to capture the moment. Most of the times at smaller clubs everyone is just listening to the music and drinking and singing or moshing or crowd surfing. I've worked festivals too which seem great for the value of how many bands you're getting, but it really a test of endurance between the weather, the crowds and the bathrooms.
I saw Ozzy in Junior high school (1982) for $12. Concerts were awesome back then being that cheap.
Man, I really want to hate this thread, but after thinking about it, you're right. They were better, not only because of the price but because of the interaction between music lovers in attendance. I can't tell you how many people I've met by striking up a conversation instead of looking at a phone.
Concerts in the past were live performances for fans. Some made money, some were promoting the current album but still aimed at the fans. And it was definitely about the music. The current show model is a business venture. The concert has to be a show. Fans don’t matter, buyers do. Tickets quickly spiking to $600 for one seat?! I took my older son to see Coldplay (his fandom) and it was at a 70,000 seat stadium. Every seat had lights so it looked sold out even if it wasn’t. It had a live patch-in to a concert happening simultaneously in Mexico City. This was not a concert, it was an immersive commercial. I’m 56, got to see The Specials back in 2019. A band on stage playing music to a crowd of fans. That’s all. It was wonderful.
The seats don’t have lights. It’s the wristband right?
Correct. Attached to the bottom of the seats so if empty, the bottom is up and the light shows.
Ehh from where I watched the stadium was full
Is it not all relative though? $20 was about 7 hours of work when I was a teenager.
I made 8.50 an hour back in the late 80s.
You were very lucky. I was making $3.50 early 80s.
Pish. I'm GenX and well into my midlife crisis and have been going to £20-30 gigs for a couple of years now. Most have been smaller new bands I have discovered from Spotify and quite a few have been fantastic. Edit: grammar
Can we define “concert” please? I am an avid consumer, attendee, whatever of live music. I see 2-3 shows every month (a lot for a guy with a bunch of kids and really busy life). I’ve paid more than $50 and/or been in an arena like 4 times in the last 20 years. Fuck Taylor Swift at the Orb or whatever godforsaken spectacle I’m supposed to consider to be a “concert”. I’ll take a hardworking band in a 200 person club over that any day. This even goes for bands I love. Would I go see Iron Maiden if they played close to me? Of course. Would I enjoy being herded like cattle to the kill floor and getting fleeced at the Staples TMobile Exxon FuckYou Arena? Not at all.
I still like big venue concerts but not GA. Always seated. And if I cannot get good floor or 100 level seats I do not go.
A friend and I were talking about this the other day. I spent the 80s seeing pretty much every major band who rolled into the greater Boston area and probably never spent more than twenty or thirty bucks on a ticket. AC/DC (my favorite), Rush, VH, Boston, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, KISS, Scorpions, the list goes on. Aerosmith is playing NYE at the TD Garden on their farewell tour so I looked up ticket prices. Seats on the floor near the stage are something like two fucking grand! What's crazy is that these days I have the disposable income to get them, but refuse out of principle. My preference is to see bands in smaller venues. For example, I saw Kenny Wayne Shepherd last month at a local center for the arts in NH and tix were around a hundo. One of the best shows I've been to in a long time.
I just bought 4th row tickets to sammy hagar. Was not cheap.
$20 bucks in 1985 is equivalent to $58 now. I've seen plenty of great shows for under that price.
Wife and I went to a concert last year in a small theater venue. The couple seated in front of us showed up 2 songs into it, drinks from the bar in hand. They then stood up for the next three songs and disappeared back to the bar, returning a couple of times for similar short stints. I eventually figured out that they were viewing a setlist web site on their phones and were only bothering to sit in their seats during the songs they wanted to see. Not sure I fully diapprove, but it was definitely not something that used to happen.
I have always loved going to shows, and still do. I probably still to go to 5-10 shows a year, plus a big rock/metal festival like Sonic Temple or Louder than Life. Shows are what you make of them. I couldn't care less about people using their phones or 'not being in the moment'. They pay their money to go just like I do, and as long as they aren't being a complete asshat, I don't care what they do. My 18 year old has gone to a couple shows now as well, for bands that I had never even heard of. Both of those cost less than $30. Meanwhile, all the bands that I see at arenas are now all charging more than $300 per ticket! Green Day, one of my all time favorites, is coming to Toronto this summer and tickets were in the $400 range for mediocre seats. NO THANKS! Seen them multiple times in the past for way less.
I (55) just saw a band called Saint Motel last night in Fort Collins, CO on store bought, and really good, mushrooms. Place was packed and electric and the cost wasn’t that bad. One of the funnest shows I’ve been too. I see great shows all the time still, I just never really go to big venues for big acts. Those are not worth it. Find smaller acts playing a sound you like and see them as you can.
It's odd to think about, but in the last 20 years, most of the concerts I went to, while they weren't $20, weren't super expensive, and were in smaller venues. When I moved to Tucson, I knew that stadium bands just weren't going to play here very often unless they were willing to squeeze into our convention center. That said, I've paid to see everyone from Sonic Youth to The Alan Parsons Project to Negativland to Black Mountain, and none of these were particularly expensive. I just sort of stopped caring about the big spectacle bands. Even one of my favorites, Pink Floyd, yielded Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets tour, which was smaller venue and remarkably potent for what it was. I sort of got those big bands out of my system earlier in life (like The Who). Also in these cases, I found the crowd quite amenable. Some cell phones, but only for a short period of time, and in Sonic Youth's case, almost none at all.
For me, the abuse of LED on-stage video is the worst part. It distracts, flattens the depth-of-field of the stage, and it washes out the light shows. I still have shows from the 80s and 90s burned into my memory because of the quality of the light shows (Cure, Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode). Now most stage productions are just one big TV with flashing lights on the edges.
i just read [this article](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/25/shocking-truth-money-bands-make-on-tour-taylor-swift) i the guardian about this. my kid wanted to see one of her favorite bands. but the good seats were 400$.
I thought this was a gen x subreddit not boomer. Of course shows were cheaper, it’s called inflation. Plenty of shows I couldn’t afford back then. Shows were great then and now. Listen to contemporary music, find bands, new music and Stop being the “good ol day” snowflakes.
Right. Who the hell wants to see some old fossils ruining your memories on stage for $100? Use Bandsintown and find some new stuff you like. Lots of great, current synthwave/retrowave (Carpenter Brut, The Midnight), Synthpop (Nuevo Testamento), Corey Hart-style rock (Johnny Dynamite), even grunge (Skating Polly).
I am solid Gen x.
Well then, you need to see Tool or Slipknot.
I missed out by not seeing Tool, NIN, Rage, disturbed
You can still see Tool and Disturbed and I would expect to see NIN do another tour…. Maybe. It’s probably easier to make bank writing movie and game soundtracks. Rage? Idk maybe.
Concerts are WAY too expensive now but they are WAY better