May 31, 2009
What’s the most you’d pay to see a musician, and who’s that musician?
I probably wouldn’t spend over about $10 for a concert.
Except for front row Lyle Lovett tickets. Then I’d pay $15.
You?
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Usually not more than $20. But I admit it: I did pay $70 for a U2 ticket for this October. I like them enough, and have heard enough crazy things about their concerts, and they’re old enough, that I figured: I should see ‘em *once* while they’re still around.
$ 15. Phil Keaggy.
Dave Brubeck… $45.
I’ve paid $45 before and that was for Steven Curtis Chapman. Worth every dime!!! For him, I’d pay $45 again. Now if I could get a sitter for my 6 kids….
Great question.
And true, if you make a habit of going out of the $12 range, your pockets are deeper than mine :)
The Transiberian Orchestra was pretty sweet. I think it was close to $40. It was a date with the wife. Still, it’s just tough to beat good cheap rock and roll.
Probably $120. Paul Simon. That would be a rare expense though.
I’d pay $30 to see Ben Harper.
The same goes for Bob Marley and Louis Armstrong, if they were still around.
I’d pay $100 for U2.
I traded my favorite pair of shoes for tix to see Lyle in 1995. And I’d gladly have thrown in my belt to move to the front.
KP
$30 Decemberists
$100 Beatles
$100 Sinatra
Okay, maybe I’d pay more for the last two, seeing as they are dead and it’d be a neat trick if they were still playing a show.
I paid $45 for Stone Temple Pilots when I was in college. Wouldn’t do that again.
Honestly I can’t think of anyone I’d pay that much for now. Maybe if Pink Floyd decided to tour The Final Cut…
I would still like to see Dylan before he’s dead … not Dylan with The Dead mind you.
I passed on $45 tickets at the X, though I’m kicking myself. And I couldn’t get my act together for election night concert last fall.
I paid $60 each for Sigur Ros tickets for my wife and I and I would’ve paid $100 each. It was the best show I’d ever seen/ heard in my life hands down. It was at Benaroya Hall here in Seattle.
I’d pay the same to see Radiohead. Maybe more….$150?
I paid $40 each for tickets to a Chad & Jeremy concert (British singing duo from the 1960s who still tour), and then paid the same again to see them in a different venue the next night. I would have paid double that, too, for the chance to see my wife become a 12-year-old teeny bopper again. She’s been a faithful fan since 1964.
With almost all concerts available on DVD, I prefer to enjoy the artists I like in the comfort of my home.
I love your blog!
$35 for Coldplay in Des Moines this summer (those were the cheapest tickets- if I wanted floor it was over $100). I figured how often does Coldplay come to Iowa?
I paid $50 for Ray LaMontagne tix- so worth every penny!
There are a few favorites I would pay that much to see but nothing more. My limit is usually $12 otherwise.
huh. The ones I’d be interested seeing in concert aren’t necessarily the ones I enjoy listening to.
I went to see Janet Jackson (opener was Usher) in college. (Can’t remember how much $$ I paid.) But, if I’m gonna pay up, I want to see some tight choreography, lots of costume changes and maybe some pyrotechnics.
Flight of the Conchords had a costume change that was worth all 46 dollars and 50 cents.
I paid $100 to see Coldplay. The show’s in July so we’ll see, but I have friends that saw them in the summer and are paying that much to see them again so I’m guessing it’s good. Before this, I think $50 was my max.
jennapants … why am I both surprised and not surprised that you would love a Janet Jackson concert?
also…
sometimes i don’t even like the live experience. you know, like you see the fans and you just start to feel like a lemming or something. fans are just so distracting for me. (guess that’s why i need the choreography and pyrotechnics…)
I paid $250 for 2 front row seats to Steven Curtis Chapman. However, 100% went to ShowHope.org, their adoption ministry.
Otherwise, I’ve paid no more than $75 per seat. That was SCC + Michael W. Smith.
well i turned down paying $200 for U2 even though i have promised myself “someday” after not taking two offers of seeing them at 7th Ave in Minneapolis in 1982 (the tickets were about $5 if I recall correctly) preferring to take my Britiish foreign exchange friend instead; showed up and it was SOLD OUT! WAAAA….
Now i did pay 1800 Baht a ticket for LInkin Park…in Bangkok…
I think that was about $50-55 US. However, I gave that ticket away because I broke my foot — then, I got a picked to get a backstage pass; condition, had to have a ticket…so I got a cheapo ticket for 600 baht –but when picked it up at “will call” it changed into not one 600 baht ticket but four 1800 baht tickets…
A bit more than you asked for huh?
I’ve never paid more than $60 for a concert ticket, and that was for Green Day at the John Labatt Centre here in London. That said, my preferred limit is $30, and I’d only happily pay that for… no one, because most bands aren’t worth $10.
$1000 to see JS Bach in person.
I just paid $50 for Kris Kristofferson. Probably wouldn’t do it again, although it was good.
I’d also pay to see Counting Crows.
i would pay 100 or even 200 dollars to see Radiohead or Sufjan Stevens again! Sufjan was the best show i’ve ever been to.
$120 for U2 tickets for Father’s Day for my hubby… (that’s for two tickets)
Would he or she be performing?
Myrddin, Dylan is pretty much dead already. I paid $60 to see him last year and overpaid by $55.
I’d pay up to $75 to see:
Counting Crows
Indigo Girls
Elvis Costello
Lyle Lovett is worth every penny of that $12 and even more. His string section in the Large Band might be the most talented ever assembled on a stage mere mortals could afford to hear. What a show!
A quality music festival is the best and cheapest way to see live music.
I would pay $100 to see The Myriad, Future of Forestry, and The Echoing Green if they would tour together.
I have paid $120 to see Depeche Mode, third row, but it just made me feel old and rich.
well, I once paid $800 for two tenth. row seats in-the Atlantic City Convention Center to see Andrea Boccelli.. I think that was before my conversion. Now, ever since Abraham turned me on to them, I’d only pay that kind of moolah for The Get Rites.
i’ve been to zillions of free, cheap, and not-so-cheap concerts, but i paid . . . well, a whole lot for Billy Joel & Elton John (after they sold out). it was birthday present for my fiance though, and we both really like those guys, and i really, really like my fiance.
besides that, the most i would pay is $100 to go back in time and see Five Iron Frenzy live. not sure if i’d pay $100 for a reunion tour . . .
no more than $25.00 to see switchfoot or other bands like coldplay, dave matthews or sufjan stevens. i’d go as high as $60.00 to see U2, REM or lifehouse.
Paid $100 for Coldplay last summer. Paying $100 again to see them this summer. Absolutely worth it.
Weezer I paid $30.00
Carrie Underwood I Paid $50.00
Neil Young I Paid $68.00
Kiss, Just to say I saw them live, I paid $100.00
George Strait, I would spend $300
and Johnny Cash = Priceless !
Paid $55 a piece to see The Eagles last fall…Dan paid $100. to see U2 this Sept with Gus and Anie!
I’d pay $95 to see Susan Boyle.
i paid 60 to see george strait.
i paid 30 to see lifehouse and goo goo dolls together.
i dont have a set limit b/c i love live music and it would just depend on circumstances.
Generally speaking I’m right there with AP. Most of the people worth seeing are in the $12-15 range anyway– for the huge acts the experience isn’t going to be that different from the CD.
But I’d pay bigger amts to see legends who won’t be with us forever. Willie Nelson and Van Morrison come to mind. They’re both in the $75 range and I’d pay it if I had it.
Also, if something’s a big event worth celebrating, something that would be a great memory. Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival did a New Year’s show this year at the Fox in ATL, and I would have paid the $40-something if I’d wanted to drive.
pay about $35.00 to see Leo Kottke – I have seen him four times in concert and it always is very worth it.
The last time Los Lobos opened for him.
I have paid exorbitant fees to see Dave Matthews and I wasn’t really interested – lots of potheads lettin’ the music “set ‘em free” and so on and so forth.
The last concert was Billy Joel/Elton John together – 3.5 hour concert for >$120.00. I would pay that again only to see the Down from The Mountain tour concert again (post O! Brother Where Art Thou).
I paid $150 to see U2 this fall at Solider Field.
Sufjan Stevens performing alongside Daft Punk, Tom Waits, and Miles Davis.
I would pay a pirates booty for that.
I’d pay $150 for U2 or Radiohead. See you at the Soldier Field show, sjohnson0107!!
Id pay up to $2k to go see the Beatles, I do not know if that would handle my time travel cost.
I have paid $200 for U2. And around $100 for Tom Waits, both worth it.
re: Bach…while we can’t judge the heart, it’s entirely possible you’ll be able to attend a Bach concert some day, full of praise to the One who created music, and not have to pay a dime! ;)
Michael –
You obviously haven’t heard the new album.
I know he’s off and on on tour though. That’s part of my hesitation.
Wow .. look at all that money on the table!!! Amazing. We are a wealthy, wealthy culture. Can you believe it?
B. B. King!!! I paid $35 twice, or was one of them $65? I’d pay $100 to see him one more time. He’s a true legend, a piece of American history, and won’t be around a whole lot longer (turns 84 this year)… His concerts are still phenomenal.
I might pay $500 20 years from now when you, Molly, and your kids have a traveling family band.
I’d pay at least $50 to see Patty Griffin or Glen Hansard/Swell Season. At least that.
David on lyre– freewill offering ;o)
I paid $100 to buy U2 tickets in Raleigh and $100 for the Advance conference in the same week. Had a friend ask me if they were really that different. Seeing Pastor Piper will be awesome, seeing Bono will be fun.
My family thinks I’m crazy…but I’d pay $150 to see Elton John in concert if I can get a fellow fan to attend with me. Great music, great times, great memories.
I would pay upwards of $100 for the following:
Rascal Flatts
Michael Buble
Queen-if they were to get back together with a new lead singer…
Robert Plant & Allison Krause
There are probably a few more but I can’t think of them at the moment.
$40 – Warped Tour to see many, many musicians :D
Plus you get a lotta free stuff!
I paid about $50 to see Pink Floyd once.
And I’ve seen Lyle Lovett in concert 3 times. He signed a poster to me and my fiance (now wife): “Good luck on getting married. -Lyle.”
My mind went to what the Apostle Paul might pay to be entertained….to say nothing of Jesus Himself….or, someone in Haiti or Bangladesh. I don’t mean to make anyone feel guilty….or maybe that wuldn’t be wrong either….helps us to think in perspective.
I’ll give you $75 for those front row Lyle tickets.
I’ve been to at least 100 concerts (I’m 50, ya’ll) and two bands I’ve never seen that I would pay a small fortune to see are U2 and Boston (in their prime).
I have a ticket stub from Springteen’s Born in the USA tour in 1984 (not anywhere near front row)….$5.50.
I pay almost $80 to go to the movies with my family — though we most often just RedBox a flick and pop a couple bags of popcorn and come out under $10.
I say that to point out that it’s not really what you spend: it’s who you’re really spending it on. I wouldn’t pay $100 to see U2 or Springsteen (even though I did see the Boss live in Syracuse in 1985 — blow out), but I might pay $200 to take my kids and wife to see some unknown bluegrass bands or Shoji Tabushi at Branson because we’d remember it forever.
I once paid $115 per ticket for row 13 seats to see Keith Urban. It was for an anniversary though. Normally I pay between $30-45.
generally i’d cap my limit at $20 but was willing to fork over $111.44 for u2 this september
$50 for Jamie Cullum or $35 for Amos Lee in smaller venue like the Fitzgerald.
There is no one I’m willing to see (for any amount) at the Xcel Energy Center or Target Center.
$30 for John Mayer, although I could be convinced to spend another $5. They would have to be good seats. So $35
In 2001, my good friend and his wife and my wife and I decided to do something extravagant before heading off to seminary and being poor for the next 4 years. The three of them voted on U2. I couldn’t imagine spending $100 a piece on a concert (especially when I’m perfectly happy at a $5 outdoor bluegrass venue), but I didn’t want to be a party pooper, so I forked out the cash… it was awesome! Plus it was emotional, since U2 had revamped their tour to honor the 9-11 victims. Since then, I’ve spent $80 for two tickets to see Lyle Lovett at the Opry, $35 for one ticket to see Toad the Wet Sprocket reunion tour in Indy, and I just forked out $60 to see Neko Case at the Ryman, but i’m spending birthday money on that… not sure I could spend my hard-earned cash on an expensive ticket anymore.
Ravinia lawn seats in Chicago absulutely cannot be beat. 15 bucks for Tony Bennett with a Giordano’s deep dish, Diet Cokes, and chocolate on a blanket. Bliss.
I paid $18 to see Twila Paris and about $15 or $20 to see Phillips, Craig and Dean. Other than that, I seem to have found ways to see other musicians without paying a lot of money.
Rich Mullins–free for calling a radio station and answering a trivia question correctly (although I would have paid to see him)
Denver and the Mile HIgh Orchestra–free for ushering at the concert
The Five Browns–tickets ususally run $45. Paid about $50 (plus lodging) to attend our state music teachers conference and they were the featured artists, so I got the whole weekend of conference workshops, the 5 Browns workshop, plus their concert for the price of one of their tickets
One year we attended a Christian festival week at an amusement park (Darien Lake, NY). $800 for six of us to sleep in a hotel for the week, ride all the rides, and see all of the concerts and speakers–multiple concerts a day. I know to some that’s not very spiritual, but we had a wonderful time
The most I would pay? I can’t tell. Too many variables to consider.
$38 each for Gaither Homecoming Tour
Once in a lifetime…nearly choked on the price–$188 all told for DH and myself by the time all the fees and parking were added in–that’s BEFORE we arrived.
I paid 90 to see Coldplay. In retrospect I feel convicted that it was a pretty unwise way to dole out the finances I have been entrusted with. Henceforth 12 would be the most I’d pay for an artist with the exception of maybe Pedro the Lion or William Fitzsimmons–I’d willingly go up to maybe 15 or 18 bucks for either.
Scratch that–I’d be willing to pay 25 if not more to see Sufjan Stevens or Sigur Ros. Truth be told I am not sure if I can really put a cap on how much I’d be willing to pay to see either.
$67.50 + gas money to drive to South Bend, IN so my fiance can see 3 of his favorite musicians this 4th of July- John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.
Worth every penny and 16 total hours of driving in one day!!
Paid maybe $10 to see radiohead in ’95 at 1st ave.
£30 to see U2 outdoors in Belfast ’97. Best concert experience ever of course.
I think about 60 bucks for coldplay, another $60 for U2 the same week in mpls 2005.
About $4 to $5 to see Abraham Piper rock stillwater in the early part of this century. I’d do that again for as much as $6.
A 33% increase, Nate. Nice!
I’d be happy to get good tickets to a high quality opera or symphony orchestra for $40 or so. Happy if it’s less, of course, but I know I’d savor it so much it would be worth it! $100 would be worth it for me to hear some of the deepest and greatest classical musicians (generally not the showy ones, someone old and deep with musical wisdom, like Leon Fleisher or Itzakh Perlman). I believe concerts can change my life. It’s worth it when I know it’s going to be worth it!
Ditto about Bach from someone above me! :
“while we can’t judge the heart, it’s entirely possible you’ll be able to attend a Bach concert some day, full of praise to the One who created music, and not have to pay a dime! ;)” And Mendelssohn is probably a brother in the Lord too.
I’m interested by the fact that so many people are devoted to U2. Interesting…
I paid a little more than $90 each for two tickets to see B.B. King and Buddy
Guy this upcoming in February at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Worth it for two reasons:
1) the Ryman only seats about 350 people so it will be a great atmosphere.
2) We went to see B.B. King on our second date 15 years ago.