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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat was the least amount you paid for a concert ticket?
Reading that the Rolling Stones are charging $170 - $635 for the standard seats, and $750 - $2000 for VIP seats, in upcoming concerts. Before scalpers.
I saw them for $10 a ticket, front row balcony seats, in 1978.
I spent $18 for three days at Woodstock.
I saw BB King for $2.50, and then snuck into the expensive $4.50 seats.
and I passed up a chance to see the Mahavishnu Orchestra for $1.00.
and 19-year-old Bonnie Raitt on the lawn at my college, just her and her guitar, for free.
NRaleighLiberal
(59,940 posts)Just before their debut album went big - they were very good - I was in the front row!
we are talking many, many years ago - Rocky Point Park, Rhode island
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)These days it's ridiculous.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)1978, Houston Coliseum, Darkness at the Edge of Town Tour (First one after Born to Run).
Found a stub. $7.00. Pretty good seats. Maybe even the floor with wooden folding chairs.
I was a senior in college.
Yeah I'm old. Get off my lawn. No, don't. Pull some weeds.
sadbear
(4,340 posts)but when I was in high school about 20 years ago, you could regularly see ANY band for $25 or less at the Woodlands Pavilion north of Houston. Of course, the Stones and Paul McCartney played the Astrodome for quite a bit more, and Pink Floyd played Rice Stadium for about the same as the former.
HarveyDarkey
(9,077 posts)A friend & I sneaked around the fence. Too many good bands & too many good drugs to remember it all:
A few listed here:The Flying Burrito Brothers
Little Richard, Johnny Winter, Mason Profit, Illinois Speed Press, Chamber Bros., Joan Baez, Leon Russel, Poco, Everly Bros., The Sons of Champlain, Reo Speedwagon, Doobie Bros
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)They tried not to ever charge more than that.
Prisoner_Number_Six
(15,676 posts)at Starwood in Nashville. Best evening of my life, hanging out in an auditorium full of fellow aging stoner hippies, just grooving on those sweet three part harmonies...
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)at an antiwar rally in SF in 1969. A lot of bands were there.
Oh, Altamont, but that wasn't much fun.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)(early 80s) tickets were pretty regularly 10 to 15 bucks. I don't think I have many ticket stubs that show anything under 10 but there might have been some...
But I go to a lot more small venue shows and can still get into them for 10 to 15 bucks.
The MOST I ever paid was 300$ for VIP package to see Rush on the tour before last. I was about 14 rows back and got lots of extra stuff - special VIP only shirt, posters, DVD/CD etc...I'm glad I did it once but I just got regular seats to see them in 2 weeks. Well, kinda regular - still paid around a hundred...
denbot
(9,894 posts)La Serna High School gym. 6 months later they were headlining at the Forum, but I was to cheap to pay $5.50 in 1976
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)at the San Francisco Fillmore 1969.
PufPuf23
(8,689 posts)I saw Mad Dogs and Englishman featuring Joe Cocker and Van Morrison at Winterland on a weekend for $3.50 circa 1969.
Was whenBill Grahan was using Winterland with the upstairs closed and the stage on the northside rather than the west side of the venue.
I went to Graham shows at Fillmore, Fillmore West (most) and Winterland about 75 times 67 to 74.
The shows at Fillmore West were $3 on Thursday and Sunday and you got a big poster and $3.50 on Fridays and Saturdays and one got the small handbill.
Sometimes Grahamn would schedule Thursdays and Sundays at Fillmore West and the weekend days at Winterland for more popular acts.
It is hard to believe one could see such good and enduring music so cheap and in what were relatively small venues (Fillmore West) by today's standards.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)And I'm pretty sure it was the Fillmore, although it could have been Winterland. Some of my memories are kind of foggy from those days. I do recall that it was a great show, though.
PufPuf23
(8,689 posts)Fri/Sat were Winterland and prices differed $3 vs $3.50 on the weekend dates.
Ahem. I may have taken some trendy chemical amusement aids myself.
Off of the top of my head I saw Doors, Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Zappa/Mothers, Janis and Big Brother, Country Joe and the Fish, Creedence Clearwater, Kinks, Pink Floyd, Velvet Underground, Byrds, CSN&Y, Allman Brothers (opening act for BB King and Buddy Guy), Elton John (also opening act), Ike and Tina Turner Review, Sly and Family Stone, Faces (w/Rod Stewart and Mick Taylor), 10 Years After, Spirit (one of my favorites bands ever), Quicksilver Messenger Service,Steve Miller, Butterfield Blues Band (Bloomfield& Elvin Bishop on guitars), Delaney and Bonnie (Raitt) and Friends including Eric Clapton, etc etc Almost all for $3.50.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)slight correction, though. Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, not Raitt, different artists.
olddots
(10,237 posts)Boston Tee Party Jeff Beck Band (Rod Stewart vocals -Ron Wood bass ) 2.50$
Cream at the Cross Town Bus in Boston 2$
Hendrix with Sly & the Family Stone opening at the Filmore East 3.75$
nobody patted you down ,told you where you couldn't go ,made you feel like a peon and you didn't have to be 3000 feet from the stage.
Bruce & the E Street band Cambridge Mass 1973 ? 4$ I could go on but I'd start crying .
GReedDiamond
(5,299 posts)...Stevie Wonder was the opening act, Chicago, International Amphitheater, June 20, 1972, ticket price: $6.50.
fizzgig
(24,146 posts)they played our city's end of summer festival. saw alison krauss last year. i am pretty sure we got into smashmouth for free.
i paid $18 to see rancid in 06. i'd love to find my green day and offspring stubs from 97, i couldn't have paid all that much for them. i saw all three of them at one of the seedier venues in denver. first thing we saw when we walked into one of the shows was a guy getting a blow job in the corner. the dwarves couldn't have been more than maybe $15.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... on opening day. After that it's still cheap:
Summerfest in Milwaukee!!
June 26 - 30, July 2-7, 2013
General Admission (Valid Any Time)
Purchased before May 5: $15
Purchased May 5 - June 2: $16
Tuesday-Friday, prior to 4:00 pm
Purchased before May 5: $8
Purchased May 5 - June 2: $9
General Admission
Valid any time: $17
Tuesday-Friday, prior to 4:00 pm: $10
Seniors (60 and over): $5
Children (10 and under): $5
Infants (2 and under): FREE
http://summerfest.com/tickets
http://summerfest.com/lineup
(headliners cost more)
av8rdave
(10,569 posts)City festival in northeast Texas.
MrScorpio
(73,626 posts)Callmecrazy
(3,065 posts)Summer 1983 on the Atlantic City beach. I was 17.
DFW
(54,056 posts)But that's because I was the featured solo act
backwoodsbob
(6,001 posts)I helped move Molley Hatchets speakers at the Brushfork armory and in turn got front row tickets,,,This was the Danny Joe Brown Molley Hatchet
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)And the concert also featured Bobby Hebb, the Ronettes, and I forget who else.
The Beach Boys free multiple times when the National Park Service used to sponsor them annually on the National Mall in D.C. for the 4th of July.
I think The Mamas & The Papas were free (for 4th of July in the D.C. area when they stopped booking the Beach Boys on the Mall), but only John and Denny were original. McKenzie Phillips substituted for her mom and 'Spanky' (of Spanky & Our Gang) filled in for the late Cass Elliot. In the parking lot of RFK Stadium.
RiffRandell
(5,909 posts)That's awesome!
bike man
(620 posts)Elvis appeared at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, FL. Juvenile Court Judge Marion Gooding warned Elvis in chambers after the first show that he must tone down his act. Elvis told reporters 'i can't figure out what I'm doing wrong'. Elvis modifies his show nonetheless, wiggling his little finger suggestively with a gesture that replaces some of his less restrained body movements and at the same time still drives the audience wild.
'One of the most memorable events in the theatre's history occurred in 1956, when Elvis Presley came to the Florida Theatre for his first concert appearance on an indoor stage. Presley, the City of Jacksonville and the Florida Theatre found themselves subjects of a LIFE Magazine feature when Juvenile Court Judge Marion Gooding sat through the performance to ensure that Presley's body movements would not become too suggestive'. .
<one more small snip> And you can't blame the crowd for its craziness. Just read the ad from the Florida Times-Union that ran the morning of the first show. It's jazzed up with bold letters and bolder claims. 'On stage today and tomorrow!' 'Mr. Dynamite -- in person!' 'The sensation of the nation!' In fact, 'the nation's only atomic powered singer!' The three big shows each night were well worth the ticket price: $1.25 in advance or $1.50 at the door. - See more at:
http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/1956_florida_state_theater_august_10_11.html#sthash.syJ259MC.dpuf
malthaussen
(17,066 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)When I started going to the Proms (late '90s) that was the standing ticket price - it has since risen to £5.
Seated tickets are slightly lower than I'd expect for central London concerts, but the very cheap standing tickets are a major feature of the concert season.
They happen every night for about two months during the summer in the Royal Albert Hall, and get some of the very best orchestras and other ensembles every year.
Trajan
(19,089 posts)and that people do get into concerts for free, it seems kinda pointless ...
I have recently seen ( last 5 years) Nine Inch Nails for $45. Foo Fighters for $60, and Arcade Fire for $40 per seat : This should inform us that good concerts can be attended without breaking the family budget ...
the outrageous prices are just that ... outrageous, and we won't pay for them ... this by no means indicates that all tickets are out of reach for regular people
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)I'll listen to a lot of the huge names, but don't feel like spending two hundred dollars for a gen-ad ticket (outdoors at times!) with layers and layers of restrictions that most other concerts wouldn't have.
Most stuff in my neck of the woods is in the general range you're mentioning, and a lot less for more local acts, which I'm pretty happy with. There's stuff I'll willingly pay rather more for, depending on the performers and venue - Great Big Sea is fun enough when they're performing in Halifax that I'm okay with paying extra, and I'd probably be willing to give at least redundant organs to catch a show where their last stop in the tour was in St. John's.
redwitch
(14,933 posts)As a teenager I went to countless concerts at nearby Princeton University campus. Most tickets were $3. Those were the days!
RiffRandell
(5,909 posts)Last edited Sat Apr 13, 2013, 01:23 PM - Edit history (1)
It was 1987, went to see him in Mass with my current boyfriend and his friend. I was pretty wasted, and we got separated (he went to look at shirts) going into the Centrum and I lost my ticket.
These 3 guys saw I was distraught and I explained the situation. They gave me a ticket and didn't tell me it was front row until I followed them to our seats.
When the lights went on (after the show of course) I looked to the left and saw my bf and his friend and ran up to them, after thanking the guys of course.
I know it sounds crazy, but true story. They were so nice. My bf thought I went to a better seat, which I did.
I went to a lot of punk shows in the 80s where the tickets were as low as 5-7 bucks.
applegrove
(118,022 posts)She's a great performed. Worth every penny.
Flashmann
(2,140 posts)1970.50 cents.REO Speedwagon at the Grandstand Stage at the Champaign County(Illinois) Fair.
If that doesn't qualify then it would be the $5.00 for Canned Heat,3 years later.
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)Same Simon and Garfunkle, Aretha, Bruce, Mick Jagger, SO many many more - went as a seat filler for behind the stage, but most turned around and waved to us and we had TV panels to watch the front - was taped in 2 5 hour segments, Unbelievable fantastic - so much was cut from TV. A lot of the stars felt they had to turn around or stand back stage and give us show within a show, ,Need to do this again. Best tickets ever - but to get these tickets, we had to sit through a taping of Seinfeld's marriage ref pilot - ugh, sooo very bad, but only 2 hours out of my life, It was so bad, they recast it before showing it on TV
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)There were at least a dozen of them stuck into the chainlink fence at the gate...
This happens often at the Starlake Ampitheatre in Burgettstown.
Most ever paid: $500 for a pair at the Hampton Colesium in Hampton, VA.
Both were for Phish...
(I've seen almost 100 shows now, somewhere around 93/94...)
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,120 posts)It was there in Joplin. The Mark Chapman Band was playing. Dave decided I needed to do something so unlike me to get out of the depression that was setting in. He new I NEVER tried to snick in anything like a consort before. He on the other hand, was terrible ay doing it when he was a kid.
So their we are going through the back door and there was a guy on a phone. he looks up and says, "Hey you guys trying to get in to? Nobody is on this door!"
"Dave says, "Thanks guy!" and we go in. We set down at a table (It was a bar where they were playing) and a waitress come up with two beers saying they are from the band. We both look at each other, confused.
We, we got some answers when the band took the stage, the guy at the door with the phone was Mark Chapman. He remembered seeing Dave earlier that day on one of the clean up crews.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)at Rutgers U. back when he was virtually unknown.
jpak
(41,742 posts)Saw REM dozens of times at UGA, Tyrones, I&I, Mad Hatter etc. in Athens.
Tyrones was $2 to get in.
backwoodsbob
(6,001 posts)cost...zero....front row for Danny Joe....priceless
Texasgal
(17,029 posts)for New Order 1983.
Stevie Ray Vaughn, free several times along with Bonnie Rait, Christopher Cross and Pinetop Perkins.
Oh, Yeah... Cindy Lauper at Clubfoot before she was known. Free.
mokawanis
(4,434 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)But my god the Rolling Stones are ridiculously expensive. And Coachella is outrageous. Like the 3 day passes are in the $350 - $400 range.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)These prices are crazy.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)I paid $5 to hear Yehudi Menuhin perform at Carnegie Hall in 1979.
And Up With People gave a free performance at my high school
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)Houston Symphony under Sir John Barbirolli. I thought he was ancient. He was from the generation that was referred to as "longhair music" for classical. He was the first person I ever got an autograph from. There was a portrait of him on the wall holding his cello. The walls were blue curtains and the rooms were made up of 3 inch pipe with L joints--no walls backstage in some places.
About 1967. My orchestra teacher took a bunch of us. I was amazed when I realized a group of people made that magical sound.
Also in college, at the University of Houston Free Fair, I saw Leo Kottke for nothing.
1974.
Grantuspeace
(873 posts)Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash leaving the venue. A terrible ending to an unforgettable night.
Iggo
(47,489 posts)I don't recall what a normal ticket went for back then. But I do remember we were outraged at having to pay $21.50 for a ticket to the Us Festival in '83. So I'm guessing it was in the mid-range of 10-20 bucks for standart tix.
Perspective: Last month I paid a hundy for an SOAD ticket (75 plus fees), and just this week I paid $130 (99 plus fees) for Iron Maiden, Megadeth (who I swore I'd never pay for again...lol), Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, and some outfit called Sabaton (Swedish metal). So evidently I'm past the outrage.
Doc_Technical
(3,504 posts)This thread reminds me of a song.
Want to hear it?
I goes like this: (start at 3:15)
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)Free for me!
Saw the Rolling Stones for $25 nosebleed seats and with a $20 tip I got onto the floor, whereupon I made my way front and center for the main show.
Did the same for Smashing Pumpkins. And Dylan/Dead.
My baby got to see this show for $9.50.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)I lived in Dallas in 1977. I was in 9th grade. I didn't even get into Zeppelin until about 81~82. I think if my mother and step-father hadn't been right-wing religious wackos I woulda had a shot at seeing them. They came and went and never got to the states again and all the while I wasn;t even aware they were here.
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)She won the tickets on the ZOO in 1976. I used the ticket stub pic I had in my photobucket. Oops.
My fundie folks did me the same. Altho, I was in 9th grade in 80 and one of the first comments I heard at my new school was that Bonzo had died. I hadn't heard of them yet.
I saw Robert Plant on Now and Zen tour, and he did a few Zep encores. Yay!
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)and Plant and Page together many times over the years but I'll always feel like I missed something big by not seeing them as Led Zeppelin.