Anyone buying or selling a ticket?
Last week in Seattle, I found out that Neil Young was playing in town. I’m not a huge fan of old Shakey, but I still wouldn’t mind a look. I went online to buy a ticket. The cheapest I could find was $147 and that was before I factored in the Ticketmaster convenience charges. I went to the cinema instead.
It seems I’m not the only one saying no to over-priced musical fare. This piece explains what’s going on in Denver at the moment and I’m sure there are similar stories to be heard all over the United States (indeed, here’s one from Charlottesville, Virginia for instance).
But we don’t even have to go to the U S of A for tales like this. We may be the biggest concert goers in Europe (as per one of those dodgy surveys which crop up with monotonous regularity), but this doesn’t mean that every single live show is going to sell out. On the contrary, the autumn/winter season has already seen some heavy losses all round. Look at the late, late transfer of the Groove Armada/Dizzee Rascal double-bill from the Some Days Never End fest at the Irish Museum of Modern Art to the much smaller Tripod. The Frames are playing in Dublin tonight and it’s the first time in a decade that I can recall tickets for one of their Dublin shows still on sale on the day of the gig. There are also still tickets on sale for plenty of shows like Wilco and Animal Collective and Stereophonics, all shows I (and the promoter probably) thought would sell out within a few days.
Maybe it’s the ticket prices. Regular On The Record readers will have noticed a couple of posters of late giving out about this very same subject (especially ticket prices for the M.I.A. gig), people like Steve K:
M.I.A. and Justice are bands that would usually come to Dublin, go somewhere like Tripod, and cost twenty bills. Now they go to Phoenix Park and it’s fourty-five… how much wonga do they think indie kids have? (Dumb question)
And Jenn
Why is this gig €45 when EVERYWHERE else on the goddamn tour it only costs about a tenner. This is utter crap. I’m surprised it’s Aiken pulling an MCD on it. They are claiming it’s because of the size of the venue, why is it always Irish fans that have to fork out unbelivable prices to see relatively new artists?
And here’s Ciaran Mc
M.I.A. 07/12 Dublin €44.20. M.I.A. 08/12 London £8.50. That’s FOUR TIMES the price, people. How can Aiken possibly justify this?
It’s this kind of punter outrage which would make me, if I was a live music employee or entrepreneur, a little edgy. With the traditional record industry looking almost as worse for wear as Stan, the live music industry is supposed to be thriving. It’s the sector which all of those who try to make a few bob from music think will carry the day. Big promoters are now offering the kind of deals which were once the sole preserve of the major labels. They’re the ones with the money and the expansionist tendencies. Why else, after all, are Live Nation reportedly talking to Denis Desmond about the purchase of MCD Concerts? Surely Denis isn’t getting out while the going’s good, is he?
Few, though, have bothered to look at this from the audience’s side of the fence. It’s easy to see why: we (and I’m as guilty as any of my music writing and commenting peers in this regard) get into shows for free and don’t shell out for our tickets.
So it’s time to turn the tables - what are YOUR views on buying concert tickets at the moment? Are there too many shows on to go round? Are you finding that you are going to more or less shows than you were a year or two ago? Does the price of a ticket dictate your decision to go out to a show or stay at home by the fire? Have you gone to a gig abroad instead of going to one in Ireland because it appeared to be better value to you? What about the summer festivals, are they beginning to price themselves out of your reach? What about Ticketmaster, the source of much anger in all of this, have you ever complained formally to a consumer agency about their charges? Or are they only part of the problem? Finally, who do YOU think is to blame for the high ticket prices - the act, the promoter, On The Record or the general cost of living on the edge of western Europe?
Get typing.
I’ve gone to far fewer gigs per month since I moved back to Ireland from Amsterdam in July. Some of the gigs I have gone to have been twice as expensive as their Amsterdam equivalent - Feist €14 in Ams, €27 in Dublin, Stars €8 in Ams, €21 in Dublin. I passed on Mark Ronson at the Village as €33 seemed pretty excessive - he’s playing Amsterdam on Sunday for €16. Interestingly, I also passed on Arcade Fire, but am told that tickets were being touted outside the venue on both nights for €30!
Given that CDs, DVDs and other forms of entertainment are more expensive here than on the continent, I’d lump concerts in with those and chalk it all up to the good old rip off Ireland tale.
Comment by Catherine | October 31, 2007 at 10:56 amIf its $147 on home-turf, imagine what the price will be if/when he comes to Europe. He already charged 100quid for his Vicar St show a few years ago and it sold out, so they know how much they can get away with. Arsehole behaviour.
Comment by Peter | October 31, 2007 at 12:23 pmWhat I found rather strange is that because we’ve become used to big ticket prices that we look at 20 quid to see Animal Collective as a bargain. But if you do a comparison, they’re playing for a whole lot less than 20 euros in other European cities. We take getting ripped off for granted in this country now.
Comment by Sarah | October 31, 2007 at 12:27 pmIs this the Joe Duffy show?
Comment by Matt Vinyl | October 31, 2007 at 12:32 pmYou wonder who are really setting the prices for these gigs. Is it the promoter or the tout? Do the promoters think ‘Well these tickets will go for €60 on the street so we may as well charge €40 from the start’?
Comment by Le Catch | October 31, 2007 at 12:39 pmI still go to loads of gigs, at the minute I’m in the middle of a 2 week period where I’m out more nights than I’m in (8 gigs in 13 nights) and there’s 2 bands that I really love that I’m seeing twice.
At the minute I’ve got to the point where I’ve been brainwashed into thinking that any decent act touring through Ireland that’s in or around the region of €20 I’ll take a punt on (conveniently POD seem to be pitching many of their Tripod gigs around that price range and they’re booking some great stuff right now, I suppose there are economies involved in owning the venue and taking bar revenues too which mean you can price the tickets a little cheaper. The FN gigs don’t seem to break the €20 ceiling much either). Any more than that then I’ll have a think about but if I really love the band I’ll pretty much pay what’s being asked (with the exception of Wilco after they were so poor at Primavera, I’d have paid €35 probably and gambled on them being good but breaking the €40 mark is too much).
Stuff that I’m only half into I’ll usually skip if it’s a bit much (Justice probably aren’t worth €35 to me).
Bear in mind that I’m the sort of idiot who will travel abroad to see bands play. Also I live in Norht Kildare so have to drive to any gig in Dublin I go to so unless it’s a weekend and I’ve got space on someone’s couch arranged in advance I don’t have to factor the price of a few pints into my night out.
As for blagging, I might get a freebie once every 3-4 months but I had a disaster with LCD Soundsystem on that score recently.
Comment by Ian | October 31, 2007 at 12:43 pmI think that the reason is fairly simple, i.e. its the basic economic theory of supply and demand at work.
Ireland has been good to concert promoters in recent years and they have been able to price gigs to reflect what has been pretty strong demand. The They have also been increasing the rate at which they have supplied gigs to the market. Indeed, this autumn/winter has seen dozens of bands visit here that I would consider going to, which is definitely up on any other year that I can remember.
Obviously going to all or even most of these gigs is not possible (given my scarce resources of time, money, enthusiasm, etc.) and I am going to pick and choose those gigs which I will attend and those which I will not. Now if everyone else on the demand side does much the same, a tipping point is reached where oversupply starts to occur and gradually get worse. I think that this tipping point may be now.
Basic economic theory then says that you should reduce supply, lower your prices, find other ways to stimulate demand, or combine some permutation of the three in order to restore the market equilibrium once more.
It may not be a rock n roll way of looking at it, but making money rarely is. Ask any estate agent at the moment.
Comment by Jim Dubh | October 31, 2007 at 1:03 pmWasn’t there a 21% tax lashed onto gig tickets towards the end of ‘06? I’m sure if you look at the price of a ticket and take a fifth off the price, you could see that the government are also complicit in the increase in ticket prices.
When Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster all those years ago, Green Day went on tour using Ticketmaster and charged less. When asked why, it turned out they took less of a cut (I know there’s 5 in PJ and 3 in GD, but still, it shows it’s possible that some of the blame lies with the bands for taking a larger cut because they’re offered more money by the promoters in this country).
Also, isn’t there a musical instrument tax on bringing instruments into this country when you’re part of a touring band/musical act/whatever? I’m sure that is another reason why bands would have to charge more to recoup the money lost just to bring their fucking instruments here to play a gig.
I think if it bothers people that much, then don’t go to gigs. I’ve had to cut back on the number of gigs this year for a few reasons (mortgage, mostly), but one factor is the quality of venue. For example, I won’t be going to see Explosions in the Sky in January, and I didn’t go to Boredoms on Sunday because they were on in the Village. The sound is all wrong and it smells like arse.
There’s more factors at work than just plain old corporate greed here, but it is interesting that everything is at an inflated price in comparison to the rest of Europe, and yet we just take it lying down. For all my ranting, I’ve handed over 100 quid for two tickets to see Ryan Adams and the Cardinals in the National Stadium. But that’s because I love Ryan Adams and I’ve never seen him before.
Comment by Neilo | October 31, 2007 at 1:08 pmI think you may have left one very important category out of the list of those responsible for bringing acts to Ireland and that is “Music agents” rarely if ever now would a promoter ring a band direct and ask them to do a few shows in a big tent.There is always an agent that will be the rep for the artist and is always trying to get the best deal for their roster of artists.
Music agents have a massive role to play in the ticket price,venue,promoter and type of event that the artist they represent will perform at and therefore have a massive part to play in overall ticket prices.
I don’t MIA will be complaining when she gets paid a larger than usual fee for a 60 minute show..i may be wrong but the agent will know the how many tickets are being sold.the overall ticket price and will calculate a fee in relation to this so do the math.
If the artists refused to take large fee’s this problem would be solved but i don’t think thats going to happen.
Groove armada have done 2 Dublin shows and 2 in Belfast over the last 2 months which anybody can see was probably not such a great idea and was always going to test irish punters gift of giving.
Of course ticket prices are over the odds here but Equating a MIA ticket for a london show with a Dublin show is not like for like and i doubt MIA would ever play a large scale headline event in the UK more like a 200 or 300 capcity at most.See MIA’s myspace for the list of venues she’s supposed to be playing and you get the idea.
Blame the learner drivers myself.
Comment by Cj | October 31, 2007 at 1:12 pmIs this the David Mc Williams Show?
Comment by Matt Vinyl | October 31, 2007 at 1:12 pmI can accept that for smaller bands there is the added expense of travelling to Ireland for one or maybe two concerts. If you take Deerhunter and Qui who are playing in Whelans soon. A ticket in Groningen,Holland for both concerts sets you back €6/7 and in Ireland they are about €16/17. Still, they are less than €20 and good value for ireland.
Wilco are charging €30 in Spain and €40 in Ireland.They are not travelling between gigs in the back of a van and they have a very loyal fanbase in Ireland. Is it the promoters or the band? I reckon it’s a bit of both.
Henry Rollins used to talk about this in his spoken word show and he maintained that a larger band gets a flat fee for each concert on a tour and if there is a difference in ticket prices; it’s the promoter or the venue that gets the extra money.
Comment by Overfriendly Concierge | October 31, 2007 at 1:22 pmSo if your a UK based act you don’t need to travel to Holland? It’s cheaper to get to ireland than mainalnd europe from the UK
Comment by Cj | October 31, 2007 at 1:31 pmIt’s tough to single out any one reason for this phenomenon.
If you compare prices for most things, Ireland will probably be up there right across the board. And the prices will continue to rise - that’s for certain.
As a people, we like to have a good aul’ moan about things - but we’re really not prepared to actually do anything about it. We prefer just to grumble and get on with things (only in Ireland could Steve Staunton have kept a job for 21 months).
Greed on the promoters part has a lot to do with it, of course, but they know exactly what we’re like and they know we’ll pay.
In recent times, the downloading culture has played its part in exacerbating this tendency of ours. We already know that the money formerly spent on CDs has been transferred to ticket sales.
People who acquire the music for free might feel a slight sense of obligation to attend the live show of a decent band when they come to town - based on the assumption that much of the ticket price goes straight into their pocket. And if it’s a great band whose album you’ve been listening to for months without paying a penny, hey, shelling out for an outrageously priced t-shirt might help to ease the conscience somewhat.
What’s interesting is that despite the inflated prices, I’ve noticed that tickets sell out a LOT quicker in Ireland than they do in Paris or even London. Logging on to Ticketmaster at 8:50 on a Friday morning seems to have become a regular and frenzied occurrence - perhaps it’s down to the aforementioned company’s monopoly, I don’t know.
As for the likes of Animal Collective and M.I.A. seeing bigger prices - this is harder to understand. I think there’s been a shift in the last year or so - promoters have finally caught up with the tastes of a cross-section of twenty-somethings - the very ones doing all the downloading.
Perhaps it was because they suddenly found themselves without the litmus test of relevant sales charts, but not so long ago it used to be a case of all the best indie acts being booked into Whelans and Crawdaddy. Often they’d (predictably) sell out those venues and be moved to the Village - but the whole thing established a very frustrating trend.
Astute event managers should get some of the credit in the case of those respective venues, but for a long time it smacked of other promoters being totally out of touch, believing that these acts were not worth the ‘gamble’ of booking them into bigger venues.
I heard that on Tom Waits’ last tour, he wanted to play the Olympia, but promoters felt people wouldn’t pay €110 to see him - we know it would take a lot for these guys to turn down that kind of potential kitty, so again it only reinforced the image of the greedy, miserly promoter who will only indulge a sure-thing.
Ultimately, it has become a bit of an ugly situation. The album downloads suddenly seem justified and we may not be too far away from seriously considering slipping past the bouncers and stealing from the merchandise table!
These are just my impressions of it, but I’d say there’s no shortage of people who resent having to pour over event listings knowing that there’s less time than ever to decide whether you even wanted to go to the damn gig, let alone trying to work out where the money’s going to come from.
Comment by Kim Fowley | October 31, 2007 at 1:59 pmBargain of the year was The Aliens at Crawdaddy for €14. Man, it was like watching Hawkwind in the 70’s, and probably priced the same.
Ireland has always been an expensive territory for bands. You’ll always get the travel is expensive line when you dig deep enough. And even if all the bands flew RyanAir they’d be screwed for excess baggage charges.
Gigs will always be dearer here. Whenever anyone questions it, the results are invariably the same as publicans justifying an increase in the price of a pint.
A lot of acts leave out Ireland on their tour itinery for cost reasons believe it or not. I’ve to go to Nottingham in two weeks to see Black Sabbath. 20 quid a ticket. Now that’s real value Joe.
Comment by Hot Lunch | October 31, 2007 at 2:12 pmI’m not sure about the exact economics involved, but if you are a band playing in Amsterdam, it’s an awful lot cheaper to hop on a tourbus/van and drive across the border to Germany/France/Belgium and play some more gigs there to make the tour worthwhile from a cash point of view. If you come to Ireland, is it worth playing in Cork or Galway, in terms of attracting a big enough crowd? Also, in places like Poland where many fans may not have that much cash to spend, corporate sponsorship plays a much more heavy handed role to draw acts in, with every gig heavily sponsored by some form of media or alcohol company. It’s irritating, but if you are living in Warsaw it’s probably the only way you are going to see a band like Tool, for instance, play. That said, the corporate element here does seem to have gotten much more prevalent. Also, I’m not convinced it’s chepaer to get to mainland Europe than the UK in most cases, and there is probably a greater choice of venues, hence more competition and lower fees, in many UK or European towns. All of that said, promoters are definitely pushing their luck with a few exceptions; Crawdaddy seem to have a consistently interesting lineup ina really small venue that makes for great gigs, such as Les Savy Fav t’other night,
Comment by Lar | October 31, 2007 at 2:33 pmI find that there are too many expensive gigs to go to them all. Just today (or maybe yesterday) MCD announce a QOTSA show in the Ambassador. Having just seen the National in the Ambassador I’d love to see them but at €44.50 I think it maybe be just too expensive. I don’t have that much money spare for gigs. I’m going to Interpol and Kings of Leon and there both €45+ tickets. I wonder what cut Dennis is pocketing from ticket sales. With an official capacity of over 1200 there’s a lot of money to be made. I know that they cant sell 1200 tickets because they’ve to allow for people sneaking in, guest lists and for *cough* press. Even if 1000 tickets are sold that takings of €44500. Thats a nice piece of change.
Comment by Daniel | October 31, 2007 at 4:19 pmQOTSA go out for about €25,000 these days according to a “source”.
Comment by Hot Lunch | October 31, 2007 at 4:52 pmI’ve actually gone to tons more gigs this year than I usually would but most of these have been for concerts costing between EUR15-20. I think that going to see the likes of The National, Efterklang, My Brightest Diamond etc for around this price mark counts as a good deal but I just can’t get into the idea of paying EUR30+ to see a gig, no matter who it is.
On the plus side, there’s more gigs on than ever and we’re now in the lucky position of being able to see bands both big and small. The downside is that if you want to see anyone who is reasonably well known then you’ll pay way over the odds. Something that I’m simply not prepared to do.
Comment by John | October 31, 2007 at 7:55 pmI still have to wonder why ticketmaster allow 6 ticket sales at a time. It encourages touting for popular bands like Interpol, Arcade Fire. Surely 4 tickets is a decent enough limit.
Its gotten to the stage now that I’ve stopped trying to see big bands - because after several early mornings I’ve not managed to get a ticket.
Now when I see a big gig in a big venue I just skip over it - no point in trying any more!
Comment by Vince | October 31, 2007 at 9:23 pmAs a photographer I rarely pay for tickets. There, I said it…guestlists are my friend (although *shock, horror* I did pay for tix to The National last night and am currently awaiting offers on my kidney to get to the Olympia tomorrow night).
However, one thing I’ve learned is that ticket prices don’t reflect quality but rather gullibity of Irish consumers who buy for fashion: so many gigs and concerts are filled with the usual suspects of overpaid professionals who use gigs as a style statement. They’re the same ones who spend the entire show networking in the smoking area before popping for the second-from last song and leaving before the encores. Who the hell knew of MIA before Electric Picnic? No one. Who’s going to the Big Top? Everyone.
Buy the albums, sez I. Pay €150-200 and see them all in a mad squish at a festival. Then you’ll at least make an informed decision choosing concerts over your ESB bill. In the meantime, support artists who do all the real work, put on the fabulous shows and gain the least: the new unsigned bands on your doorstep.
Comment by Naomi | November 1, 2007 at 12:15 amI really think it is a case of Rip Off Republic more than anything else - I was at Pukkelpop in Belgium this year which ran from a Wednesday-Saturday, decent line up and camping was 130 euro which also included train travel to the venue and back. We get screwed here in Ireland - the Belgians I spoke to thought this years festival was pricey, when I told them about the cost of festivals here I undid any good work Bord Failte had done on them.
Also might I suggest that the Stereophonics hasn’t sold out because they haven’t done a half decent album since they milked ‘Performance and Cocktails’ to death? I don’t think they have much of a pull anymore.
Comment by Joe | November 1, 2007 at 1:42 amas a journalist I rarely pay for tickets…
as a journalist if I had to pay for tickets I wouldn’t be able to afford them….
Comment by Ronan | November 1, 2007 at 10:30 am“However, one thing I’ve learned is that ticket prices don’t reflect quality but rather gullibity of Irish consumers who buy for fashion: so many gigs and concerts are filled with the usual suspects of overpaid professionals who use gigs as a style statement. They’re the same ones who spend the entire show networking in the smoking area before popping for the second-from last song and leaving before the encores”
If they do bother to stay in for the duration of the gig they never SHUT THE FUCK UP and try to ruin it for all around them.
“Who the hell knew of MIA before Electric Picnic? No one. Who’s going to the Big Top? Everyone.”
Thinking she’s rubbish for 2+ years thanks very much.
Comment by Ian | November 1, 2007 at 1:31 pmSteady on with the elitism.
Yea, people can talk throughout gigs(tell them to shut up) and it can be hard to see a band through the sea of camera-phones but so what if you heard of MIA? Don’t go to the Big Top. If a gig is full of people who only watch one or two of the “hit” songs and then leave; why should that bother someone? It’s their loss.
Comment by Overfriendly Concierge | November 1, 2007 at 5:42 pm“currently awaiting offers on my kidney to get to the Olympia tomorrow night”
Tracked down your contact details via your site and passed them on to someone I know with a spare. Hope it works out for you.
Comment by Ian | November 1, 2007 at 5:58 pmTracked down your contact details via your site and passed them on to someone I know with a spare. Hope it works out for you
Historians will record this as the moment when On The Record turned into Facebook…..
Comment by Jim Carroll | November 1, 2007 at 6:05 pmBig, big thanks to everyone for taking the time to contribute their throughts to this. I’ve put something in the column in The Ticket tomorrow about this state of the gigging nation survey so there’s probably more comments to come.
Comment by Jim Carroll | November 1, 2007 at 6:07 pmI love going to concerts but the monopoly that ticketmaster seem to have on virtually all ticket sales puts be off. Their “service charge per ticket” policy - rather than per transaction is sickening. Since this time last year I have gone to many concerts - Paul Weller, Joan as a Policewoman, Nouvelle Vague, Anthony & The Johnsons, REM, The Police and many more. For instance I bought six tickets for the Police. The service/handling charges should be outlawed! What a pleasure it was to purchase tickets for REM’s special shows at The Olympia for cash at their box office with no service charge!
Comment by Johanna | November 2, 2007 at 11:36 amIt seems the international acts have no real power over or even are aware how much irish fans really are getting ripped off. I met with Mastodon before their gig in Dublin back in March and somehow the conversion turned to ticket prices and he was shocked to learn that the ticket price for their gig was €30 (in all fairness thats pretty good for irish standards anyway!!).
To pinpoint the problem even more i think its gigs in dublin that we’re gettin ripped off for. Roisin Dubh in Galway there has been numerous acts that have played the strange brew night ( Forward Russia, Pigeon Detectives, Electric Eel Shock, jeffrey Lewis) and there’s been no admission while the next night they could be playing dublin and fans are forking out €15!!
How come a wee venue in Galway can afford to do this and not bigger venues in Dublin?
Live music in Ireland is definitely gonna suffer. I know myself Im heading abroad more and more to see live acts. It actually works out WAY cheaper!
Comment by nicola | November 2, 2007 at 11:55 am147 is actually chaeper than his Vicar Street tickets.
Comment by David | November 2, 2007 at 12:16 pmIs there any chance of balance?
We know the live music loving public are always whinging about the cost of tickets. Market economics of supply and demand set not only the initial asking price but also the eBay auction price.
Less of this please.
I’d like to here an outline from an industry representative how those costs break down.
Is it that public liability insurance is loading the cost per ticket or are the artists really taking the piss?
Also, as the initial thrust of this blog shows, the notion of tickets being cheaper outside Ireland is utter tosh.
Comment by markg | November 2, 2007 at 1:14 pm“How come a wee venue in Galway can afford to do this and not bigger venues in Dublin?”
Gugai, who runs the place books the bands himself. He must reckon that just by being a Strange Brew night it’s enough to get the punters in the door and make a profit on the bar. Though I doubt it’s something that Pod will be doing at Crawdaddy/tripod gigs.
Comment by Ian | November 2, 2007 at 1:17 pmI love seeing international acts but the sad state of affairs is I simply can’t afford to go to random gigs where I’d fancy to “check out” the band. More gigs in the €8 to €12 price range would certainly be welcomed by folk like myself, even if corporate sponsorship was introduced to offset the costs.
A great example recently was Of Montreal in Crawdaddy in early August. The gig was €12.50 and part of the Nokia Trends Lab series of events. It sold out in advance, at a generally very quiet time of the year for concerts.
As for the “larger gigs” at €40 upwards, I just can’t stomach them. Like, I saw Devo in Vicar Street in June at €58 and, even though the gig was fantastic, I still felt short changed. The venue was half empty too; more bums on seats if the tickets were more affordable to be honest.
Comment by honru | November 2, 2007 at 6:13 pmHmmmm tickets are crawling up indeed these days! Got tiks to Justice, did think 35 was a bit much but im hoping it will be worth it, saw them dj a while back, so their live show should be better, Though i’d rather see them in tripod than a big fucking tent miles out from town! Did also get a ticket to interpol but kinda regretting it, its reeeeal close to the €50 mark and i think i’d rather see Dan Deacon the same nite for bout 15 squid, have seen interpol twice now and they are great but meh, i’ve seen them look at their shoes enough! As for the rest….
“Who the hell knew of MIA before Electric Picnic? No one. Who’s going to the Big Top? Everyone.”
I liked M.I.A but was pretty much turned off her at the picnic, bit pants live really, so i wont be splashing out 45buckos to see her nor will any of my mates who still actually love her sound!
As for small gigs being bumped up to the big uns, look at seasick steve, played crawdaddy at start of the summer, then the spiegel tent for a few quid extra and now tripod for a few more quid on top of that, great show, but im gonna pass this time!
Love my music and do my best to pay up, support and go see, but its turning into 30 a nite for tiks, maybe another 10 for a beer or two, nitelink or taxi…….. still Joe i’d rather be here than the back of beyond!
Comment by Dolan | November 3, 2007 at 4:44 amAh,a good story would be timely, I moved to Limerick about 5 years ago and local promoters AMC were putting on weekly gigs in The (now closed) High Stool bar..
Myself and the lady went to one such gig to hear an up and coming band play an absolutely blistering set for and hour and a half…Even the regular metaller’s that seemed to own the bar were jumping and cheering(well grunting approval)
The band ?
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
The Cost? €4
You figure it out…
I know its a few years ago but even with that taken in to account the Irish public have been taken roughly from behind for along time now and not a reach-around in sight!!
These promoters and ticket agents are only after your green and are using peoples love of music to do so..fair play to them I say,if the public are willing to fork out for substandard facilities,over priced beer at premium prices then hats off..
Comment by Phil | November 5, 2007 at 3:41 pmJust to follow up the last point:
Comment by Phil | November 5, 2007 at 4:05 pmAt the end of the day,the guys working for these promoters are mostly ex-independant promoters (Name deleted - for example) and they can pretend that they are going to work for them to “bring them down from the inside”,or “change the way they are run,but i have to get my foot in the door/up the ladder” etc (W**k!) ,once the freebies and comp’d festival visits for “research” start rolling in they turn into the c**ts they were cursing a few years earlier..
It wont change unless for a period of time,people stop going to the Big Gigs (oxygen/EP etc) because thats where it’ll hurt em,except the sheep are willing to walk in groups to the slaughter but not rampage toward an escape route (if you get my drift) …Pie in the sky thinking but that is the only way it’ll happen,,
“Who the hell knew of MIA before Electric Picnic? No one. Who’s going to the Big Top? Everyone.”
Is that a serious point you are making or were you being sarcastic? If it’s the former then you’re completely wrong. In 2005 she was fucking everywhere with her debut “Arular”.
“The band ?
The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
The Cost? €4″
Holy shit, well done to you Phil for catching that.
Comment by Pedro | November 5, 2007 at 8:40 pm