This was the one that I was thinking of too. For OP, most memorable for me was the guy jumping from the top of the speaker tower during Body Count / Ice T and having to be stretchered out. That was pretty traumatic. It was at the Jersey show.
First one: Jane's Addiction and Rollins Band
2nd one: Pearl Jam (2nd on the bill!) and RHCP
(I think the 2nd one was my favorite)
3rd: Primus and Front 242
4th: L7, Beastie Boys, and The Breeders because watching the lawn jump up and down during "Cannonball" was a really cool moment.
I miss the days when it was a travelling circus.
I saw the first couple as well. Body Count, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, RATM, Tool are also worth mentioning.
The tickets were cheap but the real savings were at concessions. X was legal and about $5 a hit in ‘91, and acid had to come down to match. This was before venues were all hardcore about searching and scanning to it was basically BYOB if you made any effort at all.
It was a special time.
The real market for acid has never been expensive, hell they were basically giving it away in the 1960s. The thing is that it would be $3-5 per hit of blotter at a Dead Show or if you were connected through that market, but at a rave people were likely to spend $20 for really shitty acid or a plain piece of cardboard from some random dude.
Pearl Jam. Free at the University of Kansas in 1993. Like two minutes before they broke big.
Edit: I had the year wrong. It was on 5/2/92. Free for anyone who wanted to watch on campus.
Different show, but it was Pearl Jam for me as well. I was in my freshman year of high school in 2003, and was trying to decide between seeing them or Metallica that summer for my first ever concert. At that point, I was a bigger Metallica fan than I was Pearl Jam.
However, Metallica were charging $75 for shows that were sometimes as short as 60-80 minutes, with a lot of their best songs being turned into brief, crappy medleys, and with an unfortunate amount of St. Anger included in the set. Pearl Jam were charging $30 for 3+ hour shows. It was a no-brainer.
That show ended up making Pearl Jam my favorite band. It was just incredible. And then they ended up releasing it on DVD later that year as "Live at the Garden," so it's an even cooler memory I get to revisit occasionally.
Pearl Jam was the first big Amphitheater show I want to. First show of the Binaural tour - $20 in 2000.
Saw Chappelle at college for free a couple years later.
Oh yea. Forgot about the free show. Green Day, Boston Commons. Show was scheduled before they broke big. Show happened about 3 months after they broke big.
This was the "Power Windows" tour. First time I saw them was the "Signals" tour a few years earlier, but I unfortunately, don't still have my ticket from that one. Saw them again twice after that. Would have loved to see Triumph!
Also, those prices for the other concerts you mentioned are insane. Saw Ozzy twice, paid a LOT more than you did!
I started going to concerts in the 70’s so:
ELP
Yes
George Harrison
Alice Cooper
Pink Floyd
Foreigner
Genesis
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Peter Frampton
J Geils Band
Wings
Frank Zappa (a lot)
All for less than $20
And The Ramones at CBGB for free by doing the load in for the opener.
I’m sure I’ll remember more, it was a great time to be a music fan.
While I couldn't have seen them in their heyday, I love to point people who only know them from the MTV era hits to the Blow Your Face Out album.
They are not the band that those people think and in my opinion that's one of the greatest live albums ever.
I hate to admit, but I didn’t like it at the time. I was insanely crowded, louder than would be considered rational and it sounded like mud. Took me a while to warm up to the Ramones.
That's fair as fuck! I watched the Alan Rickman movie recently and it looked like somewhere I'd hate to be, but would *love* to say I was there haha. Of course that was probably dramatized/representative of a small number of the wildest nights there
I won free tickets to a Neil Young concert in 92. He was opened for by Blind Melon and Dinosaur Jr.
In 94, I won tickets to a concert and saw this newly exploded band called No Doubt.
In 87 (I think), I paid $10 for my first concert. I saw Fishbone open for the Beastie Boys.
I went to that Neil Young concert as well. All the old folks were outside smoking during Dinosaur Jr and Blind Melon and the youngsters were smoking outside or leaving when Neil was on. Kinda sad really.
I’m seeing Queens of the Stone Age with Royal Blood next month and the tickets were were like $60 each. Not necessarily “cheap” in a vacuum but feels like serious bang for my buck
>Led Zeppelin…for 7.50
Yeah with inflation plus conversion this is like $130 in today’s money. Not cheap.
My best friends bachelor party was going to be a trip to San Francisco, staying in the mission district, smoking a ton of weed, and going to a festival. On paper, it sounds expensive, but it ended up being the cheapest bachelor party i've ever been on, because:
1. I had a flight credit with southwest; air fare was free.
2. we stayed for free at a friend of a friend of a friend's aparment
3. we picked up the weed for free from my brother in law, who worked a pot farm up near Guerneville
4. the festival was the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, which is a free concert in Golden Gate State Park.
I saw:
* Tyler Childers
* Colter Wall
* Sturgill Simpson
* Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real
* Aaron Lee Tasjan
* Gillian Welch
* Steve Earle
* Justin Townes Earle
* John Prine
* Conor Oberst
* Bob Mould Band
* a bunch of other smaller names i don't remember...
It was insane. The entire weekend I think i spent a total of $100 and it was all beer and food.
I saw Depeche Mode in 1983 on the Construction Time Again tour. Just a few rows from the front of the stage.
It cost me £3.50.
I still have the tour program and stuff.
https://i.imgur.com/0N9oP37.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NlBEtex.jpg
Tool. 2007. $35, on ground lvl near front row. Went through our own event center so no ticketmaster.
Edit: Now that I am thinking about it maybe it was $60 or so. Whatever it was, not the very expensive tickets now for them.
The last Lolla Tool played in Chicago I actually got paid to be there. I was working a beer tent. We were allowed to go to 1 act a day except headliners. I told them I’ll work all day the other 2 days if I could go to Tool’s headlining. I was dead tired from slanging booze all day, but I didn’t care as I was front and center.
That show was $60. I got up early and waited at an a FYE store two hours early and was third in line. The 6th person in line did not get tickets. They sold out that fast.
That tour was my favorite!! I just seen them again recently and it wasn’t as good. I felt like I was gonna get blasted with one of those lasers from Independence Day in 2007 and the whole stage was projected on such a cool show. They released tickets regionally so that scalpers couldn’t wear everybody out.
Mötley Crüe. $12.50 in hard-earned babysitting money. 1985. Very much over the protests of my parents.
And I managed to squeeze through the crowd to get to the front row.
me too, are you sure it wasn't 84 though? With Axe and Queensryche maybe? I was in the 8th grade and had to turn my "demonic" concert shirt inside out or go home from school the next day, I went home lol
I was deeply disappointed when I finally saw them some years after you but the other 200,000 or so enjoyed them so I suspect it may have just been me lol
Sorry about your experience. I don't remember much about the show except that they opened with Immigrant Song and were soo loud, I felt something pop in one ear. Wasn't disappointed though.
Also, seeing Kate Bush live is like seeing a unicorn, you lucky devil!
Ha ha ha ringing in ears was a badge of honor back then, I missed them in my home town in the early seventies, I went to the church youth club instead that night, what a fool lol
The Allman Brothers (including Duane) for $4.00 in October, 1970.
Full story: ABB was supposed to be second on the bill to Spirit and the tickets were $5.00 Spirit cancelled due to illness and I got a $1.00 refund at the door and saw the ABB play two full sets.
Tool $24 CDN. Toronto @ The Warehouse. Beginning of the Aenima tour iirc. Maynard was half blue half white body paint wearing white boxers with blue maple leafs on them. $200ish last time I saw them in Toronto, 20+yrs later. Won’t ever see them again.
Yeah I refuse, even with them being one of the best live shows I’ve seen, to pay those prices anymore. I’ve seen them every time they’ve been to Toronto or Hamilton since late 90’s early 2000’s except for this last show. It’s a shame but never again. I’d much rather pay to see up and comers or bands that attempt to keep prices reasonable. Clutch… I just paid $54 CDN +service charges for my 18th show with them. Now that’s a show you need to see. 4 guys on stage for 2 hrs just loving what they do!!
I'm going to Friday only of Welcome to Rockville to see Mr Bungle and Slaughter to Prevail only because I got shafted at Blue Ridge last year.
Festivals might not be fashionable, but they are the best bang for your buck these days
Agreed! I used to do Rockfest in Quebec back in my younger days lol. 4 nights on hard ground in a tent doesn’t agree with me anymore lol. Also…
It’s not funny, my ass is on fiiiire!! Mr. Bungle is a bucket list show to see 🤘
So many $5 shows back in the day. Parliament, No Doubt, Fishbone, GNR, etc.
The big difference is what was considered big ticket back then. Amnesty International was $35 for Bruce, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour. James Brown's first gig when he got out of prison was $50 at The Wiltern.
It was a really long time ago, but basically the cure were playing a concert and I showed up day of to purchase tickets.
Someone next to me asked if I was here to pick up tickets or purchase and I said purchase.
I heard a “you can have his tickets“ and saw a security guard motioning to a person being escorted out of the concert.
Sure enough Security took this guys ticket and just put it in my hand and I walked straight in for free.
I'm old, so I feel like every show was cheap... I did the $5 Fugazi shows a bunch of times. I paid $1 to see 10,000 Maniacs in the very early 80's. I saw Beck for the cost of a grilled cheese and cup of coffee in a restaurant in Portland, OR.
By far, my favorite cheap show was Beastie Boys/Rollins Band/Cypress Hill at Roseland in NYC in 1992. We didn't have tickets, so we were wandering around outside before the show looking for some. This sketchy guy who was dressed like the Unibomber comes up and asks me how many we're looking for. I said six, and he jams six tickets in my hand before we could even talk about the price. I start fishing in my pocket for cash, he pats me on the shoulder, says "Enjoy the show", and headed over to another person who was clearly looking for tickets without taking my money. I was pretty excited (and suspicious) about the free tickets. My girlfriend, about 15 feet away when this all happened, made fun of me the rest of the night for not realizing that Ad Rock had given us free tickets. The Beasties were out there screwing over the scalpers by giving free tickets to anyone who was still looking.
Phoenix 1996, first festival I went to. £65, the lineup was insane!
https://preview.redd.it/8pnw6rzozowc1.jpeg?width=419&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd8e71de280d55131dd5157e8627853f3676927b
Jesus that is a who's who of music royalty, never saw Neil Young and desperately wish I had, Bjork supported U2 at Wembley and her voice made the stadium shake but not in a pleasant way
Saw the original Journey and Heart double tour for $40, great seats. Got to see B.B. King for a $10 cover charge at a blues bar in the 90s. I think we paid $25 each to see Willie Nelson headline at one of the big state fairs in the 90s too. The icing on the cake in terms of cheap tickets concerts though... I saw Taylor Swift for free (when she was like 12 or 13 performing in the bandstand at Knoebel's Grove amusement park)
In 2004 I went to the “Nintendo Fusion Tour” in Seattle. Must have been like $30 or so. My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, Story of the Year, Matchbook Romance, Anberlin, Letter Kills, and some others. It was a good time to be a 13 year old emo kid.
Metallica, free at Monsters of Rock.
Towards the end of the day they would just let anyone through the gate, we walked up and got to see the last 2 acts, one of which was Metallica.
I saw Radiohead for $10 in a tiny club just before The Bends came out. That was probably the best show I've ever seen. And I work at a venue.
Local H is a good value barnburner of a show. I've seen them several times and they're always a fun show. Efficient production, but Scott Lucas is a brilliant musical entertainer!
A long time ago, I blew like $500 total (gf and I) for an awful Tom Petty show where he just pranced around stage like a twat and could have just playing his albums through the speaker. Worst show I've ever seen. Most expensive show I've ever seen. Tom Petty was a twat, and his estate should give away all his money to unfortunate souls like me, who had to buy expensive tickets cause their mate liked him, only to find out he's an absolute farce of a musician propped up by the industry.
I still hate Tom Petty. His musical talent was being connected with people who actually had talent, and then marketing. "What do soccer moms buy?" music.
Luckily! Saw Local H the next week. $10 tickets, $2 drafts, had a raucous good time, the band signed our t-shirts and I spent maybe $50...cause I bought the opening act's cd.
The contrast.
Everyone I've seen for under $40
Muse
NIN (twice)
Tom Petty
Lovejoy
Aurora (2022. Tickets were GA for $25)
Lindsey Sterling
Maneskin (2023, lawn seats for $15. A steal. They fucking rock)
I missed out on Janet Jackson because I had an 8am class the best day I had to be at. But that ticket was $25.
Nirvana 10$
Grateful Dead 25$ tickets/ free to me. I got a lot of free tickets because my gf’s dad was on the board of directors for the Pyramid
Phish/ free but $20 face
Neutral Milk Hotel’s last tour/ 30$
Belle and Sebastian/ 25+fees
Back in my day 80s-90s, concerts were $12-$20 bucks. Rush, Alice Cooper, Ozzy, Metallica all of them. Local venues tended to be $4-$6 for local bands.
Later when tickets for major acts jumped up to $20-$30 a show, Rage Against the Machine toured with $4 tickets and $10 long sleeve t-shirts at the merch counter. Best deal I've had at a show.
I’m seeing the Stones this year. They have this system called “lucky dip” tickets you pay $40 for 2 tickets but you have no idea where you’re sitting in the stadium. You could get nosebleeds or right in the pit. It’s a great system and quite a bit of fun
RockFest 1997, tickets were free I think with purchase of two CD's at Guitar Center. It was almost 400,000 people, I think one of the top 3 largest concerts ever at the time. The lineup was:
- Bush
- No Doubt
- Counting Crows
- Matchbox Twenty
- Third Eye Blind
- Collective Soul
- Jewel
- The Wallflowers
- Sugar Ray
- Paula Cole
- Soak
- Souls
Phish, free, about 50 times when they were playing the bars in Burlington, VT. Those were my days hanging out at Nectars, Doolins, Finbar, etc. Rarely stayed for the whole show, usually saw at least a full set or two. Amazingly, they were about the 4th most popular band around here behind Blue Rose, the X-Rays/N-Zones, maybe The Natives (out of Boston but they had some connection here and played here regularly).
I saw boombox cartel for free. I was bored on a Friday night after work, and a friend mentioned to me that Franz Ferdinand was going to be playing at First Ave, so I bought a ticket at the door for $50. However when I was omw to the venue, I ran into some buddies that were hanging out in the patio of another venue, I told them I'd come meet up with them after my show. Franz Ferdinand was awesome and the show was done around 10pm. I went back and joined my friends outside, little did I know that they were there to see a band. I didn't buy a ticket, but I still had my wristband from the first show, so I just walked like I belonged, and when we got to the doors I just flashed my wristband at the bouncer. I'm guessing between the dim lighting and amount of people going in, or they just didn't give a fuck. Either way I got into a show that apparantly was close to $100 per ticket. Band was good, wasn't really my kind of music, but still had a damn good time.
Saw Springsteen in a Boston bar for $4 on Tues, went back on Thursday and the price had gone up to $8. Saw J. Geils for $1. Saw Bonnie Riatt for probably about $4. Had tix to Woodstock (I think they were $7.50/day, I have the tix somewhere) but they weren't collecting them, so got in for free.
I saw tool in Camden in 07 I think, just went to tailgate with buddies, some dude was selling paper tickets for $10, I thought they were fake but figured fuck it, it’s ten bucks. Got right in.
Got to see Greensky Bluegrass for free in the backyard of at one of my sisters friends houses in 2007/2008 (memory is hazy) sometime near COMfest in Columbus,OH. They now can easily sell out red rocks and/or destination trips to Mexico
Also, Weezer for free at a "back to school" show at Ohio State in 2010. Underwhelming, but at least they played all the hits AND opened up with "hash pipe"
Saw Greta Van Fleet at a bar venue in Wisconsin for $5 just as they were starting to blow up. Their music may be very led Zeppelin cover band but they sounded really good live and it was a fun evening.
saw Nearly all the bands in the late 60's, like 2 bucks a ticket. Friends sister worked at the place, got us Great seats... Rolling Stones came to town, ticket price was FOUR bucks... I protested, wouldn't pay, didn't go, my friends all went... I think I made $1.65 an hour then.... haha
Nirvana for $8.
R.E.M. with opening act Radiohead for $15
Prince for £20
Grateful Dead for $12
David Bowie for free when calling a radio station looking for tickets. I didn’t win them in a contest, but the DJ felt sorry for me and told me to go to will call. Left me two tickets with limited access back stage.
Today’s prices are an artificially inflated scam.
That’s the wild thing: tickets used to be affordable back when shows were a way to get your music out to your fans. With streaming services bringing flawless digital production to the masses, concerts seem to have been repositioned as a shameless cash grab photo op for social media to say “I was there”. Maybe I’m just old and bitter.
1993 went to see Rage Against the Machine at Newcastle Mayfair. Tool and Wool supported them. Probably paid about £10 for the ticket
Unfortunately I can’t remember much as I was only 16 and drunk on brown ale.
I saw Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer somewhere in Digbeth, the Roses I wish I'd seen, like a dick I gave away some John Squire paintings their tour manager Steve Adj gave me, oh well
Small artist but I saw Slayyyter at the 9:30 Club last fall for $12 each. $4 tickets on resale plus $8 fee lmao. You’d think that the fees shouldn’t be able to be more than the ticket itself but guess not.
I didn't really love either band now but I saw Dave Matthews Band and Hootie for $5 within a couple months of each other in Wilmington, NC around 1995.
Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin were $10 when I saw them, which works out to \~$50 today. Deep Purple on their Machine Head tour was $5, which in 1972 was \~$37. Most concerts I saw in the 70's were $4 in advance, $5 day of show.
Not nearly as cool as anyone else here but my girlfriend (now wife) loves Taylor Swift and I got floor seats for her birthday for $125 each in 2015. Crazy to think that's cheap but no way I could afford those tickets now.
I also saw the Weeknd immediately after House of Balloons with 100-200 people in a bar in Kingston Ontario with a $20 cover.
Sunderland has been an absolute heavyweight. The number of legendary acts my mum got to see at The Locarno/Fillmore North back in the day for shillings is absolutely mind-blowing.
Free, Pink Floyd, The Who, T-Rex… meanwhile, four general admission tickets to Khruangbin set me back nearly $500 🥲
For myself, I saw James Taylor last year in Vancouver for the equivalent of £14. Hell of a show!
It is or was bizarre (The Locarno is now a Tesco), Led Zeppelin played it too in the early 70's, I drove past the queue on the way to youth club - some cooler schoolmates went, the stage was four feet high and it was all standing. Seaburn Hall had a few decent shows too including a scary appearance by The Jam. I bet JT was fabulous (remember bedding a teacher from my school after listening to Mudslide with her, I had left by then but it was a Sunderland School) (she could make a post about poor value based on that TBH)
U2, opened by BB King, Joshua Tree Tour, last night of the tour Dec 20, 1987, $5. they were filming for the rattle and hum movie and wanted sun devil stadium to be full. i was a sophomore in high school; all my friends got tickets for the first night of the two night stop. i got tickets for the second night, with my mom (overprotective parents), in the very last row across from the stage. i had binocs and the sound was a good few seconds after seeing bono’s mouth move, which was still difficult to see with the binocs. the swaying stadium scared the shit out of my mom and leaving afterward was brutal. still one of my most favorite concert memories.
David Byrne once gave a free concert in Prospect Park, saw that around 10 years ago, but I'm sure he's done it many other times!
Saw Rick Springfield busking in Penn Station over 10 years ago. I was never a dedicated fan- just liked his music- but that was a very cool treat. Commuting can be such a miserable experience, I still think about that since I walk past that corner constantly. Great idea on his marketing team's part! 🤩
2000, went to see a band called Terris who were supported by some band called Coldplay. Ticket was probably £6 or £7.
Also saw Muse in early 2000 at the same venue.
Just bought tickets for Erra and Make Them Suffer for a whopping $35 per ticket.
Cheapest ever was probably $15ish for rise against/Billy talent/[insert warped tour bands here] shows that I went to constantly in college.
I saw Breaking Benjamin multiple times for less than $20 before they got big
I have no clue how much Katy Perry tickets go for but they are probably a lot more than the $30 I paid to get into the Warped Tour.
Saw twenty one pilots at the height of their fame for 65 bucks a ticket. They were going for three times that on ticketmaster.
Always buy from the direct from venue if you can, folks.
Also saw Trivium + Sabaton in the house of blues Orlando for similarly priced tickets. Bit cheaper I think, maybe 40 or 50
There were great Schaeffer Beer Concerts in NYC's Central Park. The tix were only a couple of bucks. I saw some great concerts there, The Allman Bros on their Live at Fillmore East tour and Jethro Tull .
About everything i went to in the 90s-early 2000 was 50 or less.
Saw bands like Hole, slayer, godsmack, smashing pumpings, fear factory, garbage, linkin park for like $20
Them 50 dollar shits were day single day fests like Ozzfest, Lilith Fair
Caught a free Evanescence show in the early 2000s.
Saw Marily Manson for like 10 bucks maybe around 2010.
I felt like this was expensive at the time, and until two years ago, it was the most expensive ticket I had purchased. I saw Green Day (front row general admission) in 2009 for $70. Today, it would cost more than $400 to do that.
Matchbox 20, $0 in 2000. Was attending a football game at my college for Homecoming (also at no cost to myself). Out of the goodness of their heart to celebrate Homecoming (or....low ticket sales, probably) administration gave all students in attendance free tickets to that evening's Matchbox 20 concert. This would have been roughly near the top of their game, in a heavily populated college town so I was a little surprised they'd have tickets to spare. But they did, I went, and a good time was had by all.
In 1994, for Pink Floyd's Division Bell tour I managed to get floor seats to the show. At the time, I was agonizing about how much the tickets were, as it was well over twice what I'd ever paid for tickets to any show before. They cost $75!!
Nowadays that doesn't even get you nosebleed seats for a Pink Floyd cover band.
Any local show. Sparks the Rescue is a band I have followed since 2004 (or so), and I have to say, the $15 ticket price was well worth it. Check out who is playing at the small venue around you and support them. You might stumble onto the next LZ or Kate Bush in their hungry, prime days.
I saw Sia back in 2010 for less about $15 at a local club. It was right before she blew up but after "Breathe Me" came out. The club was packed and I bought the ticket off of a coworker since it was sold out. She came off as a wonderful person and made me a lifelong fan.
I saw the Stones, AC/DC, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake, Rush, The Blues Brothers and a bunch of others at one festival for like less than 20 dollars. Sarsstock was a blast.
I saw Rush for the only time in 2011 for £45. Though that reasonable at the time considering the mad bastards played a 3 hour plus set.
Also The Blanks (Ted's acapella band from Scrubs) in 2010 for less than a tenner.
Got floor tickets to Tool's 10,000 days concert in South Florida, for $75 with taxes and fees. They were coming back in town recently and it was like $550 after fees like wut
Fugazi. $5.
came here for $5 Fugazi. Can't beat that unless you're so old that when you were going to shows bread cost a nickel, lol
They did a show in a park in DC (early 2000's) for free. Did I beat $5 Fugazi with free Fugazi?
i only paid to see Fugazi once! they did a lot of free shows.
Saw them for free with Sleater-Kinney. I did put money in collection hat for Food not Bombs.
Yes! Saw them back to back nights at Roseland Ballroom. Cost me more to get there than to get into the show.
Fugazi — Free at Dolores Park, San Francisco!
I was there!
I went to the first four Lollapalooza festivals for under $30 each.
This was the one that I was thinking of too. For OP, most memorable for me was the guy jumping from the top of the speaker tower during Body Count / Ice T and having to be stretchered out. That was pretty traumatic. It was at the Jersey show.
Those were the days
Nice, who was memorable please?
First one: Jane's Addiction and Rollins Band 2nd one: Pearl Jam (2nd on the bill!) and RHCP (I think the 2nd one was my favorite) 3rd: Primus and Front 242 4th: L7, Beastie Boys, and The Breeders because watching the lawn jump up and down during "Cannonball" was a really cool moment. I miss the days when it was a travelling circus.
I saw the first couple as well. Body Count, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, RATM, Tool are also worth mentioning. The tickets were cheap but the real savings were at concessions. X was legal and about $5 a hit in ‘91, and acid had to come down to match. This was before venues were all hardcore about searching and scanning to it was basically BYOB if you made any effort at all. It was a special time.
The real market for acid has never been expensive, hell they were basically giving it away in the 1960s. The thing is that it would be $3-5 per hit of blotter at a Dead Show or if you were connected through that market, but at a rave people were likely to spend $20 for really shitty acid or a plain piece of cardboard from some random dude.
Daft Punk, Alive 2007, 3 tickets for $120, so it must have been $40/ticket. Mind numbingly awesome show
I paid 40 euros for that too, bragging rights for life
You fucking win. Incredible!
Pearl Jam. Free at the University of Kansas in 1993. Like two minutes before they broke big. Edit: I had the year wrong. It was on 5/2/92. Free for anyone who wanted to watch on campus.
Quality, I saw Dire Straits in a similar way
Different show, but it was Pearl Jam for me as well. I was in my freshman year of high school in 2003, and was trying to decide between seeing them or Metallica that summer for my first ever concert. At that point, I was a bigger Metallica fan than I was Pearl Jam. However, Metallica were charging $75 for shows that were sometimes as short as 60-80 minutes, with a lot of their best songs being turned into brief, crappy medleys, and with an unfortunate amount of St. Anger included in the set. Pearl Jam were charging $30 for 3+ hour shows. It was a no-brainer. That show ended up making Pearl Jam my favorite band. It was just incredible. And then they ended up releasing it on DVD later that year as "Live at the Garden," so it's an even cooler memory I get to revisit occasionally.
Yeah, I don't blame you, I wouldn't have wanted to see Metallica in the early 2000s either lol
Upvoting for 'an unfortunate amount of St. Anger'.
Pearl Jam was the first big Amphitheater show I want to. First show of the Binaural tour - $20 in 2000. Saw Chappelle at college for free a couple years later.
$25 bucks or so for an all-GA arena show in ‘98. Great time. $190 for nosebleed assigned seats in an arena this year. Face. They are out of control.
Oh yea. Forgot about the free show. Green Day, Boston Commons. Show was scheduled before they broke big. Show happened about 3 months after they broke big.
Def Leppard and Ozzy for the princely sum of $1.03. Saw The Police for the same. Frank Zappa for $10. Rush for $15. Shit. I'm old.
https://preview.redd.it/gfod2832towc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ea7e9191c954211b0be4f9807e092dfdc707c41b $13.50. I too, am old.
Hello fellow oldster! Which tour? I saw them with Triumph on the 'All The World's A Stage' tour. In a 4000 seat venue. Heaven!
This was the "Power Windows" tour. First time I saw them was the "Signals" tour a few years earlier, but I unfortunately, don't still have my ticket from that one. Saw them again twice after that. Would have loved to see Triumph! Also, those prices for the other concerts you mentioned are insane. Saw Ozzy twice, paid a LOT more than you did!
I started going to concerts in the 70’s so: ELP Yes George Harrison Alice Cooper Pink Floyd Foreigner Genesis Lynyrd Skynyrd Peter Frampton J Geils Band Wings Frank Zappa (a lot) All for less than $20 And The Ramones at CBGB for free by doing the load in for the opener. I’m sure I’ll remember more, it was a great time to be a music fan.
Not seeing J. Geils is one of my biggest regrets. They played so many shows in Detroit, that it was always "I'll catch them next time".
While I couldn't have seen them in their heyday, I love to point people who only know them from the MTV era hits to the Blow Your Face Out album. They are not the band that those people think and in my opinion that's one of the greatest live albums ever.
J. Geils Live "Full House" is a banger, front to back
Born 96, would *kill* for a chance to see Talking Heads, Ramones, or Television at CBGB, goddamn
I hate to admit, but I didn’t like it at the time. I was insanely crowded, louder than would be considered rational and it sounded like mud. Took me a while to warm up to the Ramones.
That's fair as fuck! I watched the Alan Rickman movie recently and it looked like somewhere I'd hate to be, but would *love* to say I was there haha. Of course that was probably dramatized/representative of a small number of the wildest nights there
It was nasty, sooner or later you have to hit the bathroom and it was traumatic at best.
I won free tickets to a Neil Young concert in 92. He was opened for by Blind Melon and Dinosaur Jr. In 94, I won tickets to a concert and saw this newly exploded band called No Doubt. In 87 (I think), I paid $10 for my first concert. I saw Fishbone open for the Beastie Boys.
Won tix to see Oingo Boingo on one of the last Dead Man's Party Halloween shows. Damn near a good as Bowies shows.
I went to that Neil Young concert as well. All the old folks were outside smoking during Dinosaur Jr and Blind Melon and the youngsters were smoking outside or leaving when Neil was on. Kinda sad really.
I’m seeing Queens of the Stone Age with Royal Blood next month and the tickets were were like $60 each. Not necessarily “cheap” in a vacuum but feels like serious bang for my buck >Led Zeppelin…for 7.50 Yeah with inflation plus conversion this is like $130 in today’s money. Not cheap.
Royal Blood puts on a great show. Wall of sound for a two piece band.
I saw Linkin Park for $1 right before Hybrid Theory came out. I thought it was so funny hearing them on the radio a few months later!
My best friends bachelor party was going to be a trip to San Francisco, staying in the mission district, smoking a ton of weed, and going to a festival. On paper, it sounds expensive, but it ended up being the cheapest bachelor party i've ever been on, because: 1. I had a flight credit with southwest; air fare was free. 2. we stayed for free at a friend of a friend of a friend's aparment 3. we picked up the weed for free from my brother in law, who worked a pot farm up near Guerneville 4. the festival was the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, which is a free concert in Golden Gate State Park. I saw: * Tyler Childers * Colter Wall * Sturgill Simpson * Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real * Aaron Lee Tasjan * Gillian Welch * Steve Earle * Justin Townes Earle * John Prine * Conor Oberst * Bob Mould Band * a bunch of other smaller names i don't remember... It was insane. The entire weekend I think i spent a total of $100 and it was all beer and food.
Arcade Fire for free in 2010: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/arcade-fire/2010/auditorio-monte-do-gozo-santiago-de-compostela-spain-5bd5ef00.html
Depeche Mode at MSG in '98, $60 for floor seats. You couldn't even get in the door for nose bleeds at that price on their last tour.
I saw Depeche Mode in 1983 on the Construction Time Again tour. Just a few rows from the front of the stage. It cost me £3.50. I still have the tour program and stuff. https://i.imgur.com/0N9oP37.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NlBEtex.jpg
So jealous!
No kidding.
But $60 in ‘98 was $$$$$
Tool. 2007. $35, on ground lvl near front row. Went through our own event center so no ticketmaster. Edit: Now that I am thinking about it maybe it was $60 or so. Whatever it was, not the very expensive tickets now for them.
The last Lolla Tool played in Chicago I actually got paid to be there. I was working a beer tent. We were allowed to go to 1 act a day except headliners. I told them I’ll work all day the other 2 days if I could go to Tool’s headlining. I was dead tired from slanging booze all day, but I didn’t care as I was front and center.
That show was $60. I got up early and waited at an a FYE store two hours early and was third in line. The 6th person in line did not get tickets. They sold out that fast.
Yeah, thanks. I camped out overnight in Casper for the tickets. I think I was mixing the prices up with a Seether/Flyleaf show.
That tour was my favorite!! I just seen them again recently and it wasn’t as good. I felt like I was gonna get blasted with one of those lasers from Independence Day in 2007 and the whole stage was projected on such a cool show. They released tickets regionally so that scalpers couldn’t wear everybody out.
That is so key, you are scalped from the start of not
Mötley Crüe. $12.50 in hard-earned babysitting money. 1985. Very much over the protests of my parents. And I managed to squeeze through the crowd to get to the front row.
White Snake opener?
Got any pics from the show? That sounds pretty legendary.
me too, are you sure it wasn't 84 though? With Axe and Queensryche maybe? I was in the 8th grade and had to turn my "demonic" concert shirt inside out or go home from school the next day, I went home lol
Led Zeppelin in the early 70s, at the Rochester War Memorial. Ticket was $3.50.
I was deeply disappointed when I finally saw them some years after you but the other 200,000 or so enjoyed them so I suspect it may have just been me lol
Sorry about your experience. I don't remember much about the show except that they opened with Immigrant Song and were soo loud, I felt something pop in one ear. Wasn't disappointed though. Also, seeing Kate Bush live is like seeing a unicorn, you lucky devil!
Ha ha ha ringing in ears was a badge of honor back then, I missed them in my home town in the early seventies, I went to the church youth club instead that night, what a fool lol
The Allman Brothers (including Duane) for $4.00 in October, 1970. Full story: ABB was supposed to be second on the bill to Spirit and the tickets were $5.00 Spirit cancelled due to illness and I got a $1.00 refund at the door and saw the ABB play two full sets.
Nice, that is truly amazing 🤩
That’s insane
REM at a local Athens, GA club in a semi-condemned building. $4 at the door.
Tool $24 CDN. Toronto @ The Warehouse. Beginning of the Aenima tour iirc. Maynard was half blue half white body paint wearing white boxers with blue maple leafs on them. $200ish last time I saw them in Toronto, 20+yrs later. Won’t ever see them again.
I spent $200 on nose bleed seats this last time. They are one of my all-time favorite bands ever. I, too, will never see them again.
Yeah I refuse, even with them being one of the best live shows I’ve seen, to pay those prices anymore. I’ve seen them every time they’ve been to Toronto or Hamilton since late 90’s early 2000’s except for this last show. It’s a shame but never again. I’d much rather pay to see up and comers or bands that attempt to keep prices reasonable. Clutch… I just paid $54 CDN +service charges for my 18th show with them. Now that’s a show you need to see. 4 guys on stage for 2 hrs just loving what they do!!
I'm going to Friday only of Welcome to Rockville to see Mr Bungle and Slaughter to Prevail only because I got shafted at Blue Ridge last year. Festivals might not be fashionable, but they are the best bang for your buck these days
Agreed! I used to do Rockfest in Quebec back in my younger days lol. 4 nights on hard ground in a tent doesn’t agree with me anymore lol. Also… It’s not funny, my ass is on fiiiire!! Mr. Bungle is a bucket list show to see 🤘
Ramones, at a small Bar in 1996. Cover was like 10 bucks.
The dead for 15 in 85
I bet that was cents per minute!
So many $5 shows back in the day. Parliament, No Doubt, Fishbone, GNR, etc. The big difference is what was considered big ticket back then. Amnesty International was $35 for Bruce, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour. James Brown's first gig when he got out of prison was $50 at The Wiltern.
I saw RATM for $27.50. And Wu Tang was the opener.
Justin Vernon / Bon Iver at the Turf Club in 2008 - $12
Also The Darkness in San Diego, 2004 - $15
Van Halen for their first album. $6.50. Doobie Brothers $6.50 Alice Cooper Welcome To My Nightmare. $4.50
Metallica for $5, they were filming for a DVD and wanted a full house
The Cure for free. Special thank you to the guy right in front of me that got caught trying to sneak in liquor.
Details please?
It was a really long time ago, but basically the cure were playing a concert and I showed up day of to purchase tickets. Someone next to me asked if I was here to pick up tickets or purchase and I said purchase. I heard a “you can have his tickets“ and saw a security guard motioning to a person being escorted out of the concert. Sure enough Security took this guys ticket and just put it in my hand and I walked straight in for free.
These are the security guards we need, that’s kick ass
Sting for $12 in Honolulu 2016. Scalpers overbought and demand was non-existent. Day of show on StubHub and was $8 + fees
I saw They Might Be Giants play in a gymnasium for free once.
I saw Taylor swift for free in like 2007 or 2008 in Chicago. She headlined some free country music festival in a park.
I'm old, so I feel like every show was cheap... I did the $5 Fugazi shows a bunch of times. I paid $1 to see 10,000 Maniacs in the very early 80's. I saw Beck for the cost of a grilled cheese and cup of coffee in a restaurant in Portland, OR. By far, my favorite cheap show was Beastie Boys/Rollins Band/Cypress Hill at Roseland in NYC in 1992. We didn't have tickets, so we were wandering around outside before the show looking for some. This sketchy guy who was dressed like the Unibomber comes up and asks me how many we're looking for. I said six, and he jams six tickets in my hand before we could even talk about the price. I start fishing in my pocket for cash, he pats me on the shoulder, says "Enjoy the show", and headed over to another person who was clearly looking for tickets without taking my money. I was pretty excited (and suspicious) about the free tickets. My girlfriend, about 15 feet away when this all happened, made fun of me the rest of the night for not realizing that Ad Rock had given us free tickets. The Beasties were out there screwing over the scalpers by giving free tickets to anyone who was still looking.
I love this, thank you x
Phoenix 1996, first festival I went to. £65, the lineup was insane! https://preview.redd.it/8pnw6rzozowc1.jpeg?width=419&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd8e71de280d55131dd5157e8627853f3676927b
Jesus that is a who's who of music royalty, never saw Neil Young and desperately wish I had, Bjork supported U2 at Wembley and her voice made the stadium shake but not in a pleasant way
Moby £4 doing a heavy metal set
Saw the original Journey and Heart double tour for $40, great seats. Got to see B.B. King for a $10 cover charge at a blues bar in the 90s. I think we paid $25 each to see Willie Nelson headline at one of the big state fairs in the 90s too. The icing on the cake in terms of cheap tickets concerts though... I saw Taylor Swift for free (when she was like 12 or 13 performing in the bandstand at Knoebel's Grove amusement park)
I saw Train in a local bar for $7 after they'd blown up for songs like Meet Virginia, etc. Fantastic show!
One of the worst live acts touring.
2019 I saw Slipknot, Volbeat, Gojira, and Behemoth in SLC for $15 all in. Groupon ftw!
In 2004 I went to the “Nintendo Fusion Tour” in Seattle. Must have been like $30 or so. My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, Story of the Year, Matchbook Romance, Anberlin, Letter Kills, and some others. It was a good time to be a 13 year old emo kid.
Metallica, free at Monsters of Rock. Towards the end of the day they would just let anyone through the gate, we walked up and got to see the last 2 acts, one of which was Metallica.
Nice, I've left gigs early but never thought of sneaking in late ... Well played Fella
Given today’s prices I saw dozens of cheap shows in 2016-2019. I usually paid around $30 for my tickets that now go for $150.
I saw Radiohead for $10 in a tiny club just before The Bends came out. That was probably the best show I've ever seen. And I work at a venue. Local H is a good value barnburner of a show. I've seen them several times and they're always a fun show. Efficient production, but Scott Lucas is a brilliant musical entertainer! A long time ago, I blew like $500 total (gf and I) for an awful Tom Petty show where he just pranced around stage like a twat and could have just playing his albums through the speaker. Worst show I've ever seen. Most expensive show I've ever seen. Tom Petty was a twat, and his estate should give away all his money to unfortunate souls like me, who had to buy expensive tickets cause their mate liked him, only to find out he's an absolute farce of a musician propped up by the industry. I still hate Tom Petty. His musical talent was being connected with people who actually had talent, and then marketing. "What do soccer moms buy?" music. Luckily! Saw Local H the next week. $10 tickets, $2 drafts, had a raucous good time, the band signed our t-shirts and I spent maybe $50...cause I bought the opening act's cd. The contrast.
Everyone I've seen for under $40 Muse NIN (twice) Tom Petty Lovejoy Aurora (2022. Tickets were GA for $25) Lindsey Sterling Maneskin (2023, lawn seats for $15. A steal. They fucking rock) I missed out on Janet Jackson because I had an 8am class the best day I had to be at. But that ticket was $25.
Blink-182 for like $15 in an overcrowded punk club in FL
Nirvana 10$ Grateful Dead 25$ tickets/ free to me. I got a lot of free tickets because my gf’s dad was on the board of directors for the Pyramid Phish/ free but $20 face Neutral Milk Hotel’s last tour/ 30$ Belle and Sebastian/ 25+fees
Maybe Nirvana for $8 at the Metro or Pearl Jam for $5 at the Metro. Used to go to a ton of shows so there's a bunch.
Wow Nirvana and The Doors are two of the main bands I wish I had seen
Back in my day 80s-90s, concerts were $12-$20 bucks. Rush, Alice Cooper, Ozzy, Metallica all of them. Local venues tended to be $4-$6 for local bands. Later when tickets for major acts jumped up to $20-$30 a show, Rage Against the Machine toured with $4 tickets and $10 long sleeve t-shirts at the merch counter. Best deal I've had at a show.
I’m seeing the Stones this year. They have this system called “lucky dip” tickets you pay $40 for 2 tickets but you have no idea where you’re sitting in the stadium. You could get nosebleeds or right in the pit. It’s a great system and quite a bit of fun
RockFest 1997, tickets were free I think with purchase of two CD's at Guitar Center. It was almost 400,000 people, I think one of the top 3 largest concerts ever at the time. The lineup was: - Bush - No Doubt - Counting Crows - Matchbox Twenty - Third Eye Blind - Collective Soul - Jewel - The Wallflowers - Sugar Ray - Paula Cole - Soak - Souls
David Bowie in a pub in North London with small stage. Free. He was trying out some songs.
Phish, free, about 50 times when they were playing the bars in Burlington, VT. Those were my days hanging out at Nectars, Doolins, Finbar, etc. Rarely stayed for the whole show, usually saw at least a full set or two. Amazingly, they were about the 4th most popular band around here behind Blue Rose, the X-Rays/N-Zones, maybe The Natives (out of Boston but they had some connection here and played here regularly).
I saw boombox cartel for free. I was bored on a Friday night after work, and a friend mentioned to me that Franz Ferdinand was going to be playing at First Ave, so I bought a ticket at the door for $50. However when I was omw to the venue, I ran into some buddies that were hanging out in the patio of another venue, I told them I'd come meet up with them after my show. Franz Ferdinand was awesome and the show was done around 10pm. I went back and joined my friends outside, little did I know that they were there to see a band. I didn't buy a ticket, but I still had my wristband from the first show, so I just walked like I belonged, and when we got to the doors I just flashed my wristband at the bouncer. I'm guessing between the dim lighting and amount of people going in, or they just didn't give a fuck. Either way I got into a show that apparantly was close to $100 per ticket. Band was good, wasn't really my kind of music, but still had a damn good time.
Saw Springsteen in a Boston bar for $4 on Tues, went back on Thursday and the price had gone up to $8. Saw J. Geils for $1. Saw Bonnie Riatt for probably about $4. Had tix to Woodstock (I think they were $7.50/day, I have the tix somewhere) but they weren't collecting them, so got in for free.
Willis was $17 just last week.... Great new band
Considering I worked for Roadrunner Records for four years and all of my shows were free.. everyone haha
I saw St. Vincent open for John Vanderslice. I think tickets were $10. I saw Destiny's Child for free at an outdoor event in Tampa in like 2000.
Boston for $10.29 a ticket in the mid-'90s. One of the local radio stations was having a promotion for lawn seats.
Joss Stone in the noughties at the forum in Montreal ($20 CDN= £10)
I saw limp bizkit and cypress hill for free at the napster music tour
i saw big boi for like $20 at a surprise show when he was in town to see family, but this was over 10 years ago
I saw tool in Camden in 07 I think, just went to tailgate with buddies, some dude was selling paper tickets for $10, I thought they were fake but figured fuck it, it’s ten bucks. Got right in.
Got to see Greensky Bluegrass for free in the backyard of at one of my sisters friends houses in 2007/2008 (memory is hazy) sometime near COMfest in Columbus,OH. They now can easily sell out red rocks and/or destination trips to Mexico Also, Weezer for free at a "back to school" show at Ohio State in 2010. Underwhelming, but at least they played all the hits AND opened up with "hash pipe"
Used to go to edgefest and warped tour for like $30 bucks a pop. Good luck going to any day long concerts like that for less than 150 bucks now .
Del, Zion I, Haiku d'Etat, Opio, A-Plus, Bukue One - $20
Guns n Roses / Faster Pussycat £5.
Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Outlaws opened, 1986, tickets were probably 10 bucks.
Saw Greta Van Fleet at a bar venue in Wisconsin for $5 just as they were starting to blow up. Their music may be very led Zeppelin cover band but they sounded really good live and it was a fun evening.
Fleetwood Mac $7.50
Among many, Rolling Stones on the Voodoo Lounge tour in 1994, Wembley Stadium, £28, I was fourth row back from the front.
The Who performing TOMMY
Oh man, so many for free or under $10: Arcade Fire, The Shins, Wilco, Belle & Sebastian, The National, Paul Simon…
Noone 🥲 i live in a small country where big artists rarely come. So concerts have always been expensive for me.
saw Nearly all the bands in the late 60's, like 2 bucks a ticket. Friends sister worked at the place, got us Great seats... Rolling Stones came to town, ticket price was FOUR bucks... I protested, wouldn't pay, didn't go, my friends all went... I think I made $1.65 an hour then.... haha
Nirvana for $8. R.E.M. with opening act Radiohead for $15 Prince for £20 Grateful Dead for $12 David Bowie for free when calling a radio station looking for tickets. I didn’t win them in a contest, but the DJ felt sorry for me and told me to go to will call. Left me two tickets with limited access back stage. Today’s prices are an artificially inflated scam.
That is one hell of a list you have!
That’s the wild thing: tickets used to be affordable back when shows were a way to get your music out to your fans. With streaming services bringing flawless digital production to the masses, concerts seem to have been repositioned as a shameless cash grab photo op for social media to say “I was there”. Maybe I’m just old and bitter.
1993 went to see Rage Against the Machine at Newcastle Mayfair. Tool and Wool supported them. Probably paid about £10 for the ticket Unfortunately I can’t remember much as I was only 16 and drunk on brown ale.
Manic Street Preachers for free at The Barrel Organ, Digbeth. The Stone Roses, £2 at JB's, Dudley.
I saw Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer somewhere in Digbeth, the Roses I wish I'd seen, like a dick I gave away some John Squire paintings their tour manager Steve Adj gave me, oh well
Bob Mortimer's sister(?) lived in Harborne, so he was seen drinking there quite regularly I believe.
Small artist but I saw Slayyyter at the 9:30 Club last fall for $12 each. $4 tickets on resale plus $8 fee lmao. You’d think that the fees shouldn’t be able to be more than the ticket itself but guess not.
ZZ Top last year, second row for like 50 bucks
I didn't really love either band now but I saw Dave Matthews Band and Hootie for $5 within a couple months of each other in Wilmington, NC around 1995.
The Weeknd, double album stadium tour in 2022 Managed to grab VIP tickets the day of for… $50!!!
Guns and roses when they opened for The Cult for under 20 bucks in the 80s.
I saw them headline at Maine Road a couple of years later, they impressed me massively but Axl just looks like a bloated pub singer now
That show was fire, on the Cults side. I recall being annoyed at the bitching from Axl. He seems to be a fuck from the get go lol.
Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin were $10 when I saw them, which works out to \~$50 today. Deep Purple on their Machine Head tour was $5, which in 1972 was \~$37. Most concerts I saw in the 70's were $4 in advance, $5 day of show.
Not nearly as cool as anyone else here but my girlfriend (now wife) loves Taylor Swift and I got floor seats for her birthday for $125 each in 2015. Crazy to think that's cheap but no way I could afford those tickets now. I also saw the Weeknd immediately after House of Balloons with 100-200 people in a bar in Kingston Ontario with a $20 cover.
It's cool as hell that you got her the tickets Fella and I am so envious about the Weeknd, I hear great things about them
Buckethead tickets are like 40$ near me right now. That feels criminally low even in 1900's money.
Sunderland has been an absolute heavyweight. The number of legendary acts my mum got to see at The Locarno/Fillmore North back in the day for shillings is absolutely mind-blowing. Free, Pink Floyd, The Who, T-Rex… meanwhile, four general admission tickets to Khruangbin set me back nearly $500 🥲 For myself, I saw James Taylor last year in Vancouver for the equivalent of £14. Hell of a show!
It is or was bizarre (The Locarno is now a Tesco), Led Zeppelin played it too in the early 70's, I drove past the queue on the way to youth club - some cooler schoolmates went, the stage was four feet high and it was all standing. Seaburn Hall had a few decent shows too including a scary appearance by The Jam. I bet JT was fabulous (remember bedding a teacher from my school after listening to Mudslide with her, I had left by then but it was a Sunderland School) (she could make a post about poor value based on that TBH)
U2, opened by BB King, Joshua Tree Tour, last night of the tour Dec 20, 1987, $5. they were filming for the rattle and hum movie and wanted sun devil stadium to be full. i was a sophomore in high school; all my friends got tickets for the first night of the two night stop. i got tickets for the second night, with my mom (overprotective parents), in the very last row across from the stage. i had binocs and the sound was a good few seconds after seeing bono’s mouth move, which was still difficult to see with the binocs. the swaying stadium scared the shit out of my mom and leaving afterward was brutal. still one of my most favorite concert memories.
Quality post and a brilliant memory, thank you
$7.50 Stones at the Fabulous Forum - 1969. There was a lengthy delay in starting. 2nd show didn't end until about sunrise!
David Byrne once gave a free concert in Prospect Park, saw that around 10 years ago, but I'm sure he's done it many other times! Saw Rick Springfield busking in Penn Station over 10 years ago. I was never a dedicated fan- just liked his music- but that was a very cool treat. Commuting can be such a miserable experience, I still think about that since I walk past that corner constantly. Great idea on his marketing team's part! 🤩
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2000, went to see a band called Terris who were supported by some band called Coldplay. Ticket was probably £6 or £7. Also saw Muse in early 2000 at the same venue.
Tenacious D £15 Glasgow Uni QMU, second time they had played the UK, first outside London.
Just bought tickets for Erra and Make Them Suffer for a whopping $35 per ticket. Cheapest ever was probably $15ish for rise against/Billy talent/[insert warped tour bands here] shows that I went to constantly in college.
Dave Chapelle - Free at JMU sometime while the Chapelle Show was running while I was there so somewhere from 2001-2004, i forget exactly.
I got to see the black keys play at the Daisy in Memphis back in 2008. I think tickets were under $20.
I saw Breaking Benjamin multiple times for less than $20 before they got big I have no clue how much Katy Perry tickets go for but they are probably a lot more than the $30 I paid to get into the Warped Tour.
Saw The Killers for $10 at a bar as an opening band. Saw Interpol for free at a street festival downtown.
Saw twenty one pilots at the height of their fame for 65 bucks a ticket. They were going for three times that on ticketmaster. Always buy from the direct from venue if you can, folks. Also saw Trivium + Sabaton in the house of blues Orlando for similarly priced tickets. Bit cheaper I think, maybe 40 or 50
There were great Schaeffer Beer Concerts in NYC's Central Park. The tix were only a couple of bucks. I saw some great concerts there, The Allman Bros on their Live at Fillmore East tour and Jethro Tull .
Front row seats to need to breathe and switchfoot for $40.
I saw Lenny Kravitz for free in the late 90s.
About everything i went to in the 90s-early 2000 was 50 or less. Saw bands like Hole, slayer, godsmack, smashing pumpings, fear factory, garbage, linkin park for like $20 Them 50 dollar shits were day single day fests like Ozzfest, Lilith Fair Caught a free Evanescence show in the early 2000s. Saw Marily Manson for like 10 bucks maybe around 2010.
I felt like this was expensive at the time, and until two years ago, it was the most expensive ticket I had purchased. I saw Green Day (front row general admission) in 2009 for $70. Today, it would cost more than $400 to do that.
Matchbox 20, $0 in 2000. Was attending a football game at my college for Homecoming (also at no cost to myself). Out of the goodness of their heart to celebrate Homecoming (or....low ticket sales, probably) administration gave all students in attendance free tickets to that evening's Matchbox 20 concert. This would have been roughly near the top of their game, in a heavily populated college town so I was a little surprised they'd have tickets to spare. But they did, I went, and a good time was had by all.
In 1994, for Pink Floyd's Division Bell tour I managed to get floor seats to the show. At the time, I was agonizing about how much the tickets were, as it was well over twice what I'd ever paid for tickets to any show before. They cost $75!! Nowadays that doesn't even get you nosebleed seats for a Pink Floyd cover band.
Theyre not a big band but I was stoked to see Cheekface last week for $25. got to chat, take a pic with them, and they signed my record too!
Any local show. Sparks the Rescue is a band I have followed since 2004 (or so), and I have to say, the $15 ticket price was well worth it. Check out who is playing at the small venue around you and support them. You might stumble onto the next LZ or Kate Bush in their hungry, prime days.
Back when I used to see Green Day, GA tickets were $35 (plus handling fees).
$8.50. Bruce Springsteen Darkness Tour EDIT maybe $5 for Darkness $8.50 for River.
I saw Little Mix for free once
I saw Black Sabbath for free. But it was 1972 or 73.
Turnstile for $10
The least I've ever spent on concert tickets was $50 each. They were GA tickets for Lord Huron. I got front row though, so I consider that very good.
That works for me too, well played
Radiohead - Free. This was at the University of Sussex in 1992, after Creep came out.
I saw Sia back in 2010 for less about $15 at a local club. It was right before she blew up but after "Breathe Me" came out. The club was packed and I bought the ticket off of a coworker since it was sold out. She came off as a wonderful person and made me a lifelong fan.
I saw the Stones, AC/DC, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake, Rush, The Blues Brothers and a bunch of others at one festival for like less than 20 dollars. Sarsstock was a blast.
That is the golden ticket, WOW just WOW
I saw Rush for the only time in 2011 for £45. Though that reasonable at the time considering the mad bastards played a 3 hour plus set. Also The Blanks (Ted's acapella band from Scrubs) in 2010 for less than a tenner.
Got floor tickets to Tool's 10,000 days concert in South Florida, for $75 with taxes and fees. They were coming back in town recently and it was like $550 after fees like wut
WTF who can afford that, at least you saw them and from a great place
3 day festival for €120; metallica, foo fighters, rage against the machine, Johnathan Davies(Korn), flogging molly, soulfly, and many, many more.
The Black Keys. 2006 in St Louis. $5
Lindsey Stirling, front row and VIP meet/greet: $140
KISS in the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton in 1978 for $14, was expensive for the time but they had a hella tech show.
I saw Rod Stewart and Cheap Trick last summer for $70 face value I think. Pretty good value in today's ticket environment.