I have said before having worked in a retail store that sold tickets and managing the section they were sold in had big time perks. Front row tickets for Stevie Ray Vaughn twice (the second time was so close it was close enough for FR basically). I don't remember how much they (somewhere just under 100 bucks I think) were but compared to some of the prices I see nowadays they were. By far the best concert experience I've ever had and I've been to in upwards to 100-150 counting festivals. Having had/have a close friend that is a local DJ also has perks. Backstage for example. At one festival I saw Cake, Cypress Hill (with their like 5' bong onstage, awesome), there were more but I can't remember, and ran around backstage drinking real drinks and eating free food. I've also seen AC/DC, Skynyrd, Thorogood, Pat Benatar (3 times, big ups to Pat), G-n-R, Skid Row, Def Leppard (twice), Bon Jovi (easy Frebis), Warrant, Bad English, MC Hammer (a GF forced me and it was free to me), Barry fucking Manilow (Same GF same free tix deal), James Taylor, MXPX, Good Charolette.....there are a bunch more. To say I have a wide variety of musical likes is an understatement. I also saw Sam Kinison in the venue that the Orchestra performs at. It was odd seeing him walk out on stage with two barely covered chicks on leashes. Anyone that has never been to a rock or metal concert should go at least once. The feeling of standing there with thousands of other people that know every single word to every single song is something else. Much of the cost in ticket prices are the god damn fees they tack on, which are sky high. As for what I'd spend, if I could see a certain quaterback play before he's done, I'd probably shell out in upwards of $500, before the plane tickets.
I would only pay in the $100 range for Iron Maiden/GnR/Slayer/Children of Bodom. Problem for me is, I have seen all four of those bands live, and I know how insanely loud it gets in the front row. I would have to wear ear plugs to keep from going partially death anyways, which slightly reduces the awesomeness of the experience. However, I would be willing to shell out $300-$400 for front row to a boxing/MMA fight I was really hyped about.
I'd pay $9k for a front row seat for a Guns and Roses reunion with original members. If I was shelling that much out, I'd hit the press and demand Axl cut his dreadlocks.
I just turned down decent $80 tickets to see Rush a couple nights ago. I feel fucking cheap now compared to you guys (granted I saw them a few years ago on the Snakes & Arrows tour). The only front row seats I've ever had was to see Trans Siberian Orchestra. At a show like that where the spectacle is as important as the music, I'd put a premium on where I was sitting. But most of the concerts I've seen are either small clubs or a general admission standing area. Recently, at heavier concerts, I've discovered I can get pretty close to the front by traveling from mosh-pit to mosh-pit and staying towards the front when I know the song is about to calm down. I ended up about four rows from Claudio Sanchez's sweaty Puerto Rican fro a few nights ago doing this.
I would have paid anything to see a reunion of Pink Floyd playing a full concert before the keyboardist died. I had no money when they got together for Live 8 so I wasnt about to travel to England for 4-5 songs. Id probably still pay 1-2k to see Roger Waters and Gilmore reunite. If I were in the states come October Id see Water's Wall concert in Columbus. I think tickets start at 150. Id pay 500-1k for some decent seats.
For some reason (well I had money) I spent $200 to see Aerosmith live, not sure why, I just did. The seats weren't even great. Actually.. I ended up spending $250 to see the Who live the following year.. that's when I decided I'll never spend more than $100 on a ticket unless if I'm within twenty rows, row 40 for $250 is a rip off. Except for Neil Young, I knew I had to spend $150 for a Neil Young show in Winnipeg just to see him perform in Winnipeg for the first time solo in over a decade. As for actually getting to front row for shows, usually it's small venue gigs, I saw the Weakerthans (a rock band from Canada) front row a few times, and for some random Canadian rock bands most people have never heard of. The best front row experience was "front row" (sort of) seats to an AHL* final round hockey game, that turned out to be the last game in the series, that was a fun time, even though the local team lost the championship. I was right behind the penalty bench/scorekeepers booth so whenever there was a no-goal (for the local team), you would see me on TV making a "WTF" face, immediately followed by a few texts from friends saying "haha youre on tv." that was a blast, too bad it wasn't a Stanley Cup Final game, but for $30, it was good entertainment value. *NHL farm league.. not as great, but cheap, it's all we have in Winnipeg - Go Jets Go!
It's different here in the ass-end of nowhere, because good acts are few and far between. Consequently, when they do pop up, I grab the fuck out of some tickets, regardless of price. I've never regretted money I've spent on concerts, ever. In the next 4 months, I have tickets to Jack Johnson ($100), Powderfinger ($100), Guns and Roses ($150), Stereosonic ($120), and U2 ($350, Red Zone GA, basically close enough to blow Bono if you so choose). The U2 tickets were a gift, though, I wouldn't have spent that much myself. I'd pay $200-$300 without blinking to see the Rolling Stones, Guns and Roses, Pearl Jam, and, in absurd wishful thinking mode, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden. I'd pay thousands to see Nirvana / The Who original line-up, and I'd consider it a good use of money.
Am I the only one who doesn't really like concerts? I think maybe my attention span is too short, I just get annoyed after a while and want to do something else, but the band doesn't like it when I ask them to pause for an hour. So, I guess maybe I'd pay about $20 for most bands I like, maybe up to $50 for someone like Lady Gaga, where there's something happening on stage more than just the band performing live. And, I've already had front row tickets for Rockapella, so my life is basically complete already.
Hmm, I love hypotheticals like this. Assuming death didn't matter, I'd pay the following: $10 k for shitty seats for the original line-ups of Zeppelin, the Beatles, AC/DC and Alice in Chains. Now for 'reality.' I'd probably pay $1,000 for the classic lineup of the Stones, (Jagger, Richards, Watts, Wyman, and Taylor), and either classic Genesis lineup (Collins, Rutherford, Banks, Hackett, and Gabriel - or without Gabriel circa 1978 Seconds Out). I'd pay around $500 for the classic Plant solo line-up (Phil Collins, Robbie Blunt) and the original Van Halen lineup (I've seen them with Cherone, and without Anthony, but never with Roth and Anthony). I'd probably throw down $200 for Soundgarden, Rush and Stone Temple Pilots (whom I saw at the Lehigh University Gym with Cheap Trick opening, great show). Honorable mentions: Clapton (Reptile lineup), Aerosmith, Yes, AC/DC, current Stones lineup, G3 tour (Satriani, Vai and Johnson), Black Crowes and Dream Theatre.
My dad and I had tickets to Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. You know, the one where my our Kirby Puckett robbed your Ron Gant and then sealed his immortality <a class="postlink" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Best-legends-statue-at-Target-Field-Kirby-Care?urn=mlb-233713" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_le ... mlb-233713</a> with a walkoff homer in the 11th. Yeah, that one. We (I was only 16 at the time, so it was we means "my dad") had tickets to game 1, 2, 6, and 7. Instead of going to all 4, we decided to go to game 1 so we could say we've been to the World Series and then sell the rest. It was still fun watching it on tv.
Focus: I would risk being homeless to see Nirvana. If I somehow had tickets to a Seahawks Super Bowl, right behind their bench, you'd have to pay me five figures at the very least for me to consider it.
Anything over $100 for live music is fucking ridiculous to me, but if it was once in a lifetime, then I might budge and drop the money on it. I spent almost 100 bucks on seeing Kenny Chesney at Browns Stadium a few years ago, I wasn't even that big of a fan of him at the time, but the experience and atmosphere was worth it. The tailgating outside, and some really good opening acts made it worth every cent. I would probably cave in and sell my soul to see some non existent bands, most notably: Led Zeppelin Pink Floyd Rage Against the Machine Guns N Roses
The most I have ever paid for a concert ticket is $160AU, and that is for the upcoming Metallica concert here in Sydney. General Admission, and since I am larger than your average bear you'd best believe I am pushing my way right to the front. I'd pay similar money to see Rammstein again. I would pay up to triple that amount to see the original Sepultura line up (playing nothing after the Roots album) or AC/DC. Since I've seen most of the bands that I have ever wanted to watch, my willingness to fork out a large wad of cash isn't that great. However, I have snuck into a fuckload (ok, maybe about 20) of gigs, and the best concerts I have ever seen are those where I jumped the fence. Prodigy, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, several Big Day Outs, a few dance festivals here and there and some other gigs that have slipped my memory since we only snuck into them because we could. It is hard to beat that rush - drugs don't even come close.