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My other half bought 2 tickets for Taylor swift in Edinburgh. The only ones she could get (back when they were released) were £700 quid..each!!😳 now granted they were vip, which apparently means you get to avoid queuing with the plebs and you get a small gift box with a poster and lanyard (total cost must be about a tenner), but a few of my mates daughterS are going and even normal tickets are about 200 quid.
Now aside from the fact I can’t see the appeal of her awful music in the slightest, I’m reliably informed that Taylor treats her fans amazingly well, but I’d argue those prices are taking the pee pee a bit. I remember seeing U2 back in the day for about 25 quid.
Back to the 1400 quid my oh spent, it didn’t go down well when I pointed out she could have bought me a nice set of carbon wheels for that..
Fingers crossed they are genuine - load of posts on Facebook selling non existent Taylor Swift tickets.
You can come and sit in my front room & listen to the gig for £50. For a £100 I’ll open the window for you.
But most tickets for bigger artists are comfortably £120+ these days so the £200 for a Taylor Swift ticket isn't massively overpriced compared to the wider market (although I agree tickets prices are a bit rich these days).
Then there's 'Abba Voyage' –up to £200 for tickets to not even see a live band! Or Pearl Jam – £120 for shit tickets at the back!!!
My first gig – Iron Maiden, Beast on the Road tour – £2.75.
Next gig – Glastonbury – £360 (but my current schedule is getting me to see 26 acts so I see it as very good value).
Brilliant. All you'll be able to see is 1000s of phone screens and all you'll be able to hear is the crowd singing along out of tune. What a way to chuck £1400 away. At least you can show your socials photos to say you were there I guess. Hope Taylor gets the funds she so badly needs.
Hope Taylor gets the funds she so badly needs
$13 million per gig apparently
£700 to go and see that load of old carp lol! 😂
My mate has three "Swifty" daughters, so when the tour was announced, not going was not an option.
The normal £200 tickets all got snapped up straight away so the only option was the £700 VIP ones. It was four tickets maximum but they managed to get another seat nearby in the resale phase for £900 (I think)
That's £3700 plus fuel parking and possibly hotel.
They aren't going on holiday this year.
With all the palaver of getting there & back or staying over, you'd have to pay me to go to any stadium size gig 🤣
Fair play to Taylor Swift if she can generate that sort of money and have fun doing it.
My mate has three “Swifty” daughters, so when the tour was announced, not going was not an option.
Saying no is always an option.
But I'm not a hater - TayTay has churned out some cracking pop songs.
My 21yr old daughter hates that there are some of her songs in one of my playlists! She's blocked Taylor Swift from her Spotify feed! 🙂
Never heard any Taylor Swift. At least not knowingly.
<goes to youtube for 5 minutes>
Well, those are some slightly less memorably songs than Billie Eyelash... Fifty more flavours of indistinguishable yawn.
I remember seeing U2 back in the day for about 25 quid.
Yea, but then you'd have to sit through a U2 concert.
[Bonno voice]
every time I clap an old guy tells people how he saw U2 for £25
[/Bonno voice]
My mate has three “Swifty” daughters, so when the tour was announced, not going was not an option.
The normal £200 tickets all got snapped up straight away so the only option was the £700 VIP ones. It was four tickets maximum but they managed to get another seat nearby in the resale phase for £900 (I think)
That’s £3700 plus fuel parking and possibly hotel.
They aren’t going on holiday this year.
bloody hell you could almost get a bike frame for that! is this how non bikers spend their vast disposable income and free time, I always wondered.
Never heard any Taylor Swift. At least not knowingly.
That's like saying you've never heard any Beatles songs - nigh on impossible.
£700 to go and see that load of old carp lol!
my thoughts exactly!
They aren’t going on holiday this year.
I jest about spending the 1400 on wheels, but in reality it’s a huge amount of cash for one night of entertainment. With an average ticket price of 200 quid it seems a shame that less well off kids may miss out.
im dreading having to pick them up after the gig, getting in and out of Edinburgh will be an absolute disaster (thanks ScotRail for not putting on any additional trains past 10.30)
Makes those "overpriced" bike events and races look a veritable bargain though, eh?
but I’d argue those prices are taking the pee pee a bit.
The equivalent Beyoncé ticket ( a VIP) for her recent tour was (sit down before you read on) £2300. This was for the Stadium of Light in Sunderland mind, and for that, you get access to your own bar (still have to pay for drinks) and your own loo to use, separate from the pelbs, I can't remember if there was Merch thrown in but I think there was
it seems a shame that less well off kids may miss out
In the mainstream area everything goes elitist at some point. Look at mainstream road and MTB prices. Cars. Houses. Holiday destinations. Now you can have aspirational music taste too.
The equivalent Beyoncé ticket ( a VIP) for her recent tour was (sit down before you read on) £2300
Forget the private loo, id expect Beyoncé to be on hand to wipe my ass for that price😳
back to ms swift. I don’t think I’ve heard any of her songs since about ten years ago when they were awful teen pop (love story anyone?). Is she any good nowadays, I may try to have a listen on Spotify to gain some cred within the household..
Wife has taken that tickets in Bristol tomorrow - good seats so we're 129 each.
We've tickets to the foo fighters in Cardiff, they were 70 each bug not great seats.
The Corrs at Westerburt were £50
In comparison we saw Spirited away in London west end last month at £120 a ticket for 'ok' seats.
I realised yesterday that I need to go to London on the day that she's playing in Cardiff. I need to come home to Cardiff. I'm fully braced for the worst train trip of my entire life.
To continue the HOW MUCH?! - I booked train tickets through my work's platform and it's £315 return!
£200 a pop to go to a concert - more than I'd spend but I can see that if it was your thing, it's not a crime.
What is a crime however is your OH spending AN EXTRA GRAND for the vip version of the tickets! A thousand pounds. I know she didn't want to and it's all that was left...but they were available for a reason....because normal rational people (even if they were Swifties) thought it beyond a reasonable amount. They were able to exercise the self control your OH wasn't.
But then some non super wealthy types pay to turn left on airplanes to get their tummy rubbed and food delivered on a proper plate. And I'm not even sure your actual tummy gets rubbed- or any other bit of you.
Ok, a quick google tells me a normal ticket is 110 quid (you can get cheaper with a restricted view)
Still expensive imo, but not as bad as expected
taylor, I take it all back..
Makes the Nick Cave tickets at £70 each look cheap.
Much prefer smaller gigs at £20-30 per ticket where you can actually see the artist rather than a small dot on the stage somewhere way in the distance where you watch the artist on the screens
when they were awful teen pop (love story anyone?)
Oh come on, that tune is an absolute banger.
My 5 year old is already a self proclaimed "swiftie". I managed to get away with some tickets for Xenna this year instead 😂
https://www.whatsonfife.co.uk/event/128438-taylor-swift-tribute/
because normal rational people (even if they were Swifties) thought it beyond a reasonable amount. They were able to exercise the self control your OH wasn’t.
hmm..I’m not so sure. I reckon there are plenty of ‘swifties’ who would have shelled out that amount if they couldn’t get hold of normal tickets. See the post above about the 3500 quid ticket bill for a family that found themselves in a similar situation
but I’d agree it’s not rational in the least..
Players gonna play play play play play
Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate I suppose.
I remember seeing U2 back in the day for about 25 quid
I saw them for £3.50, they were supporting Talking Heads. It just means I'm old. They had the extended T-Funk lineup but it's in no way comparable to the show Taylor Swift puts on, judging by the Eras film on Disney+.
I don't find £200 a ticket outrageous tbh, though I do think £700 is a bit strong. Granted, I've not done much web searching on the subject but I've not seen any mass outrage of the "I spent loads of money seeing Taylor swift and it was awful!" ilk.m
Rather you than me but I'm sure you'll have a lovely time!
TBH, i'd have loved to ahve gotten tickets to take my 9YO daughter to go see her.
Would have been anawesome moment!
instead, I'm taking her to teh Magic Circle in a few weeks to see a magic show!
DrP
Payers gonna pay pay pay pay pay
Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate I suppose.
FTFY
We tried SO hard to get tickets for this household of Swifties. Got access codes to a couple of the sales but never even got to the front of the virtual queue in time for anything affordable to be left. We couldn't consider the £550+ tickets so it was a sad couple of days. Got proper FOMO now she's in the country...youngest has been trying to persuade us to go to Cardiff to listen from outside but that's been a hard no too.
I'm not a huge fan of the earlier country stuff but Folklore got me through lockdown and being made redundant. Cracking album (Matt, 48, usually a Bob Mould and Superchunk listener).
Apparently the tour is said to generate over £2billion dollars or pounds (can't remember which) by the time its completed on legit ticket sales alone!
I do like Taylor Swift but we live in crazy ass times, lets hope she uses some of the dosh to back a decent democratic candidate in the forthcoming election!
If you can afford the ticket, why not?
Just work hard to earn the money back.
The question is how much tax does the Taylor Swift concern pay to the UK govt?
We have family who not only decided that Swifty daughter 'had' to go, but perhaps all 5 of them should go.....
The question is how much tax does the Taylor Swift concern pay to the UK govt?
Well all the costs associated with staging the events will attract VAT - so quite a lot in that alone.
But I'd guess Swifty pays her tax as an American.
@pisco We have two Swifty daughters and said no. We said we weren't spending the cost of a family holiday on this.
Thing that's particularly pissing me off at the moment is the endless emails about 'buy a special edition CD and win the chance to buy tickets'
This is earnings in the UK so tax is liable.
Well done all the people who don't like her music , but I'd remember taste is subjective and a lot of dad rock, Pink FLoyd etc is pretty mediocre at best
Yea, but then you’d have to sit through a U2 concert.
I sat through a U2 gig once. Big arena gig, bazillion people.
They were a fairly polished live act.
They were miles away, the other side of a bazillion people. The sound was utter shoot, mostly echo.
Looked ok for the few right at the front.
Other gigs were available, and more fun.
Well done all the people who don’t like her music
I neither like nor dislike, but I'll take the complement.
It's cruising along the middle of the road, musical porridge, of minimum flavour.
I live about 5 miles from Pilton , my mate can't get his head round that I've never been even though I enjoy a lot of different music . I just CBA with the rigamarole of trying to get tickets , trying to get in and out of the site trudging around for hours and that's before you factor in the mud 🙄
My collegue ended up seeing Nickleback at Mancheser Arena the other week...VIP £450 each*
Nickleback!!!!!!!!!! But he did have a 5 course tapas style meal included
*He was given them buy a high flying mate
Some of her songs are rather good but then I only listen to whatever is available to me free online.
As long as it is UK taxed, she can charge as much as she likes.
For the parents, just spend the money and enjoy the moment in life (pain of spending money LOL!) . See the family happy and high on Swift music LOL!
The maximum price I paid for a concert was £25 to £30 for a Metallica concert at old Wembley Stadium in 90s. Very good sound system. Brilliant concert.
I've not been to a gig for years, last time I probably paid £35 to see Editors per Covid. I really wanted to see Pearl Jam in Manchester, could believe they wanted nearly £190, decided I could get 3 nights in the Tweed Valley instead of 2 tickets for me and the Mrs, so did that instead!
Madness, for the price of a VIP ticket you could have a nice week in the alps riding bikes 😉
Well done all the people who don’t like her music
Even if she was the best thing I'd ever heard, I'd ditch her music for ripping off us fans with those gig prices. Plenty of other pop shit to listen to.
TBF, I *would* pay £700 to see Pink Floyd
I was at Live-8 in 2008, I wouldn't
Artists are completely taking the piss with ticket prices. Out of interest I googled how much Michael Jackson tickets were back in the 90s and this photo popped up - works out at £53.00 accounting for inflation, and he certainly didn't skimp on the 'show' element of a gig.
MJ back then was easily as big as Taylor Swift is now, if not bigger.
I can hear it from my house but would love to go. If tickets on Viagogo drop below £100 on the day I'll be off like a shot - it'll be fun, why not? People were spending that sort of money to see American has-been Bruce Springsteen at Murrayfield last year and there wasn't a thread about that.
Blimey. My one and only proper large scale gig was to see Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull (plus some other bands) at the old Wembley Stadium. Ticket price of £20. For context we were living in SW London and paying £120 a month each for rent.
I think some of this may be the Live Nation/Ticketmaster pricing models. Happy to be corrected but there's some buzz about them using an algorithm that ups the price as the demand ramps up.
They're also being sued in the US over the monopoly they hold.
Glad I don't have kids and or Swifties to fund at the price. 😂
My youngest daughter is going to the Wembley show - Ticket was about £175 I think, money well spent as its going to be the event of a lifetime for her. She is looking forward to it far more than our much more expensive summer holiday.
I started to struggle when tickets were going past £100 for 'average' acts. I wanted to see Kiss on their last tour but decided not to when I saw they were wanting £130-ish for average seats. By comparison, Iron Maiden were still 'only' £80 the last time I saw them (last year).
Artists are completely taking the piss with ticket prices. Out of interest I googled how much Michael Jackson tickets were back in the 90s and this photo popped up – works out at £53.00 accounting for inflation, and he certainly didn’t skimp on the ‘show’ element of a gig.
This is a very good point. Collectively we can't rely on our fellow plebs to boycott this stuff until prices are sane again - so I guess you suck it up or miss out*
The $/£2 billion mentioned above - gross or net? I'd imagine it's not cheap to put on a world tour.
*miss out is subjective!
Big-scale tours are horrendously expensive to put on, and something like TS is as much about an incredible stage show as the music, so I can kind of see how £200 is vaguely justified. (the £700 for "VIP" is just piss-taking though, but if people are willing to pay it...)
What I really can't justify is why someone like Elton John was charging £300+ for tickets - it's not like he was grooving around on stage to elaborately choreographed dances with lasers & giant robots. That was just greed.
Last "big" gig I saw was the greatest band in the world, Tenacious D, at the O2 last year. Just two dudes and a band on stage doing their thing. £80 (actually for pretty good rather than the cheapest/worst seats!) still expensive I guess but much more reasonable!
A lot of this will be to cover the gap between what the streaming services pay the artists and what they used to get from selling physical media. Most of them pay a small fraction of a penny per stream. Spotify is the worst so I’ve heard.
That’s like saying you’ve never heard any Beatles songs – nigh on impossible.
I've never knowingly heard any Taylor Swift stuff.
Do quite like Billie Eilish though.
so I guess you suck it up or miss out*
I've chosen to miss out on Foo Fighters next weekend even though I had a ticket! I just can't be arsed with the faff of getting there and dealing with forty thousand folk.
...and I've got a bowls match on! 🤣
My wife and niece are still going though.
yeah poor old Swifty, only earned $100 from Spotify alone in 2023 😂A lot of this will be to cover the gap between what the streaming services pay the artists
Ticket was about £175 I think, money well spent as its going to be the event of a lifetime for her
see this I don’t get. I’ve seen loads and loads of bands in my days, from big stadium gigs that were all a bit ‘meh’, to smaller gigs that were absolutely ace
but none of them got anywhere close to been described as ‘the event of a lifetime’… are the ‘Swifties’ really some kind of cult, or are they that die hard..
I should point out my OH daughter has described the event in very similar terms to your daughter. So maybe I’m just old!
but none of them got anywhere close to been described as ‘the event of a lifetime’
It's all relative to your age! It probably is the biggest event of her lifetime.
yeah poor old Swifty, only earned $100 from Spotify alone in 2023
From 26 Billion streams. I mean, that is an awful lot of folks listening to her music. Is she not entitled to a good share of it?
of course she is. The point is, it's a hell of a lot of money, so the argument that the very biggest artists [b]need[/b] to charge sky-high ticket prices in order to "top up" their income is totally invalid.
Madonna was 500 quid in barcelona, I thought how nice 500 for a gig, accom and maybe travel....errr 500 a ticket.
Max I ve ever paid was 80 for james in Edinburgh, well worth it.
Royal opera house is 30-40, though you can pay 200 if you want.
but none of them got anywhere close to been described as ‘the event of a lifetime’
Some of mine definitely have. Last one was couple of years ago at Fabric in London. Guess it depends on how much you value live music in your life.
They aren’t going on holiday this year.
I'm astounded at what people will pay to go on holiday and sit in the sun beside a noisy pool! My daughter went to a Harry Styles concert at some considerable expense (but not £700!) and the overall experience and build up to it lasted several days - probably more so than if she had been going to some Spanish beach for a week. You can listen to taylor any time you want at home for (basically) free. Or you can go and listen to her live and experience the "vibe" and pay heavily to be there. Anyone who doesn't get that - have you ever entered a sportif? You could have ridden that same route the weekend before/after for free but paid a lot to be part of the experience.
Anyone saying "I remember when U2 cost £25" has presumably been under a stone for the last 30 years. I believe the modern response is, "OK, boomer".
The question is how much tax does the Taylor Swift concern pay to the UK govt?
I don't think that is the question at all - but as a bare minimum £233 of the price the OP's partner paid was VAT. Murrayfield stadium is presumably making a tidy profit as the venue as will all the places providing food, staging, security staff etc. They in turn will pay corporation tax on their profits, and their staff will be paying tax and NI (and the employer paying 13.8% NI too). Then Edinburgh hoteliers, taxi drivers, restaurants etc will be doing nicely out of it and paying tax too. It will be a significant contribution to UK tax for a few nights of music!
The big artists are slightly different,but with streaming and a lot of 'da yoof' wanting 'free' music ,gigs(and merch) are often the only way (for some bands)of making any money. It's like moaning about the price of cake in Starbucks,not such a big deal when you factor in the overheads and staff costs.
Barclays did a report on it earlier this year to suggest UK spending would be boosted by almost £1bn
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czd88lxe8p2o.amp
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the sort of money I’d spend - but friends of mine have and have been talking about it for months. I’ve just spent £1500 on a Brompton, and no one would bat an eyelid here. Whatever is your vibe. Hope people have a fantastic time.
Can't remember the last gig I went to, The Mission at Exeter uni, The Jam farewell tour at the Cornwall coliseum or Dire straits live in '85 at Shepton Mallet (I remember it being £5.50 including coach travel)
Couldn't see the value in concerts after that.
I’ve just spent £1500 on a Brompton, and no one would bat an eyelid here
Spending cash on bike or wheels that potentially lasts for years and possibly saves you money is very different than burning through lots of cash on an event that lasts a few hours and will probably be repeated a year later when the next gig turns up?
I was at a festival in the summer watching Four-Tet and he dropped a bootleg of a Taylor Swift song and the crowd (notably younger than this aged raver) went ballistic. My GF and I couldn't work out why, it wasn't a particularly good track and it was a proper dance music festival so the crowds were mostly wasted clubbers, but the response was crazy. Her appeal is huge, just evidently not to middle aged grumps.
I would b curious to know how much these tours cost to put on. Venue hire, sounds systems states , lighting, travel roadies etc it must hugely expensive. Still she didn’t get rich by doing gigs cheap, but if fans pay that upto them.