Man, this is just a small hand full of the awesome shows I saw when I was a kid! But dig the prices!
Honorable mention to two of these. The dark green one is the Rossington Collins Band. The surviving members of Lynyrd Sykynrd (my avatar) and the lower yellow one is 'Another One for the Sun' which was a local Nashville show for 4 consecutive years held at J. Percy Priest lake in my hometown of Hermitage Tn. OFTS was hosted by the Charlie Daniels band and had some serious bands like BOC, Nugent, Scorpions and to many to remember but it was the local summer highlight. These truly were the days....................
Jeff doesn't follow directions.
Jeff doesn't pay attention.
Jeff doesn't use time wisely,
Jeff doesn't play well with others......
mkayers wrote: ↑January 12th, 2025, 9:20 pm
I remember buying tickets for the Van Halen Monsters of Rock show in 1988 at Tampa Stadium and thinking that was a hell of alot of money lol.
Same for me and the Pittsburgh show.
$25 for a ticket
That was outrageous!
Elton John, NYC, 1979. I think the tickets were either $20 or $25.
In 1984 I paid $115 for 4th row seats (still the best seats I ever had at a concert) for Elton at the Rosemont Horizon outside Chicago.
Fast forward to Elton John's Farewell Tour in 2022. Bought 2 tickets for me and my son. $1370.
[In my defense, we were killing it business-wise at the time and it was about the experience of seeing him with my son, who flew in all the way from Oregon. And the fact that it was the first "big name" concert for me in 30 years. And the last. )
Edit: Of course those 2022 prices were not the "official gate prices". Since essentially all tickets today are resold, it was the equivalent of paying a scalper on the street back in the day. Now you have businesses that essentially operate as Mega-Scalping operations of a sort (Stub Hub comes to mind). It does make it easier to find all manner of tickets - and more expensive.
Last edited by bucketfoot-al on January 14th, 2025, 2:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Regarding Van Halen, These shows were all pre- Sammy. There's one Ticket long missing. My very 1st show was Black Sabbath and VH warmed up. Awesome! Then Ozzy was a no show. Story was that he got trashed in the hotel then rolled over between the bed and the wall and no one could find him. Don't know if that's true but we all got to come back the following Thursday and see the whole show again!
Jeff doesn't follow directions.
Jeff doesn't pay attention.
Jeff doesn't use time wisely,
Jeff doesn't play well with others......
I've got a lot of ticket stubs from the early '80s for the Summit in Houston, they were like $12 or $13 and then you had to pay $1 for parking. What a rip off.
I've only seen 6 concerts, and most of those were in the 80s and 90s. So my idea of what it costs to attend a concert is pretty limited and is mostly from a time I made less than $4/hour so even the lower priced ones were still a bit of a burden. I don't think I ever paid more than $35 though.
My first concert was Ratt with Twisted Sister and 2 other bands for $12. I remember $12 because I was 12 and I had to borrow it in order to go and pay it off from my $1.50/week allowance. This was 1982 or so.
Next was 1988 and I saw Poison with Lita Ford and ??? (don't remember). I only remember Lita Ford because she told everyone Scorpions were backstage (headliner for the weekend show a few days later) and she was going to go hang with them all night (you know, rather than sing). It was $17 or $18.
After that was ??? with Anthrax. 1990 probably, Desert Storm had just started. I don't remember who the headliner was, Anthrax stole the show. A coworker and I decided that morning to go to the show so we had to buy tickets from a scalper. It was over an hour drive in heavy rain and we just barely made it. It was like $35 for the 2. Dude gave us a deal so he could get out of the rain too and it was only like $1 more than issue price for each ticket. We sat down and the show started minutes later. No money for food/drinks and after 3 hours of second hand pot we were kinda floating a little.
[edit] Mystery concert no more, it was Black Sabbath Dehumanizer tour
original text:
I remember going, I just don't remember who was playing. I remember running into a jerk I went to high school with (this was 4-5 years after graduation so 1992ish). It was around my birthday and some work friends bought me the ticket. I went alone and have no memory of who played. I didn't drink back then, so it wasn't alcohol. Ticket was around $18-$20 (I remember they gave me a $20 and it covered it). Didn't realize it'd be 15 years before I went to another concert.
Next was Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell (Dio variant) with Queensryche and Alice Cooper. This was 2007. Alice Cooper stole the show. Dio had been on tour long enough to remember why he hated being in a band with Iommi enough to quit Sabbath, twice. So their interactions were a bit odd, and QR was starting to show the cracks that they were falling apart. Tate sang like 5-6 songs off the new album, 1 old song and then left the stage. Lights came up a few seconds later, no encore. Didn't talk to the audience, just did his minimum contracted show and left. Alice Cooper, you could tell he was there to perform and have fun. He had a limited stage show compared to his hayday in the 70s, but still had a few things (coffins and costumes). His teenage/20s daughter was singing with him on stage and you could tell he was happy with things. He went for around 90 minutes I think to make up for QR skipping out at 35. Tickets were $25 with enough other fees to make them around $35 (my first time buying tickets online). I paid for my friend to go so the most expensive concert I've been to was around $70. [edit] Another detail I'd kinda forgotten. I lost my drivers license at the show. Missed my pocket or something when putting it away. Someone found it, reverse looked up my name and address to get my home phone number and then mailed it back to me. Nice guy.
Last was Disturbed with [edit] Sevendust (mic or mixing trouble, couldn't understand anything they said/sang, music sounded good though) and Skindred. This was 2009 and Disturbed was my favorite band so I had to go when they came nearby. None of my friends were available/interested so I went alone. $25 or $30 for the ticket. Ordered online directly from the venue but had to be picked up before day of show, box office not open day of show, or closed very early that day, don't remember. Had to waste a saturday driving to pick up the ticket only to drive back a few days later.
Now, I work down the road from an outdoor venue with music several times a month (except wintertime). Sometimes big names from 30 years ago, sometimes people I've never heard of. The tickets seem to cost the same nomatter who it is. I've never been but I hear coworkers talk about $200 each for decent seats, $115 for midway seats, $85 for the trash seats 100 feet from the interstate. I don't know how or why they pay for these tickets. Listening to traffic and smelling diesel isn't my idea of fun (unless it's Judas Priest or Motorhead, I'd be fine with that)
m-
[edit]it was Sevendust, not Avenged Sevenfold with Disturbed. All I could remember was 7 in the name. I found my clubhouse post from when I went, corrected some details. I then looked for a post about the BS/QR/AC show and found a post I'd made about getting tickets, which included the show date, plus that I'd been to see BS/Dio before on the Dehumanizer tour in '92.
Last edited by Misellus on January 15th, 2025, 2:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
As I realize
That all I need is to find
The middle pillar path to sit like the sun
by a star in the sky and just be.
...
I don't need you or anyone but me
I'll just be living my own life
--Not Falling
Wow!
I thought my concert attending was limited (perception probably skewed by the people I know who do 10 or more shows a year)
Just looked, I went to 11 shows in the 80's alone. Of course four of those were Maiden. Sadly, I don't have any of those ticket stubs anymore. They mysteriously disappeared from our apartment some time in 1990. (the wife swears she didn't toss them out when she cleaned, but we all know how that goes)
I do remember most being like $12.50, except that Monsters of Rock show. I think the later 80's might have been $17.50 or $18.50.
I only went to two concerts in the 90's.
We had young kids, life was busy, hectic, and mostly broke, so music kind of took a back seat.
The wife and I went to see the KISS reunion tour in 96.
I took my son to see Alice Cooper in 99. Trucking company we used at work gave me and the other guy who did my job free tickets. Only time I've ever gotten free concert tickets other than gifts from my daughter. Was a cool show, but very limited on all the stuff he usually does. I had seen him twice in the 80's and it was a spectacle.
14 more shows in the 2000's This is where I start my concert-going prime. My kids were old enough to go with me, so no need to find a sitter.
Had some disposable income and with the internet I could find out about shows and get tickets easily. I went to a lot of shows cheap buying tickets on ebay.
When it got close to show time there were always people who couldn't make it to the show and wanted to get something for their tickets.
I also started traveling for shows. My daughter and I went to Toronto and NY City to see Maiden on different tours. Later we also went to Buffalo to see them with Alice cooper.
23 more in the 2010's. Part of the explosion of shows was so many good bands coming around. The other was my daughter went off to college, and going to a show together was a good excuse to spend time together. So I would get her tickets for her birthday or xmas, or she would get tickets for me.
The other part was my wife got the itch to go to shows. So several of them were country artists she wanted to see. (Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts). As well as going to TSO a couple times. And a few rock groups she either wanted to see herself, or wanted to go with me to a show I wanted to see.
Since the pandemic, I haven't really had the urge anymore. 3 shows in the last 6 years.
I'm old, I don't want to deal with the hassle.
I still keep my eyes open. If there would be someone I want to see at one of the venues not too far, and not too much of a pain to deal with I would go.
Almost went to see Godsmack again, but I wasn't paying $90 for a ticket at a small venue.
There are a few bands that would make me deal with the hassle if they come near me though. I would jump at the chance to see Halestorm or The Warning again. But it would have to be headlining shows, not festivals. I am not dealing with that nonsense or cost.
I hear ya Trevor. Nothing fun about getting old. Walking and standing still in place are painfull to me now. I often kid that if someone offered me a free ticket to see the Stones I'd have to decline............
Jeff doesn't follow directions.
Jeff doesn't pay attention.
Jeff doesn't use time wisely,
Jeff doesn't play well with others......
Well, I still spend most of my day on my feet at work, so I'm in ok shape. But yeah, standing in one spot for long periods gets irritating.
That Warning concert after a full day of work was probably pushing my limits. But it was worth it. Especially since the ticket was only $30.
Think I am going to have to consider not only taking the day after a show off work, but also the day of. Especially if I am going to be standing.
and it was about the experience of seeing him with my son, who flew in all the way from Oregon. And the fact that it was the first "big name" concert for me in 30 years. And the last. 
)
