$185 to see Steely Dan?

Face

 

I'm seeing Jeff Beck and ZZ Top for only $80 or so a seat.

 

Is that the Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston? I see $250 seats for VIP soundcheck and it looks like they're in the front of the orchestra for Jeff Beck.

 

I paid $100 for 5th row center 4 hours before the show thru StubHub. They were asking $600 a few weeks earlier. Box office price was $200. It pays to be patient. You got to know how to play the game.

 

Correct, wasn't aware of the soundcheck.

 

The 2 of them don't need the money.

They are playing smaller venues and still want to keep their guarantee as high as possible, hence the $200 tickets in theaters when they used to play arenas in recent memory.

 

Three most expensive concerts I ever attended were all in the $300 range: Genesis, Madonna and Barbra Streisand. Did not regret it although this was years ago when I had more dispensable income. Now I would have to pass these acts up as the dollar simply does not go as far as it use to.

 

You saw Cream at the RAH?!! Wow, that's amazing! I'd have paid a grand to see that one, $250 was a steal. I bet Jack Bruce was awesome? RIP.

 

I'm not a big enough fan to see that as a value. For that kind of scratch, I would insist that they play a setlist of my choosing, and deliver the lyrics exactly as I have misheard them ("Get it long, get it long, deep Chinaman.")

 

Seems kinda high even for those guys. Saw them in Bethlehem PA this summer and prices were half that.

 

How much money I am prepared to pay to see a band in concert has nothing whatsoever to do with my home playback system.

 

A little obsessive? It is nuts.
There is nobody on this planet I would pay 50 bucks for to see, let alone over 100.
Concerts are supposed to be fun events, not lace curtain status displays.
When I go see a band I want to feel like I can go in jeans and a T-shirt and drive there in the oldest car I own. I don't want to feel like I should be renting a tux and limo.

I wouldn't pay that kind of money to spend an afternoon with Paul McCartney.
Ain't nobody that good. Nobody. They are only people.

 

I've seen the Dan on all but one tour since 2000

Last summer was an abomination

Walt is completely mailing it in

His solos were that same blues lick but he was totally out of sync and not musical
For a band that prided themselves on musicianship this is tragic

Not to mention the Dan set list is so rigid - very little on the way of deep cuts

Sorry, no can dan

Now if they would master Two Against Nature for vinyl
Count me in

 

Yep. I'm not shocked in the least.

 

So there is no one on the planet good enough for you to see for 50 bucks, so it's easy to say you wouldn't want to see people like the Rolling Stones or say The Eagles even Joe Walsh. You say these groups are only people yes but there special that made up our music history and when there long gone you'll wish you did spend that small price.

 

I think I read a bit of his book how he was saying he didn't like playing his music anymore specially Ricky don't lose that number and other songs which he just didn't care about anymore....I only read a small bit of the book because didn't want to spoil the feelings I have for Steely Dan.

 

I completely agree with this - I've seen them 2 or 3 times starting in 2000 (and I have a huge collection of their live recordings) and it's just been diminishing returns year on year. The only way I'd pay over $100 to see them is if they went out with a backing band that was like an all-star lineup of the guys that played on their records in the 70's - Rick Marotta or Bernard Purdie on drums, Chuck Rainey on bass, Larry Carlton and Dean Parks, Skunk, Denny Dias, or Elliott Randall on guitars, and a horn section made up of some of the older guys as well - there are far too many to list but I'd have Randy Brecker on trumpet at the very least.

 

Which book was that Watsy?

 

Saw the Lowrider Band (War) last year. For free. And they killed it. $185 for Steely Dan is a joke.

 

A rather expensive joke...with diminishing returns..and I'm a big fan!

 

Yup. Do I prefer the days when $50 was "expensive" for a concert ticket? Sure, but those days are gone - for big-name acts, at least.

FWIW, the $185 Dan tickets appear to be in effect only at their San Diego show. Vegas varies from $95-$205 while their other 2 shows top out around $120 and have a bunch of cheaper tickets available as well.

I've seen the Dan twice live and wasn't impressed either time - I like 'em but the shows weren't memorable. I'd go again if I could get in for $40 or so, but I don't begrudge them their desire to charge more than that - as Turnaround notes, it's the way the business works these days...

 

[QUOTE Steely Day for $185 is no different then any other group it's all about the sitting location. Rolling Stones in Toronto way out in left field you'd pay $100 pose to right up front which can run well over a eighteen hundred for a small group sitting. But I do have to admit the 7 dollar ticket prices ar long gone. I remember going to a April Wine and Edgar Winters concert for $7 dollars so I guess I'm saying my concert days are long gone this is why I invested in a crazy 5.1 system and I have a few Steely Dan and Donald Fagen dvd audio's which sound amazing.

 

Ticket prices suck for big acts no doubt... But if they are not making cash off of record sales then it all comes from merch and touring.. Ever seen the t-shirts go for from some touring bands... I remember seeing Van Halen a few years back and it was like $70 for a t-shirt, now that's insane!

 

I've seen them 3 times, once performing Aja in its entirety, that's enough for me, great shows