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Do you think the high ticket prices are justified because they play quite long shows?


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I, as many others, detest the higher ticket prices of this tour. It adds to the debate that the tour is solely a cash grab. 

However, recently Guns have been playing quite beefy shows. I remember reading we are close to breaking the longest Guns show, which was Tokyo in 2009. It made me think a little bit- if your paying say, 80 dollars for decent seats for an average band and they play an hour and a half and then you pay 200 for Guns but they play 3.5 hours, is it justified? Or do the high ticket prices still make the tour have a sour taste in your mouth? Do you think we're getting more bang for our buck?

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Speaking specifically of GN'R, the show i attended this year was hardly any longer than the one i attended in 2013, yet the cost for the same seat position was three times the price. Granted, the dynamics are different in that the venue was a stadium and not an arena, and Slash and Duff were back in the fold. But in specific terms relating to this band, i have to agree with those who claim the price is steep. Yes, the price may seem adequate when comparing GN'R to other bands and their playing times, but we must consider the aforementioned aspects. People are paying much more for the same length and quality they were paying for during the Chinese Democracy years. Is Slash and Duff worth the steep increase? It's up to the consumer to decide. Personally, i didn't have a problem attending this year's concert, and i will probably attend any future show they play here, but it's something to think about.

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3 minutes ago, Live Like a Suicide said:

Speaking specifically of GN'R, the show i attended this year was hardly any longer than the one i attended in 2013, yet the cost for the same seat position was three times the price. Granted, the dynamics are different in that the venue was a stadium and not an arena, and Slash and Duff were back in the fold. But in specific terms relating to this band, i have to agree with those who claim the price is steep. Yes, the price may seem adequate when comparing GN'R to other bands and their playing times, but we must consider the aforementioned aspects. People are paying much more for the same length and quality they were paying for during the Chinese Democracy years. Is Slash and Duff worth the steep increase? It's up to the consumer to decide. Personally, i didn't have a problem attending this year's concert, and i will probably attend any future show they play here, but it's something to think about.

That’s a good point that they even played long shows back when NuGuns were touring. I even mentioned the 2009 show. I didn’t consider that in my original post and it’s an excellent point. 

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yeah but with nu gnr the solos were all boring... now with slash and duff back 3 + hours is another thing than 3 + hours with dj ashba bumblefoot stinson and company...

but as italiangirl said many famous artists charge nearly the same and play from 1.5 to 2 hours only. 

i find gnr prices in europe ok. I dont like the price categories they charge in usa and south america. it seems that there the least expensive tix are min 200-250 usd whereas europe cheapest is 90 eur...or even less in poland. 

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Has Guns ever played a normal length show - one that wasnt shortened due to an incident/Axls mood, but was simply planned to be short?  I ask because to me long shows is one of the things that they are known for.  And no matter why that has been historically, in the parlance of NITL: its a pillar of the brand.  Slash, rasp, the logo, NR, a guy who looks like Izzy and long sets are all part of the brand.

I think the high prices are solely reflective of greed and that in Axls case he must've needed to take out some serious damages insurance because he's seen as such a liability.  So to get at the big money, he first needs to spend a fortune to get the things rolling.  We pay towards both of those ends.  

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I think the long shows help to a degree.. Whenever I hear people bitching about the prices in the "real" world, I do make it a point to mention how long the shows are.. That said, there are other bands like the Dead and Springsteen that play for just as long if not longer for a fraction of the price..  There is also a question about quality over quantity. They are playing over 3 hours every show but the set list have weakened a decent amount in my opinion since the beginning of the tour.  People are paying the big bucks to see Slash, Duff and Axl play the songs that made them the biggest band in the planet, not the 10th year of the Chinese Democracy tour. There are also people that just can't afford it whether the shows are 3 hours or 3 minutes which sucks.

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In the past few years big named artists came to the realization that people are willing to pay substantial more than what they were previously charging.  Previously they would charge what most would consider a fair price ($20-$100) per seat and scalpers and brokers would find the real price as it relates to supply and demand.  There use to be a concern by artists that they didn't want to appear greedy so they didn't get in on the action.  Plus they had album sales and song royalties that afforded them the mansions and luxurious lifestyles.  With pirating and streaming gutting that revenue stream, artists became less concerned about public perception in terms of ticket prices.  Only a few years ago artist were scalping their own tickets using third-party operators like Stubhub.  Subsequently Ticketmaster got in on the game and I think a lot of people came to accept the astronomical prices bands and artists were paying largely because they were blaming operators like Ticketmaster and Stubhub.  It would seem now that artists seem less concerned about being perceived as greedy and are cutting out the middlemen and charging what they think are the natural price for their tickets.  Granted, it's not as though GNR are stipulating ticket prices since they likely negotiate upfront performance fees from tour operators/promoters, but there's no way they're not aware of what large upfront performance fees means for ticket prices.  

So to answer the question, yes, I think high prices are justified in that that is what the general public are willing to pay.  If most of the people sitting in the first 5 rows would have paid $750 per seat from a broker, why shouldn't the artist charge the same amount?  

And for me, the fact they perform over three hours does help to justify some of the cost.  I personally hate paying a lot of money for concerts simple because they're so momentary; you don't have a lot to show for it other than memories once the show is over.  But there are a few artists that I am willing to spend more, GNR obviously being one of them.   

EDIT: My only problem with current prices is that there's the possibility that you get penalized for buying tickets early.  Too often do I see fans buy tickets when they first go on sale only to see steep discounts later on when demand proves to be soft and the promoter needs to move as many seats as possible.  This is why I've largely stopped buying tickets when they go on sale and wait until a week or even a day before the show.  I know it's unlikely to happen but it would great to see early ticket buyers receive some sort of refund the covers any subsequent discount.  

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14 minutes ago, downzy said:

In the past few years big named artists came to the realization that people are willing to pay substantial more than what they were previously charging.  

There was a thing about this on sporting events (see boxing/MMA) I was listening to a while back. Apparently alot of sports events find that within a certain range increasing prices actually gets more people going for the same reason upping PPV prices actually increases buys within reason. Some people psychology just see paying low prices as being low brow and therefore not interested and it's seen as worth more of a "to do experience" if it's more costly. Alot of people like expensive things. Guns N' Roses were actually used as an example.

The band wouldn't be doing it, if it wasn't profitable.

Edited by AtariLegend
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It's normal prices for ... for the biggest bands. ACDC for example, the Stones are even more expensive.

When I saw Black Sabbath in 2015 I payed round about 80€ but they played just for 90min. 

IMO you can't compare this tour with the CD years. Some shows were good but at the end of the day it was more of a cover band struggling to sell out 6000 seat venues. At bad days you had Axl singing like a parody of his self and Ashba or Finck butchering the classics. If there's no demand ticket prices drop automatically. 

Now there is demand on the market. The shows are worth it, not just because of their length but because of the quality too.

If you pay for GNR you shouldn't have Ashba or some other freaks on the stage acting like Guns.

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of course you got to remember this is an once in a lifetime thing axl and slash are gnr and people dont even know who izzy is and also axl lost a lot of loot to izzy because izzy was very expensive with guest spots so axl needs loot and axl cant share loot with izzy and slash and duff are only doing this for the right reasons they are not doing it for the money and never forget that izzy says one thing one day and then the next days he changes his mind yeah and this and that and the other and all things considered izzy cant play and izzy cant tour and steven is out of control and cant play and cant be trusted so yeah this is the most lucrative tour ever and axl deserves it because he kept the brand alive its all about the brand i heard

:rofl-lol:

 

Edited by ludurigan
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For anyone complaining about ticket prices, please look at sporting events. You pay for the ticket in advance. If your team sucks then you lost money. Prior to the NFL season,  the NY Giants was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender. I bought tickets for my father and I. Those tickets costed me $370. This year the Giants have been awful and no one has offered a refund. I sold my tickets  a bit below face value. I got most of the money back but lost some money on it.

I saw two great shows this year: GNR and Metallica. I paid the same cost for both. I didn't mind it because I knew I was getting great shows and I liked both bands. Compare that to the NY Giants where Giants ownership should have offered refunds to the people who bought the tickets for this year since the on field product has been beyond awful. I felt that I was ripped off. If the Giants don't make any changes, I won't even consider buying tickets for next year. 

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2 hours ago, downzy said:

I know it's unlikely to happen but it would great to see early ticket buyers receive some sort of refund the covers any subsequent discount.  

I agree with everything you said in that post. I'm not sure how it works in other countries, but over here a fair lot of festivals have started offering early bird tickets at discount prices. After a predetermined amount of time passes the regular prices apply. As long as later discounts don't go below the early bird ticketprices, I think it's a very fair system. I've only seen it at festival though. Never at regular concerts. 

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Just now, Tori72 said:

Nope, they're not. Bruce Springsteen plays longer shows and charges less.

GnR do it because they love the money and the luxuries you can buy. And have to pay off the whole TB tribe. 

Concert goers are funny though. The vast majority bitch and complain and then just cough up the money anyway. Not really making a statement... 

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6 minutes ago, username said:

Concert goers are funny though. The vast majority bitch and complain and then just cough up the money anyway. Not really making a statement... 

I know! I went this year and I haven't bought a ticket yet for next year. I can never say never though. Because ... 

 

1 minute ago, zombux said:

because nostalgia is a tough bitch... 

Yes, it is! :lol:

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2 minutes ago, username said:

It is. I'm part of the problem... Not as much as I used to be, but still. 

depends. I've seen a 2006 show, which was a fucking steamroller, I'd kill to see it again. 

then I've seen a 2010 show, which was almost a disaster. after the opener (Danko Jones), there was like a hour of nothing, after that people started to leave and demand refunds. the announcer then said, the show is supposed to start in another hour or so. the show itself was bland, the band seemed tired and uninterested, with the exception of Richard Fortus who played like possessed madman. 

then the infamous RIR2011 happened and everything went to shit. I stopped following the band then.

and the reunion nostalgia crap... fuck no. I refused to pay the outrageous price to go to the show in 2017 here. and fuck I'm not gonna pay that idiotic amount of money to see this stupid nostalgia act.

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It's a pretty standard ticket price for a band of this magnitude. I don't know what world you guys live in that you think a semi-reunited lineup of one of the biggest bands of all time should have low ticket prices.

This board is a very weird sample of public perception because there are people here who genuinely think this is just another lineup change to what was already GN'R. In the general public's eyes, GNR hasn't existed since the 90's whether the name was used or not, so this tour is a big deal.

 

If you can't afford it, it doesn't mean the price is wrong.

Edited by Stiff Competition
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