Inflation

Still only about half the price of Clapton for the same seats!

But I think I recall paying an outrageous $17 to see the Stones in 75 when tuition at the private college I attended was abut $5,000 a year. And those were general admission stadium seats. I now pay about $100 for nosebleed Stones seats and tuition is about $30,000. That means in 75 tickets were about .3% of tuition costs and they now run about .3% of tuition. In other words, the real cost hasn't changed.

From "Saturday Gigs" - Mott The Hoople's last single, and the only recording by the band with Mick Ronson on lead guitar....

"In Seventy-two we was born to lose We slipped down snakes into yesterday's news
I was ready to quit
But then we went to Croydon

Do you remember the Saturday gigs?
We do, we do
Do you remember the Saturday gigs?
We do, we do

The tickets for the fantasy were twelve and six a time......"

Twelve and six being 62.5 pence.......

"In Seventy-four on the Broadway tour We didn't much like dressing up no more
Don't wanna be hip - but thanks for a great trip.

Do you remember the Saturday gigs?
We do, we do
Do you remember the Saturday gigs?
We do, we do
But now the kids pay a couple of quid
'Cause they need it just the same....."

Hmm, so the tickets TRIPLED in price in a couple of years......now that's inflation!

:D :D :D

Vic

Hmm, so the tickets TRIPLED in price in a couple of years......now that's inflation!

:D :D :D

Vic

Well, that's a Labour Government for you, just the same in 1979 when inflation was 15% per year and just the same now.

I paid £3.50 to see Rush in 1979, and £45 in 2007 (over 1200% increase). Over the same period, beer went from 40p per pint (ish) to 280p minimum (600% increase).

So, pound for pound, it's cheaper to get drunk at a concert than it used to be. Weird.

A :-)

Well, that's a Labour Government for you, just the same in 1979 when inflation was 15% per year and just the same now.

Sorry to disillusion you, Alan, but between '70 and '74 Ted Heath's Conservatives were in power.....not that there WAS much power. Remember the nightly power-cuts and the three day week? 33.33% income tax? I do! Oh yes I remember it well..... lots of this.....:cry: and this..... :evil: but not much of this.... :idea: or this..... :D

:D :D :D

Vic

I remember my first big concert at the Boston Garden.....$4.50 for CSNY

Wasn't much more for the Grateful Dead....maybe $6.50sh maybe in 75, 76, 77.......somewhere's around.

Remember the nightly power-cuts and the three day week? 33.33% income tax?

Ooooh, yeah, certainly remember getting home in the dark a few times, and the BBC closed down at 10:30 at night for a while. My Investment course book for my ACIB qualification talked about the 60% top rate of tax and the 15% investment income surcharge. Hard times.

Then, when we thought it couldn't get any worse, we got Disco music, and suddenly it did get worse. The first single I bought was Slade's "Come on feel the noise" and it cost me 45p (the exchange rate was $2.50 to the £, so that's $1.12). By the time I got Cozy Powell's "Nah nah nah" (or whatever followed The Man In Black) the next year it had gone up to 50p (what's a single cost now?) the first LP I bought was £2.39 and a CD these days will cost a tenner which is only 400% up on 1974 or £15 in what used to be Virgin. My parents bought me my first guitar in 1974, and strings cost me a week's pocket money. I had to walk home.

Ah, nostalgia. It ain't what it used to be.

A :-)

Vic wrote:
Sorry to disillusion you, Alan, but between '70 and '74 Ted Heath's Conservatives were in power.....not that there WAS much power. Remember the nightly power-cuts and the three day week? 33.33% income tax? I do! Oh yes I remember it well..... lots of this..... and this..... but not much of this.... or this.....

I was an apprentice in those years 1970 - 75 and because of signed indentures I wasn't allowed to go on strike with all the rest the country. I can remember when the power was cut off each afternoon of the the three day working week, I was working in the drawing office and we actually had candles precariously perched on the drawing boards to help us see to carry on working the last hour of each day. Very "Dickensian" ! Probably cost me my good eyesight too.

Strangely I always remember it being a fun time, but I only had to think of myself then. How our parents coped I don't know! Everyone just got on with life even though Britain was practically bankrupt. Musically "Slade" kept us happy with "Merry Christmas Everybody" and the "Strawbs" with their aptly named song "Part Of The Union".

When you look back at newsreel film of that period everything seemed brown! and it was! Brown suits, Brown wallpaper, Brown cars etc etc.

But worse was to come--- The Thatcher years!!!! arrrrg!!

Then I had responsibilities, a young family, massive morgage, etc but we survived

And now our leader is called "Brown" Oh well what goes around comes around I suppose.

Chris

The first concert I ever went to...The Guess Who 1972. $4.50. My dad threw in an extra dollar and got me a ticket on the main floor. TOO COOL!!!!!

Van Halen in January, 2008. Jacksonville, FL. Took my wife, christmas present. Cost almost as much as the watch/diamond braclet set I got her from Helzburg Jewelers.

Elton John Tallahassee April 23... total for two = $204

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Birmingham April 26 total for two = $135, hotel = $113, gasoline = (300 miles one way) $100, food = $80, boarding for diabetic cat while away = $30. Grand total = around $450.

X at a local bar May 30 $25 each.

I think it best if we stay away from any political argument. I can see this turning into a dogfight very quickly.

I knew I had a stash of old concert stubs somewhere. It took this thread to make me hunt them up.

All prices before taxes.

Santana '78: $7.27

Jeff Beck '76: $7.00. Opening act, I kid you not...REO Speedwagon.

Jean Luc Ponty '78(?): $6.50 The show was at the Toronto bar, El Mocambo. He trundled back on stage for the encore from...the men's washroom. Not sure if he took a wrong turn leaving the stage after the main set or he just really had to go.

Return to Forever (mid 70s): $6.00. I wandered into the lower level of the theatre before the show and the band was warming up in a big empty room. Got to just stand in the doorway and admire!

Genesis '76: $5.00

Weather Report '77: $6.24. Worst crowd ever! Great show.

Stephane Grapelli '76: $5.00. One of the best shows I've ever seen. He had to be pushing 80 or more by that time, but that jazz was still pumping through his veins.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane, Ric!
:)

Jean-Luc Ponty! I first heard him as a sideman to Frank Zappa. Played some mighty cool stuff.

Hey, Mrs. R and I are going to see Robert Plant and Allison Krauss on the 21st in Knoxville. Cost about $135 for two tickets up in the nosebleed section, all that's left since I waited too long. Worse than ZZ Top's prices.

If the album is anything to go by, I'd say you and Mrs R are in for a treat Ricochet.

Chris

Oh, I think so, too!

Back in 2005, having come into some money, I went mad and treated me and the Mrs to VIP tickets for Meat Loaf and Status Quo at the Liverpool Pops. Best seats (we were three rows from the stage fro BOTH gigs) champagne buffet, posh food, the works. Those four tickets cost in the region of around £750.....add in the fact that we stayed in a nice hotel overnight both occasions, plus travelling, plus spends and I reckon those two concerts cost about £1000 altogether! The exchange rate at the time was about $1.90 = £1......

Couldn't even get many decent pics, either....too many people bouncing around and jostling! This'll give you an idea how good the seats were, though....

Looking back now, I think I must have been completely mad to pay so much....but I'd probably do it again if I had the money!

Oh yeah - and the first time I saw Status Quo, back in 74, I reckon it didn't cost me £10 for ticket, transport, beer etc....

:D :D :D

Vic