Can’t Buy Me Love, Lady Gaga Tickets…

The Beeb reports that supplementary dates for a Madonna tribute act have almost doubled in price to a taking-the-piss-a-bit level of £75 for no obvious reason, causing many fans to voice concerns that such events are becoming unaffordable for all but the most dedicated, financially-endowed of musical pilgrims.

U2’s 360° Tour in 2009 was undoubtedly as much about the spectacle of surrounding a £20million claw than it was the music. Not only did it require completely unprecedented levels of audacity to assume that U2, or any band for that matter, could justify such over-the-top extravagance, but it further polarised the experiences offered by dingy local gig venues and stadium-filling acts. Nevertheless the band were relatively kind with the pricing which started at a measly $30 and escalating to a less affordable $250 in some cases.

Perusing the ever-reliable GigsandTours.com exposes the massive gap between the supergroups, who have usually had their financial cake and eaten it, and the up-and-coming acts who are more reliant than ever on live revenues to make a living. Ellie Goulding can be enjoyed on the same night as Passion Pits for a laughably cheap £11.75 for example- I don’t remember Avatar costing much less than that, and I’m pretty confident it wouldn’t take some cheap 3d Ray-Bans to make listening to ‘Sleepyhead’ the better experience.

Despite our poll last year questioning the value offered by festivals such as Glastonbury, it’s evident that for those who won’t cry over a bit of mud on their shoes that they still offer the best pound-for-pound action of any live event. Compare if you will, the prospect of paying £75 for Lady Gaga’s ‘catwalk with a bit of singing’ show with an identically priced V-Festival day ticket which provides the aural delights of Kasabian, Faithless, The Prodigy and Florence And The Machine and a few thousand drunk campers. It doesn’t take a Financial Times subscriber to work out who the winners are here.

Either way I imagine touts are going to have a much harder time trying to make a profit off a trend of already over-inflated concert tickets. Paul McCartney’s O2 shows, which sold out late last year, seemed to be subtly exposing the unspoken fear that you might not ever get a chance to see a Beatle play live again by setting admissions at £70+. Our advice? Keep reading The Counterfit to discover the best new acts before everyone else does, and see ‘em whilst they’re cheap. Quite frankly there’s nothing like seeing a band storm the charts and reminiscing how you saw them in a cramped low-ceiling room 6 months ago with your shoes drenched in someone else’s beer.