source??

66 quid?? For a band that are more than a decade past their best? Ticket prices in Ireland continue to royally take the Michael, then…

Why does Elton John, The Boss, Barbara Streisand, **insert long term legendary music icon here** command 70, 80, 100, 120 euro price tags

Fleetwood mac tickets were 80 – 130 euro and im not even sure the 80 euro tickets were real because i bought on presale at 9am and there was no option for 80 euro tickets then or when full sale happened.

They are priced this way because certain bands can command such a price, plus they are probably costing more than KISS to have over. Maybe KISS are just more realistic with their pricing, Maybe its just that MCD know Rage were a big reason 80,000 people snapped up Oxegen tickets in a recession. I would say these tickets will fly out the door despite the massive price tag.

Also Kiss tickets are €49.50 not €40, 10 bob in the difference

Aidan’s right, balls! Was thinking of the Megadeth tickets.

Agree with James about the bands political stance. Maybe there’s a reason like, they’re not actually touring, it’s just an Irish and UK gig and it costs a fortune to bring everything over but surely they could find away to play for a cheaper price. A real band only needs their instruments and everything else can be rented locally.

If they announce any more shows though, it blows that half-saving theory out the window and they’ll look like bigger money grabbing sell outs.

Of course there are differences depending on the country, yeah. Im sure insurance is something to do with it, that makes sense. I just dont understand how anyone can justify that kind of price, taking things purely at face value. I mean 120 Euro for Fleetwood… dont get me wrong, Id love to see them, but at the price of 8-10 decent smaller gigs for two hours of their music? And at a venue that already has colossal corporate sponsorship and isnt exactly known for its atmosphere?

Internationally known bands seem to manage to play Whelans for relatively little (Glen Hansard did it for 15 Euro the other day, when it was charity rather than pocket lining. In that case I actually think he could have charged a lot more and still sold out, given the demand outside, and for a good cause, but hey…). The O2 should – at least in theory – be able to knock prices much lower than venues like Whelans simply because of the number of people – at least ten times as many id guess.

Yeah, I get it, it doesnt really work like that for bigger names, but there’s one major reason, insurance, freight etc aside: profit. If KISS can do it for under 50, they have no less kit than RATM I’m sure. For me once it passes about 50 Euro it stops being worth considering, especially for a relatively atmosphere-less arena tour.

“AC/DC Charged around 80 to see them in the O2. Nobody batted an eyelid.”

But AC/DC haven’t built a career on being ant-capitalist, pro-revolutionary voices of a generation. Their fans haven’t bought album after album about a band singing about the plight of other nations poverty, political strife’s and injustice caused by corporate greed. Rage fans have and asking them to pay E20 more than a band playing the same venue the night before is abit of a slap in the face, especially considering the other band in question are KISS.

KISS have been lampooned, attacked and mocked for decades about their selling out, their merchandising and the dollar signs that appear in their eyes at every given opportunity. Yet when they play a show, they bring more theatrics, custom built stage pieces and pyrotechnics than almost any other arena band on the planet and still manage to undercut the so called anti-capitalist heroes.

Considering all their fireworks, fire breathing, stage flying and the fact that they’re a hard rock act, surely the insurance would be higher for KISS than Rage no?

Perhaps the comparison to Glen Hansard is unfair, but if insurance prices are the major issue it still stands, especially given the prices smaller acts charge (many pay for ten euro) – I see no reason, aside from venue size, which we can reasonably assume is offset by number of punters – why it has to be so much. It’s RATM’s ethos combined with the ticket prices that grates most, though (I still take issue with ticket prices in Ireland generally, but perhaps that’s a debate for another day). I dont think I can put it more succinctly than the last poster, so ‘what he said’

I would have thought the money they made out of the single getting to number one – the reason for the free gig in the first place – would be more than enough to offset the 280k, even given the cheap prices online… it sold incredible numbers of copies, the UK gig is supposed to be payback for that.

The only reason I could guess at for Rage Against The Machine’s insurance price being higher than KISS’ would be the level of trouble expected. Historically, Rage have had a plethora of ‘knuckleheads’ at their gigs – miscreants all too happy to go to a big event, get pissed and start punching punters in the side of the head to loud, angry music, regardless of its message. This sort of trouble was the reason At The Drive-In took such an anti-moshing stance.

RE: AC/DC’s price – it’d be fair to say there’d be more moshing at their gig than KISS’ too. All it take is some accident/bone broken/traumatic experience/thing worse that I’d rather not mention to befall one person among thousands and the promoter will get screwed over.

Prodigy would attract the same kind of mindless trouble makers (possibly a much greater number) but their O2 prices were only €49.20 – €54.80 in December last year.

I remember seeing them in 2005 and the Point was like a war zone so I’d imagine their insurance costs would be pretty colossal aswell.

I was in the Pit, at Oxegen, for Rage

I got punched numerous times, didnt move forward or backward but in the motion of the pit ended up at the front barrier, had to crowdsurf towards the back of the pit just to not suffer any more damage than already taken onboard.

I cant imagine those same problems at a Kiss, or Fleetwood Mac gig, maybe an AC/DC gig to a degree but even then ive never been in a pit like it.

also i’d like to add im not saying they definitely are using dublin for a cost offsetting excercise nor have any proof, it just feel like that from this perspective

Yes which leaves The Band charging way more than Kiss

or its an offsetting costs exercise

or MCD are cashing in on a guarunteed sellout to balance out half sold shows

Kiss are an occupational comparison because they are on the night before

Whether you’re prepared to pay it or not as a fan is irrelevant. No one’s doubting it will sell out, that’s not the point.

The issue is about how acceptable the price is given the political ethos of the band. I’d say either their ethos is null and void or this is a serious mistake (or possibly a high price pushed through by a promoter). Whichever one of the above, it’s not in the spirit of the band.

Tickets There, production does not just consist of stupid stage set up.

But hey, you probably know shit, you seem to know how to use the internet, which is awesome!

MCD would have offered, RATM management would have a set figure in mind, the price represents what the management accept.

‘political ethos of the band’. People need get paid, its a business.

Oh Denomac, give it up. Yes people need to get paid, but any particular reason why an anti-corporate, anti-authority band that’s ten years past its sale by date needs to get paid more than a bunch of ‘sell outs’ with a big stage show playing the same venue in the middle of an equally hefty tour? No good one yet, apart from they want to make a lot of money. Which means their entire career is built on rubbish. If you accept that, fine, but don’t expect everyone else to follow suit, they’ve brought criticism on their own hypocritical, money-grabbing asses.

Sorry Brian but you’ve not read the conversation at all

What is being said is, if Kiss can play ireland for for €49.50, how come Rage can only play for €67.50

They will have similar to exactly the same shipping costs, and most likely the same insurance wise.

So effectively, Rage is swallowing up a large amount of money somewhere and the other lads are saying that for a band who has built a career on anti-corporate stances would charge their fans SEVENTY euro to see them.

As previously pointed out, Kiss would have the much more extravagent stage show, so i imagine they have more to ship here, They only have the one Irish date, so its a once off cost just like Rage. But yet their is 17 euro in the difference of cost of tickets

“F*ck you, I wont do what you tell me”, but there are t-shirts on the merchandising stand alongside the special edition, tour-only CDs, and you can download a copy of the live show for the price of an album online. Oh, and thanks for the extra 20 Euro, we really needed that 180 grand more for one night’s work… (okay, I’m being silly, but you get the point…)

Fair enough, if the merch is reasonably priced and fits in with the ethos (which I doubt very much it will, but hey, shouldnt make assumptions based on the ticket price), I dont begrudge them that, despite it being just another way of buying into what they claim to be fundamentally against. Of course, the ticket price is by far the major issue, and absolutely, they’re not the only ones, but they are a far more worthy target than most given their hypocrisy compared to the other guilty parties.

@Brian D
Well i dont know how economies of scale would work but being honest, apart from their musical equipment i dunno if Rage really bring anything other than that banner, The O2 is the only real venue they have announced, meaning they must be planning to travel light and let the festivals sort out what they need. I cant imagine Economies of scale come into it but i do concede it could be a factor

The Anti Capitalist stuff people are talking about is what they have spent their career writing songs about not conforming or accepting corporate stuff. Yes the corporate sellouts KISS who have long been slagged for selling out for the $$$$ are doing a gig in the same venue, same time of year, for almost 20 euro less.

i would love to see a breakdown of

Band Fee
Shipping Costs
Insurance
Venue Costs
Promoter Fee
Booking Fee

and see where the money has gone to cost the extra money to see them. Similarly i would love to know if for the 100 – 130 euro people were paying to see Fleetwood Mac, how much of that was band fee as opposed Promoter Fee and costs of playing the location

Oh hey. Ive got it. I bet were getting charged extra to pay for the free London gig! Boom!

I accept it James, and im pretty sure many more will also. For me its always been about the power of the songs they have, i care less about their ethos. Fair enough …if they release a string of European dates it will all smack of rip off. But im not all that bothered.

Comparing them to Kiss is rubbish, the fee that KISS’s management would charge would be considerably less than RATM. KISS would also use a lot of local crew and locally sourced production, which RATM will not.

He’s probably gonna have some deadly answer that makes us all look like clueless pessimists

Where’s these facts come from?

Denomac – “Comparing them to Kiss is rubbish, the fee that KISS’s management would charge would be considerably less than RATM (TT – Why?). KISS would also use a lot of local crew and locally sourced production, which RATM will not.(TT – Again, what’s that based on? Surely they’ll at least the same number of regulars for the basic band setup’s, sound, lightening, security..etc?)”

Maybe Rage travel with a massive crew I don’t know, is it based on something?

Would be very happy to see any response from RATM or MCD. Promoters need to realise its the heart of a recession (for most of us anyway, no one’s rehiring even if the economy is technically on the up) and punters are noticing the price rises. MCD in particular are responsible for a few more obviously overpriced gigs recently, too (I’ll put together a bit of a list when I have the time, with prices, but those at the O2 are the most obvious examples).

I know mate, but it’s a thoroughly depressing way of doing things. What happened to more than one date to fulfill demand at sensible prices? Maybe I’m being overly romantic in wanting the music business to go back to being about more than just money (hence RATM seeming such a worthwhile target, given their lyrical content). I think ‘charge what you can get away with and still sell out’ is a totally unacceptable way of running a gig. Not that I can’t see why they do it.

Ok, I should probably give a bit of background to explain why the ticket prices seem such a rip off to me (though I’m evidently not the only one). I grew up near London, going to see all the major bands I was into there. Getting tickets wasnt always easy, but I cant remember ever paying more than £30 for anything, no matter how big. If bands sold out a venue fast, they invariably booked another night quickly afterwards – this was seen as the fair way to do things, not raising ticket prices and pricing fans out of the market. It worked well, and I saw all my favorite bands despite being a teenager making my only money from working weekends in a supermarket. Just to be clear, this isnt eons ago, I moved away in 2002 (so yeah, maybe now, (with inflation) the most expensive would be around £40-45). I then moved to Birmingham, which is a similar size to Dublin and was cheaper than London to go gigging in. I left in 2006, and spent two years in Korea (where I saw Muse and Chemical Brothers play a whole weekend festival for less than the price of a RATM ticket – so let’s not talk rubbish about freight!) I accept that there are differences in the cost of things like insurance, venue hire and freight, but the largest figure anyone’s been able to come up with for insurance would add less than 3 Euro per ticket in the O2, and gig tickets in Belfast (I think we can all accept that would require freight, too?) are comparable to London and Birmingham. In other words, Irish fans are getting ripped off somewhere along the line, and insurance isnt too blame, and neither is freight. It’s not a huge issue to me to be honest – personally I don’t pay for about 80% of the gigs I go to, through working for State and a couple of other music magazines – but I still dont understand how anyone can find this acceptable, least of all coming from the likes of RATM.

In answer to your points Brian –

MCD have been the culprit for me more often that others. I was going purely on personal experience (and I realise this is entirely subjective), and it could be just because I like more of the stuff they put on, but more often than not, when I find a gig too expensive it tends to be one where I have an MCD wristband on my arm.

On the O2 set up and lighting – if that’s true, it’s genuinely pathetic. The O2 hosts major name acts or shows at least 100 nights a year, and as almost every other major venue in the world manages to show, having your own lighting doesnt stop bands bringing it in. Its a basic requirement of being a music venue, and if every act genuinely is bringing in its own set ups, that could well explain the prices but it’s also just laughable. I really hope that’s not true.

As for the amount of shows in Dublin – I’d say its comparable to any major city in the UK. I’m not denying that the music scene here is fairly solid, but equally the number of major international acts is not notably more impressive than Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester or Glasgow. Sure, Dublin promoters have to persuade bands to come over the water, but they also have the draw of being the only ‘must play’ city in the country, and many major bands would want to play in Ireland. The UK’s smaller cities dont have that, so – and sorry if this seems harsh – but I really dont see how the promoters deserve any particular credit for sorting it. It can’t be that hard, really? And it’s there job, at the end of the day, one that judging by the prices they’re substantially overpaid for.

Thanks for mapping out your gigging history for us there, James : )

Maybe I’ve missed something but I don’t really get this “debate”. As a RATM fan I’ve long accepted that they sold out to that particular machine a long, long time ago. How can anyone be surprised that they’d charge this much?

Also, much as I hate MCD too, they don’t decide the ticket prices. The band tells them how much they’ll play for & ticket prices are negotiated from that to cover costs.

Ask anyone who worked in music PR in the Celtic Tiger years & they will tell you what a running joke it was that Irish people will buy tickets to anything, at any price. I’ve heard directly from a major promoter that they had/have a press release template “XXX sells out in 2 minutes” where they just change the name, date and venue. In other words, Irish music fans are mugs who’ll pay anything asked of them.

Relax lads. No one is forcing ye to go. I want to see them, and am prepared to stump up. So shut up.

“On other random news, I noticed when I searched for the tour dates that if you type ‘Rage Against The Machine’ into Google, this thread is the third result, after the official site and Wikipedia. Not bad at all!”

That’s only if you search through google.ie, which will return Irish related results. So no big deal there.

Heyas,

The ticket prices in Dublin were so high as they were subsidizing the cost of putting on the free gig for 40,000 people in London.

As a Dub who had a great day out of Sunday, I’d like to thank you all for paying for it : )

No use to anyone apart from the people who were interested enough to have a discussion about it, Jim? We have a name for people like you – people who join a discussion for the pure purpose of slating people rather than any actual debate: WUM. Or to put it in your terms, sad little men. Funnily enough, your opinion of me doesn’t actually concern me at all.

I’m interested in where this site ranks on google because I write for it, if that makes me sad, so be it, i’ll live.

As for the price of tickets, I’m interested in the price of gigs in Dublin because I attend a lot of them, like most of us here. Cleary, if you read the conversation, I’m not the only one. You, on the other hand, are interested in abusing people rather than having any kind of discussion. I’ll leave it to other readers to judge which one of us is inane.

In case anyone’s still looking for tickets, btw, they were listed as available at the Jervis Centre ticketmaster late last week, may still be up for grabs…