It is a mixed blessing that Dayton doesn’t have a lot of nationally known concert acts come here anymore. On the one hand, it’s a drag to have to drive to Cincinnati or Columbus for the few acts that pass through those cities but, on the other hand, I don’t mind not paying the punitively high ticket prices that, unfortunately, have become the norm. I know that the younger audience, defined as people in their teens to early twenties, have never known a world where nosebleed seats are $50 and up the closer you are to the stage and one color t-shirts are $35 bucks a pop. Even shows in small venues are going to run you $20 to $30. To clarify the difference with how it used to be, in the eighties you could see three bands at Hara Arena for around $15 bucks and you knew the headliner was going to put on an extravagant stage show to boot. Multi-colored t-shirts and jerseys were never more than the ticket price in those days, as well.

Who’s to blame? As with anything, I’m sure there are a number of factors, but the underlying reason is greed. No doubt promoters saw these packed shows for the goldmine they were and, over time, incrementally increased the ticket and merchandise prices. Another greedy contributor to the rising cost of concerts is the evil monopoly known as Ticketmaster. Used to be you could go to a venue to purchase your ticket at cost or you could go through select outlets that had an electronic system to buy your tickets, paying only a small fee for the convenience of not having to drive to the venue. That network was known as Ticketron and their fee was minimal. For example, I remember complaining loudly when the fee was raised from $.75 to $1 and, later, to $1.50. I thought I was being ripped off! Then Ticketmaster moved in, bought the competition, and raised service/convenience fees exorbitantly. Very early on I realized, after doing some math, that these fees were tantamount to adding 30% to the ticket cost! Also occurring at this time was the fact that concert halls were moving away from festival seating to registered seating. So Ticketmaster, always ready to exploit its customers, determined that they could charge more for certain seats, such as the seats closest to the stage. That’s when ticket prices truly started to balloon out of control. To add insult to injury, the bands that rode this wave of rising ticket costs didn’t even put on expensive, once in a lifetime stage shows that the bands in the eighties thought was a must to sell tickets. Less for more, not a concept I like.

It’s no wonder that so many people download music illegally when you have to spend a weeks wages to drive in excess of an hour away to see a show.

This diatribe could be a lot longer but I’m out of space. Maybe more next month.

---