More Concert Ramblings

I completely left a couple things out of my suite hopping blog from the weekend, but before I get to that, with Amy's blessing, I'm sharing this cute photo. Who wouldn't wanna be her?

There were two other things I wanted to talk about after the show. One of which was the crowd singing along. Keith seemed to be tickled by them singing back to him. He'd say things like "You sound good Nashville."

To be honest, I could hardly hear them. He needs to go to a Garth show and hear a crowd sing. I mean really.... to compare the two, there was no comparison.

Second thing was ticket prices. Now, I just spent $50 on Garth tickets and got two shows. $25 a show got me 2 multi-platinum artists, about 2 1/2 hours of music, and a ridiculously long set change.

Keith's ticket, which I thankfully did not have to pay for, but was in a similar, lower bowl seat to what I had Opening Night in KC, was $60. Again two acts, one set change, not nearly as long. Gary played a little longer than Trisha, and Keith gave us quite possibly the longest concert I've ever been to with one artist. He had invested in his staging, including the big video screen, which meant less people in the arena (no rear view seats) but those of us who were there could see much better. Two of the 3 nights I was in KC I couldn't see the jumbotron up in the rafters. He also brought out a surprise guest, in the form of Martina McBride.

Did the staging make it a better show? I don't think staging ever does that on it's own. You have to have the music, and the musicianship, and the stage presence. Keith definitely had all of that Did I get a show worth $60? Absolutely. Could I afford to do that on a regular basis? Absolutely not.

A couple of months ago I was at Kenny Chesney at Madison Square Garden. If memory serves, tickets were $70 there. I didn't get to see the full show, but there were 2 opening acts (Pat Green, and Sugarland.) Kenny had the mega monitor wall and a massive stage. Again with a great band, awesome set list, and thanks to all the cameras, an upclose view of everything going on on stage. Suprise guests in the form of MLB players. Was that a show worth $70? Yeah, it probably was. Could he sell out 9 nights in a row at those prices? I doubt it.

So my point is really that as spoiled as we are by Garth's ridiculously cheap ticket prices, it's definitely not the industry standard. And as long as people are willing to pay the prices and feel like they got their money's worth, that's the way it's going to be.

As one more comparison, we made the annual Borchetta-Rizer girls night out to see the Radio City Rockettes Holiday Show last weekend. Those tickets were $65, for a 90 minute show. The staging was beautiful, the show was full of hits, and it's hard to top Santa as a special guest. Was it worth $65? I'm sure all the girls would say yes. In fact, it was worth it for us to see their little faces light up.

The problem that I see is that people only have so many entertainment dollars to go around. Not the superfans, who will go wherever and pay whatever for their favorite artist. But for the average consumer, who can't afford to take their pre-teenage daughter to Hannah Montana, go on a date to see Keith Urban with their husband, and take the whole family to see the Rockettes all within the same month, let alone have their hubby go with the guys to catch the Titans or Predators in action.

So what do they do? They stay home.