The Dave Matthews Band is among the groups offering bargain tickets.
No one knows how the recession will affect concert business this summer, but several major acts are making sure that fans won’t have to dig too deep to afford a ticket.
The Dave Matthews Band, Keith Urban, U2 and No Doubt already have announced they’ll offer some bargain-priced tickets – in the $20-$30 range – for their tours, and it’s likely that others will follow suit.
“”They’re creating lower price levels so that everybody will be able to come,” says “Pollstar “editor Gary Bongiovanni. “”I don’t think anybody is looking around and going, “Boy, I think I can sell out at $150 a ticket.’ That’s just not today’s reality.”
The prices are particularly good deals for acts who play mostly stadiums and arenas. Even Michael Jackson, who has sold out 50 shows at London’s O2 Arena, kept his prices in the $68-$103 range.
Prices tend to be adjusted to the times because acts don’t want to play to empty seats, says “Billboard” touring editor Ray Waddell. According to Billboard Boxscore statistics, the average ticket price for a top 10 touring act in 2008 was $151.34.
The touring industry has “”an ongoing issue with unsold inventory, and they don’t want to exacerbate that situation,” Waddell says.
Among the cheaper offerings:
• Keith Urban, whose Escape Together world tour kicks off May 7-8 in Uncasville, Conn., is selling select tickets for $20 without any transaction fees.
• Taylor Swift’s 52-city Fearless tour, which starts April 23 in Evansville, Ind., offers tickets as low as $20 in most markets.
• No Doubt hits the road May 16 in Las Vegas and is selling $10 and $25 tickets at some amphitheaters.
• U2′s massive stadium tour, U2 360, which arrives in the USA Sept. 12 in Chicago, will offer about 10,000 seats per stop priced at around $30.
• Two-thirds of tickets for Dave Matthews average $40. The tour starts April 14 in New York.
“We had a pretty good year last year, but most of those tickets were sold before the markets collapsed,” says Bongiovanni. “We don’t know how bad this summer is going to be.
“People have been buying tickets, but it defies logic to assume that people who find themselves unemployed would be fighting for tickets.”