Okay let me just say that I love Prince as much as most people on here (own every CD, every video, every book, been to at least one show from every tour in the UK etc)

Also I am sooooo excited about the idea of Prince playing in a venue of around 2000 people and doing the kind of show that focuses on music and new songs = great, bring it to the UK soon!

But $125 (about 80 pounds) per ticket seems excessive and certainly excludes many people who love Prince but just cannot afford that kind of dough! I can and will because I have a good job but it just seems really unfair.

Just wondered what others though?

It certainly does seem very expensive. I would be very surprised if the tix are that price (£80) when/if the tour comes to the UK. The max I have ever paid for tickets was around £40 (and that was for MJ's Dangerous tour at Wembley Stadium) I don't think I've ever paid more than £30 for a Prince ticket (including booking fee).

Do the prices vary from US city to US city? Or have they been that high from the get-go?

Hi guys. I was lucky enough to grab a ticket for Saturday night's show here in Florida. Let me tell you, even though I was able to get the cheapest ticket, I felt that that show was worth the $100 price for the best ones. It was an intimate setting and he went all out. This is my 3rd time seeing Prince, and it was by far the best show that I have ever seen. Well worth the money because of the small size of the venue.

Just because it's in NYC, Prince has no business charging $150.

Unfortunately that's the way it is these days. U2 charged $140 and Madonna $250 FACE VALUE for most of the seats on their last arena tours. They sold out all of them too. Everybody complains, but nobody wants to miss the show either. I think it's taking advantage of the fans and just as bad as scalping. I even get more mad when they say these tours made the most money. Well of course if you charge that much you'll make more than other tours that charge $40 bucks. As much as I hate Creed, they are the #1 band in the US right now and they only charge around $45 including taxes for the good seats. They don't want to screw their fans.

The show is supposed to be like no other show b4. npg members get to see a mini show first (the rehearsal/soundcheck), you are garantied to have front rows seats. scalpers are unable to steal those from the real fams. to me all of that is worth $150. And if you give me the chance to speak to Prince after the soundcheck, which many of us did, then $150 is a bargain!
What I don't get is why more people are not joining the club for $100 to get all that we get. The 4 cd's and prefered seating alone is worth alot more. dont u think?

KingOfNYC said:

U2 & Madonna's shows cost a lot, but you're also getting an opening act of note - U2 had No Doubt & Garbage last time they played her. Madonna, who even remembers... Top seaats for Elton John & Billy Joel at the Garden ran for less than $200 even after Ticketmasters's cut & that was for the both of them. Paul Mcartney? I'm sitting pretty at his show for $125. All of Prince's shows are billed as "like nothing you've ever seen before." And they're also always a drain on the wallet. A $30 program? It better speak to me on subway home. The benefits of membership (soundcheck/rehearsal) have nothing to do with the cost of tickets themselves. Other people not part of the club will still no doubt be paying $150 for seats near ours.

Prince controls the cost of his shows. I'll gladly sit myself in the 5th row & give up my shot at something closer if omebody will slap him for it.

It may be worth the money, but I just don't have it. I just tried to buy the $50 upper-prom seats for Houston, but they had sold out during the pre-sale (I've been too broke to renew my membership). So, I won't be seeing Prince on this tour . Still, I won't hate on anyone who can afford it. I hope the show is great, and I hope you all have fun!

It's also annoying because of all his rants against the music biz and ticketmaster, he's gonna charge just as much if not more when he's not dealing with them (tix for NY were not sold through ticketmaster). You want us to follow you on your experiments, P? Give us an incentive.

Sorry, I'm just feeling a little bitter about not getting one of the 80 dollar tix, which would've been the most I'd ever spent on a concert.

MendesCity said:

It seems he's fighting ticketmaster for his own personal gain, not ours. Pearl Jam wanted to charge $25 a ticket and not use any tour sponsors either. They had enough money they said. Ticketmaster wouldn't allow this so they fought them. Prince is just mad that if he charges us $150 they will add another $10 dollars so he won't keep all the money for himself and he may have to charge $140.

This topic has been covered fairly extensively before, which tells me that a lot of Prince fans are stressed by the higher ticket prices.

As far as I can tell, the smaller the venue, the more we should expect to pay for tickets to see Prince. He delivers the same performance to a smaller group, so each attendee pays more. This holds true as long as the performer is popular and capable of selling out a larger venue - which I believe is true for Prince.

Entertainment has become more expensive. I avoid professional sports in part because of high ticket prices. For Prince, I'm willing to pay more - especially given the opportunity to be up close!

This would be a difficult, if not biased, question to answer. On the surface, $150 does seem to be excessive in price, but we are not privy to all of the expenses that are going into this tour. Thus, we have no idea what kind of profit margin there is for Prince once the tour is complete. Just food for thought.

Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who absolutely lives paycheck-to-paycheck, and who definitely had to work his butt off to afford these tix.....Prinec DESERVES every cent of this money....and I for one hope he never goes back to playing larger venues...this was the most intimate, intense concert experience of my life and I would have paid 3 times what I did just for the soundcheck alone!!!!!

I could not cough up my $100 fast enough and, as some of you know, I also took my daughter. And let me tell you, if you have something to sell- sell it. If you have some overtime you can work- work it. But if there's any way to get a ticket- get it!!

This has been a GREAT winter for concerts here in Florida. We saw Elton and Billy last month ($175 each), and have tickets to see Sir Paul next month. (I still can't believe we paid $250 EACH for those.) Yes, we are very fortunate to now be able to afford to go to these concerts. But, after Saturday nite with Prince, I was saying to myself, "Elton and Paul who??"

Over the years I have seen many, many artists in many, many concerts. And this one, my friends, was like no other.

I think a lot of non-NPGMC memebers think that $125 for a single ticket is too much. Take a look at the Kansas City concert. Tickets have been on sale for over 12 hours and there are still plenty of tickets left on the main floor! I know there are a lot of Prince fans in the KC area, but I think poor advertising and high ticket prices are going to make this one a hard one to sell out. Oh well, their loss. I just hope Prince doesn't see this as a lack of interest in the area and decide not to come back next tour.

I guess the ppl who cant part with the over 100.00 prices have the option of buying the cheaper tickets. even if your a npg member, u get the soundchecks, maybe an aftershow/party, so sitting in a cheap seat wouldnt be all that painful. theres really no excuse not to go...buy the cheaper ticket. the smaller theatres still offer good seating/listening even way in back. plus,u never know, it may be prince's last tour?, ( lots of performers cut off touring at his age, at least world wide like is now and he probobly wants to make as much money as he can for his future, WHILE he can. however, with HIS interests in his mind, i feel he's thinking of his fans with putting on this great show, which is not under 2 1/2 hours, usually longer, the sound checks, afterparties etc. it's usually a loooong nite with prince. well worth it! he puts alot in it!

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grandebelle said:[quote]I guess the ppl who cant part with the over 100.00 prices have the option of buying the cheaper tickets. even if your a npg member, u get the soundchecks, maybe an aftershow/party,
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Sorry, but that is NOT true. u can only go 2 the soundcheck, when u buy the ticket trough npgmc retail!
so i think it's not so fair from npgmc. members who paid
100$ for the membership but not have the money to buy a
150$ ticket are pissed of at the soundcheck.

Baahhh Bahhhh bahhhh - listen to those sheep

Sorry guys but these tickets are EXPENSIVE! I love Prince and have done for 20 years, damn I grew up listening to his music which has had a profound effect on my life. I am desperate to see this tour (when/if it reaches the UK) and will probably go to more than one night AND will end up forking out mega dosh for the experience because I am a big fan and don't want to miss out.

It still does not change the fact that Prince is taking advantage of people like me and you because he knows we will pay the money. If all of us refused to buy the tix at that price they would HAVE to lower the cost.

Yes there are lots of perks and the soundchecks sound brilliant. IF and I repeat IF there is an afterSHOW which is free entry to NPGMC members then I guess the $125 is pretty good value. But so far there has only been one night with these three performances (Atlanta?) and those guys did well.

Prince's overheads on this concert must be quite low (few personnel, little by the way of special effects etc thank God) so we are really talking about a tour bus and a truck to transport equipment with a handful of roadies. ON previous tours he would have had several big trucks and scores of roadies etc - think about the Lovesexy shows and THAT stage. Okay, how much were tix for that show (take into account inflation). So the venue was bigger meaning more people pay for tix but the overheads were higher meaning less money reaches Prince.

In my opinion these tix are too expensive and Prince is taking advantage of our FANaticism. Yes I will be there because yeah, like many of you, I am just as much a sheep in Prince's flock (sorry couldn't resist).

Remember that entry to the soundcheck is billed as a perk for being a member to the NPGMC (which you already paid $100 for - giving him much wonger in advance that can earn him interest) so that should not really count as part of the ticket price. But to get into the soundcheck you have to buy the top price NPGMC tix so that hardly counts as a perk!

Wouldn't a fairer price be around $70 for the concert plus another $30 for the aftershow (if there is one)?

$125 is the going rate for tickets. It's well worth it for a Prince concert.

i agree that 150 is expensive but i think it's a reasonable price for the value you get out of it (that's actually a bargain). but i also agree that npg members should have the opportunity to get sound check access and all w/o buying the best and most expensive seats in the house, because that's unfair for those who can't afford $150.
i suggest we all write that to npgmc and see what they say, i'm sure they will be amicable to this issue. no?

Again, this is purely conjecture on our parts. We have absolutely no idea what the over production cost of this tour is. I am in the music business and know first hand that tours, whether large or small, are an expensive endeavor. In the past, Prince had the luxury of a record label underwriting alot of his production costs with tour support. This, obviously, is no longer a factor. Furthermore, though I am not certain, I doubt he is only traveling with one tour bus. Keep in mind, the cost of a tour bus, for one month, can run anywhere from $30k to $50k. PRN also has to rent the venue and pay the union fees/insurance of additional techs hired in each market. These are all a part of the equation that makes up a ticket price. Again, just food for thought.

Prince's tour is no more expensive (and probably less so) than Britney Spears, who charged $75 for her top seat in NYC. DMB charged $40 for all seats at the Garden. They have a stage show no less eleborate than Prince. Prince's cost goes into Prince's pocket.

IrishEcho said:

The only point I'm trying to make is that there are many factors, outside of pure greed, that go into the ticket prices. Are the tickets too expensive? Yes, for those who cannot afford to spend that type of money frivolously. Is it unfair? Of course it is.

Hello? Sponsors are the whole story here. I'll bet Prince does his best to keep it afforable ... and $100 for a night out is reasonable, and, for this show, it is the best deal you'll ever get.

But, if we want to watch commercials all might and see advertisments everywhere, the ticket price would go down. Personally, I would not want Pepsi, Chili's, Bud or anything else trying to steal the spotlight that BELONGS to Prince. EVEN for all of their sponsorship dollars.(Would you?!?!)

But, that's how the others do it.

Prince has the same tour expenses whether he plays a 2,700 seat theatre or a 12,000 seat arena.
[This message was edited Tue Apr 29 23:08:51 PDT 2003 by daysofwild]

ELF1968 said:

Good point - man do tour buses really cost THAT much? I'm in the wrong bidniz!

I agree that the tix will inevitably be more expensive as the maths is obvious (smaller venue = less tickets sold = less total cash. This has to then be divided by the costs which for some things will reamin the same such as hotel bills and stuff)

However, there is no way anyone can convince me THIS show is as expensive to stage as the Lovesexy show in 88 (which played to 8000-15000 audiences).

Maybe the maths does add up = 10,000 ppl paying $30 in 88 is $300,000. Even if all the audience were paying top price (which they are NOT before anyone jumps on me) 2,500 ppl paying $125 in 02 is $312,500?

- I still think it is damn expensive though!

1. yes, it is expensive. but so is a good suit, a good car, a nice house. you want the best and he deserves to get paid. and...

2. it IS expensive to run a tour, no matter who you are or what your stage is. unless you have been on the other side like some of the people here, you have NO idea. but...

3. it's really none of our business what he does with his money or how much he should charge for one of his concerts. it's his affair. it's his party, come along or stay home. the party will go on with you or without you.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 11 21:04:15 PDT 2002 by xenophobia]

IrishEcho said:

one phrase: The Joy Of Pepsi!

IrishEcho said:

I really liked Prince's only PROP onstage- that waterfall prop looked like it was bought at Spencer Gifts for $50.

I noticed that all of Irish's post were made prior to the concert. I wonder, do you still feel that the tix were too expensive? I actually thought it was a bargain given that he performed over 8 hours for us.