Why are Blink 182 tickets going for such high prices?

[smahala1991]

Blink 182 announced a new tour

Their ticket prices are leaving fans in shock and pissed as most of the tickets are well over $300 in value and exceed as high as $1300. Who is setting the prices: promoters, the band, or Ticketmaster?

[WhiteSteve]

I just dropped wayyyyyyyy more than I should have this morning😅😅😅 But I’ll be right up front😎 I figure if I cut my costs by like $50-100 per month between now and the show at the end of May, I can make it up, or at least defray the cost to something more reasonable. Took a hard gulp before I pressed “Complete Order” for sure though, haha.

The ticket itself was almost $700. Best seat in the house, but that’s still STEEP. It’s general admission in the pit, and best believe I’m going to not drink a damn thing starting three hours before the doors open, and I’m going to come in early and camp out for an ideal spot and hold that bitch til the lights come on when Blink is done. I don’t want to just barely be up front relative to the rest of the seating. For that kind of money, they band better be sweating on me, lmao.

But the fees were pretty bananas too, almost $250! So this is a big time early Christmas AND birthday present to myself. I assume the fees are Ticketmaster’s cut? Or actually it was SeatGeek. I was cash-poor the day of the pre-sale, but I don’t think I would’ve saved much. I got in the queue for tickets just to see the original prices, but I was late to it, and only the cheapest seats were left, but even those were like $200.

Then over the weekend I checked to see if they had it on secondary seller sites and what the tickets were going for, and they did, and I saw prices between I think $680 up to $900, before fees. So I had SeatGeek open just in case the Ticketmaster thing didn’t work out for the pit ticket, and I ended up with my choice of the two, and the re-sold ticket on SeatGeek was like $20-30 cheaper after all was said and done, so I went with that, ultimately a re-sold ticket from the pre-sale on Thursday. Then I got the ticket transfer from SeatGeek, and guess who the seller was? TicketMaster😂😂😂

So to answer your question: I’d say it’s both. The ticket vendors have insane fees, I really don’t know what that’s about, but it seems like we’re getting ripped off. Then Blink themselves…. I give them a little bit more of a pass for reasons I’ll explain, but they’re definitely getting their money this tour.

Why I can excuse it to a degree…kind of the same reason I’m excusing myself for paying this much. Blink-182’s whole vibe is angsty, immature, knucklehead teenager. The band themselves have been too old to reasonably pull it off for like 20 years already. I’ve been too old to reasonably relate to the music for 15-20 years myself, and I’m sure many fans are just like me. But part of what I love about them is that exact vibe, I loved that period of life, it brings me back to it in my mind. Definitely music that reminds me of a very specific time and place in my life. So I need to see these guys NOW. They’re already near 50, if Mark isn’t there already. I saw faux-Blink with Matt Skiba a few years ago, good show, but I definitely didn’t leave with my usual sense of “well, if that’s the only time I ever get to see them live, I’m satisfied.” They needed all three guys together. And I want to get that TODAY, before they’re senior citizens (and me too😂), because every year that passes it gets a little more weird that they’re on that vibe. They must know that too. So I’m prepared for this to be their last legitimate hurrah (may or may not be), and I want to be there for it if it is, and they FOR SURE want to get paid like it. 70 year old Blink would be sad and weird lmfao, the best remaining time is now.

[Anonymous]

The official vendors sell at the standard rate, I'm not sure who determines that but I doubt it has much if anything to do with the band.

Presumably it is market forces which dictate the price and different venues will have different costs etc.

Ticket prices in the UK are £155 at the O2 in London.

$1300 seems like a reseller to me.

[Nikki1989]

Most people don't buy CDs anymore, so bands have to take whatever they can get through ticket sales and merchandise. I know someone who paid $2,500 to see Roger Waters recently.

[Lyndsielee666]

I didn’t have kids I’d definitely pay a stupid price for blink 182 🤦🏻‍♀️😭

[Telekinetic-Potato]

Because they are from a very special time and even if you're not a big fan, it brings you back. It's basically like paying to go back in time a little bit.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who go to those shows today who when they were teenagers, their parents stopped them. Or maybe it didn't go the way they planned, dating worked a little different back then.

What I'm getting at is, the connection those fans have to the band and every member of it is very special.

Also there's a supply and demand element where those guys aren't getting any younger.

[xColinx]

Basic supply & demand. Blink was really popular back in the day AND had crossover appeal to both dudes & chicks, and those fans have gone from teenagers to now being adults with more exposable income, who still like the band/music and it's got that nostalgic factor for them, to dance & sing to silly pop songs for an hour or two.

[spartan55]

I'm convinced bands like them were ripped off by their agents/representation when they were actually making music in the 90's. Now they have to tour until they are retirement age to cash grab as much as possible (other examples Def Leppard, Slayer, etc)

[bamesjond0069]

I've always wanted to see them but I was into them for like dude ranch and enema of the state Era. Not so much into the new stuff and I doubt they will play more than like what's my age again at most from the older old stuff. Makes me sad since I missed my shot.

[Anjoomkabir]

Because they've risen in popularity and in demand.

I call it the kardashian effect. Look at how Travis Scott blew up after he got Kylie pregnant.

[Chris_Morgan]

I saw them play when they were young at a music festival the height of their popularity, it didn't cost much.

I can't imagine paying to see them now. They should pay me to watch.

[NathanDavis]

that's marketing nowadays...

and there's plenty of people willing to post "I just spent $1300 on Blink 182 tickets"

nothing unusual there... lol

[Amarah0]

Ticketmaster use dynamic pricing to try combat scalpers which... well just makes them the scalpers. There's way better systems to prevent scalping it just sucks that ticket places don't use it.

[legalboxers]

because it no longer "All the Small Things" they want bigger things.. ;)

[MountAverage]

It's disgusting.

[msc545]

Scalpers.