I recently saw an Artticle on Lycos about concert tickets and such and here is a little bit of what I got from it.

Not only are they pirating tunes on the Internet rather than paying upwards of $20 for a compact disc, they are also increasingly reluctant to fork out for costly concert tickets.

A survey on the north american concert industry says that the top 50 acts sold a combined 10.6 millions tickets the first half of the year and down about 3 percent from a year ago period and down 18 percent from 2000.

The average ticket price for those top 50 tours rose 11.3 percent to $50.81 from last year, By contrast U.S. consumer inflation rose 3.6 percent in the year to May.

"A substantial army of fans will still pay the freight for great seats to see their superstar heroes," Pollstar said. "But one has to wonder where the millions of ticket buyers we lost since 2000 have gone. Can we get them back or have they been priced out of the market for good?"

The report is more bad news for the music industry, which is reeling from Internet bootlegging and a paucity of exciting new acts. Album sales in the United States have tumbled 10 percent year-to-date, according to data from tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan published in Billboard magazine.

Indeed ticket sales for the top 50 acts reached $538.2 million during the first half, up 17 percent from the year-ago period, but off seven percent from 2001.

McCartney was the top earner with ticket sales of $52.8 million, Pollstar said. Undertaking his first North American tour in a decade, McCartney, now 60, received glowing reviews for his hits-heavy set. He played 27 shows in 20 cities, and is reportedly planning to return later this year. His average ticket price was $129.59.

The double bill of Billy Joel and Elton John was the No. 2 act with a $44.4 million haul from 23 shows in just eight cities. The average ticket price was $108.70. The piano men could have been No. 1 if Joel's "acute laryngitis" and other maladies had not postponed 10 dates until the fall; Joel checked into a substance abuse center last month.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were third with $34.9 million from 40 shows in 36 cities. The combustible folk quartet charged an average $80.08 per ticket.

Other veterans in the top 10 included the Eagles at No. 6 with $20.6 million, Jimmy Buffett at No. 9 with $17.0 million and Barry Manilow at No. 10 with $14.7 million.

Flying the flag for the youngsters were 'N Sync at No. 4 with $33.2 million, followed by the Dave Matthews Band with $24.0 million. A double bill of punk combos Green Day and Blink-182 came in at No. 7 with $19.7 million while Britney Spears was No. 8 with $18.9 million.

Green Day and Blink-182 were the busiest acts in the top 10 and offered the best value: 45 shows in 44 cities at an average cost of $31.56.

http://news.dmusic.com/article/4584

Thank you.

Tickets are way too much, I'm always broke when a cool concert surpises me!

Oh no, Billy J checks in! must be the stress of being 'famous' heh heh!

Yep concert ticket sales was down 18% the first 6 months of the year. Rumor has it Hilary and Cary Sherman are working overtime to try to figure out how to pin that on filesharing as well.

Oh you want to park here too?? That's another $20.

i'd rather pay 2 bucks to see a little known band with a thousand times more talent than idiots who sell their tickets for 50 bucks.
you can only keep a small majority of people impressed with fireworks and elaborate stages.. the lack of talent in todays top 40 won't keep any music lover intrigued for very long

kinda funny.. you pay 60 bucks to see the a*teens (who the fuck are they?) at the house of blues, and you pay 30 bucks to see nearly 40 bands at the warped tour.

I paid $174.18 for two tickets, for me and my dad (it's a surprise for my padre), to see Joe Satriani and Dream Theater.