£950? You're having a laugh!

There's nothing quite the like the feeling that you get when you see your favourite band live. Singing back every word (or screaming in some cases), that look of shock when the song that you desperately wanted to be played but never thought would be IS played, and enjoying the atmosphere with people that matter. It's something that can't be beat, but unfortunately gigs are becoming more and more expensive. The question now being asked is, are the prices worth it?One example which surely isn't is The Eagles, who are set to play a private gig in London to the relatively small audience of 2,300. Tickets for this 'once in a lifetime event' (the spokeswoman's words, definitely not mine) are a staggering £950! Yes, just under a grand to see The Eagles! That's the price of a car, or even a holiday. It's not like they don't have enough money already, for a career that has spanned over four decades there is no justification for this ridiculous price. The saddest thing of all is that people will pay that.

The revolt over high ticket prices has shown signs of gathering pace, with multiple gigs across Europe having to be moved to smaller venues or even cancelled to hide the amount of spare tickets. The Rolling Stones, infamous for their ticket prices, sold a pathetic 33,000 for a 70,000 capacity in Werchter, Belgium. The Who moved a scheduled gig from the same venue to a Belgian Hall to hide the failure of their sales. Rolling Stones tickets spanned from £150-£495 for most of their European dates, what possibly reason can there be behind these prices?

Of course the blame lies with downloading. "The Bowie Theory" indicates that the best way to make money is with live shows in order to compensate for the loss through file sharing and depleted album sales. Correct me if I'm wrong, but do Mick Jagger, Sting, Phil Collins & co actually NEED any more money? It's incredibly annoying that they don't realise how lucky they are and how millions would love to be in their place, and it's these millions that come out to see them live. How about rewarding fans with fair ticket prices and play to a capacity crowd, then go home and count how much money was made?

With the UK legs of these money-making European tours still selling strongly, there is unlikely to be any change to ticket prices in the near future, not here at least. Until people take action then we had better get used to paying over the odds for the biggest names in rock music.