John Mellencamp Community

Can you please explain why tickets are so expensive to the show in Lowell, MA? It's such a small venue (like a high school auditorium) I don't understand. I saw STYX there, 11th row floor seats, for about 60 dollars cheaper. Regardless of what the government says, we are still in a recession. Yeah I know I didn't have to buy the floor seats at $135 a piece but I did. I love to dance at the show! I didn't pay that much at the Pavillion in Boston. I just wondered who's decision it is to make the ticket prices, is it John himself ? 

 I am really glad somone brought this up , this tour is FAR too Expensive , of course even the last boston show was too much & that one topped out at $250a few years ago .
   My Girl & i were going to see the Lowell show , but just can not afford to do so when all decent seats are $255 & $128 + service  .... I am only able to work partime due to health & that's the way it's been for 10 years , My Girl worked for a company who did Govt. Contracting & got Laid off right before Xmas , But even before that when tix went on sale we decided we just can not afford it , even if i could i probably would not asking over $100 + service  is just TOO MUCH for a show , it really is , I respect the artists who have stepped up & kept prices under $99 a seat .
   We are really bummed to not be seeing this tour as i really love the new album  , but until ticket prices go down , we will no longer be seeing John live .
  I can't anwer if John sets prices , Usually a promoter will do that , but he DOES have the chance to put it in his contract that no tix will be priced beyond say "$99"  & he could get more involved to keep prices down for sure ............ It's a big bummer , But i'm not gonna starve to spend almosy $300 to see a show , right now that's a lot of $$$$ to a lot of people ..

About ticket pricing....
Most of the time, it is NOT the responsibility of the artist.
Instead there is a bizarre and difficult to navigate maze of entities that are involved, several of which seem to add little value but seek to profit anyway.
The basic setup goes like this:
Ticketmaster has exclusive contracts with promoters. Promoters have exclusive contracts with venues. Artists wanting to play those venues and have their tickets distributed MUST agree to have their shows put on by said promoters.
It works best in big cities with high ticket prices...LA, SF, NY, Boston, Chicago, LV, etc.

Occasionally an artist will attempt to circumvent this maze of garbage. On occasion, it works. Just a couple years ago, Foo Fighters played a show at the Forum in LA, a basically defunct venue, at less than $35 a ticket. Garth Brooks did a tour about 5 years ago where tickets were under $50, and I'm not sure how that was accomplished. But most of the time that is not the case, and the solution is to either attend or not attend.

In the case of this tour, I justified buying $100 tickets because I've never seen John play, and the 6500 seat Nokia Theatre is a much smaller venue than I'd normally be able to see him play at. I have noticed that ticket prices in some of the smaller cities are MUCH less expensive.

It's definitely trying times for many people.  I certainly understand your frustration.  I've looked at a lot of the venues and because they're smaller, the very lowest price seats are not as far away from the stage as they would be on other tours.  Ticket prices have to cover the cost of so many things, from transporting and insuring equipment, instruments, lighting and the great folks who know how to bring it all together.  There's a lot of behind the scenes cost to making it all happen night after night and to have the level of quality and consistency that John always delivers. I may feel differently if I'm ever disappointed in a show, but so far, I've never left unhappy. Ultimately it's just business to the promoters.  The smaller more intimate settings of this tour means the cost is higher per ticket, but we get also a very different experience from the big arena shows. Sure, it's Lowell, Massachusetts in the middle of winter, but hey, John always warms things up!.  

 Thanks for all that Info Johng !


 These are really great Examples & as mentioned by the oroginal poster of this thread STYX played this same venue just 2 months ago (i also went to that show) & all tix were under $100  , i got an amazing seat for $49  & i'm sure everyone got paid .
  KISS realised how bad their summer tour was going to be & dropped most tix for $24 last summer & all lawn seats bought by an adult you could bring 4 kids with you for free .
   But STYX is probably the best Example as they played the same venue .
 Even BB king plays this same venue & it runs half the price .
   
  and johns last tour through bost was just as Expensive topping out at $250 , I am just more Bummed that we will miss this tour due to pricing Unless some cheaper/Decent $50 tix pop up at some point .

Thanks for the responses. I was beginning to give up on an answer. I do agree that you get to be a bit closer to the stage with a smaller venue and I really like the smaller shows but I still feel it's steep. Now if I am able to get to the stage and touch him (like I did with Tim McGraw, 20th row Comcast Center, only $85) I'll be happy! I'm still trying to win tickets on WZLX in Boston so I can give them to a friend who can't afford to go and we can split the cost. I'll be doing this for Stevie Nicks & Rod Stewart. To the man who agrees prices are too high, maybe you can try the radio station too. Good Luck!

despite recession you are in a luxurious situation, because you CAN see him live in concert.
i´d pay anything to see him playing here in berlin, germany...and i think he is surely more worth than styx, stevie nicks or garth brooks.
come to europe, John, no one here is interested in your private life and no one will complain about ticket prices! we just want to enjoy your music!

My husband and I had 2nd row seats 1 and 2 in the pit in Ft Wayne he paid $500. We got shirts and records. I would not have paid that much but my husband knows how much I love John Mellencamp and I have been to many of his concerts but never that close and it was the best experience at a concert I have ever had and I am so glad he loves me enough to spend that much on one gift. I wish we could just afford it all the time cause I would do it all over again the price is well worth being that close in my oppinion. I am one happy fan :)

I think it's all relative and depends on if you decide for yourself if it's worth it.  Everyone has different proirities.

For myself, I had been saving for a while because I just knew in my heart he was going to tour again.  I also live in Indiana so I figured I had a fair chance of seeing him somewhere when he did tour again.  I originally planned on only going to 2 shows, but as fate would have it I ended up going to 4 shows.  I do feel fortunate to have been able to do that, VERY fortunate.  But, I also made some sacrifices to do so.  Sacrifices others might not have been willing to make.  But, it was my choice. 

I had also anticipated the prices to be right about what they are.  The economy is affecting all of us, including the venues, the production, etc.  It costs more to do a show these days.  We don't know what all goes into a show, but there are a lot of people involved, I know that, and a lot of ground that gets covered.  And like beckjwilson commented, certain tickets come with a package that includes, among several other things, a nice t-shirt (which I LUV!) and No Better Than This on LP (2-LP set to be precise).  I think it makes the ticket well worth the price, in addition to the guarantee of 1st 10 rows. (I think it should be closer, but that's another story, lol.) 

My wish, of course, is that everyone would be able to go to a show.  This is an incredible show and well worth the ticket cost on it's own merit.  This is exactly the show I've been waiting for and it is beyond awesome in my opinion.  I would go to more shows if they were closer to my home.  I've been to 4 and each one was different, unique in its own way, special for it's own reason.  And I know they would just keep getting better.

Tim McGraw @ $85 is a great example of how a show can cost a reasonable ammount , a lot of "Rockers" could take some lessons from country artists who bend over backwards for the fans , Brad paisleys last tour topped at $59 when he came through , taylor swift at $79  .... These are also artists that allthough most are not selling albums ( artists blame internet downloading) Country sells in the Millions , i really think it has to do with how they treat their fans ....... Bruce springsteens last tour topped out at $90 , Billy joel keeps it under $100 a seat ...... I just bought Todd rundgren this morning for boston , he's playing a 2,000 seat "intimate theatre" playing 2 full albums through plus hits & i got tix 30 rows from the stage for $35 each , top tix were $95 , so he kept them under $100 ...... and as mentioned STYX just played the lowell , i went to that for $49 & tix topped out around $79 i believe ? If they can do it , so can any other touring act , they got paid , they made $$$  Chris botti who has become close to the top in Jazz players is in lowell , Tix are $44 - $54  .....Phil Vassar is playing there $27 - $57  , Tanni same thing , under $100 .
   So i do apologize , but i think it's a real kick in the face to be asking $255.00 / $130.00  for the great seats , sorry , that does not fly with me as a longtime fan , if evry other artist was doing this maybe ... but it's just not the case , and i'll stay home this time & also in the future , there are a lot of fans on other boards not happy with the way Prices have gone , sorry , i'm not gonna
max out my credit cards at $50-for 2 seats , i need to eat , pay car insurance , gas  etc. ..... coming form a guy who sings about america & how the country is treating them i find this kinda ironic and that's just my fellings  , I am a HUGE music fan & have well over 10,000 cd's + Vinyl caseetyes etc. I'll be sure to support those who Really do care about the fan's  & that's just my opinion ... I feel bad for those who have had to save up so much for 1 night out  , i can probably go see 6 other shows for that price ...

We just saw David Lindley and Pieta Brown for 48 dollars. That's 48 bucks for two tickets.
And it was a great show. And we walked in 15 minutes before the show started and sat in the front row.

A few facts about the ticket pricing:

The top priced ticket on this tour is roughly $125.

There are ticket packages being sold with a bundle of merchandise etc but those physical tickets still say $125 on them and there are a tiny number of those packages available.

There are front row seats, and seats in every row of the best sections, sold at all of these shows for $125. Most shows have tickets going all the way down to $50. I don't have a guess on the average ticket price but most venues have a balcony where the tickets are way below $100.

This is a theater tour. This means there are less tickets and generally they are priced higher because there are less available.

Ticket prices are primarily set by the promoter with John's oversight, but it is an extremely complicated and confusing system that the artist doesn't have as much control of as you would hope. Prices are based on a wide number of things but mostly hinge on things like how many tickets there, how much the production expense of the tour is (band, crew, stage, gear, fuel, trucking, insurance, travel), generally how many seats there are, sales expectations & demand.

Every tour is different. Tours that are in larger venues can't be compared to theater tours as there are far more seats to sell and cover the expenses with.

On John's last arena tour the top priced tickets were generally in the $75 ballpark (always exclude any packages as those are a bundling of merch and other items and a very few tickets).

Most of those arena shows had an average ticket price of all seats in the $50 range. The last outdoor tour had a small number of tickets with packages over $200 but again the ticket itself was in the $100 range and most of the tickets were $50 or less.

Country tours are a different beast since most of them have a sponsor or several sponsors to underwrite the cost.

Tours with lesser demand and lower tiered artists have to charger a lower price than top tier acts like John just to get people in the seats.

If you don't want to, or can't pay the price, don't go.  There are plenty of shows I would like to attend but my budget doesn't stretch that far.  I pick and choose which I can or can't afford and sometimes I have to miss a few really good artists so that I can spend more money on those I consider a "can't miss this one." For me, JM comes under "can't miss this one".  Last time JM was here in Australia (2008) I paid $300 per ticket and I bought 6 tickets covering 2 shows. This did not include any special offers or merch, it only covered seats and it was money well spent. I understand that not everyone is in a possition to pay high prices, but there are always cheaper tix available.  I choose the amount I'm prepared to pay depending on the artist, so sometimes I'm up near the stage, and sometimes I'm way up in the nosebleeds.....and sometimes I just stay home.  Maybe if people didn't have so many concerts to choose from, and had to deal with many years between tours like I do here in Australia, then people would appreciate the fact that there is still a JM concert to attend.

 Tony , thanks for that reply , really appreciate your view on the Question at hand , very informative . ;)