1. The price is too high. I can think of a lot of better uses for $300 than a couple of mediocre seats for 2 hours.
2. The price is even higher. Just try to pay face price before the scalpers overwhelm the ticket sites.
3. They never start on time. (Why do they think I'll like them MORE if they start an hour late???) Yes, we mortals have schedules, too.
4. The venues suck. 2,000 people in a theater: good. 20,000 in a hockey arena: bad.
5. The refreshments are overpriced and difficult to get. You really want to stand in line 15 minutes for that $8 beer?
6. I can get the programs and t-shirt without going to the concert.
7. The traffic is horrible. (What else is new?)
8. The Police, Billy Joel, and Depeche Mode were great concerts. The first 8 times. How about something new? (See #8)
9. Since disc jockeys don't tell you anymore, I don't know the names of many of the new bands. (Yes, I have an FM radio next to my terminal. No, I don't belong to myspace.)
10. Being surrounded by drunks and druggies is cool if you're drunk or high. It's hell if you're not.
I'll be more emphatic than yummyfajitas: You're doing it wrong.
By the time an act is playing in the venues that meet your description, they are over, also-rans, irrelevant, and tired.
Go see local acts and smaller touring bands. They care that you came to the show, and will work hard to entertain you. There are no programs, only passionate people doing what they love. If you like to recognize the songs being played by the folks on stage, check eMusic and Amie St. and MySpace for the bands that you're going to see...you'll find them there.
The huge mega-rock show is a pointless exercise in soullessness and has been for as long as I can remember (I swore off of them soon after high school after seeing a couple of arena shows of bands I liked and being disappointed by the tiny, tiny people bouncing around on stage while I looked on from the distance thinking "I could see something more entertaining from my couch").
But, every weekend, in every reasonably sized city in the world, there is a concert happening in a small to mid-sized club that you would enjoy. It's a unique experience that you can share with 100-1000 like-minded music fans...a few of whom will be a little drunk, but no one will be heavily drugged up because the small clubs don't tolerate troublemakers. Beer is usually a couple of bucks, and the wait is often less than a minute.
Oh, yeah, club shows cost anywhere from FREE to about 15 bucks. The best shows I've ever seen, in a lifetime of loving rock concerts, cost $12 (Flaming Lips on the Satellite Heart tour), $8 (Fishbone on the Reality of my Surroundings tour), $15 (Mission of Burma reunion), $10 (Spoon, many times at Rudz in Houston), $12 (Spoon, at Emos in Austin), and lots more. $300 will get you an awful lot of great live music if you give it to folks who are really passionate about music.
You're absolutely right, SwellJoe. Your post brought back many great memories of smaller venues I had forgotten. When did I lose my way? Now where is that copy of Creative Loafing?
I think it is a good thing if being a musician is no longer the cash cow it once was. This means the musicians will be more authentic (no more Monkees) and producers will not make a point of dumbing the musicians and us down so as to have a large common denominator.
Some people talk about this fracturing as a bad thing, but this is the good side. Mass production had to lower everyone's tastes out of necessity, and now the trend can reverse.
Much of that doesn't apply to smaller acts. For example, I saw Saul Williams (http://niggytardust.com/) for $25 on wed night. The venue was small enough that he crowd surfed on half the people in the room.
As for drunks and druggies, if you can't beat us, join us.
I agree, U2 is probably not worth it. But lots of smaller acts are.
Others have already mentioned the benefits of seeing smaller local artists. I'd like to put in a plug for one other kind of show that can be a blast: jam bands. Yeah, there are generally huge throngs of people, and yeah, lots of people are getting high. But the artists go out of their way to make the show fun for the audience, often trying out new arrangements, delving deep into the catalog, and playing interesting cover songs. Plus, the venues are often either small or full of character. It's fun seeing shows out on a lawn somewhere.
Also, there can be some really unexpected highlights, like the time I saw an MMW show back in '01 or '02, and nobody really knew much about this opening artist named Norah Jones because her album hadn't really taken off yet. Highlight of the show: MMW backing her in a version of the Sly and the Family version of "Que Sera, Sera."
1. The price is too high. I can think of a lot of better uses for $300 than a couple of mediocre seats for 2 hours.
2. The price is even higher. Just try to pay face price before the scalpers overwhelm the ticket sites.
3. They never start on time. (Why do they think I'll like them MORE if they start an hour late???) Yes, we mortals have schedules, too.
4. The venues suck. 2,000 people in a theater: good. 20,000 in a hockey arena: bad.
5. The refreshments are overpriced and difficult to get. You really want to stand in line 15 minutes for that $8 beer?
6. I can get the programs and t-shirt without going to the concert.
7. The traffic is horrible. (What else is new?)
8. The Police, Billy Joel, and Depeche Mode were great concerts. The first 8 times. How about something new? (See #8)
9. Since disc jockeys don't tell you anymore, I don't know the names of many of the new bands. (Yes, I have an FM radio next to my terminal. No, I don't belong to myspace.)
10. Being surrounded by drunks and druggies is cool if you're drunk or high. It's hell if you're not.