While driving for the school pickup last week, I was listening to concert announcements on the local radio and started thinking about my own concert memories. Concerts are almost prohibitively expensive these days if you want decent seats to see your favorite bands. During the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, a kid working retail at minimum wage ($2.45 an hour when I started kids) could easily save up the money to buy a ticket, attend the show, and buy a t-shirt or souvenir booklet.
Those days are long gone.
Take, for example, tickets to the Motley Crue concert coming up in Charlotte. I’ve been a Crue fan for many years, but I’m not paying $270 for a ticket. And there are even meet and great packages that go up to nearly four thousand dollars. As much I love them, I’m sorry. I remember seeing them when I paid $25 – 60 for a ticket and had great seats. While I realize there are things such as inflation, gas prices are much higher, meaning equipment transportation has increased, and roadies (who aren’t making that much more money these days) who increase the cost. But damn.
What I need to do is sit down, calculate the cost of actually attending a concert (ticket fees, printing fees, mailing fees, parking, etc.) and then would love to do a forensic accounting of how much the bands are making versus their costs. Why? Sheer morbid curiosity.
So I’ll not be attending their farewell concert, and it’s just as well. From what I’ve listened to, Vince Neil has lost the upper range of his octave and, to be honest, I’m not interested in seeing a bunch of kids trying to thrash to hair metal, whose only intent and purposes are to hurt people. Yes, even in seating that is assigned.
Time to stop complaining. Here are my top ten concerts in no particular order, minus the Elton John/Billy Joel show. It will also be my number one:
1. Elton John and Billy Joel — 1993 — Clemson University
2. Dream Theater — Atlanta — Some club I can’t remember the name of.
3. Doc Watson — too many times to count.
4. Metallica — 1989 — Charlotte — Queensryche opened. There were maybe 10 girls in the entire place. My neck ached for days after. (And this is based off of seeing 34 different shows)
5. Billy Idol — 2001. Unplugged at the 911 club in DC.
6. Guns n Roses — 1991 — Charlotte.
7. ZZ Top — 1989, I think.
8. Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth — Triple billing, Alice in Chains opening. Broken ribs. Good times.
9. Aerosmith — Greenville, SC — 1999.
10. Scruggs and Flat — Bluegrass — You might know them from the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme song. Too many times to count. Could have made them number one, but since one is a relative, will keep them here.