Grateful Dead

How come phish can go to the same venues and sell tix for half as much? their both capable of selling them out, so whats the diff? Willie nelson's playin in greensboro same venue and the high end tix are 75. All im sayin is if you look at the venues the dead are playin and look at some of the tix prices from the other bands, it can be held cheaper than what their askin. Granted some bands are asking for more, almost seems like their more expensive for nostalgic purposes just cause they have been around. To me it just seems to go against the philosophy the dead once stood for. sorry for being in a bad mood about this but im bummed i can only afford to go to one show now itstead of 5

Maybe if I say please they will give us something.Please.......

Let's compare entertainment dollar values: NHL Hockey (Los Angeles Kings): A small number of tickets sell at $24 (obstructed nosebleed seats); standing room admission is $46; everything else ranges from $75 - 280 per seat. NBA (Lakers): obstructed nosebleeds at $10; everything else skyrockets to a peak of $2,600 for courtside. (Clippers) same except for priciest tix cap out at $1,350. This is PER GAME. All of the Kings, Lakers, and Clippers home games can be seen live on TV, which makes me wonder why in the hell ANYBODY would pay ANYTHING in order to fight downtown traffic, go to a crappy neighborhood at night, pay big bucks to park, and shell out $9 for a beer. The national touring company of The Phantom of the Opera is coming up at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles with ticket prices starting at $29.50 (FAR back rows in balcony) and going up to $126.50. In New York, on Broadway, Disney's The Lion King ranges from $61.50 to $121.50; Wicked is going from $50 to $110; a Saturday performance of West Side Story will run you from $45 to $120 (and more, for "premium" seating). Even a regional touring company musical production is pricey--I shelled out $65 (top price) per ticket to see an excellent touring production of RENT back in November (their cheap seats--WAY in the back of the balcony--were $38). Granted, I recently saw Johnny Winter (with two decent opening acts, over 3 hours of music in all) at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA, for a paltry $25, but despite Johnny's status as a rock/blues deity and Woodstock veteran, he can usually only draw about 200 fans to a gig these days (which is a crime--he is still an incredible musician). The days of the $4.50 ticket are long gone. Sure, the band COULD have chosen to play football stadiums and kept ticket prices down to $25 each, but that would have been a BIG gamble, because any venue that ONLY sold 25,000 tickets would be a money loser for them. Big concerts are expensive to run, what with the venues charging FAT rental fees (they could afford lower rentals back in the days when arena concerts were so common that a venue like The Forum would be in use over 300 days per year, but "big" concerts are rare these days). The ticket prices for The Dead are based on the band needing to clear a profit at the end of the tour, and it is probable that they have taken out a bank loan to cover the costs of renting all of those halls at once, hiring all of the trucks, renting whatever stage equipment they need to add to their setup, purchasing LOTS of insurance, and guaranteeing the wages of the roadies and supporting musicians--if that is the case, then a condition of their loan could very well be a minimum ticket price to help guarantee repayment. All told, they are probably looking at a net profit for the "core four" members of the band of about $10 a seat, assuming about 80% ticket sales at each venue. That's $2.50 per individual (they'll clear a lot more if all the shows sell out). It's quite conceivable that Warren Haynes (and maybe even Jeff Chimenti) will pocket more money at the end of the tour than will Bobby, Phil, Mickey, or Billy, since he's probably hired on at a guarantee per show rather than taking a slice of the pie. Hell, it's even possible that the individual members of The Dead will LOSE money on this tour, if all the ticket whiners boycott the shows, because THEY have to guarantee the payouts, and it's probable that the break-even number will be around 70 - 75% of capacity sales. Remember--100% of capacity sales is IMPOSSIBLE, due to the hundreds of promotional (radio giveaways and promoter freebies), courtesy (friends/family of the band) and press tickets given out at each show. This isn't Madoff, and it's not Exxon/Mobil. It's The Dead.

What chance of them coming to Europe? Jim Rudge

Could anyone share info from the inbox message which I did not get - if it is about the presales? Maybe I have my settings wrong???

Wondering what ticket limit will be etc.

I think Fat Albert said it best "Nah, Nah, Nah, GONNA HAVE A GOOD TIME, Hey, Hey, Hey!!! It has been 14 years too long. I'm going to either Buffalo or Albany, but either way I'm going. Miracles happen!!! Looking forward to being with the kind folk again. See ya all soon EH?

I have nothing in my inbox - 4:34 am MST

Hey now! Check your inbox RE DCU shows.

You can always get more money, but you may never get a second chance at an experience like this! nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!