Jason Isbell is the latest artist to respond to fans regarding ticket prices for his latest tour.
Fan Sanford Ader tweeted the Americana star, writing, “My dad is a huge fan and found out you are coming to rapid city SD. Tickets are 350 dollars a piece for floor tickets. Guess you don’t really want to play for the working people anymore”
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Isbell’s response: “1: Those are the most expensive tickets and there are some available for much less 2: You’re on the guest list plus 1. Y’all have fun.”
Isbell isn’t the only artist addressing ticketing matters. Famously, tickets for Taylor Swift concerts have been stalled, paused and caused a ruckus for fans who wanted to get a glimpse of the “Anti-Hero” singer on her forthcoming tour.
Swift recently responded, saying she won’t be making excuses for anyone regarding the ticket situation. Read more about that here.
Truly, though, the cost of concert tickets is going through the roof seemingly more so each week. That reality prompted HBO’s John Oliver to devote an entire segment of his show, Last Week Tonight, to Ticketmaster and its gouging of fans.
In the 20-minute segment several months back, Oliver roasted Ticketmaster for exorbitant surcharges, fees, and price gouging, which included sometimes raising the price of tickets many, many times over— sometimes even 7,000%.
Oliver highlighted the Ticketmaster merger with Live Nation, which he says probably should never have happened. He also talks about Pearl Jam’s attempt to circumvent Ticketmaster in the ’90s, which didn’t exactly work out the way the band had hoped.
“The average price for a popular concert has more than tripled since the mid-’90s, which vastly outpaced inflation—and that’s before the resale market kicks in, adding its own problems,” Oliver said.
Photo Alysse Gafkjen / Courtesy Sacks & Co.
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