PreferredSeat.com Blog

Concert ticket prices were supposed to be cheaper as we were told early in the year by Live Nation but the instead concert ticket prices are up 10% this year according to Pollstar. Tickets have increased by an average of $6.25 per ticket after hundreds of press releases touting the cheap concert ticket prices for 2011.

It looks like the promoters have the artists scalping their own tickets more this year and cutting back concerts at poor selling venues and cities to bring the average concert ticket price up. The only bargains are for the cheap general admission lawn seating at the outdoor amphitheaters and the upper decks in arenas.

When the concerts are overpriced, concert ticket brokers such as PreferredSeat.com have been offering concert tickets below face value as sellers try to unload the overpriced tickets to keep from losing too much money. At some point the concert ticket prices will come down as promoters find the old acts just can’t pull them in like they used to.

January has come and gone and dozens of concert tours have already been announced for 2011 and so far not one has had any type of discounted ticket prices as all the press has been reporting in recent months. The suspician is that Live Nation and Ticketmaster put out dozens of press releases and articles touting the cheap concert ticket prices in 2011 in an attempt to get fans back in the seats. But without any real savings will they stay away again in 2011?

Some of the concert tours already booked for 2011 have higher ticket prices than 2010 include Taylor Swift, George Strait, Elton John, Bon Jovi, U2, Lady Gaga and Rush. At least Katy Perry has some of the cheapest concert ticket prices at under $60 per ticket for most of her 2011 concerts.  Ticket prices for the Bob Seger concerts have yet to be announced but hopefully they will not go the way of Rush and Eric Clapton and stay closer to the $100 range.

We would suspect the savings will come with the summer concerts and the fans will be given the same savings as last year for the cheap lawn seats and the best seats near the stage will continue to be jacked up for maximum profits.

Concert tickets for the Alan Jackson show at Arco Arena on Thursday November 4th were lowered to half price today by Ticketmaster from $89.50 to $44.75. If you purchased an Arco Arena ticket before today you paid to much because the $44.75 price is probobly the true market value of Alan Jackson today.

Live Nation has vowed to drop concert ticket prices next year but that remains to be seen. The large number of concerts that offered huge discounts and free tickets this last year should suggest to Live Nation that it is necessary to drop ticket prices dramatically. And not just the cheap seats in the upper deck.