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The cheapest concert tickets for the 2011 Eric Clapton tour are hard to pin down because of the new pricing methods being employed by Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Eric Clapton tickets went on sale this week for several of his 2011 Clapton tour dates and Seattle appears to have the cheapest maximum ticket price of $155 per seat with service charges.

But, the Key Arena only has one price for all of the seats for Clapton’s concert where if you go to the Hp Pavilion in San Jose, Arco Arena in Sacramento or the MGM Grand in Las Vegas you can buy tickets for Clapton as low as $51.25 per seat. For these venues you do have a much higher maximum price per ticket with Sacramento at the highest at $169 per seat followed by San Jose at $164 and the MGM at $144 per seat.

It’s hard to understand how Live Nation and Ticketmaster come up with these pricing models but they don’t make a lot of sense with the Sacramento market in a tailspin with high unemployment and furloughed workdays for the many state workers. Unless your Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift your not going to sell more than one half of the Arco Arena and Eric Clapton will do the same with these kind of ticket prices.

The cheapest Eric Clapton tickets are currently at the Valley View Casino in San Diego. Prices run from $67 per ticket to a maximum of around $114 per ticket. For the most expensive Clapton tickets you would have to attend one of the concerts in Los Angeles at the Gibson Amphitheatre where the starting price is $126 per seat and go up to $376 per ticket.

It seems that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are still working of trying to extract the maximum amount out of concert fans even if it means having drastically different prices in each city. Even the Ticketmaster service fees are different in each city. For a $95 ticket in Seattle the Ticketmaster fee is $20.01 per ticket but for a Clapton ticket for Portland the Ticketmaster fee is $17 for a $125 ticket. Go figure!

Eric Clapton 2011 Tour Dates and Ticketmaster Ticket Prices and Fees

February

26      Seattle, WA  Key Arena                               $115.01  ($95 + $20.01 conv. fee)

28      Portland,  OR Rose Garden                          $125 + $17 conv. fee = $142

March

  2     San Jose, CA  HP Pavilion                             $59 ($46.50+$12.50 conv. fee), $164.25 ($146.50 +17.75 conv. fee)

  3     Sacramento, CA Arco Arena                         $51.25 ($39.50 + $11.75), $169.30 ($149.50 +$19.80)

  5     Las Vegas, NV  MGM Grand                         $49.88 +$8.65 = $58.53, $78.75 +$10.60= $89.35, $131.25 + $12.80 = $144.05

  6     San Diego, CA   Valley View Casio Cntr akaSan Diego Arena  $55.50 +$11.65 = $67.15, $79.50 + $12.25=$91.75,  $99.50 + nothing was avail, not able to obtain fee on this price point $99+

  8     Universal City, CA  Gibson Ampitheatre        $126.25 ($89.50+16.75), $185.50 ($159.50 +26), $376 ($350 +26)

  9     Universal City, CA  Gibson Ampitheatre        $126.25 ($89.50+16.75), $185.50 ($159.50 +26), $376 ($350 +26)

Eric Clapton has announced the return of the Crossroads Festival for 2010 at Toyota Park in Chicago on June 26th.  Clapton previously held the festival in 2004 and 2007 with some of the same artist returning this year.

The concert will once again benefit the Crossroads Centre, which is a addiction treatment facility located in the Caribbean and founded by Eric Clapton. Clapton will be performing with his band as well as jumping in on a number of sets by the other artists.

Some of those slated to perform include Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, BB King, Jimmie Vaughan, Sheryl Crow and Steve Winwood. New to the Crossroads Festival this year will be the Allman Brothers Band, John Mayer and Vince Gill.

All indications are this will probably be the last Crossroads Guitar Festival as Clapton indicated in Rolling Stone,  and you don’t want to miss your chance to see this kind of stellar line up on one stage. Tickets for the Crossroads Guitar Festival officially go on sale on February 20th through the usual outlets, and premium seats will be available from ticket brokers soon.

The current performers for the Crossroads Festival:

Albert Lee
Allman Brothers Band
BB King
Bert Jansch
Buddy Guy
David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos
Doyle Bramhall II
Earl Klugh
Eric Clapton
Gary Clark Jr.
Hubert Sumlin
James Burton
Jeff Beck
Jimmie Vaughan
Joao Gilberto
Joe Bonamassa
John Mayer
Keb Mo
Pino Daniele
Robert Cray
Robert Randolph
Sheryl Crow
Sonny Landreth
Steve Winwood
Vince Gill
ZZ Top

Eric Clapton is going back on tour for 2010 with Jeff Beck on a few select dates at US and Canada. After the concerts with Beck, Clapton will embark on a solo tour with Roger Daltrey of the Who opening the show.

Eric Clapton toured with Steve Winwood in 2009 and they’ll team up again for a tour of Europe in May 2010. Clapton and Beck are scheduled for February 18th and 19th at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Air Canada Centre on the 21st and Bell Centre on the 22nd. Eric Clapton Jeff Beck tickets are on sale now and the entire Eric Clapton tour schedule should be available shortly.

Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck Tickets and Tour Schedule
February 18 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
February 21 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Center
February 22 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Center

Eric Clapton with Roger Daltrey Tour Schedule
Feb. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
Feb. 27 – Nashville, TN @ Sommett Center
Feb. 28 – Birmingham, AL @ Birmingham Jefferson
Mar. 2 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK
Mar. 3 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
Mar. 5 – Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum
Mar. 6 – New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
Mar. 8 – Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center
Mar. 9 – Atlanta, GA @ Gwinnett Center
Mar. 11 – Ft. Lauderdale Bank Atlantic Center
Mar. 13 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Arena