The "It's Only Music...You Know!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my morning LNP newspaper when I came across an interesting article about the growing cost of tickets to see musical groups.  I can remember back a half-dozen years or so when my wife and I would make visits to Mt. Gretna's Cicada Festival to listen to some of our favorite Rock 'N Roll music from the past.  The musicians, Phil Dirt & The Dozers, weren't real well known, but boy could they play the songs.  Didn't matter to us if they didn't have a top 10 hit in the past, just as long as they performed our favorite music as we remembered it from years ago.   They first began to perform in 1981, but we didn't get to hear them until we first went to Mt. Gretna in the early 2000s.  They were that good that they opened for The Beach Boys.  What a fantastic show they put together for us each and every time we went to see them.  And....I don't remember paying anymore than $15/person for an evening performance.  We last heard them about 5 years ago before COVID arrived.  It cost me about $30 for Carol and I which gave us a fantastic evening of current rock songs as well as many oldies.  Now, I know Mt. Gretna isn't the top location in the country to go to a rock concert and Phil Dirt and the Dozers isn't the top rock band in the country, but to have an entire evening of hit song after hit song and to get to sing along with a great band who performed for us, we were happy to pay the price. 

But, this morning I was reading about a recent concert that was presented by Robert Smith of "The Cure" who tweeted to his fans recently that he is sickened by the latest Ticketmaster fees that were charged for his show.  The English post-punk, new wave band aimed to keep ticket costs affordable, with some tickets as low as $20.  But fans shared screenshots of Ticketmaster shopping baskets in which exorbitant added fees were tacked on for their U.S. Tour.  Part of the newspaper column read: "So @thecure an @RobertSmith wanted to keep ticket prices at a reasonable level for fans on their upcoming North American tour dates.  Of Course @Ticketmaster absolutely rinsed them with ridiculous extra charges."  In a screenshot of his transaction, it showed he had added four tickets at $20 a pop to his cart.  Then Ticketmater added a service fee of $11.65 to each ticket, plus an added facility charge of $10 per ticket, and then an order processing fee of $5.50.  In the end, his purchase of four tickets cost him $172.10, nearly $100 more than the tickets had been advertised for.  If Mt. Gretna would try to charge prices like that, they wouldn't be in business anymore.  Someone is getting rich and those that are hoping for a great evening are having to pay for it.  Sounds like the performers are being taken just as much as are the guests.  Will it ever end?  Perhaps if enough people went together and refused to pay the price, Ticketmaster might think twice and charge a reasonable price for a seat at the concert.  And, if you still can't afford the price and enjoy good old time Rock & Roll,  give Mt. Gretna a try and see if you don't enjoy the music that fills the outdoor venue.  And, if your ticket happens to get you into a  Phil Dirt & The Dozers concert, I just know you will have a good evening!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.