Are gig tickets selling?

paddylonglegs

Iv been hearing a lot of ads for gigs which are coming up soon, approx a week away. Since they hadn't been advertised previously on raadio, im wondering are they finding it difficult to shift tickets and is it getting saturated? People only have a certain amount of money to spend on gigs

Exclamation Marc

Yep the market is hugely saturated at this point with a few big acts playing pretty much every weekend.

In tandem with this, gig prices are at an all time high with the better tickets for a variety of gig types such as Taylor Swift tickets going for 145, Rolling Stones tickets at 180, Flight of the Concords at 100, Michael McIntyre at 85.

People just can't afford or refuse to pay for multiple high price gigs.

Because of this, acts or their promoters are vastly overestimating attendance resulting in massive giveaways for Taylor Swift and less so Michael Buble and the Rolling Stones to name a few.

enricoh

Tickets are too bloody dear, n every gig now I am offered tickets on Facebook the week before for half price

Bowlardo

Mr Aiken from Aiken promotions was on the late late one night and said something like “the Irish are great because they love to get drunk in a field”.

We’re number 1 in the world for attending live concerts. the demand is there. We are paying through the nose for gigs because the demand is there and people will go.

Perfect example is the picnic sold out nearly immediately ever year despite the line up getting worse and worse every year. I have no doubt the promoters are paying Less and less each year for talent to attend. I actually feel the promoters must be laughing at Joe public . How far can the push it before we get sick of it.

They claim insurance cost and travel cost add to the ticket price but I have my doubts to be honest.

When I first started going to gigs there was quality support that you’d want to se know it’s choons on or some really poor quality support if even.

If you check some of the festivals in Europe and their line ups it really put us to shame.

The sound at most gigs is pretty poor most of the time. Gigs are full of mobile phone ***** most of the time.

And another thing ed ****ing Sheehan.
Music ****ed I give up.

johnnyskeleton

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Iv been hearing a lot of ads for gigs which are coming up soon, approx a week away. Since they hadn't been advertised previously on raadio, im wondering are they finding it difficult to shift tickets and is it getting saturated? People only have a certain amount of money to spend on gigs

It seemed to me that there were loads of tickets going for LCD soundsystem, one friend of mine couldnt even give his away for free on the day of.

Lotus Flower

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

It seemed to me that there were loads of tickets going for LCD soundsystem, one friend of mine couldnt even give his away for free on the day of.

Malahide mid week is a tough sell, especially considering they only played three nights in the Olympia less than a year ago

Rigor Mortis

Bowlardo wrote: »

They claim insurance cost and travel cost add to the ticket price but I have my doubts to be honest.

When I first started going to gigs there was quality support that you’d want to se know it’s choons on or some really poor quality support if even.

p.

Cost of playing in Ireland is higher and it is going to get worse. its funny, people are happy to believe that their insurance costs are higher, but not that businesses face higher costs.

I also think you are rose tinted glassing the support issue. Support slots have generally depended on the liklihood of the gig selling out. The only really stand out bad support value this summer was the Stones.

The price of gigs is a problem, but volume is becoming a problem for promoters too. More festivals than ever. Big events in Phoenix Park, Aviva and Croker. 3 Arena doing more gigs than ever.

PrettyBoy

Most of the gigs I've attended in the last year have sold out almost instantly - Drake, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar come to mind. I've seen all of them perform in Ireland before and never had any issue getting tickets but in the last year all the tickets are gone within one minute of going on sale. Same with Longitude - I've gone for the last three or four years and never had a real issue getting tickets via Ticketmaster or else DoneDeal/Adverts but this year they sold out immediately for the first time ever as far as I'm aware and there are next to none being resold by resellers, touts, etc.

Could be a coincidence but I've only noticed this massive increase in demand since Ticketmaster launched their Seatwave resale website where "customers" can resell the tickets they just bought for 3-4 times the original price.

PTH2009

Go to a fair few gigs each year and prob scary to add the cost up but prices do take the piss and why some pay for tickets and go and get plastered, annoy people etc

Stadium gigs and places like Slane will always sell cause people love A night out and can brag on social media about being there no matter who is playing

Had to travel to the UK the last few years for gigs that the acts decided to skip Ireland and esp stadium gigs it's a much better experience, sound is always top notch, people are more behaved and better amenities around the places (Possibly due to games etc been on there a few times a month etc). The hassle of travelling is inconvenient compared to Irish Gigs (even though there's still a bit of travelling involved)

When Garth Brooks returns people will snap up the tickets no matter where he plays

amcalester

Lotus Flower wrote: »

Malahide mid week is a tough sell, especially considering they only played three nights in the Olympia less than a year ago

They were brilliant though.

paddylonglegs

Gigs are the main way artists are making their money, so it's a crowded forum. The ones that sell out in seconds are the ones people really want to see. I was surprised Lauren hill didn't sell out quickly

Rigor Mortis

Lotus Flower wrote: »

Malahide mid week is a tough sell, especially considering they only played three nights in the Olympia less than a year ago

also, a lot of tickets were re-sold. Tuesday after a bank holiday, i know a lot of people came into work and realised that they were drowning. I ended up selling my ticket well under face value.

Former Former

The cost of tickets is not the issue, it's saturation IMO.

In the space of the last four weeks there's been four gigs in Donnybrook, two in Croke Park, four in Malahide, two in the RDS and one in the Aviva. That's just outdoors.

We still have the Marlay Park gigs, Longitude, Paul Simon, Buble, Trinity gigs and Iveagh Gardens yet to come, not to mention EP.

And of course there was the Sheeran behemoth and the Stones.

I can't ever remember there being so many outdoor gigs in one summer. There has to be a tipping point and I think we've reached it.

Exclamation Marc

Former Former wrote: »

The cost of tickets is not the issue, it's saturation IMO.

In the space of the last four weeks there's been four gigs in Donnybrook, two in Croke Park, four in Malahide, two in the RDS and one in the Aviva. That's just outdoors.

We still have the Marlay Park gigs, Longitude, Paul Simon, Buble, Trinity gigs and Iveagh Gardens yet to come, not to mention EP.

And of course there was the Sheeran behemoth and the Stones.

I can't ever remember there being so many outdoor gigs in one summer. There has to be a tipping point and I think we've reached it.

Cost is absolutely an issue. Taylor Swift charged 145 a ticket, if you're a teenager or a parent looking to bring kids, that is an insanely high price per ticket. And if someone can afford it despite it being its outside their budget, they're going have to miss other gigs.

ED E

Im gonna have to start listening to 104 again, lap up those freebies.

lordgoat

PrettyBoy wrote: »

Could be a coincidence but I've only noticed this massive increase in demand since Ticketmaster launched their Seatwave resale website where "customers" can resell the tickets they just bought for 3-4 times the original price.

This is 100 the reason. Needs legislation.

phunkadelic

Former Former wrote: »

The cost of tickets is not the issue, it's saturation IMO.

In the space of the last four weeks there's been four gigs in Donnybrook, two in Croke Park, four in Malahide, two in the RDS and one in the Aviva. That's just outdoors.

We still have the Marlay Park gigs, Longitude, Paul Simon, Buble, Trinity gigs and Iveagh Gardens yet to come, not to mention EP.

And of course there was the Sheeran behemoth and the Stones.

I can't ever remember there being so many outdoor gigs in one summer. There has to be a tipping point and I think we've reached it.

It's definitely saturation in the summer. Big outdoor venues, gigs on every night of the week. And at a time when people already have stuff on, and are going on holidays and all.
A lot of the same people would possibly go to a lot of the gigs if they weren't 2 days apart.

paddylonglegs

phunkadelic wrote: »

It's definitely saturation in the summer. Big outdoor venues, gigs on every night of the week. And at a time when people already have stuff on, and are going on holidays and all.
A lot of the same people would possibly go to a lot of the gigs if they weren't 2 days apart.

Yep, so many things going on. If they've already gone to Ed Sheeran then they won't be able to see Taylor. This was apparently a big factor for her not selling out the second night.

My friend who played in a band always said it was a nightmare for ticket sales if they were playing the last weekend of a 5 week salary month - people just didn't have the money to go out. Its not just ticket costs, its transport, food, a few drinks etc...

rubadub

paddylonglegs wrote: »

, im wondering are they finding it difficult to shift tickets

The prices are high. I would say promotors and bands were sick of seeing what people would hand over to touts and figure they can get away with charging more.

Ed Sheeran sold out 2 nights in croke park, the tickets were half the price of taylor swift though. I was making the point that if she did half sell the nights then its the same money.

Someone was making the point that if a family with 2 kids went to taylor swift it would be €600 -without any travel, food costs etc. They could go on holiday for that!

paddylonglegs

rubadub wrote: »

Someone was making the point that if a family with 2 kids went to taylor swift it would be €600 -without any travel, food costs etc. They could go on holiday for that!

Yikes!

PTH2009

bought a ticket for Queen in Marley Park on sunday for below face value on seatwave

waiting nervously for the seller to email the tickets. i better not have been scammed

The Nal

PTH2009 wrote: »

bought a ticket for Queen in Marley Park on sunday for below face value on seatwave

waiting nervously for the seller to email the tickets. i better not have been scammed

Why didn't you buy one off Toutless?

Such a great resource that seems fairly unique to Ireland. Good honest people selling for face value and lower when they could get more money.

PTH2009

The Nal wrote: »

Why didn't you buy one off Toutless?

Such a great resource that seems fairly unique to Ireland. Good honest people selling for face value and lower when they could get more money.

none for sale below face value

Former Former

PTH2009 wrote: »

bought a ticket for Queen in Marley Park on sunday for below face value on seatwave

waiting nervously for the seller to email the tickets. i better not have been scammed

The whole point of Seatwave is that you can't be scammed. It's an expensive service but it does have that advantage over regular touts and indeed Toutless.

PTH2009

Former Former wrote: »

The whole point of Seatwave is that you can't be scammed. It's an expensive service but it does have that advantage over regular touts and indeed Toutless.

The seller could easily not bother his hole uploading the ticket

The Nal

PTH2009 wrote: »

none for sale below face value

Huh?

They can only sell for face value or below.

And theres loads here.

https://www.toutless.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30296

PTH2009

Ticket uploaded all ok

Saved €16 compared to buying for face value off TM. Return bus was €25

charlietully

Former Former wrote: »

The cost of tickets is not the issue, it's saturation IMO.

In the space of the last four weeks there's been four gigs in Donnybrook, two in Croke Park, four in Malahide, two in the RDS and one in the Aviva. That's just outdoors.

We still have the Marlay Park gigs, Longitude, Paul Simon, Buble, Trinity gigs and Iveagh Gardens yet to come, not to mention EP.

And of course there was the Sheeran behemoth and the Stones.

I can't ever remember there being so many outdoor gigs in one summer. There has to be a tipping point and I think we've reached it.

Body and Soul festival as well a couple of weeks ago.

ghostdancer

Forbidden Fruit and Life festival a few weeks before those too.

since mid-May the amount of outdoor gigs here has been ridiculous.

Lotus Flower

I welcome the great run of gigs we had recently, personally.

Lotus Flower

Former Former wrote: »

The cost of tickets is not the issue, it's saturation IMO.

In the space of the last four weeks there's been four gigs in Donnybrook, two in Croke Park, four in Malahide, two in the RDS and one in the Aviva. That's just outdoors.

We still have the Marlay Park gigs, Longitude, Paul Simon, Buble, Trinity gigs and Iveagh Gardens yet to come, not to mention EP.

And of course there was the Sheeran behemoth and the Stones.

I can't ever remember there being so many outdoor gigs in one summer. There has to be a tipping point and I think we've reached it.

Some of those gigs were on the same night and were for different audiences, e.g. both of The National gigs and Taylor Swift

dragonfly!

As someone who goes to gigs A LOT there has been a massive increase in ticket prices across the board.
Taylor Swift (Who I love so I'm not bashing her and the topic has been done to death) was 80ish the last time she was here - €145 this time.
Snow Patrol were €50ish (which I thought was cheap to be fair and this was in 2012) they are €70 before charges this time. I am going to see them in Spain for €45 a month later.
The hotel prices are insane as well which I guess is another topic but it adds up very quickly.
Some acts are here time and time again as well and you just cant go to all the shows. EG The Coronas will always have a summer show in Dublin, Bellx1 will do 2 or 3 in a year most years. I could continue with the examples...
As other people have said there has been a shocking amount of outdoor gigs as well and all in close proximity to each other
I have my 4th outdoor gig since the 15th June tonight.
I've also noticed that more and more gigs are midweek which for people not living in Dublin would be affected by

dragonfly!

Lotus Flower wrote: »

Some of those gigs were on the same night and were for different audiences, e.g. both of The National gigs and Taylor Swift

I like both of the above artists and have been to see them both live before

Lotus Flower

dragonfly! wrote: »

I like both of the above artists and have been to see them both live before

Right, I should have added that some people will like both, but broadly speaking, they're for different audiences.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Suckit

Former Former wrote: »

The cost of tickets is not the issue, it's saturation IMO.

Saturation isn't helping, but the cost of tickets is definitely an issue. I would argue that it is the issue more so than saturation.
Many people may see a gig coming that they only have a bit more than a passing interest in, and the price will usually influence their decision not go.

Lotus Flower

Suckit wrote: »

Saturation isn't helping, but the cost of tickets is definitely an issue. I would argue that it is the issue more so than saturation.
Many people may see a gig coming that they only have a bit more than a passing interest in, and the price will usually influence their decision not go.

I agree with this. I love gigs and will prioritise them over most other things but the cost of some are prohibitive

Ferris_Bueller

The price is what puts me off plus the fact that so many of the gigs are midweek as I live outside of Dublin. I go to a couple of gigs a year but would go to a lot of festivals as it represents better value for money. Went to Arcade Fire a couple of months back and it was a brilliant gig (on a Friday too thankfully), but I spent an absolute fortune between cost of a ticket, travel, drinks and food.. Huge fan of them so it was worth it but not many bands I would do that for again to be honest and if it's midweek it would want to be a really special gig to tempt me. Going abroad for a gig or going to a festival generally works out more cost efficient because you get more than just 90/120 mins of music out of it, if I lived in Dublin I guess I would have a different attitude but I'm guessing this is an issue for more than just me!

Xenji

Cheaper for me to fly to London and see a gig, if you are living outside Dublin and have to take transportation, accommodation and food into account it can start to become ridiculously expensive.

Former Former

PTH2009 wrote: »

The seller could easily not bother his hole uploading the ticket

In which case the seller wouldn't be paid and you would be refunded.

Zardoz

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

Yep the market is hugely saturated at this point with a few big acts playing pretty much every weekend.

In tandem with this, gig prices are at an all time high with the better tickets for a variety of gig types such as Taylor Swift tickets going for 145, Rolling Stones tickets at 180, Flight of the Concords at 100, Michael McIntyre at 85.

People just can't afford or refuse to pay for multiple high price gigs.

Because of this, acts or their promoters are vastly overestimating attendance resulting in massive giveaways for Taylor Swift and less so Michael Buble and the Rolling Stones to name a few.

The flip side of the ridiculous saturation of gigs this summer is that tickets can be picked up for half nothing the week of the gig.
Its a buyers market .

Taylor Swifts tickets were being given away free ,the Rolling Stones tickets were available on lucky dip until the day of the gig,Bubles sales are poor, etc etc .
Almost every gig this summer had tickets for well under face value close to the gig.
Some you couldnt even give away the market was swamped.

For all the criticism of the resale sites ,if people are shrewd and resist the urge to buy tickets when they initially go onsale ,most of the time tickets can be bought for below face value.
Play the promoters at their own game,no gig is ever really sold out .

MadYaker

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Its never cheaper for me

okidoki987

The flip side of the ridiculous saturation of gigs this summer is that tickets can be picked up for half nothing the week of the gig.
Its a buyers market .
Taylor Swifts tickets were being given away free ,the Rolling Stones tickets were available on lucky dip until the day of the gig,Bubles sales are poor, etc etc .
Almost every gig this summer had tickets for well under face value close to the gig.
Some you couldnt even give away the market was swamped.

For all the criticism of the resale sites ,if people are shrewd and resist the urge to buy tickets when they initially go onsale ,most of the time tickets can be bought for below face value.
Play the promoters at their own game,no gig is ever really sold out .

Some really great points there.
TS tickets were too dear and loads of people who bought them to make a profit discovered there was no buyers for them and ended offloading them at massive discounts on various sites.
Amazing the number of people who suddenly have weddings/holidays/hospitals to go to instead of going to the concerts!
Promoter then had to offload thousands of free tickets to make it look like it was a reasonably attended concert even though a lot of them were freebies.

I strolled down to Croker with some work mates for the Stones to see if we could pick some cheap tickets outside.
Ended up with 2 tickets near enough at half price but not all of us got in.
We said we wouldn't pay full whack as there was so many floating around but with the good weather a lot of walk up fans bought all the cheap tickets so the others stayed drinking outside the pub.
Most sold out gigs will have tickets available closer to the date especially for massive stadiums like Croker or outdoor festivals.

There's been a few times there have been 2 gigs on same night which isn't a great idea.
You would think the promoters would talk to each other.

Suckit

Zardoz wrote: »

The flip side of the ridiculous saturation of gigs this summer is that tickets can be picked up for half nothing the week of the gig.
Its a buyers market .

Taylor Swifts tickets were being given away free ,the Rolling Stones tickets were available on lucky dip until the day of the gig,Bubles sales are poor, etc etc .
Almost every gig this summer had tickets for well under face value close to the gig.
Some you couldnt even give away the market was swamped.

For all the criticism of the resale sites ,if people are shrewd and resist the urge to buy tickets when they initially go onsale ,most of the time tickets can be bought for below face value.
Play the promoters at their own game,no gig is ever really sold out .

I know of a fair few people that got free tickets to the gigs in Malahide. I also know of someone who couldn't shift their De La Soul/Gorillaz ticket.

rubadub

okidoki987 wrote: »

TS tickets were too dear and loads of people who bought them to make a profit

I doubt there were many people buying 150euro tickets for a gig unlikely to sell out in the hope they could charge even more.

150 is already a tout like price.

I was surprised the far cheaper ~€77 standing stones tickets were not snapped up by potential touts, they were still available every second or third day right up until the end.

Suckit

Mr.S wrote: »

Really, even when you take into account plane / transport tickets and London hotel prices, surely it works out more expensive, or at the very least on par with Dublin?

On par or cheaper as a rule.

Paul Simon in Amsterdam this weekend works out on par.
+ Accomodation was €35 for the night.

Drinks work out cheape, not a necessity, but in the gig itself. Amsterdam being one of the more expensive alternatives to Dublin, and Paul Simon one of the more expensive gigs.

phunkadelic

rubadub wrote: »

I doubt there were many people buying 150euro tickets for a gig unlikely to sell out in the hope they could charge even more.

150 is already a tout like price.

I was surprised the far cheaper ~€77 standing stones tickets were not snapped up by potential touts, they were still available every second or third day right up until the end.

The standing tickets were 'sold out' a few times. Once TM realised the gold circle and more expensive tickets weren't selling, they released more standing.
They released them as 'production hold' tickets.

ghostdancer

I've done multiple festivals/gigs abroad, and they've never been cheaper than Irish ones.
If i had to pay for travel/accom to Dublin, then maybe, but even things like EP is cheaper than foreign festivals, once you take into account going to the airport, flights, travel abroad, accomodation (or extra fees for bringing tents etc if camping).

Zardoz

Mr.S wrote: »

Amsterdam is usually cheaper then London though, your not going to get hotels for under 100quid in London unless you rough it. Not quite sure what €35 gets you in Amsterdam either

London hotels are way cheaper than Dublin and the standard is much higher.
I spent 6 nights over there in a nice proper 3 star hotel in Paddington last month and I paid less than 100 euro a night .That was booked at short notice too .

A similar hotel in Dublin would have cost twice that ,if not 3 times if there was a concert on.

Amsterdam is very expensive for hotels in general ,35 euro would barely get a hostel.

Suckit

AirBNB FTW...

Also, offers at the time tickets go on sale.

Last year it was almost €40 cheaper to see Coldplay in Wales and stay the night than it was Croke Park.
To be fair they sold out in seconds and the price went stupid on Ticketmasters sister site after that.