Friday, November 10, 2006

James Blunt Concert

The author of this piece is correct--"You're Beautiful" and "Good-bye My Lover" have been all over the radio. In fact, I heard the first one just this morning. The man has beautiful songs, ones my 10-year-old son and I sing along with when we hear them in the car.

When I heard he was coming to Sacramento I rushed online to find out the price of tickets.

Let's get right to the point: James Blunt drew less than a half house at the Memorial Auditorium on Thursday night.

Well, duh. Tickets were over $80 apiece. I'd pay that much (and a lot more) to see Elton John, but not James Blunt. He doesn't have a track record that justifies that much money.

Some would chastise me for taking my son to see a performer whose #1 song has to have the phrase "f***ing high" replaced by "flying high" when it's played on the radio. Since my son hears so little foul language, I doubt he'd even notice; but if he did, I'm not convinced that that's enough reason to deprive him of what would be a fairly impressive experience for someone his age. $160, though? That's enough reason. $80 each is just an absurd amount of money for a relative newbie to charge for tickets, and the marketplace here in Sacramento spoke to that fact.

7 comments:

gbradley said...

When I was 16, the Who was playing at Anaheim Stadium near my house.
I had several friends that were going to the Concert.
Festival Seating was $10.00.
At the time that was about the same cost as (3) albums.(if I remember right)
I refused to pony up the money for the concert.
I soon regretted my stubborn refusal to pay for the concert.
I get your point though, James Blunt should probably ask about $40.00 a seat.

Darren said...

I'd have paid $40--for each of us.

Anonymous said...

Wednesday's Indigo Girls concert at the Crest was an absolute blast, and if it wasn't completely sold out, it sure seemed like it was. The IG fans lavish a lot of love on the duo, and the pair never seem to disappoint concertgoers. I was six rows from center stage for $40. The positive energy seemed to overflow the hall. I see a lot of shows, and few artists get as much energy out of their fans as the Indigo Girls do.

Blunt's manager needs to book smaller venues. Better to oversell a small place then significantly undersell a big one.

Interestingly, Bob Dylan had the same problem when he was in town last month. They had to close off Arco's upper bowl and relocate people to better seats than they bought. His problem is that anyone who's seen him in the last ten years know it's like seeing George Foreman fighting way past his prime. Dylan screams unintelligably--it's painful. You wouldn't subject yourself to it twice.

Anonymous said...

Trust me, I saw James Blunt twice. The first time, I paid $300 for a pair of eighth row seats. Money very well spent! The second time, I paid $50 for a pair of seventh row. Even better money spent. You need to see him live to really appreciate him.

Anonymous said...

James Blunt? Am I supposed to know who that is?

Darren said...

He's a relative newbie on the American music stage, with one album and two hit songs here. Not enough to justify $80/ticket. Apparently he has either more of a history, or more of a following, in his native Britain.

Rocky said...

My daughter's and I just saw James Blunt in Calgary, Alberta Canada this past weekend, and payed $55 (Canadian)for upper level seats. Awesome show, and as some else mentioned, you need to see him live. Awesome show. I also believe that a portion of his show(s) go to DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, another GREAT cause.