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Ticketmaster quietly raised other fees after US crackdown on hidden charges
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
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My experience in recent years is that if you see ticket prices that seem outrageous, it's probably because all the available tickets have already been bought and what you're seeing are "resale" prices. Scalpers. If you search for tickets, their sites are the first ones that come up, too, because they pay for priority on google searches. Your best bet is to track the bands you want to see, know when tickets are going to go on sale, and get them as early as possible. Often you can register for a fan presale event where you get a code to get tickets before they are available to the general public. Scalpers will be doing that, too, but the number of tickets they can buy is limited per account, which slows them down a little. But even with all that, you're not going to see a popular band for $50. That's just not a realistic price anymore. It hasn't been for a long time.
I can assure you that first-run sales and presales ticket costs are still outrageous. We’ve been to quite a few concerts over the last several years and even if you play the “sign up early and get the presale code and wait in the queue online as soon as you can” game the tickets for any popular band will not be below 3 digits for a seat from which you can see the band without binoculars, some venues won’t have any sub-$100 tickets at all. Best thing to do is see small-but-good bands at smaller venues if you can find it, those tickets are usually way more affordable. We’ve seen some older bands this way and it’s worth it.
The legalized double-dipping resale scalping provided by the likes of ticketmaster absolutely send prices sky high and out of reach for the majority of people.
There's some variation. I just got tickets to Mumford and Sons during their presale last month. I'm in Seattle, and the closest they're coming to me on this tour is in Vancouver. The tickets were actually pretty reasonable. I got floor seats for just over $100 US. Part of that might be because it's on a Tuesday night, though, LOL.
I do agree that prices have gotten out of control, and I have limits for how much I'm willing to spend. It has very much become a cost/benefit analysis every time I go looking for tickets. But sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.
I’ve found International venues far, far more reasonable than US. We saw Duran Duran a few years back and it was ~$200 for OK seats in a major city. My other half works internationally, and picked up seats to see them on one of her work trips for only €53. Since then we’ve vicariously eyed shows overseas only to note we could fly there and back, get a hotel, and have seats for cheaper than decent seats at a US venue.
Good to know. This is actually the first time in... Jesus, 30+ years?... I've attended a concert outside the US. I might start looking at shows in Vancouver more often.
I did that and still paid $400+ to see tool in seats packed tighter than an airplane.
That is why I have not been to a concert ion over 20 years. 50 to me is a fair price for a band and if the cheap tickets are like 300 bucks then I am not the person that price is targeting. The last concert I saw was Tori Amos and it cost me, my ex, and her daughter 150 dollars and that included parking. Yes it was 2003 but like I said 300 bucks for on ticket in the shit seats is beyond the pale.
We did that, and tickets for Adele were still $600/seat on the primary market and not for front row. Those same seats ended up selling for $900/seat on the secondary market. Similar location tickets to Adele in Munich were $100 each. Tickets to Madonna were $400/seat in LA and $80/seat in Portugal on the main ticket website, not resale.