Premier Rock Forum

They want $65. I think it's highway fuckin' robbery. I emailed them. They said they don't set the price House of Blues does. WTF? Thoughts? Care to shoot some holes in this theory? I am fucking pissed. The show is two days before my b-day and I am not going to let someone spend that type of cash on me for a fucking show.

Sincerely,
Confused & Disgruntled

$65 is ridiculous, even Kraftwerk only wants $40 for tickets (not hooded sweatshirts) on this tour. I don't know if I can successfully convince myself Devo deserves more money per ticket than Kraftwerk. If it were me, i wouldn't pay it.

Well, last time they were here it was $40 or $45. Which I didn't pay either. I am just having trouble grasping the concept of the situation. Please feel free to call me a mortard at any time.

Warmest Regards,
Polishing my scope and rifle.

You're a mortard at any time.

But you shouldn't pay $65 to see anyone short of Hendrix.

is it 'an evening with devo?'

b/c 'an evening with...' means tickets are twice as much as they should be

if so, just be glad it's not 'an intimate evening with.' then you'd really have to fork out the dough.

tmidgett wrote:is it 'an evening with devo?'

b/c 'an evening with...' means tickets are twice as much as they should be

if so, just be glad it's not 'an intimate evening with.' then you'd really have to fork out the dough.

No it is not being billed as 'an evening with' intimate or otherwise.

Devo's current status as a "band" is that they will only play shows where a maximum amount of money can be had.

For instance, they did a "free" show in downtown SF a couple years ago that was bankrolled by some high-tech company. Somebody told me how much they got for that. I can't remember, but it was a lot.

They're pretty straightforward about this.

Angus Jung wrote:Devo's current status as a "band" is that they will only play shows where a maximum amount of money can be had.

For instance, they did a "free" show in downtown SF a couple years ago that was bankrolled by some high-tech company. Somebody told me how much they got for that. I can't remember, but it was a lot.

They're pretty straightforward about this.

If they are so straightforward about this then why the excuse about them not setting the price on the show and blaming the venue.

cprlcoffee wrote:If they are so straightforward about this then why the excuse about them not setting the price on the show and blaming the venue.

Yeah, that sounds pretty fishy to me.

As far as I know, any band with any pull (and Devo certainly falls in that category) sets the door prices and the venue merely complies. Perhaps by "that's the price House of Blues set" means "we asked $50 per ticket, and House of Blues tacked on $15 for expenses."

Um...this seems pretty obvious to me, but maybe it isn't that obvious?

For a show like this, the band (except for fugazi) probably doesn't set the ticket price. The band sets their performance fee.

So, Devo tells the House of Blues that they will play a show for, say $50,000, for instance.

Then the House of Blues decides how much money it will cost them to put on the show (labor, electricity, deli platters, etc)..say $10,000. And they decide what sort of profit they want to make on top of that: $24,500.

Add those 3 things together (venue expenses, venue/promoter profit, and performers fee) $84,500, and divide by the number of tickets for sale (1300) and you come up with a ticket price: $65.

I just made all those numbers up and it's a bit oversimplified. But the point is, the band doesn't set the ticket price. Merely their fee. Unless they're Pearl Jam and want to get into all that.

Devo tickets would be cheaper if Devo asked for less. But Devo didn't set the $65 figure.

bob