Ticket prices $179-$3,123 each!
List of reasons why I rarely go to live concerts anymore:
1) Ticket prices for a name act. Back in the day, I saw David Bowie twice for $16, (1976 & 78), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band twice for under $20, (1978 and 81), Queen and Thin Lizzy together for $7.50, and The Who from the front row, in their first 'farewell tour', (1980, for about ten bucks), among others, and these performers were all under 30 and creative the first time I saw them, other than The Who. I don't want to see pensioner aged fossils playing 40+ year old songs for hundreds of dollars. Take The Eagles, for example. Don Henley is the only original member left. 'Well I've been running down the road, tryin' to loosen my load, I've got Met-a-mucil on my mind'.
2) None of the current popular artists appeal to me. As a hard and fast rule, I would never pay money to see a concert by a performer who has backup dancers on stage.
3) You can't smoke weed or hashish at concerts anymore. Back in the day, you could always see at least 10 lighters flicking on every second of the entire show for a 'hockey arena' band. The last time I toked at a show was Television at The Danforth Music Hall in 1992. People around us looked at us strangely, but didn't say anything.
Nightclub shows are more my speed, even if the band isn't as good. The Mod Club on College, east of Ossington, is one of the better venues in which I've seen live music. Without question the worst was Larry's Hideaway, where I saw Billy Bragg in 1985 or 1986.
