The High Price of Rock & Roll

This coming Monday, I'm going to drag the Lovely Mrs. G. into a world of debauchery, hedonism, and loud, heinous, screaming the likes she's never seen or heard.

I'm taking her to see Van Halen.

Yes, believe it or not, my powerful and attractive wife has agreed to go with me to see Eddie, Diamond Dave, and Co. live in concert this Monday night at Omaha's Qwest Center. (And in case you're wondering – yes, I'm going to owe her. Big time.)

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked to finally be able to see Van Halen – the (mostly) original edition, not the muddied down Van Hagar version. Sure, Michael Anthony has scooted on and has left little Wolfie in his wake, but it's as close as I'm going to ever get, I suspect.

I've been lucky enough to see most of my favorite "big" bands in concert at least once over the years – Styx, AC/DC, Genesis, U2, ZZ Top, BNL, you name it. True -- I still haven't seen The Talking Heads (because they broke up), Muddy Waters (because he croaked in the 80's), or Tears for Fears (distance issues), but overall I've done fairly well.

But Van Halen and I always seemed to pass like ships in the night, for some reason. So here I am, at the ripe old age of 42 1/2, off to an old fashioned rock & roll show. Leather pants, big hair, and Bic lighters not included.

Of course, the devil wants his due. There's a price to pay for all of this 30-year old rock & roll rebellion. And in this case, it's not your soul that you'll part with – it's your wallet.

For the "good" seats, tickets to see Van Halen Monday night will set you back $147.50, plus another $11.75 in "convenience charges" and $2.00 for a Building Facility charge. So that's $161.25 – EACH.

Listen -- did Dave just let out that "Yow!" yell because he's filled with musical mojo, or did he howl at the thought of how much cash he'd make?

I hate to sound like an old fogey here, but I remember buying tickets to see concerts for WAAAY less than that. I paid $15.00 to see Journey and Brian Adams in 1982, the same for Hall & Oates a year later. Even Def Leppard (in their heyday) only cost me $30.

But those days are long gone. We won tickets to see Billy Joel/Elton John together in Minneapolis a few years ago – those tickets were valued at $198 each. The Eagles regularly get away with charging upwards of $300 for each ticket. And God forbid you want to see Led Zeppelin if/ when they tour later this year…you'd better apply for a second mortgage now.

You see, in today's market rock & roll has become a rich man's sport. All of us young punks from way back when are now grown 40-somethings or 50-somethings, and the promoters have correctly figured out that we no longer have to scrape together enough gas money just to get to the show. So where they used to charge us pimply kids 20 bucks to attend a concert, nowadays they realize that we're more apt to be parents (or grandparents) with a Gold card or two. We'll gladly fork over whatever it takes to relive our teen years for two hours, and they know it.

Times have moved on, and so have the fan base and the resulting supply/demand of show tickets. Economist Adam Smith would have a field day with this.

Anyway, Mrs. G. and I opted to buy the "cheap" seats, which were still about $75 apiece. We're sure it'll be a good time – or, at least I am – but I doubt I'll spring for tickets like this again anytime soon. Or until The Eagles come to town.

I sure hope it's worth it.