J.D. is on vacation. This is a guest post from Mandy Hering.
How can people afford fun these days?
I ask this question because my husband and I recently attended a Coldplay concert. We bought the tickets for my birthday back in June, and paid for them with some extra money that I made working as a grader for an AP exam. We didn’t need to use the extra money for an emergency fund, to pay off debt, or to finance any type of big purchase as we are already squared away on those fronts. Still, the concert was expensive:
- Tickets cost $97.50 each plus a handling fee of $33, bringing our total to $228.
- The concert was in a nearby town, meaning that we needed to travel there and spend the night. Transportation costs were about $15.
- The hotel where we stayed (within walking distance to the venue with complimentary parking) cost $120.
- We also had to eat dinner once we arrived, costing another $33.
That brings our grand total for one night’s worth of entertainment to $396. I shudder to think about that number — our usual night’s entertainment costs no more than $8 in movie rental fees!
There are ways that we could have saved, such as by bringing our own dinner from home in a cooler. We did bring snacks, eliminating the need to buy bottled water and chips elsewhere. We could also have bought less expensive tickets if we wanted to sit in the cheapest of the seats. Instead, we decided that if we were going to spend the money that we wanted to at least have a chance of seeing the band members with our own eyes instead of just viewing them on the big screens.
As we don’t typically go out for such a big night of fun, I wondered what other types of people we would see at the concert. Undoubtedly, many of the concert-goers bought their tickets before the economic meltdown was in full swing, but many of them probably also bought them at the last minute.
Additionally, this type of event is much different than a planned vacation. You don’t have to take a week off of work, and the actual concert lasts less than two hours. Who has the money for such extravagances these days? Are these the people referred to in The Millionaire Next Door as those with big ten-gallon hats, but no cattle in their pastures? Or are they people like me who have made a conscious choice to use their money like this?
While it’s difficult to know what a person has in his or her bank account based only on the outward appearance, here is a short assessment of who we saw:
- Parents — sometimes just a mom or dad with a single child and sometimes a whole clan.
- Teenagers — usually in a group of 3 or 4.
- College students — typically identifiable by the logos on their t-shirts.
- Young couples — people in their late twenties to early thirties.
- Middle-aged couples — either pairs of friends or married couples
Can your average person afford such an expense on a regular basis? Of course, the people sitting in the floor seats (ranging from $300 to $600 per ticket) looked better dressed than other people, but maybe they only wanted to look that way.
The lead singer asked a child sitting on the front row how old he was, and the child said he was 8 years old. My parents would never have given me a $600+ ticket to see Coldplay on a school night — what a lucky kid. It makes me really hope that the kid appreciates it and will remember it later!
But, it seems that the premium on fun has gone up since I last had the disposable income (be it responsible or not) to make such an expenditure. For example, say you have a family of four, with two children and two adults. Here are some typical entertainment costs:
- Coldplay concert in Arizona: 4 tickets + handling fee + printing fee = $244.40
- Seaworld in San Diego: 2 adults + 2 children, single day admission + parking = $252.00
- Six Flags in St Louis: 2 adults + 2 children, single day admission + parking = $155.00
- Disneyworld in Orlando: 2 adults + 2 children, single day admission (Florida residents) = $248.00 (other residents) $276.00
Of course, none of these figures includes lodging, if required, or transportation and food.
Ticket prices for athletic events are no better, and in many cases are worse. At my university (Texas A&M), tickets for a football home game range from $70-$85 each for conference play. The cost for professional games is even more, to say nothing of Hannah Montana concert tickets.
Is it my imagination, or have “family fun” events become major budget drains? There are certainly many types of low-cost entertainment for families, but do you feel that your child would miss out if they did not have a “Disneyworld experience”? When do you decide to splurge on a game or concert and when to sit it out? Do prices such as these influence your decisions at all?
I don’t regret the splurge that we made since the Coldplay concert was amazing. If we could have spared the time off from work, we would have loved to see them the following night in a different nearby city. The only regret we have is that we followed the “no cameras/no recorders” rule printed on our tickets when, in fact, almost everyone there had a digital camera! It just goes to show how long it’s been since we’ve attended a concert like this one!
Photo by Josh McConnell.
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Ahh yes. But the trick is to go see bands while they’re small and the tickets don’t cost a lot. I got dragged to see Coldplay w-a-a-y back, in Liverpool. They supported Muse, as I recall. Thought both bands were dreadful. But the ticket cost me £7.00. That’d be about 10 dollars now? Go see a band at your local venue, much better than these enormodromes. Much cooler if/when that band becomes famous.
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I love going to concerts myself and will sacrifice other nights out just to afford concert tickets. The fact that you had to stay a night and have dinner out added a huge amount to your bill. Normally that is not the case, but I agree, tickets are very expensive and after taxes, beer, all adds up to a lot. I saw Coldplay recently as well and thought the concert was worth it. For me, even with the increased expenses, if I think a concert, or product is worth it, I will save and buy. Sacrifice my social life in other ways. Do you agree?
The movies is almost at $11 by me and I can’t imagine a family going to that. Something simple turns into an expensive night out, that’s why DVD night makes more sense.
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I have never gone to a concert that cost more than around $20 general admission, and that includes bands like Green Day, Live, and Tim McGraw/Faith Hill! Then again, I’m pretty sure all those concerts were in the previous decade!! I can’t imagine spending that much money. Seeing those things live doesn’t appeal to me personally though. Including things like Disney Land/World. I’ve never been to those. I’d rather drive up to the PA Grand Canyon (free except for transportation! $12 to rent a camp site…) than stand in a crowd and stare at musicians. But that’s me. Of course we all have different priorities. I remember a post on IWillTeachYouToBeRich about a guy that spends something like $20k on going out with his friends each year. I’d never spend anywhere near that, but for him, it’s part of an “otherwise” responsible budget, and it doesn’t take away from his long term goals. I’d rather have more short term interests though… lots of things can be done with $400!
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Wake up and smell the popcorn. A movie out with my wife and kids cost almost $70! We’ve chosen to go less often ( about 4 times this past year ) and spend the money on a Netflix Unlimited subscription. In 2009 we will drop the cable subscription ( over $1000 saved ) and use the broadband to watch free TV online ( Hulu.com ).
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$97.50 is an exorbitant amount to pay for concert tickets. I shudder when I have to pay an $8 service fee on $25 tickets at venues that only sell through ticketmaster.
Some venues won’t charge a handling fee if you buy tickets in person from their box office, though that’s getting rare these days, and if the venue’s in another town it may not be worth it.
Pay attention to the local music scene and go see local or regional bands for $5-$15 closer to home. You may not know all the words, but you’ll have just as good a time.
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I agree. Even going to the movies is expensive. Mr Chiots and I looked into going to the winter Olympics in Canada, but decided we’d rather spend that money on a great vacatin somewhere else and watch the events at home from the comfort of our own sofa.
We’re also in the camping vacation crowd like Jason B. Mr Chiots and I spent less that $396 on an entire week of hiking/camping in New York (and that included a day in Hershey PA and a day at Longwood Gardens). I’d much rather have a week of hiking fun than one night and ringing ears for a few days!
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i always have more fun at the more intimate concert settings rather than the big stadiums.
the smaller shows are almost always cheaper, too.
i saw billy joel at the carrier dome in syracuse NY with 50,000 of my closest friends. i essentially had to watch the jumbotrons, and not billy himself. it was cool to have seen billy joel, but i got a way better show (and no jumbotron) from a southern band called cowboy mouth at a 300 person venue. and it was $180 vs. $10 per “seat”.
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Mandy~
I saw Coldplay at an all-day music festival in 2001, just as they were beginning to see some success in the US. I paid about $30 for the ticket and saw about 10 bands that day. Coldplay for $3. It can be done.
The trick is to see bands before they become well-known.
My general rule of thumb is that if a music venue has seats, you’re probably going to pay too much for the ticket. I prefer standing at an intimate club setting.
As Jason B said, it’s possible to see a quality band for $20. If my math is correct, that’s $376 left over for a nice little notebook PC.
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I’ve bought Chris Rock tickets at half price, Kylie Minogue tickets at 20% of the original price, music festival tickets at 30% of the original price, etc.
It does take a lot more effort and dedication (having to stay up that late, etc.) compared to just buying them normally, but it works.
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And still….I’ve read that 2008 was one of the
concert industry’s best years…Of course the high ticket prices are probably responsible for
a large portion of this.
It just amazes me…I used to average about 3 concerts a month in the 70′s,when an expensive concert was $10…(for the likes of The Who or Led Zeppelin!)…all the way to the mid 90′s
when $25-$30 became the norm.
Now they are getting up to $350 to see Madonna..and this is just face value not “ticket
broker”(legal scalpers)prices…Plus $30 just to park your car in most places.
I think the concert industry is doing good because of people in my generation(I’m 52) still refusing to give up the concert-going experience specially with many baby-boomer bands still touring…and we seem to still have the disposable income(or willingness to get in debt)to pay such high prices for concerts. But in the not so distant future I think the younger
generations won’t be willing(nor have the funds)
to pay $300 to see My Chemical Romance.
BTW..I’m going to my firt concert in 2 years..Billy Joel in January…$114.50 for a so-so seat in Hollywood,Florida.
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@Mandy I agree that I would much rather see a concert in a small venue, it’s more of an intimate show. But if the band is big, that’s never going to happen. In 2001 Coldplay didn’t have half of their songs they do now, so you can’t really make that case.
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I agree with Amanda, bought many amazing concert tix from eBay at a fraction of the cost. Its worth a shot for anyone out there looking to stretch their budget.
This summer I got Alicia Keys, Kanye West and a few other notables at 30-40% less than the list price.
Ticket master has those annoying “convenience” charges which also can sometimes be waived if you can find coupon codes online.
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I have a similar issue with running and biking event costs.
I’m an endurance athlete that runs marathons (as well as other distances) and club bikes rides that occasionally cost money.
I’m trying to figure out my runs for this upcoming year. I live in Portland Oregon and you almost have to stay in a hotel of some sort if the race you’re in is a long drive, because most marathons start at 7am and you need to be up no later than 5am to be prepared. The 3 marathons I’m looking at add up to just over $250 for entry(about $80 a race avg). They are all more than 100 miles away so I’ll have to stay the night somewhere. Throw food and and gas in there and its a fairly costly trip.
What I’ve done in the past is rent a house and have several people stay and split the cost. Sure I sacrifice one night of drinking, but make up for it the next night. It’s harder nowadays to find folks who have the funds to kick in for a couple night vacation.
I’m at a point that I’m torn on which marathons to run and which to pass up due to cost. Do I spend the money on what I enjoy or continue to pay down debt?
One idea I had was to fund raise through family members and take an $80 cut to pay for race entry and the rest is donated to a special cause.
This post is great. It costs some $$$ to have a good time.
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I agree that concerts can be quite expensive compared to normal entertainment like seeing a movie. However, they are so much more memorable for me then just a movie.
I’m not much of a concert person, but I enjoy seeing plays and musicals live. Like concerts, the tickets can be expensive and I may have to travel a bit to see a show. But I still talk about shows I’ve seen with friends long after the curtain falls, unlike on movie nights where it’s rare that the movie is mentioned again later.
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My daughter and I went to see a Rod Stewart concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl several years ago. I splurged and got us seats in the second row! Pricey, yes, but — OH MY GOD — worth every cent — it felt like we were spending an evening with him in our living room — that’s how intimate the S.B. Bowl is — very memorable.
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I think the biggest rip off was the 33 dollar convenience charge. How convenient is paying money to Ticketmaster? And what the crap is a printing charge? I have to pay to print something out on my printer, using my ink, and my paper? I wish some of the musicians would get together to stop this nonsense of ripping off their fans.
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I won’t go to a concert if I can’t be on the floor and up close to the stage. To do that, I normally buy single tickets and go on my own. On the rare instances my husband decides to go with me, I’ll buy tickets so far in advance that we STILL get good seats. And if I can’t get good seats, I won’t get tickets. Because paying $97 to be in an upper balcony looking at a screen is not my idea of money well spent.
I had the opportunity to see kd lang in concert in May 2009 and was thisclose to buying a 3rd row center seat. But then I decided I didn’t want to go alone, and passed on it. I’m regretting that now – I think she has an amazing voice and 3rd row center would have been fantastic.
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So many things we would like to go and see, but we just have to make choices..every year we go to visit family in Canada, and that takes every bit of our *fun* income… BUT we are saving to go to the World Equestrian Games in 2010 in Kentucky, because we are riders, and that will be our trip of a lifetime…..every time we want to spend, we think of that trip, and it makes it easier to give things up,,nothing comes cheap these days, so it all comes down to choices.
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I hate Ticket Master’s fees. I bought four tickets to a Jack Johnson concert this summer through TM’s website, and their “convenience” fees were over 1/3 the total price of the tickets! I will never again buy tickets through TM. If I can’t buy the tickets at the box office, or through another ticket company with lower fees, I won’t go.
And Mandy, for a “handling fee” of $33, you could have driven from Phoenix to Tucson and back, buying the tickets from the box office yourself.
Is convenience really worth that much?
Hey JD, how about a post on the true cost of convenience, and what people are willing to pay for it?
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Yes, these sorts of things are expensive, but you have to put them in perspective. How many times in your life will you go see Coldplay? Probably only once. And the “Disneyworld experience” you talked about for your children? You’ll probably only do that once, too.
Amortized over 18 years, that Disneyworld experience that $276 is only $15/year to take your children to Disneyworld. And since you have two children, it’s even less than that per child.
One more thing I’d like to comment on is the notion of the “average person”. There is no such thing. Most people are decidedly *not* average. The notion of average is not meant to represent the most common people, but what you get when you total everyone up and divide by the number of people.
If I own a $40,000 BMW and my neighbor owns a $2,000 1995 Geo Prism, that doesn’t mean the “average” car in my neighborhood is a $26,000 Honda Accord. It doesn’t mean that everyone in my neighborhood can afford a Honda Accord. In fact, if you tried to sell a Honda Accord in that fictional neighborhood, *nobody* would buy it, because half the inhabitants can’t afford it, and the other half want something nicer. The same thing applies towards concert tickets.
A full half of people have *more* money than average (which is what makes it the average). Another full half have less. Whether this sort of entertainment is affordable to the few people who hover right around that average in the middle doesn’t really matter, unless you happen to make exactly $40,000 a year and have exactly 2.3 kids (or whatever the current averages are).
I wish more people would take this into account when talking about the “average person”. I’m not really very average. Are you? If most of us aren’t why use that as the target for our advice?
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I agree with Tyler. It’s not like a person goes to a big rock concert every day. Generally these are events that one plans for and splurges on, so overall I don’t see a problem with that. Sure it used to be cheaper and without all those pesky fees, but when I was a teen it’s not like I could see Bon Jovi for $5.
It was a bit of an expense back then too.
If I’m only going to 1 or 2 concerts a year, I don’t mind paying the $$$ to see my favorite musicians play a killer show.
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Buy em within 1 day of the concert, preferably as little ahead as possible, the prices crash on concert day.
Have seen pro baseball games for $10-$15 good to average seats
Thought about a Giants game (always sold out)for $75 per very good seat (bad weather predicted)
work the system, don’t let the system work you
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Funny this should come up. I’ve lived modestly all my adult life (sometimes by necessity, sometimes by choice) and feel very strongly about living within my means. Most of the time I would never dream of spending money for those big-ticket items. But this summer my husband and I splurged and took our kids (4 and 8 years old) to Disneyland in southern California. It was BY FAR the most expensive vacation I’ve ever taken, and it was so totally worth it. That’s pretty remarkable from a cheapskate like me.
We did do it within our means–one of the inspirations to do it was that I had an especially well-paying gig over the summer, and we could pay for everything up front, no need to go into debt.
We also piggybacked onto one of my husband’s business trips. He was in LA for a conference and we scheduled the trip right afterward, so his work paid for his plane ticket. Turns out this didn’t actually save us much money, maybe 10% of the total bill (not to knock it!). And, overall the cost of the trip would have been much lower if we’d planned way ahead and watched for a good package deal, rather than doing it at shorter notice and within a time frame not wholly of our choosing. That’s how we’ll do it next time.
That said…we had so much fun that that I’d do it again, no hesitation. We’ll wait a few years to make sure it stays special–and so our younger girl is tall enough to go on the rides she saw her older sis enjoy.
Maybe I’d do the calculus this way: for me, it makes more sense to spend $2000 on a four-full-day adventure for 4 people, than $500 for one evening for 2 people? In the former case it’s $125/person/day, whereas in the latter case it’s $500/person/day (assuming it’s a half-day excursion). The latter is too rich for my blood!
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Tyler Karaszewski, you’re thinking of median, not average. Averages are skewed by outlier values – so people with very high incomes bring the average up above the median – so actually, less than half of people have incomes over the average.
I think it is too expensive to pay for these kinds of things – doesn’t fit in my budget so unless, as was your case, a bit of ‘extra’ comes along, then we won’t be doing it. We can still have plenty of fun. Lots of things are free – like going to the park to play tennis, going for a walk, or cheap – driving up the hills to go snowshoeing (once you have the equipment, always bought on sale), or netflix’s lowest tier is dirt cheap now.
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..shudders..
I disagree that you have to put that in perspective. When I was in college (20 years ago…), most tickets were $20-30, so you could go regularly. I’ve seen AC/DC twice, Weird Al twice, Ice T, Violent Femmes, Front 242, Alice in Chains, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan (in Rome while traveling through), Sheena Easton, George Thorogood twice, Jimmy Cliff, the Grateful Dead twice, Robert Cray, Beastie Boys, Loverboy, Run DMC, Nitzer Ebb, and quite a bit more. All because they were reasonably priced.
Given inflation, I could see double that price. Maybe $50. Probably not though…
Obviously, plenty of people are willing to pay that kind of money though. Do you see many empty seats???
Heh. When I was your age… !!!
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@otowi: Yes, you’re right, but it doesn’t change my main point that much. Even if instead of 50% of people making more than average and 50% of people making less, in actuality it’s more like 45% of people make more and 55% make less, that doesn’t change the fact that not really that many people make an “average” salary (or median salary).
This is an interesting wikipedia article about how much households in the US actually make: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States
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Concert tickets have definitely gotten out of control. Because of that I stopped going for a number of years when my discretionary income became tight. Then I realized after someone came and left, I regretted not going. I felt like I was being too cheap with myself and depriving myself from that experience.
I’m starting to buy those overpriced tickets now, one or two per year. I’m still buying the cheapest tickets and in the nosebleed seats, but I can deal. I’m going to cut back in another area instead. And it’s great to have a fun concert to look forward to!
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The prices definitely make it an occasional splurge. As for family fun, my middle-class parents didn’t have the money for concerts, so I don’t think my kids will feel deprived for not going. I try to find more local events that cost quite a bit less, mixed in with free things like hikes and concerts in the park. Kids manage to have fun on cheap entertainment with only occasional visits to amusement parks. I often wonder how parents manage to pay for a week at Disney World or a family Disney cruise, but perhaps they’re not paying the high cost of living in Southern California either.
My best childhood memories are from free or low-cost outings, and I’m hoping to give my kids the same experience.
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You hit a sore spot for me. We used to go out 2 or 3 nights every week, almost always small clubs, almost always free. We will pay $10-15 to see someone extra good. We see nationally known folk, blues, and bluegrass performers. But the clubs can’t pay the performers any more. Mega-concerts won’t be happening anymore soon either. You went to one of the last ones.
As for saving money, our town has live music in the park for free every Friday, good quality, up and coming bands. Don’t get dinner. Have a beer or two and call it a night.
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Sometimes ponying up the money is the only way to do something you want to do. I’m the most frugal person out there, but sometimes, there’s just no frugality involved. You want to do something, you want to do it right, but you’ve gotta pay. I don’t mind as long as it’s something I’m really into, and almost always when I look back on the event, it was worth it.
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I haven’t paid more than $25 for a concert, and I am very unlikely to pay more than that, ever. I don’t go to sporting events. We rarely go to movies in the theater.
Entertainment costs a lot of money, and I’m not sure that it’s as valuable as people think. I think it is important to have some fun, and unwind. $400 to spend 2 hours watching a band perform live? Really? That seems extremely wasteful, even if you’re debt free and have a full emergency fund. I wouldn’t pay that much for *any* musicians, even my favorites that I’ve listened to for over 20 years, even for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I guess now that gas prices are settled down to a reasonable level, people have all this extra money they don’t know what to do with. Yet in the midst of the high gas prices, people were buying Grand Theft Auto at $60 and watching Iron Man at $10.
The price we pay to be entertained in America is ludicrous. And people accept it! “Well, thats just what it costs.” What a con. That’s what it costs because these companies figured out that’s how much people are willing to pay because they’ve been duped into thinking that its normal.
I don’t want to be normal.
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As everyone said, an occasional splurge should not be a big problem. I myself love to have fun without spending too much, taking a hike or even a paintball session. You know something though, I have never been to a concert, not counting a few school concerts. But hey, we are talking about a fun experience. While it is certainly wise to get rich slowly, I would rather spend some money now, while being frugal most of the time than be too old to enjoy my accumulated wealth.
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professional sports and live theater are things I enjoy- and I enjoy sharing these with kids in my world- I’m on several email lists for different venues, they often have codes that help negate some of the fees-
tickets to the Rockpile, the bleacher seats for the Colorado Rockies, are $4 each and you can take in a small cooler- this summer my fella and I took two kids with us. We raided the dollar store for snacks before we went and took advantage of the transit systems park and ride- total day for four of us was about $50- we got to see a good game, the kids had a new experience, and no one was broke afterward
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I’ve seen Coldplay twice, both in Anaheim. The tickets I purchased were through Ebay. In 2006 I got a ticket for $80, this year I got a ticket for $120. It was well worth it. Coldplay is one of the few things I splurge on.
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We just had a parallel experience, where we took our kids (7 & 4) to Chicago over last weekend. Although they had been to a few “big cities” when they were very young, this was the first “big city” trip they’re likely to remember. We ate breakfast in our room and shared a lot of entrees to reduce expenses. However, the family activity expenses were steep: $45 to go to the Sear’s Tower Skydeck, $46 to go to the Field Museum, $24 to the Art Institute, $205 for two nights just south of the Loop, $54 for parking downtown (coulda parked in the ‘burbs and taken the Metra or El, but it wasn’t worth the travel time in the rain and/or cold to us).
We were grateful when the kids decided they’d rather go swimming the last day rather than go to the Shedd Aquarium ($60!!!).
Was it worth it? I think so — they’ll remember seeing Sue and the earth sciences section and the children’s play area at the Field. They’ll remember being at the top of the Sears Tower and seeing all the big buildings. They must have enjoyed it — DH and I are exhausted!
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Ticketmaster is a scam…
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Gig ‘em, Aggies! Right in the pocketbook! (I’m sure Dave South has said that at one point..)
I’m staff at Texas A&M University. The nice thing about living in a college town is that there’s a plentiful amount of cheap entertainment for music lovers. There are regularly free (or cheap) concerts in town at bars, there are art shows, there are lectures and reading … for “the middle of nowhere,” it’s frankly pretty cool even if you’re not a college student.
The price of sports tickets or arena conventions are unfortunate. The venues are hideously expensive to maintain and operate. Even opening the doors of Kyle Field (the football stadium at Texas A&M University) costs $5,000 for security per “deck”… there are three sides of the stadium with three decks on the sides and two (plus the “Zone”) at one end. Turning the field lights and video screens fully on burns something like 2 megawatts an hour. Staffing concessions fully requires 300 or so employees at minimum wage plus taxes. By the time you add it up, even at $75 per seat, the fixed costs create a loss for the venue unless every seat is sold.
That being said, I’ve never paid full price in my life for arena concert tickets. In fact, I usually get in for free via friends who work at radio stations, in the advertising industry, or in the liquor industry. Most of the people that are sitting in the expensive seats got in the same way that I did.
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This is a neat little post, but most of these topics have been covered multiple times on this site.
Essentially you are talking about placing value on an experience. My impression is that you are conflicted in whether the value of the experience was worth the money you paid. I think we all make that determination at times. Is something a once in a lifetime experience? Is it something that is reasonably priced for the quality of the experience? Is it overpriced based on your perceived value? Whether you know it or not, we always go through that progression when we decide to spend our money on stuff, especially entertainment.
How can people afford it these days? Many ways- they have disposable income, they have budgeted for it, they put themselves in debt, the experience was given to them, etc. etc. etc. Most of us here pay for entertainment because we have disposable income or we’ve budgeted. Again, the question, what value do you place on the experience? Is the $400 better spent on the memorable experience, or would you rather put it in your emergency fund and collect 2.75% on it and eventually spend it on a car repair in two years?
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The title of this posting illustrates so much that’s wrong with American’s and our finances. None of the examples listed in the posting qualify in my mind as typical examples of “fun” or entertaiment — they are luxuries that any adult or child can easily and happily live without. The “cost of fun” can easily be zero. My children have free fun at the part, at their friend’s houses, at picnics, etc every day. My husband and I have plenty of fun doing all sorts of amazing things that aren’t expensive — free or cheap museums, free concerts, free community festivals and similar events, hiking, renting movies, romantic nights in, etc. I never went to a concert, Disney Land, etc. growing up and I didn’t know the difference.
We all need to redefine luxuries as such and stop acting like “having fun” needs to equate to spending tons of money or that it’s normal and acceptable for everyone to be spending money on such luxuries.
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i think that you are taking your example to the extreme. i saw coldplay over the summer here in Boston and i paid about $200 for 2 tickets.
I live close to the city… so for me, that was the only cost. How can you complain about spending a night in the city? You didn’t just get a 2 hour concert; you got the whole experience of going to the “town” as you call it and spending a night away with your significant other… a mini vacation?
besides, concerts have always been expensive. Music is emotional and sometimes cost is not the question. The emotional experience can be more important.
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Bottom line: It’s all about living below your means, right?
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I have been to well over 1,000 concerts in my life since I was 7 years old. I’ll probably be deaf by the time I’m thirty. I have been to concerts of every single type / size / crowd. I am still going to at least 2 concerts a month at 28 years old with a wife and soon to be 2 kids.
If you are paying more than $110 for two people for the entire night you are doing something seriously wrong with concert going endeavor. $45 a ticket, $20 bucks in parking and gas.
Thats all you need. No beer. No hotel. No food. No water. Ticket. Parking. Once in a life-time experience.
Buying the ticket direct from the local venue also saves you a sizable portion, as does sometime buying direct from the band.
Also, for most concerts, floor area.. aka standing / moshing room.. tickets are about $20.00.. and that’s up here in Chicago. Still the night out for you and your partner can run you about $60-120… is it worth it?
Yes. Every penny.
I understand the goals of financial freedom, however, without actually living life even in the tiniest bit you are saving for nothing. Now in order to fund our concert endeavors we make other sacrifices, but the experience over going to a live show over sitting at home on your bum watching a dvd inside the same four walls far outweighs this.
Also, its not $60-120 for 2 hours of entertainment. Generally there are 2 opening bands for most rock / metal shows then followed by an 1.5-2 hour main set show plus encore.
Oh, that and all the people watching you get to do.
So instead of going to see Iron Man with the $5.00 bucket of popcorn or whatever… have a real night out and see a concert if you can.
Everything is subjective though. I live in Chicago near multiple concert venues. So, I have more options when it comes to this kind of thing than some.
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coldplay is not worth 98 bucks. maybe 40 or 50 but def not 98 bucks. see local bands for much, much less or attend the concert with cheaper seats.
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On a related note, my birthday this year around cost £30 (about $50) an HOUR.
The past few years I’ve had rubbish birthdays, so for my 19th me and my best friend took the eurostar and spent a day in Paris. The train tickets were £65 each and I spent about £220 whilst I was out there. A friend let us stay overnight in london, so I only had to pay for my train ticket back to Slough from London.
Was it worth it? 10 hours in Paris for about £300 (30% of my monthly income).
HELL YES. I’ve never had such fun. Part of the experience was that it felt so extravagant. I didn’t miss my rent or savings payment that month either.
Save up and treat yourself people.
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I have to agree with a lot of the other commenters. For $5, you could see 5 local bands in a basement. They’re probably not as polished as Coldplay (but then again, they probably write their own songs…), but you can’t argue with that price, and you can’t argue with standing in the front row and seeing the band sweat, and then buying a t-shirt for $5 from the guitar player, and then having a conversation with him about how much you liked the set.
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Whether it’s Coldplay, Seaworld, Disneyland/world, or Six Flags, you’re paying for the brand name. You can get similar entertainment/experiences much cheaper by “shopping off-brand”.
I haven’t been to Seaworld, but I’ve been to Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium several times, at a fraction of the cost. I haven’t been to a megaconcert, but I’ve seen some great shows for $0 to $25. I haven’t been to Disneyland/world, but I’ve been to lots of great museums for $0 to $20.
You can have inexpensive family fun, but you have to avoid the big brand names.
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Without trying to sound like the old curmudgeon with the pants riding high up the chest and shaking my cane…
Back in the day (1983) I went to four major concerts that year – Asia, Blue Oyster Cult, Heart and J.Geils. Cost of each ticket – a whopping $9 for lawn seats. Pavilion was $12.50, but I was in high school so that was a bit too much. We were allowed in around 3pm – we could picnic, throw frisbees and have a great time until the main event. We paid a bit for parking, food and the obligatory concert T-shirt ($10) but I could afford it even working part time for minimum wage which was $3.35/hr at the time.
Doing a little sloppy math, I figured that I make 450% more than I did back then, but concert tickets have gone up by 1083%. That’s just the base price. I’m not even considering service fees – basically because I really can’t remember what it was – if anything.
I can’t see myself going to any concerts in the future unless it’s for the one or two bands I idolize but haven’t seen yet – namely Rush and Jimmy Buffett. Other than that, I’ll save my money and my eardrums.
Cheers!
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Steve (now) in Denmark I’m jealous! Muse and Coldplay are 2 of my top 5 favorite bands!
That said, concerts comprise 4 or 5 of my entire life’s 10 favorite days (I suppose I place a value on music higher than average). Although Woodstock ’99 turned into a media circus, it was probably the best weekend of my life. Well worth the $179 tickets, sleeping in my car, and smuggling Capri Suns and granola bars (lunch!) into the 3-day concert.
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Seriously. These big name Ticketmaster concerts are a huge ripoff. My boyfriend wanted to see Coldplay a few months ago, so we got 2 tickets. $90 each plus “convenience fee”.
Now, mind you, this was like his third time seeing the band. He goes and sees any Huge Band that comes around. I’ve never been to see a Huge Band. We went, had dinner, and went home. Got home at 2:00am on a weekday. I enjoyed it, but didn’t enjoy spending all that money.
Then, Coldplay came back. He bought us tickets. I really had no particular interest in seeing the exact same show AGAIN, on a weekday no less, but he was dying to. We went. I tolerated it.
After that I let him know that if any more Huge Bands come to town, he should go with a friend. I don’t even want to go if HE pays for me. It’s flushing money down the toilet!
I don’t understand how college kids can regularly attend these events. My big splurges in college were occasionally ordering pizza or going to a bar. $1 Milwaukee’s Best….yah!
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I also saw the Coldplay concert in Fort Lauderdale in November. I am an huge fan and wanted to see them live. I thought the concert was awesome and they sounded better than the recorded versions of their songs.
The concert was local so it was just the cost of the ticket and the gas to drive there (free parking). However, the majority of the crowd were young 20-somthings and I also wondered how they could possibly afford the tickets. Mine cost just under $100 each. They were a splurge for me, a rare occasion. It was a large expense but the show was excellent and I had a great time. I rarely go out so it was like having all my fun nights in one go!
By the way, thanks in part to your site I have managed to pay off my car 14 months early! I’m pretty frugal anyway, but took a second job and cut some other expenses to pay it off. Now I’m working on paying for a new roof for my house. Your advice keeps me straight and a reminder why I’m working 7 days a week right now!
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