MCR face backlash over ticket prices

[mzgrottesca]

Earlier this month, the band dropped a cryptic teaser image, with many fans wondering if they may finally be getting some new music. Other than a surprise song release back in 2022, they've been more of a touring act than anything and fans have been thirsty for some new tracks or information ever since. To some fans delight and some's

Comments

[solira21]

I love 'em but yeah, even if they (due to the label, other things whatever) couldn't actually turn off dynamic pricing, I think pretty much every artist has a responsibility to raise a stink about Ticketmaster's pricing practices. The band's current total hands-off approach to media (they haven't given an interview since reuniting) probably has something to do with it, but that's no excuse.

That said...I laugh at all these people who think that MCR have ever tried to be "punk rock." They're many things, but realistically, they're a band who have *always* aspired to this level of spectacle-like it or not. It's kind of like asking Queen not to play an arena. So despite the pricing of tickets being ridiculous, I'm not mad about the concept of stadiums tour per se. Feels completely true to their ambitions.

[mzgrottesca]

Yeah, I've never considered the band this super leftist, political band. They're no Gang of Four or Crass lol. To be fair, I can see where fans expected better - after all, the band being so openly pro-LGBT in like 2004 WAS kinda groundbreaking for the time, and they were definitely seen as a bunch of gritty, stinky ol' Jersey boys back in their early days (literally... I've seen other bands on those tours claim they smelled bad back then, lol).

But those days are long, long gone. TBP took them to a whole new level, by Danger Days they were selling fucking action figures. There's an old clip of them showing off their t-shirt prototypes and being like "We know band shirts are expensive, so we want to make sure you get your money's worth" or whatever, vs now they're dropping makeup palettes, boring, basic tees and shit every few weeks. It's pretty obvious they don't just wanna be rich, they wanna be RICH rich lol.

[solira21]

TBH I'd disagree that it's "So over" per se; their last tour felt very genuine. The new song, the performances and creativity and entire approached revealed a level of effort that was 100% optional; I think they do think about fans and care about legacy. Some of their tour merch was incredibly well thought-out too; for the makeup collab they hired fans to work to design the packaging

[mzgrottesca]

Damn, how did I miss the Revenge era action figures?? My 10 year old self would've fought tooth and nail for those if she'd known they existed lol.

Yeah I get what you're saying. The whole situation is a little frustrating and I know some fans think them being super cryptic and mysterious is part of the fun, but when shit like this happens, I really wish they'd be a little more open. Also, it was lowkey funny that Mikey and Frank were posting on social media pm constantly until the ticket backlash, now it's radio silence lol. I wish they'd own up to it a little more, they KNOW these prices are out of reach for 99.999% of their fans and could've been avoided. When Frank was telling fans to sit down and shut up a few days ago it didn't really bug me, but it looks worse now with these ticket prices coming directly after lol 😭

[peachypearl]

I paid 160 euro for Peter Gabriel for his most recent tour. I felt like it was a little high but considering the good man is in his 70s I thought it would be alright lmao. And the show was absolutely worth every single cent, it was the best thing I've ever seen.

And I paid, I think, around 150 euro for Metallica's most recent tour? Which was a ticket for 2 days so I thought it was great value considering Lars is a greedy gremlin (Not my type of sexy gremlin, just a gremlin)

[beaucadeau]

I could not justify $200+ for nosebleeds in Toronto. I'm gonna keep my eyes open for anything last minute, but I'm not expecting much.

[littlebones]

i'm sure the losers trying to sell nosebleeds for $5000 will lower their prices eventually.

[ellie_andrews]

I think the most I've spent was $300+ including fees for Adele back in 2015. And that was for TWO tickets. I was a little shocked at myself for spending so much but now it seems down right quaint.

[weighty_ghost]

this video was circling from Kurt Cobain back in the 90s being shocked that Madonna was charging $50 for tickets. To know that some people are dropping thousands to see some artists these days...

[mzgrottesca]

And among those artists.... Grohl! I saw people talking about having to pay $400+ to see Foo Fighters recently, I hear they put on a good show but man, I could never. Most I've spent on tickets is like $200ish and that was with swag + meet n greet!

[irajaxon]

there's a bar in my neighborhood that has those clear resin bartops with a bunch of old ticket stubs in it. every time i got there, i just gawk at all the old ticket prices. even with inflation, the costs are nowhere near the exhorbitant prices of today.

live concerts are my absolute favorite experiences, i've been consistently going to shows since i was a teenager (but started as a kid where i could sneak in for free because of my mom's work), it makes me sad for kids of today just how prohibitively priced so many shows are. support your local bands, local scenes and small indie venues, folks.

[mzgrottesca]

It's getting insane. Back in 2013 when I was fresh outta high school, I bought tickets for me and my three best friends to go see Fall Out Boy's reunion tour. I think it ended up costing somewhere around $300? We were like, 3 rows back from the stage, you basically had Pete Wentz's sweat spraying on you lol. I can't imagine what that kind of experience might cost nowadays.