Just a fun post discussing many of the different aspects of attending concerts!!
Ticket prices:
The first and most obvious thing I can moan about regarding concerts these days are the damn prices of tickets. I paid £81 to see Judas Priest with Saxon and Uriah Heep at the NEC (Resorts World) in Birmingham in March this year. In February of 2009, I swear to god I paid less than £40 to see Priest with Megadeth and Testament at the very same venue!! That means the prices have more than doubled in 15 years!! I'm not saying I feel ripped off paying the £81; it was a great show, and I enjoyed the hell out of it from start to finish... it's just one of those inflation issues that gradually builds over time, and I don't realise just how expensive concerts can be until I look at what I used to pay when I first started attending them. I guess a band/artist has to make a living in some way, especially if people aren't buying albums these days (despite the fact CDs and vinyls are arguably more popular in 2024 than they were a few years ago).
On the plus side, I don't feel like I pay that much more these days for music festival tickets than I did back in the day. I think Bloodstock is something like £30 more these days than it was back in 2010, when I attended for the first ever time - and many of the bands they book these days are more popular with the masses and would have been too 'big' to have appeared on old lineups anyway. Considering how many bands you can technically see at a festival, I've always thought they were pretty good value tickets for the most part. I can't speak for festivals like Reading, Glastonbury etc., but the one's I go to don't feel much more expensive these days at least. That whole 'service fee' bullshit from vendors like Ticketmaster or Ticket Factory does piss me off though!
Merchandise:
When it comes to buying merch, most of my own experiences have been pretty positive overall. I think the prices are only crazy depending on how popular the artist is, and the size/scale of the venue. There's only been a few gigs I've been to where I found the merch to be selling for outright rip-off prices. When I saw the Rolling Stones in 2018 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, I swear to god the tour shirts were selling for £50 or some other absurd price!! Hoodies were something like £70/£80!! I had gone into that gig with the intention of buying a tour shirt, but I just couldn't justify those ridiculous prices... and yet there I was 3 months ago at the Judas Priest gig at the NEC willingly paying ludicrous prices for tour shirts!! I'm a massive hypocrite in this instance - the tour shirts were £40 each and I bought one. They were definitely a rip-off - I mean, I love the shirt, but in terms of the actual quality, it's no better than any other tour shirt I've ever bought. I have a few Priest tour shirts from over the years, and they've never charged this much in the past. The fact they're one of my absolute favourite bands meant I had to have one though. I saw Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer at the Utilita Arena a couple of months back and didn't even bother looking at the merch... I just knew they'd be absurdly pricey. It always seems to be the more popular artists that charge the most. Go online however, and their merch is often sold at about 1/3 the price.
Like I said though, for the most part it's rare I've felt ripped-off whenever I bought merch from the majority of past gigs I've attended. Generally speaking, 90% of the tour shirts I own (and I own a fair few) have cost me £20-£25. I don't mind paying that. Some shirts I've bought from smaller/support bands have cost me £15 at times. I find that smaller/club venue gigs often have bands selling CDs/vinyl too. This is always cool, because sometimes I'd prefer to buy a CD than a shirt. And again, I see CDs being sold from anywhere between £7-£12. Not bad at all, and it's actually kinda humbling to physically give a band money in person.
Drinks:
I like a drink or 5 when I attend concerts, I can't deny that. Shame then, that the price of a pint just keeps on increasing as the years go by. KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton is just about the only venue that I semi-regularly attend concerts whereby the drinks prices aren't extortionate. They're still higher than you'd pay for in the average pub of course (unless you live in London), but this is to be expected from a venue. What sucks is the fact that an awful lot of gigs I end up going to are held at any of the 02 Academy/Institute branches of venues, where you'll now pay a minimum of £8 for a pint of subpar macro lager like Carlsberg or San Miguel, and if your lucky, a pint of Shipyard IPA. 8 fucking quid!!! I was at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham a couple of weeks back to see Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer, and was paying something like £9 for a pint of Madri, aka fake Spanish lager designed and brewed in the UK!!! Occasionally I end up driving to concerts. This tends to happen at gigs I attend by myself, because I don't mind teetotaling when I go solo. This saves me a lot of money.
I can refrain from drinking at gigs when not driving, but I unapologetically like to drink, especially with mates. Although it has happened here and there throughout the years, I very rarely end up getting properly rat-arsed, because I do at least want to remember the show. The best times I've had have been jumping on the train to Birmingham early and sinking a few pints in the pub before the gig, and possibly going for food in a restaurant too. It makes a full day of it, but obviously this type of plan isn't always possible due to work commitments etc..
Sound quality:
I think the sound quality of concerts is better now than it was when I first started going to gigs in the mid to late 2000's. I doubt there's been many technological advancements in that space of time! Or maybe my hearing was just much better in those days?! Either way I remember when I was in my teens I'd occasionally find that the bass and drums were too loud, while the vocals and guitars were sometimes buried in the mix... it's been a while since I've thought this way from any gig I've been to in recent years. I don't know if PA/mixing consoles just keep getting better but I'm guessing they haven't evolved that much over the past couple of decades?
That said, when things do sound bad, it really can affect the enjoyment of a performance. One of the most memorable experiences in terms of gig sound quality that I can remember was Scott Travis' drums at the Judas Priest concert at the NEC way back in 2009. It was so loud I could physically feel it go through my body!! And then there was Motorhead in 2010... I don't ever wear ear plugs to concerts (and I'm likely paying the price for it now), but that's the only gig I've ever attended where I felt like I needed them. They were stupidly loud! Meanwhile, the quietest performance I've ever stood through was Nine Inch Nails' set at Sonisphere 2009... so many mellow ballads I could speak at normal volume to my mate beside me!
Venue sizes:
For the most part, I prefer club-sized venues - ones that hold a few hundred people. Not because of sound quality or anything like that, no, it's mostly to do with how low-effort I can be. Like, I can show up whenever I want and get a decent standing spot 90% of the time. And because I like to drink at concerts, I can use the toilets whenever I feel like it and can almost always get my spot back, or somewhere close at the very least. Arena-sized venues are okay; if I need to use the toilets whilst a band is playing, it's normally not a big deal. And getting out of there is never a chore either; there's not enough people to affect any public transportation for the journey home, nor is there any mad rush of thousands of people all leaving at the same time.
It's stadiums that can be an issue! I saw both Foo Fighters and Bruce Springsteen this year, the former at Villa Park and the latter at Wembley Stadium. Both concerts were brilliant, but it'd been years since I'd last been to a stadium-sized gig. We had to turn up ridiculously early to get anywhere near the front, and for Foo Fighters I think I drank 2 pints of lager, meaning I had to use the toilets at one point! Naturally, this meant I had to wade through thousands of tightly-packed people to try and get back to my original spot (which was very close to the stage). As for Bruce, I didn't even bother drinking. Once we were actually allowed into the venue, I never left my spot until the performance was actually over. Luckily I could freely use the toilets whilst I was queuing outside because once I was in the stadium, I was stood in the same spot for over 5 hours!
Seating/standing:
I've always been more of a standing kind of guy in my years of gig-going. Obviously club-sized venues often don't offer seating, but for a lot of the larger gigs I've been to, I would still normally stand anyway. I've never had much issue with it, until I've gotten a little older! I think for any stadium concerts I attend in the future, I might just start buying seated tickets if I can. Like I said in the last paragraph, I hate wading through thousands of people if I need the toilet. With a seated ticket, this is irrelevant because you'll never lose your spot. When I saw the Rolling Stones in 2018, we had seated tickets - so naturally, I was sinking a lot of pints because it wasn't a big deal if I needed to piss anyway! I will say though, that seated tickets can suck depending on where you're sat. I'll definitely still stand if the only seated tickets available are a mile away from the stage, or about 1000 feet high up. I know that there's massive screens to the sides of the stage, but it's not the same as clearly being able to see what's happening on stage.
I've been to a few entirely-seated concerts in my time. Deep Purple at the Utilita Arena was entirely-seated, and I was sat on the ground area not too far back from the stage. Same goes for Judas Priest this year at the NEC. I'm not really for or against this set-up. I'm 6'1" tall, so I can usually see okay regardless. What was strange however, is that everyone in the ground area was seated for the entirety of Deep Purple, until the encore when everyone stood up. Yet for Judas Priest it was the exact same scenario only everybody stood up for the entire set. Makes you wonder why they even bothered putting seating in the ground area. It didn't bother me - in fact, it was quite nice to put my jacket and merch down on the seat behind me while I stood. But it still made me wonder why it was seated. I also saw Magnum in 2022 at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. This venue only offers seated shows. Again, everybody stood!
I'll be seeing Deep Purple again at the NEC in November. It's a fully-seated show again, but I bought tickets to the side of the stage this time. I find that people tend to stay seated in these areas, and the view is always decent because it's higher up than on the ground level. I'm taking my girlfriend too, and I figured it'd be nicer for her... we have very different music tastes, so she isn't as fussed about standing!
Moshing:
Obviously this category isn't relevant for a lot of gigs. I used to enjoy the mosh pit when I was younger at all the thrash/death metal shows I've been to. Depending on the crowd, it could be a lot of fun. Generally speaking, if you fell down, someone would be right there to put you back on your feet. Also, if someone was legitimately hurt, people do make sure they're moved out of the pit. Nothing's really changed in terms of moshing at metal concerts. If you don't do moshing, just stay away from the middle of the stage a few rows back, because that's where it normally happens. I think circle pits are okay, if a little silly. Mostly harmless however.
What I don't like - and I will never understand the point of it - is all that 'slam dancing' karate, crowd-killing bullshit. It's not something I see all that often at metal shows, but I do clearly remember seeing some absolute morons flailing their arms and doing Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks all over the place at Agnostic Front several years ago, and also at Ingested in 2022. What is the fucking point?! All it does is make less people want to mosh. Whatever.
I almost never mosh anymore in my 30s. I think the last time I was in a pit for the entirety of a show was when I saw Napalm Death in 2020. It's not because I hate it, I think it's just an age thing now and I can't be bothered these days. I prefer to just stand and watch the band in peace these days, and drink beer!
Phone usage:
People taking photos or filming on their phones isn't necessarily a pet peeve of mine; I mean, it rarely (if ever) affects my own enjoyment of a concert... I just don't understand people who spend more time filming the gig and watching it through their phone than actually watching the show and savouring the moment! At Judas Priest in March, the guy next to me must've spent 70% of the show recording the performance on his phone. He wasn't blocking my view or anything, but I could see him in the corner of my eye and I just don't understand peoples' thinking behind this. Do they really go back and watch the videos they made?! Is the sound quality actually good?! I wouldn't know, 'cos I usually just take a handful of pictures and then spend the rest of the gig watching the band play with my eyes, not my phone. Every single gig I've been to has had professional photographers present, so I tend to just look on the band's Facebook if I want to see the best pics.
Like I said, it bugs me - but generally speaking, excessive phone usage at concerts normally doesn't directly impact my own experience. One of my mates saw Tool this year, and they famously have a 'no phones' policy at their concerts. Makes the band sound like little Hitlers, but honestly I'm kind of in favour of it. My mate said it was great. I just can't justify Tool's ticket prices!! Then again, maybe the zero tolerance on phones makes it all the more worth it?
Length of performances:
Depending on the artist, I find most headlining performances tend to last about an hour and a half, on average. This is fine by me. I've seen a handful of sets that lasted 3 or close to 3 hours long as well. This is also fine, if the band knows what they're doing. A lot of the more underground extreme metal concerts often have shorter headline sets, and I think this is partly due to the fact you normally get more support acts too. When I saw Nile all the way back in '09, I literally sat through 4 support bands prior!! Support acts themselves an last anywhere between 30 mins and an hour depending on where they are on the bill or how many other bands are playing. Yep, not a lot to say here. It's rare I've come home from a gig and felt dissatisfied with the band's time on stage - or bored for that matter.
Concert schedules:
As I've gotten older, this is an area I can really moan about!! Most venue doors open around 6 or 7pm, and because I don't live in a rock scene hotspot, I normally have to get the train to Birmingham or Wolverhampton for the vast majority of the concerts I go to. Since concerts tend to end around 11pm (ish), I normally don't get home until 12-1am because of the train journey home. I occasionally drive to concerts if I'm going alone, and sometimes I can get home before 12am if the gig in question was in Wolverhampton! But like I said, it's usually early hours in the morning by the time I can get back to my bed.
This never used to bother me. In my teens and 20s, I had way more energy. Now I'm a bit older, I really wish venue doors would open around 2pm, so I can be home by around 10pm at the latest!! It's a personal gripe; there's no way in hell venues will ever open several hours earlier. People have work (including me) and can't get to shows until later - but I wish weekend concerts would at least start earlier! There's been times when I've made a full day of it, by booking a hotel in the city and going out drinking in pubs and bars after the show has finished, but obviously this is dependent on who I'm with and how much money I've got. Ahh well, getting home late is just something I'll always have to deal with and accept!! It's not like I'm not used to it at this point in my years of concert-going.
When all is said and done, I don't think I'll ever get tired of going to gigs. Any of the annoyances are worth dealing with, because you just can't beat a live performance when the band/artist in question are on top form.
