Some of you concert fans are about to be left behind.

Justin Massoud
Justin Massoud, KFMX
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While most enjoyed a truly special night with Breaking Benjamin, it seems there were a few who thought the show was a bit overpriced.

The fact is, ticket prices are going up, just like everything else.  Our promoter has struggled to keep Lubbock concert tickets under $50, so much so that he opted out of Green Day headlining one of our events because he felt like Lubbock wouldn't drop $65 on a ticket, even for an all-day show.

I know when you write, '$50 is too much for one band,' you think you're writing, 'we want more bands for our money.' But what the promoter hears is: 'Lubbock is not willing to pay $50 for a good band.'

The most ridiculous complaint of all I saw was: '...for an acoustic show.' The band still had to have a semi full of lights and amps, even to do an acoustic show. Whether a guitar is hollow or not doesn't change production costs that much. Seriously.

The other complaint we heard was 'for only one band.' I have no idea what the number of bands has to do with anything, especially since so many folks skip the opening acts anyways.

There are fewer bands playing these days, and they are playing fewer places. If you want to see them, you're going to have to spend hundreds of dollars traveling to a town they're playing in, or step up and pay the freight for them to play in Lubbock. If you're not willing to step up, maybe you need another hobby other than live music. It's sad to say that, but I don't know what your other options are. The bands themselves can always head up to Amarillo, over to Midland, or just skip this area entirely.

As a radio station, we did our part. We promoted the show heavily to keep down advertising costs and gave away 100 FREE tickets. I hope you find some of this information helpful going forward. I'm not looking to embarrass anyone or put them on the spot, I just want to reveal what concertgoers are up against in 2017 and beyond.

At the end of the day, I don't pay your bills and the promoter pays his own bills. All I can say is that when I want to see my favorite bands, the cost of a ticket is a small part of the equation. I can't remember what I paid to see Tom Petty, David Bowie, The Ramones or even some of the smaller shows I went to. I only remember how much fun I had.

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