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No Satisfaction Here, Mick

Nope. Mick, you won't have the satisfaction of my presence at Mile High Stadium when the No Filter tour visits over Memorial Day weekend. The ticket prices are ridiculous. Granted, I didn't even try to snag tickets when they first went on sale, but it's still disheartening to see a premium seat — at face value — is $2,238 plus all those fees. An "Official Platinum" standing spot in the pit is $852 + fees. Nosebleeds? They're around $135. Further proof U2's spoiled me. Their field standing tickets averaged around $90 during the past three tours in arenas and stadiums.

What's an "Official Platinum" ticket? Well, according to Ticketmaster, "Ticketmaster's Official Platinum Seats program enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold. The goal is to give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the best tickets, while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true value."

Oh. Thanks. But logic says all those tickets hitting the resale market at inflated prices (which, in turn, provide even more profit to Ticketmaster through all of the fees regenerated) also jack up the so-called "true value" price of these platinum tickets.

So that's $852 for the ticket only. There are also "Start Me Up" packages, which include a GA ticket and a bunch of swag — all for the modest sum of $1,603 per ticket.

Update: You've Gotta Be Poopin' Me!

The Stones had to postpone the US leg of the No Filter tour so Mick could undergo heart surgery.

A few weeks later and the man is back, in fine form. A video of him movin' like Jagger has hit social media.

That's great news — welcome back, Mick!

But, now that the new Denver date has been announced — 10 August — I thought I'd check on the state of tickets.

Whoa. No breaks here.

That $852 pit ticket? It's now $1,755.01 + fees! Face value! Want to make it more confusing? That's the Platinum price. But the"Start Me Up Package" is still a "paltry" $1,603 per ticket (plus fees, of course). According to Ticketmaster.com, that package includes, "One incredible top price general admission floor ticket in ULTRA-exclusive No Filter Pit, commemorative set of lithographs, custom digital photobook (includes a photograph from your actual concert), exclusive VIP merchandise and more!" So, the package is a better deal than the Platinum (ticket only) price. It's insane.

Absolutely insane!

To put it another way, I've heard those pit tickets originally start out at $500, then "the market" takes over and — boom — Ticketmaster effectively scalps its own tickets, sending ticket prices soaring to a ludicrous $1,755.01 each. In this world, "face value" has lost all meaning. But I'm not sure that $500 price tag is real. Testing the waters during a pre-sale for New Orleans, there were only package pit tickets, at $1,299 each.

Want to be on the field for "cheap"? There is another option: general admission way back at the far end of the field, behind the seated area. That space is yours for a mere $342.90 + fees via the resale market (face value: $155 + fees).

Check out the madness in these screenshots.

Update: Day of Show, 10 August 2019

Okay. I had to check, out of purely morbid curiosity. Sure enough, I spotted a "standard" pit ticket for $499.50 + fees. That's the regular ticket, direct from Ticketmaster without the "Platinum" nonsense. It's well below the $800+ offers out there in the Ticketmaster resale market. With all the price manipulations going on, it makes it sound almost reasonable to fork over $500 in this new world concert economy.

I also found field seats on the far sides for the standard ticket price of $375.50 ($422.90 with fees). Of course, there are also plenty of scalpers out there still trying to profit from their ticketing gamble.

But, Billy Joel was in town Thursday night at Coors Field and I decided to splurge a little more on his swag than I originally planned. The Stones had priced themselves out of the Mattopian market, so I wanted to throw more support to one of my all-time favorite artists. I'm really glad I did. I treasure Billy and his music.

Sorry, Mick. Like I said, you won't have the satisfaction of seeing my smiling face at Mile High tonight. I've got a monumental U2-related trip coming up in the fall, so between Billy and Bono, my bucks will continue to rock on elsewhere.

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