How much is too much?

I've been to see U2 in concert 7 or 8 times over the years, and I've been a member of their fan club or mailing list for a long time now. My worst experience of a U2 concert was during the last tour (Vertigo, 2005); the fan club ticket pre-sale was poorly planned, plagued with login problems, and actually gave the loyal fans the worst seats in the City of Manchester Stadium: right at the back, costing £75 each! After giving those seats up to a friend and getting better seats during the 'normal' sale period I was hopeful that the show would make up for that, and justify the very high price of the tickets.

Leading up to the gig I was as excited as I always was for a U2 concert - the last one I'd been to (Elevation Tour, Manchester M.E.N in 2001) was superb and I was interested to see what they had planned to justfify the near 100% increase in ticket price between the shows.

Sadly I was to be bitterly disappointed - the show was bland and certainly not on a par with previous open air gigs I've seen them perform. Given the problems with ticketing and the price paid I vowed not to go and see them again unless the ticket prices dropped.

Fast forward to the latest album being released (the excellent No Line On The Horizon) and I found myself looking forward to the tour dates being announced and forgetting the vow I'd made over 3 years before. Given the economic crash, and the fact that even now very few artists charge anywhere near £70 a ticket I was hopeful prices would be more reasonable.

So I was more than shocked to see the best seats priced at £150 each! It became very easy to remember my vow as soon as I saw that - to pay for two people to go, including travel, merchandise, food....well, that would be a £400 night out!
I love U2, but that's just a ridiculous price to pay for a concert ticket.

I hope the people who have paid that amount won't be left as disappointed as I was in 2005.