As prices of everything from food to gas continue to skyrocket, summer concert-goers can expect the price of tickets to their favorite shows to increase as quickly as the rising summer temperatures.
With the cost of essentials on a steady increase, there is a growing possibly that the sting of a bruised economy will spill over to the price of luxuries, said Brittany Pearce of Fresh and Clean Media, the group that handles media for the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.
It is no longer a question of what people are willing to pay but rather what they are able to pay.
Concerts are a typical part of summer for me
but with gas and ticket prices on the rise there's no way I'm able to afford to go to as many shows as I normally would said Ohio University senior Samantha Pompeo. I wanted to go to Bonnaroo
but I knew there was no way I'd be able to afford it.
The reason for the increased ticket prices is related to the costs of producing the event, Pearce said. As the expenses of the venue, the acts on the bill and the necessary security accumulate, the price for admission must be adjusted accordingly to make a profit.
Prices increased in 2008 mostly due to the talent
said Pearce. Overall
our ticket is under-priced compared to other festivals of the same caliber.
Lollapalooza runs from Aug.1 to 3 and will cost $205 for a regular three-day pass and $80 for a single-day pass.
Aware of the demand for more affordable ticket prices, Bonnaroo ' which took place last month in Manchester, Tenn. ' offered its patrons the option to enroll in a monthly payment plan to make purchasing tickets to the four-day festival more accessible to the masses.
Other summer music festivals are taking these efforts even further. Boogie on the Bricks has been bringing music to the streets of Athens free of charge for the last four years.
The event is made possible through donations made by many local businesses and contributors, said Ric Wasserman, director of Boogie on the Bricks.
Attendance has been doubling each year and reached 6,000 people last summer, Wasserman said.
For other local acts, OU alumnus Brian Ostrander suggests to check out the 10th annual Athens Community Music Festival on Aug. 23. This year's festival will feature more than 30 acts at various locations uptown at a cost of $10.
Proceeds of the festival go to a new trust being set up to help local musicians in need of medical care, Ostrander said.
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