Barbra Streisand on tour, at £100+ per ticket: no thanks

Barbra Streisand is about to tour Europe, with a London gig on 18 July. Tickets, according to a report in yesterday’s Independent, are priced from £100 to £500 each.

I don’t get the attraction of Ms Streisand. I wouldn’t go to this gig if she paid me £100 and transported me by helicopter to my free front row seat: I’d much rather stay home and toughen up the pit bull terrier or clear the pond of duck weed.

But this isn’t really about Babs. It’s about how ticket prices for Baby Boomer gigs are creeping ever upwards. I once paid £450 for three front row seats at the Royal Opera House and have been sick at the thought of it ever since.

I vowed never again. Now I struggle to justify paying £30 for a gig ticket. Hell, you could buy 5 good albums, or 10 shirts, for that sort of dough! £50 for a Stones show, along with 75,000 other suckers in a football stadium? Non merci.

If I pay over £30 now, it has to be a rarity gig (Leonard Cohen?) in a decent venue. If Lenny charges £40 or plays Wembley Arena, he can stick it - I won’t be helping him rebuild his depleted pension fund.


Gerry Smith