So This Is What Its Come To......
Just about a week ago, I bought tickets to see the reunited Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen, who will be making a stop here in Fresno on August 14th.
Van Halen
Save Mart Center, Fresno, CA
Saturday August 14, 2004 7:30 pm
Seat location: section 124, row T, seats 11-14
Total Charge: $449.35
Did you see the total for four tickets? That's about 50 bucks more than the monthly payment on Mary's Solara. It's more than half our monthly mortgage and pretty much $429.35 more than I have in my wallet at any given time. If I'm carrying more than twenty bucks cash, I'm either in Vegas, at a concert or Mary doesn't feel like carrying her purse at a baseball game.
I can rationalize the hell out of paying out to see a show, but c'mon, four and a half bills? I have all the confidence in the world that I will have an absolute blast that night and I look forward to the opportunity to let you all know about it. However, I wonder where the ceiling is on ticket prices. Now that I've paid $450 for tickets to Van Halen, how much would I pay to see some Holy Grail show like a Robert Plant/Jimmy Page/John Paul Jones/Celebrity Drummer Led Zeppelin concert? Hello second mortgage.
This is just the prelude to the actual Van Halen 2004 story. Below you'll see the ticket stub from the first Van Halen concert I saw. Face value: $11.50. Hazy Concert Memory Value: unknown---I won't stoop to the credit card commercial cliche'(priceless), mostly because I don't have much recollection of that show. (This was just my third concert and I wasn't that familiar with VH aside from the album "Diver Down" and whatever mystique that came with the mere uttering of Van Halen amongst the Rock set in school). I do remember liking the show and delving deeper into the Van Halen catalog afterwards. I still consider the David Lee Roth-era VH albums to be among the elite Hard Rock albums of all time.
Now, after paying what I have for the current tour's show, I figure I'm entitled to a guitar lesson from Eddie Van Halen and a Waborita created by and served by Sammy Hagar. I realize that many people paid what I did, and in some cases more, which will result in a longer wait in the guitar lesson and Waborita lines. But I am patient and understanding. Take your time folks; we all paid good money for this treatment, so we'll all have to act like ladies and gentlemen.
Stay tuned for the Van Halen 2004 story coming up this summer. (Wow, that feels like a movie trailer). In the meantime, I will get to other tales including bands like Dio, UFO and Iron Maiden. Thanks for checking in and I apologize for this little tease of a post.
In the words of the most inspirational Apu; Thank you, come again.
Van Halen
Save Mart Center, Fresno, CA
Saturday August 14, 2004 7:30 pm
Seat location: section 124, row T, seats 11-14
Total Charge: $449.35
Did you see the total for four tickets? That's about 50 bucks more than the monthly payment on Mary's Solara. It's more than half our monthly mortgage and pretty much $429.35 more than I have in my wallet at any given time. If I'm carrying more than twenty bucks cash, I'm either in Vegas, at a concert or Mary doesn't feel like carrying her purse at a baseball game.
I can rationalize the hell out of paying out to see a show, but c'mon, four and a half bills? I have all the confidence in the world that I will have an absolute blast that night and I look forward to the opportunity to let you all know about it. However, I wonder where the ceiling is on ticket prices. Now that I've paid $450 for tickets to Van Halen, how much would I pay to see some Holy Grail show like a Robert Plant/Jimmy Page/John Paul Jones/Celebrity Drummer Led Zeppelin concert? Hello second mortgage.
This is just the prelude to the actual Van Halen 2004 story. Below you'll see the ticket stub from the first Van Halen concert I saw. Face value: $11.50. Hazy Concert Memory Value: unknown---I won't stoop to the credit card commercial cliche'(priceless), mostly because I don't have much recollection of that show. (This was just my third concert and I wasn't that familiar with VH aside from the album "Diver Down" and whatever mystique that came with the mere uttering of Van Halen amongst the Rock set in school). I do remember liking the show and delving deeper into the Van Halen catalog afterwards. I still consider the David Lee Roth-era VH albums to be among the elite Hard Rock albums of all time.
Now, after paying what I have for the current tour's show, I figure I'm entitled to a guitar lesson from Eddie Van Halen and a Waborita created by and served by Sammy Hagar. I realize that many people paid what I did, and in some cases more, which will result in a longer wait in the guitar lesson and Waborita lines. But I am patient and understanding. Take your time folks; we all paid good money for this treatment, so we'll all have to act like ladies and gentlemen.
Stay tuned for the Van Halen 2004 story coming up this summer. (Wow, that feels like a movie trailer). In the meantime, I will get to other tales including bands like Dio, UFO and Iron Maiden. Thanks for checking in and I apologize for this little tease of a post.
In the words of the most inspirational Apu; Thank you, come again.
posted by Tony at 10:05 PM
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