Tickets Not So High After All?

Apparently after all that balking about ticket prices sales appear to be up.
According to a recent article in the Ithaca journal (with information culled from Pollstar I presume) ticket sales are up 20% for the first half of 2006. In addition to the usual suspects, comedy acts like Jerry Seinfeld and Larry the Cable Guy had great record sales as did rock band Fall Out Boy.

The robust market is a bit of a surprise. Last summer, many said that high ticket prices accounted for a drop in the number of tickets sold in the first half of 2005.

But this year, “the really huge acts haven't seen that much price resistance,” says Pollstar Editor-in-Chief Gary Bongiovanni.

Fans paid as much as $350 to see Madonna (not including third-party sales), with the average ticket going for $186. A typical Stones seat cost $170. By contrast, the average ticket last year for U2 — the biggest draw at this point in the 2005 season — cost $97.

Of course, we are all waiting for the drop off point which may be around the corner, with $750 tickets on a slow trickle for Barbara Streisand.

Full article here.