A number of Arctic Monkeys fans have taken to social media to complain about the price of tickets to the band’s upcoming UK and Ireland tour.
In support of their long-awaited sixth album ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino‘, the Sheffield four-piece this week announced a string of arena dates on home turf, kicking off in September.
Many have noted that outlets such as Ticketmaster and SeeTickets have tickets priced between around £45 and £80. However, NME has been informed that across the whole tour, the cheapest seats are £39.50 with the best seats priced at £69.50. The ticket price of their last UK show in 2014 was £55 – which is roughly the average cost for the upcoming dates.
NME polled its Twitter followers, and at the time of publishing found that around 50% would be willing to pay £30-£50 for the experience of seeing Arctic Monkeys live:
How much would you be willing to pay for an Arctic Monkeys ticket to their 2018 arena tour?
— NME (@NME) April 10, 2018
Many fans feel like the upper echelon of prices are too expensive – with some pointing out that tickets to the previous tour for ‘AM’ in 2013 were around the £30-£50 range.
https://twitter.com/lydiahamer/status/983652423628656640
Ha ha been waiting since 2012 to see @ArcticMonkeys to find out I should have probs started saving back then so I could pay for a £70 ticket on Friday?
— Rachel Murray (@RachelMurray777) April 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/lou_lou_belle34/status/983396908403249153
£80 for an #ArcticMonkeys ticket have a day off Im seeing the DMA’s soon and tickets are under 20 pound and they are fuxking amazing ✌?
— The Magic Mod ?✌? (@TaylorMod) April 9, 2018
arctic monkeys trying to charge 80 quid for tickets? pic.twitter.com/wdZfMEJm4n
— declan (@nosebIunt) April 9, 2018
damn I think arctic monkeys have been living in America too long. £80 for tickets? I think you mean 80$ which is £45 you yee-haw cowboy boot leather jacket mong
— harry dawson ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (@_harrydawson) April 9, 2018
apparently the quality of an arctic monkeys show has improved so much it’d cost twice that of the last tour. daylight robbery pic.twitter.com/sFaEpPpOaD
— sAGE of aquarius (@sambrock_) April 9, 2018
Arctic monkeys charging up to £76 for a ticket is tory behaviour
— Guy (@_GuyJones) April 9, 2018
Others however, were a little more understanding of the cost and were just excited for the band to hit the road:
£80 only to see Arctic Monkeys! What a steal! For them. https://t.co/VHkuYyjHqm
— Omar Hoxton (@Omarhoxton) April 10, 2018
HAHAHAHAH IF U THINK IM GONNA PAY £70 FOR ARCTIC MONKEYS TICKETS THEN
ur absolutely right
— rhianna?? (@rhiannaholme) April 10, 2018
Funny watching loads of indie lads lose their shit at £65 for an Arctic Monkeys’ ticket when pop music fans have been spending closer to £100 for their concerts for about half a decade now.
— Simon Pursehouse (@Pursehouse) April 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/kurthallam97/status/983283034131697664
NME has contacted an Arctic Monkeys’ representative for a response. Fans are also reminded that the surname of the person who made the purchase will be printed on the ticket, and they will need to be present. This makes life difficult for touts, but means that people will not be able to buy tickets for others without them in attendance.
It must of course be noted that ticket prices across the board have been on the rise in recent years – and have even doubled since the ’90s.
A study conducted by BBC 5 live’s Wake Up to Money earlier this year looked at data from the National Arenas Association, which monitors prices across 21 major UK music venues. It found that, taking inflation into account, prices have risen by 27 percent. In 1999, the average arena gig ticket cost £22.58 (or £37.20 in today’s prices), compared to £45.49 in 2016 (£47.14 today).
John Corr of Sound Moves commented on the findings: “People complain about the cost of the tickets… but when they understand the scale of what goes on in the background they begin to get an understanding of why we’ve got to the cost we have.”
“People’s expectations keep rising – do they want a musical performance or do they want a show? With Beyonce, when the Formation tour was announced, demand was huge and they extended it in the US.
“What had been a predominantly ocean [freight] solution to get it to the start of the European tour in Sunderland needed to have increased air freight… We flew five 747s, which was the core show, into Prestwick and two 747s of stage components into Doncaster.”
Arctic Monkeys release new album ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ on May 11.
Tour dates and tickets
Full dates are below, and you can buy tickets here from 9am on Friday, April 13.
- September 6/7 2018 – Manchester Arena
- September 9/10 – The O2 Arena, London
- September 15 – Birmingham Arena
- September 18/19 – FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
- September 24 – 3Arena, Dublin
- September 27 – Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle