-Maybe the Rolling Stones were inspired by their recent cheap Echo Park club gig. Or maybe even their longtime fans have an upper limit on what they can pay for a show these days.
Ahead of the band’s Staples Centre “50 and Counting” show on Friday night, the promoter AEG announced that a new block of more than 1,000 $85 (Dh 312) seats (some of the cheapest on offer) will be made available for last-minute purchase.
AEG told Reuters that the price cut came after a final walk-through of the stage design revealed that more unobstructed seats were available than previously thought.
But fans looking for a last-minute Stones ticket might be surprised that the set from the oft-declared “biggest rock band in the world” is, well, not at all sold out.
As of Thursday, a lot of seats were still available in the $250-$600 range — exactly the high-rolling sections that gave the Stones their past eye-popping ticket grosses. The band grossed $550 million on their last tour in 2005-07, with more than 144 dates.
The new $85 seats will be placed, according to AEG, all around the arena, including in the prime “tongue pit” spot near the stage.
Earlier this week, music-biz spitballer Bob Lefsetz published a scathing take on the Stones’ undersold tour, saying “It’s a disaster” and detailing the many prime seating options still available a week before the show. “The bloom is off the rose, there’s no story, people just don’t care.”
It’s hard to imagine the Stones — famous for triple-digit concert tickets and elaborate tax-avoidance plans — are suddenly offering a whole batch of cheap seats out of a burst of empathy for working-class fans.
But if you got left behind at the El Rey and didn’t want to sell your plasma to make it to Staples, now you might have some options — even if it comes with a small side of humble pie for Jagger and Co.
