Well, I didn’t post the last couple of days. Busy week at work laser focused on a commercial property tax Magistrate trial court preparation due end of this month, then a great half ski day (9am-1pm) at the Mt. Hood Meadows yesterday by myself. What a privilege to be healthy, able-bodied, in shape, and residing on a beautiful region of the planet. The joys of having Fridays off with a 4/10s schedule too has been awesome.

One of the things that I am a big believer in is live music. Like my dad who I can credit with starting the idea, I have kept mostly good track of the concerts I’ve been to, and my tally is up to 180 concerts tonight! I’m missing a few bars, clubs, and blues festival events, so all said and done I’m probably near 200 or so. While I’ve definitely lost a bit of my hearing, I’m still good about wearing earplugs at super loud shows. But I’ve felt like I’ve “needed” earplugs less over time, which has been the telltale sign mis orejas aren’t what they once were.

The biggest acts performed on the biggest stages are often impressive for a reason. Even artists who aren’t “my music,” such as Beyonce, were amazing live (she was the biggest concert I’ve ever been to, as well as the most expensive one, at over well over $400 per ticket, for average “mid” 200s level seats, at sold out Seahawks stadium).

I’ve heard many terms for it, but surveillance pricing, or algorithmically adjusted pricing is getting really predatory and bad, but it’s especially egregious for concerts. Sure, my Instacart trial that jacked up the price of toothpaste by 28 cents, or peanut butter by 41 cents if I buy it during “peak” times is questionable at best, but I can always go to the store in-person as a backup. Airline tickets at least have different times available, and usually some competition that consumers can choose from. But you’re favorite act that you love, that you want to see live? Not so much.

I was also deeply disappointed to learn today that the Insomniac Events CEO, Pasquale Rotella, one of the biggest, if not the biggest promoter of EDM festivals, is a fucking Trump supporter! Absolutely disgusting, and in dark opposition to the “peace, love, unity, respect” (aka PLUR) culture ubiquitously valued in the rave community, a much higher echelon beyond greed, of course. Similarly, Live Nation has cozied up to the Trump administration, and a simple Google search shows a plethora of media attention surrounding Richard Grenell, a Trump-ally being added to their board last year.

I hurl all of my justified vitriol at the woefully under-regulated Live Nation-TicketMaster (or more accurately, TicketFucker) industrial complex. Gone seem to be the days where presales mattered, or when people would use physical cash in small denominations to pay for secondhand market tickets outside. It feels like eternity ago! Who knew I’d feel nostalgia for laminated seating charts at actual box offices, with actual people, with fixed, established prices? Equal prices for equal seats is what we need the law to say, folks. Really that simple. Now there is no face value! And all it does it incentivize scalping, at every level, and prevent the legitimate fans from getting the best seats at the best prices. Sure, TicketFucker’s app is slick and works seamlessly. But who gives a fuck? I’d rather have a physical ticket anyways, or at least an emailed one with a QR code since it’s not the pre-pandemic days of the 2000s and 2010s anymore.

We have pay equity laws, that require equal pay for equal work (of course, it actually being practiced and enforced fairly is another story), but why don’t we have that for concert tickets? Worse yet, Live Nation owns the Gorge Amphitheater rather than the State of Washington, as contrasted with Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. Thankfully Red Rocks is publicly-owned property that will hopefully always stay that way, even if private contracts exist with vendors or promoters.

I’m not saying big artists at stadiums would charge prices low like local spots, but nose bleeds should not be $400, when a close up floor level Rush ticket used to be, I don’t know, maybe $140-$160 at the very high end? And that was a true splurge! Even adjusted for headline inflation, maybe that would be in the low $200s range in 2026 dollars.

One of the things that I loved about Goose was their ticket lottery. Hardcore fans would get a chance to get the lottery, and if they struck out, the presale would happen. And prices were GA, all the same. When suspected bots ended up getting seats at Red Rocks, Goose refunded them and re-sold them, so their actual fans got first priority. Respect.

Also, I must give a shoutout to Billie Eilish as well, who was amazing live, and rightfully coerced TicketFucker to play by her rules, and not resell tickets above face value. In other words, you scalp, or need to resell, and you are required to sell at a slight loss due to fees. Once that happened, her actual fans got the seats instead of people with not wanting to see her and looking to make a quick buck. Incentives really do matter.

We all have to make our coin, and participate in the “free market,” capitalist world we live in. But scalping is just straight up bad ticket karma, whether you’re the slimy platform, or the slimy individual. A Goose fan thanked me one time for actually charging face value, and walking him into the venue and being honest. I was like “of course my dude! It would be unconscionable and sacreligious to scam someone, let alone profit on a sacred musical experience meant to be shared as one, in unity.” He laughed endearingly, and gratefully, to say the least. Wholesome moment indeed.

OK, rant over. Onto more positive shit:

A small tech company probably isn’t going to put out an app as intuitive and integrative as Google or Apple could, or even TicketFucker. But you know what? I don’t care, because I love supporting post-pandemic smaller venues like The Get Down, and Realm PDX in SE Portland who don’t use these platforms. Ticket prices are GA, price increases at certain times are transparent, and affordable, with many shows being $20-$30 with fees. That’s how it SHOULD be! It just feels good to support local places and smaller artists.

It’s how I feel about commerce more broadly. Sometimes you can’t avoid supporting Amazon or Walmart, and I get it. But my wife and I are really trying to support smaller businesses where feasible and reasonable, and when we can’t, we’re trying to support places like WinCo, Bi-Mart, or Costco, which typically have low prices, and better employee and/or business practices comparatively.

Anyhow, one of these days I’ll add some more visuals rather than a wall of text soon. Just trying to blog what I can.