Calgary & Area Upcoming Concerts 2022

[Senator Clay Davis]

It's also the algorithms on these ticket sites that have become very good at creating artificial "demand" which leads to a sense of desperation and getting people to commit to full price "or else". Didn't check cause I didn't care, but wouldn't be shocked if below face tickets were available on the resale sites yesterday. Just how they do now, if they can sell even 60% of tickets at original price they can probably give away the remaining tickets and still do well.

[PepsiFree]

I don’t even believe it’s due to a sudden resurgence in popularity. The whole concert/live music landscape has shifted dramatically very recently. Small acts you won’t hear on any conventional radio station can charge $80 and sell out the Grey Eagle. Big acts are charging (and selling out) Saddledome shows where tickets range from $200-1500. Nostalgia bands (like those popular in the 90s) are doing bank, with major acts securing high profile residencies or world tours with multiple sold out dates in repeat cities and smaller acts are easily selling out stadiums again.

The whole game is so weird now. Years ago I would go see whoever just for kicks. Now it’s just local or super small acts and anyone bigger has to be a bucket lister to pay the money/go through the trouble.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

I got tickets a few days before the show for about 30% less than the prices that were showing a month out. Same thing for a show last winter.

If the seats look to be priced out of what seems reasonable, monitor the sites right up until the show date. You'd be surprised what comes up.

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I don’t even believe it’s due to a sudden resurgence in popularity. The whole concert/live music landscape has shifted dramatically very recently. Small acts you won’t hear on any conventional radio station can charge $80 and sell out the Grey Eagle. Big acts are charging (and selling out) Saddledome shows where tickets range from $200-1500. Nostalgia bands (like those popular in the 90s) are doing bank, with major acts securing high profile residencies or world tours with multiple sold out dates in repeat cities and smaller acts are easily selling out stadiums again.

The whole game is so weird now. Years ago I would go see whoever just for kicks. Now it’s just local or super small acts and anyone bigger has to be a bucket lister to pay the money/go through the trouble.

And many indie bands can't afford to tour at all. Those small acts you're talking about are more in the middle.


I'm not going to pay $$$ to see a band that is already rich unless it's a favourite I haven't had the chance to see yet. The Offspring has played here about a dozen times and the biggest venue was the Corral. There's no way they should be playing big arena show now except for the fact that their fans have gotten to the age where they have more disposable income. They were relegated to the Round Up and Cowboys tents in the recent past.


I wish more people would spend $50 to see new bands instead of $300 to see a relic.

[trackercowe]

I got $60 last minute seats to Offspring in Edmonton. Drink rail, but actually better than anything in the upper bowl. I only had to be seated next to one obnoxious Oilers fan instead of many! The show was great. Fun crowd, and the acoustics were really good. Bad Religion was good too, and I was able to relive all my Crazy Taxi favourties!

$60 is basically my benchmark for concerts these days. Unless it's someone special or great seats I won't bother. Oilers games are even worse... I paid $140 each for nosebleeds to the Penguins game last week. I can't fathom how anyone is paying asking price for most events these days. I'm still lamenting why I paid $500 to see a third rate World Cup game in Vancouver.

[DownInFlames]

Metric, Stars, and Broken Social Scene are touring together. The only Canadian date so far is in Toronto but hopefully that changes.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by aaronck

Anyone go to the Offspring show? How was it?

It was great. Was a nice throwback. Bad religion was good too. Looked like a sell out from the box I was in.

[woob]

I didn't go, but read lots of praise for Bad Religion. People were pleased they got pretty much a full set, rather than an opening band set.

[DownInFlames]

Reverend Horton Heat is playing Dickens June 12-13 with the Surfrajettes. Talk about nostaligia!

[habernac]

Saw them open for Motörhead years ago. RHH is fantastic live.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by DownInFlames

Metric, Stars, and Broken Social Scene are touring together. The only Canadian date so far is in Toronto but hopefully that changes.

Oh man I forgot about Stars.

They're like the indie little brother of Arcade Fire.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by aaronck

Anyone go to the Offspring show? How was it?

First of all, it was a Bad Religion show and they let Offspring go after them so they could bail before Pretty Fly for a White Guy came on.

Both bands were really good, though. Offspring extended their between-song banter a bit much at a couple points, but they're nice guys (versus arrogant or too-cool-for-school rock stars that can be a bit of an eyeroll) and put on a tight show. You have to tolerate their nerdy songs, but it is worth it for some of the other ones you get to hear.

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I don’t even believe it’s due to a sudden resurgence in popularity. The whole concert/live music landscape has shifted dramatically very recently. Small acts you won’t hear on any conventional radio station can charge $80 and sell out the Grey Eagle. Big acts are charging (and selling out) Saddledome shows where tickets range from $200-1500. Nostalgia bands (like those popular in the 90s) are doing bank, with major acts securing high profile residencies or world tours with multiple sold out dates in repeat cities and smaller acts are easily selling out stadiums again.

The whole game is so weird now. Years ago I would go see whoever just for kicks. Now it’s just local or super small acts and anyone bigger has to be a bucket lister to pay the money/go through the trouble.

Nah, this isn't it at all. My Sum41 tickets in the fall were $50. My Bad Religion/Offspring tickets were $50. Seats are fine. I've seen most of my old favourite bands plenty and in smaller venues, so $50 for a Dome show is a steal to get to enjoy live music played by bands you've enjoyed for a long time.

I think maybe you've assumed the tickets are expensive for these 90s bands, but they're really not. They're hilariously cheap. Just get the cheap $50 seats and enjoy it for what it is.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Nah, this isn't it at all. My Sum41 tickets in the fall were $50. My Bad Religion/Offspring tickets were $50. Seats are fine. I've seen most of my old favourite bands plenty and in smaller venues, so $50 for a Dome show is a steal to get to enjoy live music played by bands you've enjoyed for a long time.

I think maybe you've assumed the tickets are expensive for these 90s bands, but they're really not. They're hilariously cheap. Just get the cheap $50 seats and enjoy it for what it is.

I wasn’t saying smaller nostalgia acts are expensive, just that they’re able to sell out stadiums now where even a few years ago this would be acts playing smaller venues or opening for bigger acts instead of headlining something on their own.

The expensive tickets are for bands that are actually current/popular today with younger generations. And those prices aren’t an exaggeration, either. That’s what tickets for ASAP Rocky were/are going for at the Dome.

If you want to see a band that has put out a relevant album in the last decade, or one that hasn’t but is in the absolute “upper crust” of nostalgia acts (like Oasis for example), then it’s a lot more difficult or expensive.

[photon]

Alanis Morissette is at the Stampede this year. I wanted to get in the presale but you have to be a Calgary Stampede Insider.. I just signed up for that but not sure how that works, do they email a code? Maybe they've sent the code out already so people don't just sign up at the last minute to get the code like me?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by photon

Alanis Morissette is at the Stampede this year. I wanted to get in the presale but you have to be a Calgary Stampede Insider.. I just signed up for that but not sure how that works, do they email a code? Maybe they've sent the code out already so people don't just sign up at the last minute to get the code like me?

Yeah they just email you the code the morning of, assuming you’re on the mailing list in time (depending on how they schedule it).

DM me if you don’t get it and I’ll send it to you/post it here.

It’s probably CSALANIS

[Voodooman]

Originally Posted by photon

Alanis Morissette is at the Stampede this year. I wanted to get in the presale but you have to be a Calgary Stampede Insider.. I just signed up for that but not sure how that works, do they email a code? Maybe they've sent the code out already so people don't just sign up at the last minute to get the code like me?

Looks like Alanis and A$AP Rocky are the only Dome shows for Stampede this year. There was a tech rider circulating a few weeks back for Jelly Roll, but that didn't come to pass, likely as he is doing 2 shows in Edmonton later in July with Post Malone on the all dirtbag tour.

Stampede has had a huge shakeup in the organization. They folded Stampede Entertainment, that did all the booking for music during Stampede (Coke Stage, Nashville, Big 4, Dome) and are allegedly trying to do it all in-house right now, and the new talent booker is from the US. They're very late to the game for acts for this year, but in the usual Stampede way, they'll throw bags of money at it to fix the problem.

[photon]

Holy, $440 for close seats for Alanis Morissette?!?!

That's kind of crazy...

$150 for the cheapest..

Maybe I'll wait and see if anyone is selling some at the last minute..

[woob]

That's a tough jagged little pill to swallow.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I wasn’t saying smaller nostalgia acts are expensive, just that they’re able to sell out stadiums now where even a few years ago this would be acts playing smaller venues or opening for bigger acts instead of headlining something on their own.

The expensive tickets are for bands that are actually current/popular today with younger generations. And those prices aren’t an exaggeration, either. That’s what tickets for ASAP Rocky were/are going for at the Dome.

If you want to see a band that has put out a relevant album in the last decade, or one that hasn’t but is in the absolute “upper crust” of nostalgia acts (like Oasis for example), then it’s a lot more difficult or expensive.

The last expensive show I went to see was the Weeknd. It was like $250 a ticket for okay seats. I had to buy one for the wife too. This was a couple of years ago, and he was pretty massive at the time.

The audience was mostly Millennials though, so not young kids. Millennials have more money to waste.

Tickets for Billie Eilish, who appeals more to young people, were a similar price though, going from $200-600.

Inflationwise, prices have almost doubled since I was in high school and gone up about 1.5 times since I was in my mid-20s. I think I would have paid like $80-90 for a big show in my mid to late 20s. So you're still looking at a 30-50% price increase on top of inflation.

I always wonder how kids are affording the tickets? Kids with rich parents are going to the shows? Kind of a shame if that's the case.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Pretty sure Ticketmaster has deals with those payment plan apps like Klarna so I wouldn't be shocked if that was how. Or, the tried and true way, just rack up CC debt.