ROCK-O-LLECTIONS

By Frank “Smokin” Truat

Now that the warmer weather is with us, musical concerts are getting into full swing. The outdoor venues are featuring the biggest artists, while theaters and local towns are offering concerts, some of them absolutely, free! Those bigger venues have unfortunately instituted pricing that leaves the average concert fan settling for seats that are far away from the stage, while still paying high prices just to get any seat still unsold. This was the case for the Rolling Stones at Metlife Stadium. Paying beaucoup dollars to get a semi-decent seat seemed a bit absurd. The demand for many of these artists who are aging out of the business is so high and who knows how high these prices will eventually go before they reach their plateau. Artists like The Rolling Stones always had a huge following but seeing them now is all the more important. There are those that always see them, those who have never seen them before, and there’s young people who know the music and want to see one of the icons of rock and roll while they’re still performing. 

These huge audiences have driven up pricing to the point where the best seats are only for the ones who want to shell  it out no matter the price or do not care what they pay to see these icons.  So, if money were no objective, and you could get great seats for an artist, who would you want to see? Of course, if you could bring back some of the artists we have lost, I would have loved to have seen Elvis, the original Beatles, Whitney Houston and Sinatra just to name a few. For the living artists, since I could not rationalize spending over three hundred dollars per ticket to see The Rolling Stones, they are still a bucket list item for me. 

I’m sure they’ll be around in some form down the road, although logic dictates ticket prices will be even higher! Rod Stewart is another artist I would love to see the next time he comes around. I have never seen Stevie Wonder, another artist high on my list. I have been fortunate enough to see many of my favorite artists over the years, like The Carpenters, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Ringo Starr, Harry Chapin, Billy Joel, Chicago, Olivia Newton-John and Dionne Warwick. There’s always something special seeing these artists you grew up with performing live on a concert stage. It’s very mesmerizing as everything has come full circle. Here is this song I heard a zillion times, I bought the record, and now, here it is live right in front of me. So, start searching early for those great summer concerts, score some great seats at a great price, and maybe I’ll see you there!