CMT Blog: Van Morrison

One reason I like bluegrass music so much is because I can always pick out the melody. Sometimes in modern music, the production value is so heavy that you can’t really hear much besides a screaming guitar and obnoxious drumming. That’s definitely not the case when it comes to Ricky Skaggs, or with The Punch Brothers, led by Chris Thile (formerly of Nickel Creek). Also, check out the very cool banjo riffs in k.d. lang’s “Coming Home.” Reminds me of “Gentle on My Mind.” And yes, I know that Panic! At the Disco is not a country band, but I really like this tune. It starts out with a blast of that thick production that I mentioned earlier, but in this case, I think it’s folkin’ great.

Ricky Skaggs - “Why Did You Wander”

Kathy Mattea - “Coming of the Roads”

Van Morrison - “Keep It Simple”

Hayes Carll - “Knockin’ Over Whiskeys”

k.d. lang - “Coming Home”

Gibson Brothers - “Long Way Down”

Longview - “Baptism of Jesse Taylor”

Punch Brothers - “Sometimes”

Justin Townes Earle - “Who Am I to Say”

Garrison Starr - “Unchangeable”

Panic! At the Disco - “Folkin’ Around“

Yeah, it’s good old American capitalism and supply-and-demand economics, but where do you draw the line on how much you’re willing to spend for a concert ticket? A case in point is Van Morrison’s March 13 concert in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium. With a seating capacity of less than 2,400, the Ryman really is one of the best places in the world to experience a concert. And you expect to pay a premium price for the opportunity to see an artist perform in such an intimate setting, as opposed to the Enormo Dome. However, with peers such as Bob Dylan somehow managing to keep their tickets below the $100 threshold at the Ryman, I thought it was outrageous in 2006 when Morrison charged up to $125 for tickets to a show promoting his country album, Pay the Devil. This time around for Van, it’s $130 for the “cheap seats” — with prices topping out at $200.

Granted, the $200 price tag is in line with what some veteran rock acts are charging for tickets to arena shows, but then you get into the gray area of ticket brokers and scalpers. (Some would argue the two are the same.) For Morrison’s 2006 show, scalpers outside the Ryman were asking as much as $1,000 per ticket, although I never heard if there were any takers at that price.

Maybe Van Morrison actually has the right idea. Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks are two country artists who, to their absolute credit, have always tried to keep their ticket prices within reach of working class Americans. To the best of my knowledge, Chesney has never surpassed the $100 mark for primo seats to his all-day, all-star stadium shows. However, one ticket brokering firm recently confirmed that their clients paid an average of $161 for tickets to Chesney’s concerts in 2007. And that’s just an average. And the extra money goes to the ticket brokers — not the artists. So maybe Morrison figures he should take his fair share of what the ticket market will bear.

The scary part, though, is the thought that attending a concert will eventually become an elitist activity open only to those who have a limitless amount of money or available credit on their charge cards.