Really Bret Michaels? Really?

Back in the good ol' days, I remember when music was good and concert ticket prices were reasonable. In today's world, I can't tell the difference between Nickelback and a pile of poo, and now I have to sell my soul just to get a ticket in the nose bleed section for a good show.

Case & point: Bret Michaels. Now, I love me some Bret Michaels...pre Rock of Love of course. Last week, he played in Columbus at one of my favorite venues, the Alrosa Villa. Did I go? Not a chance in hell. Why? Because tickets were $35. Really? Just because he's got a hit reality show on VH1, he has the audacity to charge his fans $35 to get into a dirty, little bar? When he played at the Alrosa a year and a half ago, tickets were $20. A few of my friends gawked at that price, but we went anyway. We had a good time even though his guitartist had the goofiest joker like smile across his face the whole time and it drove me insane. Even though I had fun, I would have rather spent $20 to see Poison instead of Bret Michaels and some band.

Charging people $35 to get into any small club is ludacris to me no matter who you are. I don't even think tickets for Poison's summer tour last year cost that much. Now rumor has it that Poison is touring this summer, and I can only imagine what assanine price they will charge for these tickets. I can remember when my big brother paid $13.50 to see Motley Crue in an arena during the Theater of Pain tour (I wasn't allowd to go and I'm emotionally scarred from it). Granted, that was over 20 years ago, but ticket prices for most major tours these days are absolutely outrageous. That's one of the reasons why it took me so long to see Aerosmith in concert...because I couldn't afford to buy a freaking ticket. That is one of the reasons I haven't seen Bon Jovi play in over 5 years (that and they didn't play anything off their first album the last time I saw them). I paid around $50 for the worst seats in the place, and they were selling Bon Jovi tank tops for $45 (Yeah, I bought one). Thank god I wasn't a drinker back then because I would have had to take out a loan just to go and have a good time.

I suppose it all boils down to economy and the basics of supply and demand or inflation. Maybe that's why I can't wrap my mind around these outrageous ticket prices...because I could barely pass economics in college anyway. Or maybe it's all about greed. These boys are just trying to get a piece of that almighty dollar. I understand that they need to make a buck, but could you cut me a break here?

It's not that I don't think Bret Michaels is worth $35. OK, I take that back. After his decision to do Rock of Love, I don't think he's worth $35. However, I do think seeing Poison is worth $35. And isn't that all we want to hear anyway? Now, with the surge in popularity of 80's hair bands, the price of tickets to see our favorite cock rock bands is only going to sky rocket. I'm willing to pay a pretty stupid price to relive the glory days with some of my favorite bands, but they just have to realize that we're not all millionaires, you know?