As do I. Likewise when I visit the Air Canada Centre I go for the hockey, but the cheering crowd is a large factor in the experience.

Sure, but Woodstock was a festival, not a concert. :)

In my experience, especially in the summer time, weddings are far from rare, special occasions. I've been to more weddings in my life than concerts and I find them deplorable, boring and usually quite offensive. It all comes down to one's perspective, but I digress. A large venue event that often requires plans to coordinate and is looked forward to for some time is a special event. Going to a baseball game with my dad for the first time in over a decade was a special event and we were in cheap seats.

Absolutely and I couldn't agree more. However what I was referring to were the folks who get agitated when any hint comes out that another poster or an article submitter lives at a level higher than subsistence. Even when an article comes out about some new electronic gadget I see people ranting about the "rich yuppie idiots" who have the ability to go out and buy them, etc.

The only people who've implied that thus far are the very same people demonstrating the anti-money sentiment I spoke about.

In another post I'd discussed the notion that when something is a priority in one's life, they will find a way to acheive it. Many people in the stands at concerts are brick layers, sandwich makers, wait staff, ditch diggers, etc. They're not all stock brokers and tycoons.

Firstly, I don't like to think of myself as a "person" of any particular type. Moreover, there is no sense of entitlement here. Am I proud of what I've accomplished in my years in the work force? Absolutely. Would I ever lord it over someone? Absolutely not. Do I think I'm better than anyone because of my economic position in society? Of course not. Now, that's not to say there aren't types of people out there I look down on, but those are for reasons that have nothing to do with money.

What I do see quite often however is people who cast a sense of entitlement on people with money around them. I've actually witnessed a young(ish) gentleman utter something along the lines of "*&^@# rich asshole" as hey keyed a Jaguar parked in a parking lot, doing nothing but occupying one of many available spaces. That's the kind of sentiment I see portrayed here on Slashdot all too often lately that I'm talking about.

What is the impetus from the point of view of the owners of the organization, managers of the band or venue to lower the prices if they're selling out all the seats?

There are only x days per year in which they can schedule an event. There are only y seats in the venue. That allows for (x*y)*$ where y, of course, is a variable depending on seat proximity, colour, amenities, etc.

Now, if the venue is selling out at an aggregate average price of $60 per ticket, and they reduce that average to $30 per ticket, those in the higher income brackets that have always flooded the seats will continue to do so (they'll just have more money left over in their wallets aftwards), still pushing out a lot of the lower income brackets who may not have the ability or speed to purchase tickets quickly, yet the people on the back end will lose 50% of their revenue.

So where's the upside for them to lower their price?!?

Yeah, I've often heard this philosophy myself. When you really boil someone's situation down, however, you typically find choices along the way that one may equate to "bad luck". If you chose to associate with that bad crowd of people and landed in jail - bad luck? If you chose to have unprotected sex and got an STI/STD and/or someone got pregnant - bad luck? If you chose to go rock climbing and fell and broke your legs - bad luck?

There's a million examples, but I see it all the time when people complain about their luck all the while they've made and often continue to make poor choices which lead them further down the path they're on.

Much as I'm not a great believer of things like "The Secret" (movie, book et al.) I do believe quite strongly that one's attitude and outlook will have great bearing on one's successes or failures in life.

The corollary to this is those who always believe someone's out to get them / keep them down. Usually they find themselves being put in an almost constant state of "down" and their attitude becomes self fulfilling.

I do draw the line at positive hopeful outlooks that border on the naivete, however. You can't pray your way out of bankruptcy, folks.

My statement was meant to be taken as a whole. People need to learn to accept their lot in life. If you don't like it, change your situation. Complaining about it focuses negative energy and generally gets you nowhere but further down in the hole.

I'd never presume to make a judgment about what a person has or earns; however I make judgments all the time about someone who earns X but wants to live the lifestyle of someone who earns X*2. I know many people who have combined household incomes that are well below my own income but who are perfectly happy. Conversely, I know people who's incomes are vastly superior to my own who are miserable.

We live to our means and easy credit and "keep up with the Jones's" syndrome runs rampant in our society.

My argument is to live within your means and be happy with what you have. Individuals are the authors of our own destiny. Hence my statement that if you don't like what you have, work to change it. If you're not willing to take positive steps to change what you have; don't complain about it, and certainly don't rail against someone who has [more|better|different] standard of living than you. It does no good for anybody. Am I wrong?

It's not even a case of mentioning money; it seems to be a case where someone mentions something that would require money, and that in and of itself becomes a target of ire.

One of my goals in life was to have stability and financial security. I achieved that some years ago and now I'm working towards the next level. I have my own goals in mind. I also have non monetary goals which I'm also working to achieve. There are people who have other goals in life, many of which are non monetary, which make them happy, and that's great for them.

If you're not happy in what you're doing or where you are, you have to ask yourself why you're doing it or why you're there. If there's a drastic change necessary to alter your situation to the point where you're happy you should consider making it. One area where I draw the line is people who don't feel the need to improve themselves or their personal situations. That's always driven me up the wall.

Back to the topic at hand, if premium concert tickets at major venues is one of your goals in life, you'll prioritize it and find a way to make it happen. If it's not a priority it won't happen. Sometimes it takes sacrifice in other areas of one's life to attain certain other things and that's a choice we all have to make. When I was struggling working 3 jobs to make ends meet, there were times when I decided that I was simply going to have {$X} and there was nothing anybody could to do stand in my way, and I made it happen.

For those who don't like concerts, rock shows, major venues or Ticketmaster; why expend the energy on this thread complaining about it? What good is it accomplishing in their lives?

You need to pay closer attention my friend. I never said I didn't read your post, I merely lost interest in whatever point you were attempting to make because of your ad hominem opening.

It's amazing how much correlation there is between poverty and bitterness.

Hear hear. What people apparently don't realize about those arguments is the fact that they're describing Communism. Everyone should work to the common good, nobody should have more than anybody else, ...

But hey, it worked so well in the Soviet Union, right?

As I said, there's this trend that's cropped up lately that's decidedly anti-money, anti-success, etc. I can get behind the whole anti-corporation and anti-monopoly arguments but aren't we all out to improve ourselves and our lives? If not; why are we here?

Perhaps Slashdot just has a higher than average representation of the lowest rung of the technical ladder. I suppose it makes sense that the most lowly employees of any given company and the unemployed would have disproportionately more time to comment on stories and therefore their group-think would overwhelm the discussions at hand.

Alas, I digress ...

See, you lost me right there. I never said I was rich, I just said I was far from bring poor. I work a lot of hours and yes, I make a decent living. Your sour grapes go nowhere to further your argument and instead make you appear to be a sad, pathetic retch who would rather complain than change something about their life.

As I said before; If you don't like your lot in life, change it. If you don't want to change your lot in life, quit bitching about it. I didn't like my lot in life so I worked to change it. I worked hard and earned every damned penny. So if you think your tirade against people who have earned their success is going to take anything away from me then you're delusional.

Go sit at a free show and delude yourself into thinking this is the be-all and end-all to music. But always remember that the band you're seeing is most likely doing this so they can ultimately wind up in a large venue playing to thousands of fans. That's what drives musicians and that's what created the music industry and those mega successful bands are where your local, indy bands got their inspiration.

Go sit and suffer in silence in the filth you've created for yourself and let the world be.

This I'll agree with. TicketMaster have created a monopoly on the ticket industry and therefore the "convenience" of buying tickets from them is rather akin to a convenience charge to buy Microsoft Windows or gasoline anymore.

This, however, I will wholeheartedly disagree with. The last rock concert I went to at {$Major_Venue} was phenomenal. The crowd of thousands was entirely into the show to the point where people stood when the band fired some cannon shots to start the show and never sat down again. Screaming, yelling, cheering, chanting and thousands of people belting out lyrics to the more lively songs is something you can never experience at a bar. That and extreme pyrotechnics.

There's vast differences between a show at a bar (I've been to hundreds) and a rock concert. Namely a show at a bar is something you can do because it's Friday. A major concert event is an uncommon special occasion.

I've noticed quite a trend of people on Slashdot being anti-money. Is there a problem with people who work hard and earn more than $40k/year (or 50, 60; whatever the waterline may be) or something? Or must one suffer and live in one's parents' basement earning paltry sums in order to maintain credibility?

It's simple market economics. You price a good at a level the market will bear. If you sell tickets for $100 apiece and the show sells out in 6 minutes, you price the next show at $120. If it also sells out in under 10 minutes you know your good is priced below market value and you make future pricing decisions accordingly.

The notion that "real fans" are people who have no money and must go to shows only on half price pint night is rather insulting. I'm a music lover and I assure you I am not poor.

If you don't like your lot in life, change it. If you don't want to change your lot in life, quit bitching about it.

MADD are the reason why in Ontario, if you get stopped at .05 BAC you now get a 3 day suspension and a mark on your insurance history for DUI, which subsequently raises your insurance premiums and could make you unemployable. It used to get you a 12 hour suspension and your car towed to an impound lot. Since you need your license to get your car back it made for quite the inconvenience. Now, however, it could ruin your life even though you're not beyond the legal limit for BAC levels.

Every time we hear about drunk drivers causing harm to themselves or others, the driver is typically reported as having "XX number of times the legal limit" for BAC, meaning 0.16, 0.24, 0.32, etc. The new laws, sadly, are sensationalist and emotionally driven by an organization who strive to prevent anybody but themselves from setting up roadside memorials! They actually stated not so long ago that they wanted to charge some sort of licensing fee, or failing that, punitive fines for anybody who put so much as a wreath or a cross at the site of a vehicular fatality!!

I've left standing instructions that any and all comers are permitted to make deposits to my bank account.

(So long as the cheque clears, that is)

That's quite the rash judgment. An Audi A4, BMW 330, Mercedes C300 are all capable of driving the Autobahn and they're quite reasonably priced for their segments. You'll pay nearly as much for a Nissan Maxima or Toyota Camry XLE.

Incidentally, "Sports Cars" are priced to what the market will bear. These cars are built to handle significantly higher speeds and G forces, contain more luxury appointments and make their drivers feel good about their success.

If you're jealous of somebody who drives a nicer car than you, lives in a nicer dwelling, has nicer things, wears nicer clothes, takes nicer (and/or more frequent) vacations than you; my advice is to either suck up your pride or start working at bettering your lifestyle. Should you be satisfied with your lifestyle, stop taking jabs at people who do live to a higher standard than yourself. Life is too short for such pettiness.

ISTM that "balanced" and "biased" in this context are direct contradictions. But I could be wrong.

Sooo.. Boycott Google if it offends you so much. Otherwise lighten up and quit bitching over petty nonsense?

Just a suggestion. Life is too short.

If my boss walked by when I opened Google and asked what was going on, I'd tell him to go to his computer and go to Google as well. I'd take 10 seconds to explain that it's the 30th anniversary of the game and Google put up a tribute to it, then we'd resume talking about business (or he'd resume walking wherever he was going) and that would be the end of the discussion.

If I ever worked for a boss that was so anal retentive they'd consider discipline for such a thing, or if ever I found myself in a position where by boss trusted me so little as to believe I was wasting time on the company's dime, I'd quit my job and promptly find another.

You can't put hardly anything on a rescue floppy. Conversely, I can put a full suite of diagnostic tools, partition software, anti-virus applications, password recovery tools and then some on a CD and still have plenty of room for expansion. Alternatively, I can put an entire usable Linux distribution on a CD.

I haven't used a rescue floppy in well over a decade.