A ticket stub from the Beatles 1965 concert at Cleveland Stadium is on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the price - $5 if I recall correctly - seems so quaint today.
I almost posted the same thing. But I thought twice, because I KNEW, deep down in my heart, that someone would beat me to it. I love the Dope!
Joe
Weren’t ticket prices back then just a lot lower? I have a few from seeing concerts in the 1980s: R.E.M. at Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ $12.50 in 1984 Talking at at Saratoga 1983 $9.00
From what I remember one reason why the Rolling Stones felt compelled to play a free concert at Altamount in 1969 was “Rolling Stone” magazine ripped them for charging $7.50 for their initial concerts at Madison Square Garden,NY Apparently this price was higher than subsequent dates which wasn’t communicated. So I’m not sure if $5 would be regarded as OMG, freaking cheap good deal!
G
Keep in mind a Beatles concert lasted only about 35 minutes. A lot of concerts back then where what Colonel Parker/Elvis, Motown Motor revue, Alan Freed did: a bunch of groups playing a song or two or real short sets. Even when Presley finally played his first concert in Madison Square Garden in 1974, it was 45 minutes. I remember New York DJ Scott Muni saying he and others who were there expected him to come out for an hour of encores. No, Elvis left the building.
$5 seems like an awful lot for 1965, even for The Beatles (especially in a stadium). I saw The Stones in 1971 (in a hall, with, I think, a capacity of about 2,000), and they cost 17s6d (old British money, which would have been roughly equivalent to $1 back then, I think). The Pink Floyd, in the same venue that same year, were £1, and we considered that exorbitantly expensive (this was before Dark Side of the Moon, too).
In '72 I saw Wings, in the same venue, on their “secret” university tour. (Linda forgot the intro to Wildlife.) IIRC they cost the same as the Stones had done, certainly under £1.
I recently saw a poster advertising Janis Joplin’s 1969 appearance in the “classy” theater in town, the one normally used for the Philharmonic. Tickets were $2.50, $3.50 and $5.00. As an impoverished college freshman in 1968 I couldn’t afford to go to Blood, Sweat, and Tears on campus because tickets were $4.00.
The British pound ranged between $2.50 and $3.00 for most of the 60s, so a pound wouldn’t be that far off. No major group ever was as low as $1.00 in any theater or arena that I remember, even out here in the sticks. I’ve always read that’s one of the reasons British groups liked to come to America. Not only more venues, but more money at each.
Oh, and Chuck, I agree that the Beach Boys hit a low around 1969. They came back strong, though. I saw the tour backing the Holland album in 1973. Not only was it the greatest of all their later albums, and the band expanded to 10 pieces with strong musicians, but Brian Wilson made some appearances. They sold out a huge college arena. (Argent and the Incredible String Band were backups. Good groups but the crowd wasn’t there to see them.) They haven’t had many empty seats since.
I went to one at the Hollywood Bowl in '64 or '65 and it was ridiculous. The screaming was constant (my friends and I certainly screamed our heads off when the boys took the stage but petered out soon thereafter) and unbelievably loud.
I could barely see them (nosebleed seats) and barely hear them, but it was fabulous - er, fab! And just last summer, 45 or so years later, I saw Paul at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Yes, we screamed briefly when he took the stage, just for old times’ sake.
The Hollywood Bowl tickets cost $7.00; the AT&T Park tickets I got for free but I think they were running $300. Oh, and the sound was definitely better in 2010.
Yes - Washington DC, middle of August 1966.
I was between 6th and 7th grade. I looked forward to that concert all summer. It was wonderful - also my first date, with my older brother’s friend Mike. Let us not forget the Ronettes, also on that tour.