$160 price shock for AC/DC fans

BY TOM CARDY

Their dirty deeds may be done dirt cheap but when it comes to seeing rock legends AC/DC, fans can expect to be thunderstruck by the hefty ticket price.

All tickets to the Australian rockers' concert at Westpac Stadium on January 28 will cost $159.90.

Wellington is the first date of the band's Australasian tour and tickets go on sale on July 28. The band will also perform at Auckland's Western Springs on February 4.

It is the first rock concert at the stadium not to vary ticket prices. Even The Rolling Stones in 2006 seen by a crowd of 40,000 had ticket prices from $55 to $350. When AC/DC last played New Zealand in 1996, tickets cost $59 (the equivalent of $77 today).

The band's long-time promoter, Garry Van Egmond, said the price of general admission tickets to stand on the pitch  - usually some of the cheapest -  would have been higher if they had not set one price for all tickets. A big factor was the preference of AC/DC audiences wanting to stand on the pitch to see the band, rather than be seated.

About half the ticket sales to AC/DC's shows in Australia had been for general admission, rather than reserved seating. "That was one way of keeping them down to one price. Our audience has widened much more, it's now young kids to 60-year-olds."

Mr Van Egmond said people also had to take into account the scale of the show.

It will have the equivalent of 48 semi-trailers of equipment transported to the stadium by train. It will have more than 120 crew, and about another 380 people employed on the night.

AC/DC fan Darrell Burton, of Foxton, did not think the price was too high. Burton is the lead singer of Sniper Alley, which performs AC/DC tribute shows around the North Island.

"People would sell their car if they're AC/DC fans to go to that concert if they couldn't afford it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity really."

He said the single ticket price was reasonable because it considered the size of the show. "They are used to playing to crowds of 100,000, therefore the dollar value has to match the production value."

Top five Westpac Stadium ticket prices:

1. The Rolling Stones: April 18, 2006.
Most expensive: $350. Cheapest: $55

2. Elton John: December 6, 2006
Most expensive: $325. Cheapest: $80

3. The Police: January 17, 2008
Most expensive: $250. Cheapest: $100

4. Rock2Wgtn: March 22-23, 2008
Most expensive: $200 (one day). Cheapest: $75

5. David Bowie: February 14, 2004
Most expensive: $175. Cheapest: $95

* Is $160 too much to see AC/DC? Will you be going to the shows? Post your comments below.

- © Fairfax NZ News