Maybe I'm Amazed at These Prices

I had a stroke of genius... then I almost had a stroke. The idea was to surprise Mrs. Linear Tracking Lives! with tickets to see Sir Paul in New York. I am an unapologetic fanatic of McCartney. I even love his '80s stuff, and I'm not ashamed to say it. My mother was going to watch the kids for a night while we whisked off to Citi Field in Flushing, followed by a post-concert night on the town in Manhattan on July 18. I was pretty excited to see him on the same grounds The Beatles played when Shea Stadium opened 44 years ago. Now he was opening the new stadium.

The tickets went on sale this past Monday morning at 9AM central time. Seat prices were as follows: The best seats, called floor center, were a whopping $275 each. These are right in front of the stage, located in center field. These seats were too rich for my blood. The next level of seats, called floor side, were still on the field but to the side of the stage. The next level, called field side, were box seats from first base to the right-field corner and third base to the left-field corner. Both the floor-side and field-side seats were $175. This is a lot of money, to be sure, but these two areas were my target. If I'm flying all the way to New York from Chicago, I want to be close enough that I'm not watching a Jumbotron all night. If I couldn't get these seats, I would pass on the experience. For the record, the rest of the seats were priced between $49.50 and $99.50.

If you have bought tickets for an arena-style show online at sale time, you can guess what happened. I was in a virtual waiting room that refreshed my computer every 60 seconds as I "lined up" for my turn. After an hour or so (yes, just about everything should have been snagged by this point), I was finally told I could get a "Silver Hot Seat Package". Well, they would be field-side seats, which is what I wanted, and it even came with a few other things. There would be access to a pre-hospitality room with food, an exclusive merchandise item and a collectible laminate. The price, however would not be $175. It would be $450 per seat. Yes, I would have to pay $900 for two seats (before taxes and fees). For the additional money I imagine I would have received cold broccoli and carrots on a paper plate and a Happy Meal-style prize. As for the laminate, my ticket stub is the only souvenir I needed. The bottom line is I just want to hear the music. Needless to say, I took a pass with no regrets. How much do you think is too much to see a Beatle? Here is one of his '80s songs that seems apropos.

Paul McCartney - Take It Away (mp3)