Irish ticket prices up to 90% more expensive
Prices for artists like Robbie Williams, Pink, and Radiohead are up to €20 per ticket more expensive for concerts here.
An Irish Examiner investigation into online ticket agencies reveals big name concerts are routinely cheaper abroad than here.
For instance, the lowest-priced tickets to see pop minx Pink are €21 in the Finnish capital Helsinki — compared to €40.70 in Dublin, a difference of 93%.
Online tickets to see Radiohead play Dublin are €55.50 — but they are €47 at top British venues.
Fans of media darling Robbie Williams have had to fork out €65-85 to see him at Croke Park.
By comparison, punters attending his gig at Glasgow’s Hampden Park have paid €57-65.
In Gothenburg, Sweden, the cost is €42-69.
British fans of Bruce Springsteen paid €55-68 to see the Manchester date of his tour while Dublin concert-goers paid €75-85.
Fans of Take That have had to pay €45-65 to see them in action in Dublin against €39-55 to see them up the N1/M1 in Belfast.
However, it’s not all bad news.
At €66.50 to €86.50, tickets for Billy Joel’s Dublin date are up to 25% cheaper than concerts in Birmingham, London and Hamburg.
The cheapest tickets to see opera singer Andrea Bocelli in Kilkenny are €55 — compared to €85 in Sweden.
Industry insiders put the blame for high Irish ticket prices on a range of factors from the size of venues, insurance and wages costs to the distance artists have to travel to get to Ireland.
Ticketmaster, which runs the websites seen by the Irish Examiner, said ticket prices were determined by the artist and promoters.
In many cases online customers had to pay a service charge to cover Ticketmaster’s costs and profits.
Promoter MCD, which handles Robbie Williams, Radiohead and Billy Joel, said ticket prices in Ireland included booking fees whereas in those in Britain excluded the charge.
Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions said the costs faced by promoters were among the highest in Europe.
But he said: “We don’t make any more or any less than our counterparts in Europe. It’s a level playing field. Artists are not going to say ‘We’ll charge more in Ireland than elsewhere’.”
Last month the Competition Authority called for greater clarity in the prices paid by consumers.
