Arcade Fire defend price of Irish gig tickets

CANADIAN ROCK band Arcade Fire have taken the unusual step of responding to criticism from Irish fans about prices for their concert in the O2 in December.

Manager Scott Rodger said Arcade Fire would never try to rip off their fans.

Tickets go on pre-sale this morning and are priced between €55.80 and €66.70, but those who buy seating tickets through Ticketmaster will have to pay €73.05.

Arcade Fire have spent a second week at No 1 in the Irish album charts with their latest release The Suburbsand have a huge fan base here. However, the pricing arrangements have provoked some furious comments from fans.

Mr Rodger responded to a thread on Irish Timesmusic journalist Jim Carroll's On the Record blog in which fans of the band described the €73 ticket price as "shockingly extortionate", "the straw that broke the back for a lot of us" and "a herd of bullwinkles".

They contrasted the prices with those being charged to see the band in the UK – £31.25 (€37.90) in the LG Arena in Birmingham and £34.50 (€42) in the O2 in London on the same tour.

The concert on December 5th here will also feature Vampire Weekend and Devendra Banhart.

Mr Rodger responded by saying that Ireland was an expensive country to get to, as was the UK, but the costs of playing in the UK were defrayed by being in a position to play many shows there (they are doing 10 in the UK).

While Arcade Fire get to control the price of the ticket, he said they could not control the fees charged by Ticketmaster. He urged fans to buy tickets at the lowest possible price from the band’s website. The tickets go on general release on Friday.

Mr Rodger said they aimed to give value for the money in Dublin by paying Vampire Weekend, a major act in their own right, a “real fee” while absorbing what they could within the ticket price.

He pointed out that they also donated the entire fee of $1 million (€775,000) from several recent shows to charity to help earthquake victims in Haiti.

He also took the step of asking fans to e-mail him with their observations about ticket prices.

“I’d be happy to talk with anyone about this as the band are not in any way attempting to rip off their fans, they never have done,” he wrote.

irishtimes.com/blogs/ ontherecord