Mick Jagger defends ticket prices

The Rolling Stones have been on something of a charm offensive the last couple of days to justify the gougy prices for tickets on the current tour.

Obviously, we know the justification for a ninety quid starting price point - it's what people will pay and the band are greedy.

That isn't what Mick Jagger says, though:

You might say, 'The tickets are too expensive' - well, it's a very expensive show to put on, just to do four shows, because normally you do a hundred shows and you'd have the same expenses.

Um... Up to a point. Yes, your fixed costs would be spread over a lot more gigs, but let's be clear that this isn't some sort of U2 multimedia bollocks where the band arrive in a spaceship made from guitars, so a large wedge of the outgoings will be marginal - venue hire, electricity, staff, and whatever it takes to stop Keith Richards turning into a pile of dust for another day.

Mick knows that, and so instead embarks on trying a spot of distraction, by pointing instead at the secondary market:

"So, yes, it's expensive," he added. "But most of the tickets go for a higher price than we've sold them for, so you can see the market is there. We don't participate in the profit. If a ticket costs 250 quid. let's imagine, and goes for 1,000 quid, I just want to point out that we don't get that difference."

True, but just because they gouge on top of the original price doesn't alter the fact that the original price was already ratcheted up.