Expensive or not - that is the question...

You have a huge misconception about the US. I can't speak for western Europe but I can for the US. First the prices I gave you were not NY, they are NJ prices... central Jersey, not Bergen County. The prices in Manhattan would probably be more...don't know never bought grocery items there.

First may upon many people in the US have to travel to see shows...please take a look at the map and see where shows are played and the distance from where there are not shows. For example there are no West Coast shows this upcoming leg. May have to pay for flights and we don't have any "cheap airlines" and pay for hotels.

You seem to be holding up the US as something special ...there are many people here who struggle, have lost their homes, have no healthcare and are going to soup kitchens that they once donated. Not every american could attend a show if they wanted to as per what you said. It just isn't true. As in any country there is the have's and the have not's.

Also I go to multiple shows per tour but in no way am I rich in any sense of the word. I save continually, every gift I get, any bonus's from work all go to my Bon Jovi fund. I choose to spend every penny of disposable income on the Bon Jovi tours. I don't go on trips unless it is to see a BJ show.
I know others who do the same thing and they are not wealthy either..both american and european.

You keep talking about buying goods that are imported goods to you... we pay a lot more for imported goods too. Example...I love Flake bars... the Irish store that I go to here has them for 5 usd...I can get a Hershey bar or 1USD.... you always pay more for imported goods.

Buying power is all about exchange rates... they can not be ignored. The examples that I gave you previously clearly show you that goods are not cheaper in the US and the cost of living is very high.

I am well aware of that. I can see 6 or 8 shows per tour and never get on a plane. And those 6 or 8 shows are NOT cheap by any means but I do manage to be able to do them. Believe me I KNOW how lucky I am.

This year is the first year that I will actually travel to Europe for many of the shows and I am super excited. But it's also gonna be a large amount of money spent - no getting around that fact. Again I consider myself lucky to be able to decide to spend that money rather than needing to use it to eat or pay the rent.

If you ask me - this should be a consideration when figuring ticket prices - but then - nobody asked me

I truly think this is what was Kuba trying to point out ... for some fans not just those in central europe to be a fan require much more money than for others ... and it is not taken into consideration at all ... while I understand the band do NOT want to rethink the prices .. they could at least have adapted some concerts ticket price to the concerned markets .... I really doubt the zagreb or bucharest greek or istanbul prices (or for that matter the prices in south america in september) were fitting the life level of those countries

But as someone already pointed out the crew is paid in USD their salary, the salary doesn't drop because the average wages of a country they are going to is lower, the cost of putting on the show is not lower it actually maybe higher due to travel and currency rates.

A promoter is never going to put on a show where it will be a loss going in, just doesn't work that way. The option is they go to the countries with the prices they have or they don't. The band is not a charity, we don't work for free and neither should they.

It is an individual choice to purchase a concert ticket... it is a luxury item in every country, it is a necessity nowhere. Buy what you can afford if you can.

You can dress it up anyway you like but the crux of the argument is that people from countries with a low cost / standard of living can't afford luxuries that people with a high standard of living can.

That's basic common sense. You won't find any of the Indians or Bangladeshi's that earn $50 a week in Dubai going out to bars that the Westeners pay $10 a beer for. It sucks but that's the way of the world. On the flip side it's infinitely easier for people from poorer countries to save and become relatively wealthy back home if they work in a country with a higher standard of living as many of your fellow country folk are testament to. Not so much for people already living in expensive countries.

I agree with that, lots of new immigrants who move to US save more money
as they share an apartment cook their own meals and rarely go out to a bar for
a drink, they normally get liquor from a store and drink at home

I understand what Kuba and Johny mean. After I pay my rent, food, taxes (regular spending) I have to think what I buy and what I don´t buy. And I have to travel when I want see BJ. This is extra expenditure.
Yes some things are cheaper here, but mostly goods are same (like food) or more expensive (clothes, elecronics ect) than in Western Europe. For example people in Findland can get 3-5 times more salary for the same job. Yes their cost are higher but in the end they have more free money for going out, like visit teather, buy clothes ect. Because of that so many estonians work in Findland, Sweden, Norway or went to live in UK, Australia...
BJ shows are little luxury for me, but I save money for that and this is something great and special for me Living is expnsive for everyone

All you can say is that it’s non-sense, because you don’t have any other arguments unfortunately. Believe me, this is not made up by me just like that for fun. All of that is based on my experience of living and working abroad. I got to know what it’s like to live in a rich country and then get back to mine and compare standards and ways of living. That’s something you can’t do. No offence, but while I have some knowledge about US and Western Europe countries, you have absolutely no clue what it’s like to live in Eastern Europe and your arguments are based only on your assumptions or maybe something that you are being fed with by the media. And that’s nowhere near the truth.

If you want to be so clever and use the exchange rates, then use it for both - costs and incomes. And proportions will not change. You only see one part of the story but refuse to look at it from both angles.

So even better, the prices proportions are accurate then, because both of those cities are not the biggest and the most expensive in their countries.

So? And do you think we don’t have to? They don’t play on the West Coast in the upcoming leg, but they did play there last year, right? They haven’t been to my country at all in their entire career. So I have to travel at least 500km to see the shows in closest Germany. And I also have to pay for the hotel, just like everyone else. Since you say you’re from Jersey it means that you had many shows last year to choose from and many more this upcoming leg on the East Coast, so why do you bother about the West Coast anyway? It’s like I was bothering that there are no shows 5000km from my home. Makes no sense in my opinion.

And just for your information, first cheap airline in the world was Southwest Airlines in USA (probably right now one of the biggest airlines in US), so you have them in your country. Probably you have a misconception about what cheap airlines are in Europe. Sometimes they cost exactly the same as regular airlines especially in the summer and holiday seasons. Its name is sometimes misleading.

Well this part made me laugh, really. Do you really think that for me all Americans have loads of money and can buy anything they want? Just because I pointed out the positives from my stay in US it doesn’t mean I haven’t seen poor people. In fact I have seen a lot of that. I was working as a helper of a constructor. We were building/repairing houses and apartments, outdoor and indoor. Some of those works were for rich people but many were also for the poorest. For example we were working for almost 2 weeks in a big building were only unemployed people lived. They were granted the apartments by the governments and they did not pay a cent for those. As you can imagine most of those people (as far as I remember people called them ‘bums’, would that be correct?) did not care about their homes at all. Sometimes they were collecting trash/garbage from the streets and the smell inside was so disgusting that you could not walk in and do your job. Everything was filthy, including those people. Some of them really needed help and felt like good people only with bad luck, but most of them chose such a life. Same goes for some parts of NYC. I think we stayed in Queens area, which was not so beautiful if you ask me. We have also passed Bronx and Brooklyn few times and I have seen how people live there from the outside. So I know the bright and the dark side of US very well too.
The truth that in every country you can find poverty and struggling people is obvious for me. You sound like only in US people struggle and in Poland everyone is running happily on the street. And I can tell you that you are far from the worst. For example in US unemployment is about 10% at the moment, while here in Poland we have about 13%. About 5 years ago yours was 5% but ours was 20%. And many many people here need as much help as in your country.

Good, and I am happy for you. And as Johny and I have said – if you call it expensive, for us it’s amazingly expensive. That’s all.

I think there is a difference between a flake bar and electronics, cars, multimedia etc, don’t you think? I can also decide whether I want to buy a Polish bar or an imported one, much more expensive. But I can’t decide to buy a Polish car, because we don’t make cars anymore (they were sh*t anyway) or electronics or Polish Bon Jovi , and all of that cost me few times more than it costs you.

Everyone can have their own opinion..I just don’t agree with yours, that’s all.

Thank you Kathleen. That’s exactly a kind of statement I would love to hear more often from some of your fellow country men and citizens of those richest countries. If only there were more of those, probably I would have not started this thread. I really like when people appreciate BJ music as it really deserves and appreciate that they have the privilege to see them live (unlike many of us in poorer countries), not like some kind of product that is due for everyone, for the cheapest possible way.