Yes, ticket prices have soared, especially for high profile artists. The most I ever spent was to take dd to see Harry Styles. It was her first concert and I did it up right. We had phenomenal seats, and I paid a pretty penny for them. Was it worth it? To us, yes, but it is subjective. (fyi, not as much at Taylor Swift tickets - those are just too high for me.)
Thankfully, the band she is into now their tickets are a lot, and I mean A LOT cheaper. They are the cost I would spend to see my favorite band in good seats. I think I spent more for a concert 10 years ago.
I did buy Charli XCX tickets for dd on Monday and those were a little more pricey than I expected, but there are 2 headliners so I guess it isn't that bad after all.
But
@sam_gordon and
@kdonnel sum it up nicely. They are more expensive because:
A. Supply and Demand
B. Revenue for artists to offset the new way of obtaining music. (i.e., decline of album sales)
It really does make sense. Of course I have a limit on what I will pay, but that depends on how much I really love the artist.
However, I don't like the monopoly of Ticketmaster. The fees are obnoxious, the ticket is almost doubled in price by the time you check out. And I really despise scalpers who buy them during presale only to jack up the price five to ten times as much to resell.