Every time Dream Theater comes to our local venue, I always attend along with a friend of mine. (Yes, that’s the same guy who runs Ryo-Ohki’s Anime Loft.) We’ve been going to these biennial shows for many years now, ever since we got out of college. Considering I’d also seen Dream Theater live before that, I’ve honestly lost count of how many times I’ve seen the band at this point. I’ve been a fan of theirs for seventeen years, after all!

However, after this summer’s show, this longstanding tradition may be coming to a close. It’s not the band’s fault. It’s the fault of the ticketing agency; in this, those fuckers at Live Nation. We all know ticket prices just keep skyrocketing, but it’s gotten beyond aggravating this time. The tickets for the upcoming Dream Theater show start at $38 for nosebleed seats, and $48 for regular seats. We opted for the regular ones, of course, since you get much better sound quality sitting there. I expected the usual annoying service charges on top of that. What I didn’t expect was just how high those charges have gotten: $12.50 per ticket! Altogether, a measly pair of concert tickets came to $121. That’s fucking insane. I don’t care how nice the venue is; that’s way too much money.

Dream Theater has always been one of my favorite bands, but this may be the final time I see them. I’m sorry, no band’s worth that much cash out of pocket. Fortunately, Dream Theater always puts on an excellent show, so I have no doubts that the upcoming concert will be a grand sendoff.