When the Stones played Rice Stadium in 1994, their first Utah gig in almost three decades, the best seats cost $59. When the band returned for a Delta Center show in 1999, top tickets were priced at $125.
Now premium seats for tonight's concert are $350, plus Ticketmaster's wallet-gouging $29 "convenience" charge. By that math, taking a date to the show will cost you $758, not counting parking, food or beer. Forget Christmas presents this year, honey, let's go see the Stones!!
To be fair, the Rolling Stones do offer cheaper ticket options: You can sit in the upper bowl tonight for $95 or even $60, if you want to bring binoculars and supplemental oxygen. But $350 puts the best seats out of reach of all but the wealthiest fans. I realize the Rolling Stones have become a hugely profitable corporation in which everyone demands his slice of the pie, but how many more millions do Mick & Co. need?
There are signs these escalating prices are turning off Utah concertgoers. When the Stones came through 11 years ago, Rice Stadium's 31,500 seats sold out in 72 minutes. Although the Delta Center holds roughly 15,000 for concerts, as of Friday several thousand tickets were still available, including plenty of $350 ones. Even Utah's scalpers won't touch them.
"These prices are too high, even for us," said ticket broker Jack Johnson of Nice Guy Tickets. "I've had very few calls for the Stones."
At least we don't live in Las Vegas, where high rollers drive up prices. Ticketmaster lists top tickets for the Stones' March show there at $472.50.
Those are sold out.
So much for that "Saints and Soldiers" sequel: Are Utah moviegoers losing interest in Mormon-themed dramas? Despite good reviews, "God's Army 2: States of Grace," the sequel to the 2000 cult hit, earned $42,000 its first weekend on 35 theater screens, most of them in Utah. By contrast, the original movie made $88,000 its first weekend on only three screens.
At first glance, the new movie in the "Work and the Glory" series, which chronicles one family's struggles during the early days of the LDS Church, would seem to be faring better. "The Work and the Glory: American Zion" earned $1,605,035 its initial four weeks in theaters, almost twice what the first movie made during the same period.
But the original "Work and the Glory" opened on only 32 screens and eventually grossed more than $3.3 million. The sequel opened on 205 screens, but after four weeks was playing on only 55 screens. The new movie got better reviews than its predecessor, but its box-office momentum seems to have stalled.
Holy Larry H. Miller! Maybe everyone's waiting for the DVD.
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Contact Brandon Griggs at griggs@ sltrib.com or 801-257-8689. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib .com.
