by Lenaya Luckett, UNIV 068 Intern and Mellon Grant Recipient
Beyoncé’s three-act project, which is seemingly themed around celebration and reclamation of black music genres, was a pivotal moment for me as a history student who couldn’t find my niche. It may seem foolish to claim that a celebrity had such a huge impact on my life, but it’s true. The first two acts, Renaissance and Cowboy Carter, introduced me to music and its role in history. I learned how easy it is for a genre to be pioneered by one group and later overtaken by another. At the height of my interest in music history, I began interning at Old Dominion’s Special Collections and University Archives. There, I found the Gene Loving collection, which slightly altered my course direction.
The Gene Loving collection contains business records from AGL (A Gene Loving) Productions, a Hampton Roads concert booking agency active from 1962 to 1975 and responsible for bringing major acts like James Brown, Sonny & Cher, and Jimi Hendrix to the region. Its founder, Aubrey Eugene “Gene” Loving Jr., was a central figure in Virginia’s music scene, rising from a WLEE disc jockey to a well-known concert promoter and radio/TV personality. The more I looked through the collection, the more fascinated I became with the extremely cheap ticket prices from the 1960s and 1970s. As I looked at the $4 tickets, I wondered how we got to the point where two tickets to see Beyoncé cost me over $1100.
When Beyoncé announced her tour for the Grammy Award–winning Cowboy Carter, I knew I couldn’t afford to miss it—even if I knew the cost would loom over the decision. Despite thousands of people ahead of me in the virtual queue—and my sister and I frantically texting back and forth about what we’d be willing to pay—I managed to secure two seats. I won’t lie, I did cringe a bit when I saw the final cost of $1,131.86. Once inside the stadium, though, the excitement replaced the sticker shock. The seats I fought for offered us a view of everything. We weren’t seated too high or low; many would call them “production seats,” as we could see the stage and all of its effects in full. The show was 3 hours long, a stark contrast to the 1-hour shows artists of the past performed. As soon as Beyoncé started to perform, everything became worth it. My eyes were glued to the screens behind the stage. As expected, the show was better than anything I had hoped for —or even dreamed possible. The way Beyoncé performed made me understand why people were spending thousands to watch the same show over and over again. She hit the first note, and I was ready to swipe my credit card all over again.
Enjoying a show like this as both a fan and a history lover made me reflect on how concerts have evolved. The thrill of the performance made the high price feel justified, but it also reminded me how far we’ve come from the simplicity of earlier decades. That shift—from intimate, affordable shows to large-scale productions—adds an interesting layer to the comparison between past and present concert culture.
When older generations talk about the late ’60s and ’70s, they often describe them as simpler, almost idyllic times. From bold fashion to roller skates, they seemed to have it all—but most will argue that the best part was the music. Cheap concert tickets made it even better. Back then, people could simply show up at the box office the day of a show and walk away with seats, something nearly unthinkable today. While box offices still exist, they’re usually a last hope rather than a first option, and most people leave empty-handed. The best-case scenario is managing to find an open box office; the worst is waiting in line for nothing. Even when tickets are available, success depends heavily on the artist’s popularity. For smaller artists, it’s possible; for bigger ones, it often means camping out overnight—only to still leave without tickets. The risk of buying tickets at the box office is higher than it once was, and so are the prices.
The best chance of getting tickets today is through online ticketing sites, which often have multiple fees. Despite the ease of buying tickets from the comfort of your own home, the joy is immediately taken away once you see the additional $80 service fee added to your total ticket price. Those who wanted to see bigger artists in the ’60s and ’70s weren’t paying nearly as much as the service fees or taxes added to tickets today. A Jackson Five ticket in 1971 cost a maximum $6, which is about $48.12 today. For a household name, that price is unimaginable now.
So why does it feel like concert tickets keep getting more expensive? A major factor is how today’s artists are perceived in an age of constant access.While statistics may lead people today to believe that their favorite artists are known more worldwide than those from the past who are considered household names, access to music today versus in the 60s and 70s plays a huge role. The ability to discover new music today is incomparable to past decades. Listeners no longer need to buy a CD, record, or cassette. Everything is instantly accessible through apps. The price of a full-album vinyl record in the 1960s was an average of $0.99, which is way cheaper than the $20 or $30+ we see today for the same thing. While that may have been worth it then, today that .99 cents is worth around $11, which is the average price of a music streaming service. With that, you’re not just getting a single album; you’re getting thousands that you can listen to whenever, as long as the bill is paid. Even those who don’t want to pay for music have more access to music than in the past, thanks to free versions of music streaming apps. While that may explain the higher ticket sales and streaming numbers, it doesn’t fully explain the dramatic increase in concert length.
Most concerts today average about 1.5 hours, but top artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift regularly perform for three. Some credit this to their long careers and to the desire to give fans something meaningful in return for decades of support. Many artists also want to build immersive, conceptual shows that serve as the final expression of an album, and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour is a perfect example. A few moments from the show stuck with me, especially as a history major. The visual narrative was immersive, though I know some struggled with the aesthetic she embraced. From the beginning, it was clear that Beyoncé intended to reclaim country music—a genre pioneered by Black artists yet one that often excludes them today. With that came the American flags and bald eagles commonly associated with the genre, which lost a few people. Then she performed the “Star-Spangled Banner,” a moment that ruffled feathers even further. What many didn’t realize was that she sang Jimi Hendrix’s 1969 Woodstock rendition, widely viewed as an anti-war statement during the Vietnam era. Beyoncé’s version sounded haunted and eerie, shifting the atmosphere entirely. After she finished, she walked offstage as a message appeared on the screen: “Never ask permission for something that already belongs to you.” That sentiment encapsulated the album’s entire theme of reclamation. Moments like these, paired with nearly hour-long albums, openers, interludes, and songs from past projects, naturally stretch today’s biggest shows to three hours. Advancements in technology also keep audiences entertained during breaks through cinematic interludes, eliminating the downtime that once shortened shows. All of these elements—longer sets, elaborate visuals, and high-tech production—make modern concerts far more expensive to produce, a cost that inevitably gets passed on to fans in the form of higher ticket prices.
Today, concert culture is different in many ways from what it was in the late ’60s and ’70s. While we still see super fans who are willing to travel great distances to see their favorite artists, the number of shows people are eager to travel to see is extreme. In the past, it wasn’t unusual for people to hop on a train or go on a road trip to see their favorite band at a music festival. In modern times, it’s quite similar to people catching flights to see their favorite artists perform, sometimes in multiple cities. Because artists now do fewer tour stops and concentrate on performances in major cities, many fans turn concert trips into mini-vacations. Many fans have admitted to choosing a tour date in a city with more to do rather than attend a concert closer to home. The reason being, if they’re going to travel to see the show anyway, why not go somewhere they’ve always wanted to visit?
Beyond the cost of admission, today’s concertgoing experience comes with another expectation: dressing the part. Instead of showing up in everyday attire or formal wear like those in the ’60s and ’70s, fans are going all out. For Beyoncé’s two most recent tours, the Renaissance World Tour and Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit, fans were seen dressed to the nines. Everywhere you looked, there was someone dressed in futuristic silver outfits or cowboy attire. It’s not uncommon for fans today to spend hundreds of dollars trying to emulate outfits worn by their favorite performer. During Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, it wasn’t rare to see fans bedazzling a bodysuit they saw her wear or talking about how much they spent on one that’s similar to hers. No matter the artist, fans routinely invest as much as the cost of another ticket just to capture the look and spirit of the show.
Viewing the Gene Loving Collection during my internship with Old Dominion Special Collections and University Archives gave me a new perspective on how concerts and ticket prices have changed over the years. From the intimate shows of the ’60s and ’70s to today’s elaborate productions, it’s clear that while the scale, cost, and spectacle have grown, the passion of fans has remained constant. Seeing that a Jimi Hendrix ticket in 1968 cost just $4.50 sparked my curiosity about what it felt like to experience concerts back then. Luckily, I was able to ask my dad, who was born in 1959, about buying tickets and seeing shows at that price. The conversation started with me exasperatedly joking about how people got to see Michael Jackson for $30 and then my mom made a comment that made me realize my dad had actually seen Michael Jackson without ever mentioning it to me! He saw the Jackson Five in 1974 at the MECCA for $7.50 (about $49 today), and noted, “You don’t know how good you have it until it’s gone,” a sentiment I’m sure many who experienced ticket prices in the late ’60s and ’70s share. Despite the steady rise in ticket prices, fans across generations still seem to agree: when the music truly matters, the experience is priceless, and the devotion to live music remains unchanged.
Links:
- Madeline Dietrich, ODU Libraries Special Collections and University Archives Allan Blank Curator of Music Special Collections. Digital Exhibition: Bringing 60s and 70s Pop, Rock and R&B to Hampton Roads: Featuring the Gene Loving/AGL Collection
- ODU Libraries Special Collections and University Archives. Gene Loving/AGL Productions Collection Finding Aid
