Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There

by Marc Myers

A lively, entertaining, wide-ranging oral history of the golden age of the rock concert based on over ninety interviews with musicians, promoters, stagehands, and others who contributed to the huge cultural phenomenon that is live rock Decades after the rise of rock music in the 1950s, the rock concert retains its allure and its power as a unifying experience—and as an influential multi-billion-dollar industry. In Rock Concert , acclaimed interviewer Marc Myers sets out to uncover the history of this compelling phenomenon, weaving together ground-breaking accounts from the people who were there. Myers combines the tales of icons like Joan Baez, Ian Anderson, Alice Cooper, Steve Miller, Roger Waters, and Angus Young with figures such as the disc jockeys who first began playing rock on the radio, like Alan Freed in Cleveland and New York; the audio engineers that developed new technologies to accommodate ever-growing rock audiences; music journalists, like Rolling Stone 's Cameron Crowe; and the promoters who organized it all, like Michael Lang, co-founder of Woodstock, to create a rounded and vivid account of live rock's stratospheric rise. Rock Concert provides a fascinating, immediate look at the evolution of rock 'n' roll through the lens of live performances —spanning from the rise of R&B in the 1950s, through the hippie gatherings of the '60s, to the growing arena tours of the '70s and '80s. Elvis Presley's gyrating hips, the British Invasion that brought the Beatles in the '60s, the Grateful Dead's free flowing jams, and Pink Floyd's The Wall are just a few of the defining musical acts that drive this rich narrative. Featuring dozens of key players in the history of rock and filled with colorful anecdotes, Rock Concert will speak to anyone who has experienced the transcendence of live rock.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Pop Culture, Research

400 pages, Hardcover

Published November 9, 2021

About the author

Marc Myers is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, where he writes about rock, soul and jazz, as well as the arts.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Playing a pub or ballroom is one thing. When you come out and you're facing 20,000 kids, you nearly $#!& yourself the first time - it's hard not to. When a crowd is that large and loud, you feel them analyzing and judging every little thing you do. It kind of paralyzes you at first. Then you start worrying you're going to forget how a song goes or its lyrics . . . You need to relax and get yourself into a zone." -- the pitfalls of being a rock star, according to Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham, page 200

Although I enjoyed Myers' Anatomy of 55 More Songs earlier this year (and also have the earlier Anatomy of a Song on the 'tbr' stack) his Rock Concert often generated only mild interest. The opening sections - focusing mostly on jazz and R&B shows in the 40's and 50's, and then folk festivals in the 50's and 60's - are certainly a part of American music history, yes, but seemed tangential to the main thrust of a book with 'Rock' prominently in the title. Once Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry arrive on the scene, however, the narrative becomes more interesting and they are quickly followed by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones arriving stateside. It is then that rock concerts truly become a part of the pop cultural fabric - especially with large-scale events like Monterey Pop (1967), Woodstock (1969), and the Watkins Glen Summer Jam (1973) blazing a trail PLUS the needed technological improvements on outdoor sound systems - and catching an act during their summer stadium tour becomes a cherished teen / young adult rite of passage for many who lived through the 70's, 80's and 90's at that age. However, Myers literally closes the book after the momentous international Live Aid shows in summer 1985, yet it seemed like there was still much more to be discussed . . . unless you're riveted by a late chapter on TicketMaster (or 'TicketBastard,' as my friend / college roommate used to cheekily call them) and its effect on the music business.

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really cool and fun book to read! Obviously, rockstars always have the best, craziest stories. This book goes way beyond that. We get stories told by everyone from concert promoters to roadies to sound and lighting technicians and even from some of the fans who were there! It's all very interesting especially for someone that's ever enjoyed going to a concert.

Concerts started out fairly innocently. It was just a way for people to get together and experience something as a group. As time went on, the innocence seemed to get lost along the way. Since the mid 80s, it's all been about making money. The prices of tickets are through the roof. It's nearly impossible to get tickets within the first 15-20 rows unless you have some high connections or are willing spend hundreds of dollars.

I was fortunate enough to be able to experience my first concert as a fairly young kid, thanks to my awesome parents. I will cherish those memories forever! This book has helped me to gain an even greater appreciation for the whole concert experience. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys music.

[Tracy]

Five Stars! Fascinating oral history of the rock concert spanning the 1950s through the 1980s as told by the people who were there to witness it. The book is a collection of intertwined interviews from the roadies and performers to the fans and deejays, all coming together to tell the story of live music and everything that goes into bringing it to us. This is so well researched, providing so much information and nostalgia. I learned a lot, especially about all the behind the scenes work that goes into concerts, but I would have liked even more. I'm hoping for a follow-up volume to bring us up to the present day.

I’m very grateful to Grove Atlantic/Grove Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Rock Concert.

[Donna Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tidbits, pictures and songs from the past including the mention of Dayton, OH where most of my rock concerts took place causing nostalgia to take the stage.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning about the evolution of lighting and sound was nearly as entertaining and informative as the stories of the shows themselves.
Must confess to first checking the index to make sure Pink Floyd was included...

[Gary Anderson]

Rock Concert is a rollicking oral history of how what we call a rock concert evolved. Marc Myers begins with early 1900s jazz clubs, which is maybe a little too early, but you have to start somewhere. From there, he explores early rock package shows, Altamont, Woodstock, festivals, and tours. The history comes from first-person discussions and descriptions from rock stars, organizers, fans, roadies, and engineers. Myers provides very little connective material, which is fine because the first-person stories are so good. I was fascinated by the interplay between live performances and other rock-related phenomena such as album cover art, ticketing, stage clothing, advances in sound and lighting, and how performers spend their down time while on the road.

[Suzanna3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good so interesting but needed more POV/ inclusion of non men and non white people

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rock Concert, by Marc Myers, is both an oral history of live music during the rock era as well as a history of the music itself. Depending on your age, some of it will be nostalgic, it was for me since my first live music experiences started in the late 60s in LA. But this is less about nostalgia and much more about how the music (live and recorded) influenced society and how society influenced the music.

I say this is a history of the music itself, not THE history since there is no single history that encompasses each and every influence and event, because we learn how the live music played large roles in both performers and songwriters over time. How society's prejudices tried to impede the advancement of the music and how, largely through live venues, the music not only survived but thrived.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves live music as well as music history. And yes, for those of us of a certain age, a great walk down memory lane. I enjoyed this more than I enjoyed his Anatomy of a Song book, mainly because this book has a more reasonable claim for what it is. If you are reading primarily for the nostalgia, however, both books are wonderful.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Lachinchon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading if only for the half-dozen pages of interview with Frank Rosen, former CEO of Ticketmaster. It perfectly expresses, from the horse's own mouth, the focused avarice and hubris that is Ticketmaster. Addressing the complaints about service fees, Rosen says, "...consumers always had three options: They could buy tickets by phone and pay a fee for the convenience. They could drive hours to the venue, wait in line, and buy their tickets there. Or they could skip going to the concert altogether." [pp.27-278] What he may have said but omitted from the text was: so if consumers don't like what we charge, f' 'em. He likewise recognizes that "dynamic pricing" [here's looking at you Bruce "Workingman's Hero" Springsteen] means only the wealthy can attend concerts, and that is fine with him. Keep those dollars rolling in, baby!

[Shan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just meh for me. It seemed to drag on and on. The contributors (i.e. Steve Miller, concert promoters, etc) were a bore. I have been going to concerts since I was a teenager... I lived for rock concerts. The book didn't seem to address the pure excitement for teenagers at concerts. It was the most awesome time of my life!
The biggest disappointment was the ending. I thought I had lost part of the book. The book ended with concerts in the 80's. Logically, did the author think the rock concert experiences ended with the 80's? Cuz they didn't. My 15 yr old daughter is having the time of her life at concerts to this day!
Total disappointment. 2 stars for me in sticking with this snore-fest about rock-fests!

[Eldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hodgepodge of folks involved at some point in a concert write somewhat randomly about their experiences. Some are mildly interesting, most are not. Way too many by Steve Miller. A plus was finding a short piece on the Sky River Rock Festival, an event I attended with my girlfriend, soon to be my wife. The book suggests the concert world ended in the mid 80's, which is bizarre on it's face. It winds up being an incoherent narrative.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book on Rock Concerts. I enjoyed the concerts the author covered but felt there were so many artists ignored and not included.

[Ed Schmauder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of the business of music from the 1950s to 2000s. Covers the evolution of live performances as well as the changes in how music is purchased.

[Bruna Manfre · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the same moulds as the iconic Please Kill Me, Rock Concert is a very dynamic overview of live music history. It’s a series of (ninety!) interviews intertwined to create cohesive storytelling that covers from the ’50s to Live Aid.
The result is a vivid and up-close look at the main events that shaped live music as it is today. There’s the freedom and the sort of “everything will work out in the end” feeling that Woodstock invoked, but also the impact and brutality of the Altamont Free Concert.
Although it’s mainly focused on live concerts, it also offers glimpses of how the music business evolved, how artists’ started branding themselves (i.e. how and why The Rolling Stones ended up with their Hot Lips logo), and the impact MTV had on music. An instant classic, especially now that live shows are not 100% normal (more as 0% in Brazil ): ).

[Jenn]

Rock Concert
An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There
by: Marc Myers
Grove Atlantic, Grove Press

Music lovers will enjoy this interesting account of live musical events from the 1940s to 1980s. This is a very well researched and historically significant book that entertains, educates, and is presented through diverse perspectives. Those of us who love concerts and have the t-shirts to show it can appreciate this look at musical moments over the ages in various venues.
Thank you to Net Galley and Grove Atlantic, Grove Press
for the advance reader's copy and the opportunity to provide my unbiased review.
#RockConcert #NetGalley

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always had a strong interest in rock music, so this book provided some interesting insight and information about the culture, evolution, and history. I actually didn't expect too much from this book and was very pleasantly surprised with how well the history was presented. It had a little bit of everything and I enjoyed the format that involved interviews and snippets from a variety of artists, DJs, managers, producers and backstage people who put on the shows.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really lame book, poorly edited. For all the energy of Rock and Roll this was largely a sleeper. Political activist artists, more annoying than anything and honestly, I could care less about them. As for artists in general, there are very few that contributed to this book. Ronnie Spector's comments were almost word for word from her own book. It makes you wonder how much of the rest of the book was exactly like that. Do not waste your time on this one.

[Tom O’Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

ROCK HISTORY is a much needed oral history of live music concerts in America. From the outset in the early 50’s when the music performed was mostly jazz or blues, music promoters faced an uphill battle against racism and rock & jazz phobia. This book is lively, funny and vivid. How I wish I could go back in time and witness rock & roll history being made.

[Christopher Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled: An Oral History As Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Rock Concert traces the development of rock and roll by detailing the history of rock concerts from the time they were largely promoted by radio disc jockeys in the early 1950s through the mid-80s. A secondary focus is the role of rock and roll in integrating the youth of various races in those early days when housing, economic, and educational segregation kept blacks and white separated. The rebellious youth of the 1950s listened to the same music on the radio, and went to concerts to see they favorite musicians perform live.


Like many economic endeavors, the early rock concerts were seat-of-the-pants productions with a lot of different approaches regarding promotion, choice of venues, etc. As time went on, people who specialized in concert promotion pushed aside the DJs and managed most of the concert business in terms of negotiating with venues, selling tickets, etc. On the artists’ side, talent agencies emerged to coordinate booking acts, travel, etc. on the behalf of the musicians.

The book focused on a few specific acts to explore their effects on the concert business: Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and several others. There was also a large section addressing festivals such as Woodstock, the Newport Jazz/Pop festivals, and the Monterey Pop festival among them. The book stopped after 1985’s Live Aid concerts because of how corporate money came to control the concert industry.

I gave Rock Concert five stars on Goodreads. I learned a lot about how the music business operated in the early days of rock and roll and the era of music festivals that peaked in the 1960s while also featuring shedding additional light on dozens of musical performers along the way.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

How can a book about something so thrilling that I love so much … be so boring? The basic structure- a chronology told by people who were there - should work.

But what comes across is mostly self indulgent and droning on - and worse yet there is an imbalance based on what the author likes over what really matters… and much of that gets back to who he got to talk.

This is the worst kind of history- one dictated by who was there to talk about it.

And perhaps worst of all was allowing Rosen from Ticketmaster to essentially dominate the end of the book with self serving and rationalizing drivel about their predatory practices- in that moment all of the book’s issues were laid bare. I get the importance of Ticketmaster, but to let them rewrite history and dictate their reality for a significant chunk of the book was appalling- but a perfect synopsis of the book.

I gave 2 rather than 1 star because of how well the author sets things up and the basic framework, and a few of the sections that actually worked.

[VelSparko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many "oral history" books, this one is best when it's just letting people involved with the subject talk about their experiences. The chronological structure, working from the 1950's up to 1985, allows the topics to flow cleanly into one another while demonstrating how the subject has evolved over the years.
This book desperately needed an extra proofreader or copy editor or something, because there was some sort of typo or grammatical error or missing punctuation every 10 pages or so. There's a mild disingenuous quality to the book as well; the dust jacket and back cover promote multiple contributors that are only found on one or two pages, overselling their presence as if they were major subjects.
The epilogue also really sucks; the author tries to place blame on things like MeToo and the Covid pandemic for ending rock concerts in the modern era, when really what's ending them is that the people who performed them are now in their eighties and the entire nature of concert performing has transformed since their heyday. This book is genuinely better off not having the three-page epilogue entirely. Yeah, it's only three pages. Why bother at that point?
One of the things I did like, though, was the list at the end of important or significant live records, films, or documentaries that explore the subject more. That's a lot of extra stuff to add to my backlog. In a way it also serves as a sort of works-cited for this book; as a reader I certainly view it that way.
Hopefully once a newer edition is released that cleans it up a bit, I could say that I recommend this. For now I'd say only check it out if you have a particular interest in or are already a fan of rock music. And I mean like 50s-70s rock, because by the time this book reaches the 80's it pretty much only talks about Live Aid and then it's over.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of this new oral history on music.

Marc Myers in his new book Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There is a comprehensive history on the rise of the concert industry, covering blues, country, jazz and folk, but with strong coverage on the rock music scene. Spanning the century up until the end of the 1990's the book orates on the large concerts, the small festival shows, and the growth of a new industry and how it presented music to the masses.

Oral history as always been interesting to read since each person has a different view of how, what and why. There is not so much controversy in this book as in other musical oral histories I've read as there are less egos to be damaged and less claim to fame. Describing how a concert once went from little pickups shows outside of stores to needing 20 semis full of stage apparatus and hundreds or personal to build and run is very captivating.

Mr. Myers has a great mix of interview subjects, with not so much emphasis on the spectacle, but more how the spectacle came to be. I found the technical aspect very entertaining, how did Pink Floyd make the Wall and have it come crashing down so right each night. Or the development of light shows in concerts. Or wireless equipment. I knew these things existed, but not how they were developed and adopted for the concert industry.

The writing is very clear and concise and the flow of the narrative is perfect, with great facts ad tidbits on every page. A neat book with a different view of the music scene, one that is important and is great that it is getting its due. A perfect book for music lovers, and those interested in theater arts. Highly recommended.

[Randall Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be mildly interesting, but certainly with its share of flaws. As someone who attended a fair number of concerts in part of the time period described, I don't think the author ever captured the spirit or intensity of what attending a rock concert meant as a teenager (and it wasn't just about rebellion). I think there are only a few quotes from the 50s that give a perspective more from the fan's point of view. This book is really a bunch of quotes from a variety of people in the rock industry, to me, one of the things that is noticeably missing are quotes from most of the major superstars - Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, etc, etc. Also, while the book focuses on presenting quotes from people who were part of the scene, it really presents very little analysis of those quotes, or how the rock industry has changed and/or evolved. The author's whole premise that the rock concert somehow ended in 1985 is a rather silly - how many major concerts have there been since then, and how many major artists have had their whole career since then? Has the concert going experience changed dramatically? Of course it has, but it is still an experience that hundreds of thousands of people participate in every year. Another major flaw is that the book is pretty silent on the whole rock and roll lifestyle, and the toll it's taken on the performers - Janice Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, etc, and on to the present day - Michael Jackson, Prince, Amy Winehouse, etc. So, overall, this book is an OK introduction to the subject of rock concerts, but I can't say I'd recommend it due to the numerous flaws it contains.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There by Marc Myers (Grove Press 2021) (781.66078) (3953).

Marc Myers has written a great book of memories for those of us who were lucky enough to be there. This volume is an oral history of rock shows! I grew up in a small Southern city (Knoxville, Tennessee) which sported a large university with tens of thousands of rock and roll loving college students (the University of Tennessee). This meant that every rock show on tour in the 1960s and 1970s was obliged to play a show in Knoxville, and I was lucky enough to have been born at just the right time to see a whole bunch of them. For the sake of perspective for 2024 concert goers, here’s a little jolt of reality: most rock shows in Knoxville featured three top-line musical acts, and the ticket prices were $5.00 in advance or $6.00 day of the show.

Here’s a quote from Rock Concert in which musician Todd Rundgren speaks of playing shows at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in 1972:

“Early in my tour days, in 1972, when my band opened for Alice Cooper at a number of his gigs, we played small 7,000-seat arenas like the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the Orlando Sports Stadium, an indoor arena in Orlando, Florida. At the time, those midsize sporting arenas were mostly in the South and could handle college sports teams and students. We didn’t have a whole lot of special effects at the time. Alice was chopping his head off and hanging himself and stuff like that. Our thing was we essentially could play forever….

Our shows sometimes ran three and a half hours. That’s because everybody in the band would solo on every song. So we’d go into another zone. Audiences back then loved that. Remember, the audience was in another zone, too. It was fairly commonplace for at least half the audience to be on some mind-altering something or other. It was the unseen aspect that went into every show in those days. What kind of chemicals the audience was swimming around in.” Rock Concert, p. 195-196.

I remember that Alice Cooper show! I didn’t get to go to it, for I was only thirteen years old at the time. But I well remember the local newspaper’s scandalized rant over the influence of Alice Cooper’s “dreadful behavior on stage” in front of the day’s youth. Talk about a dog whistle for young wannabe rockers…

Those were great days, and this is a great book!

My rating: 7.5/10, finished 5/24/24 (3953).

I purchased a used HB copy in like-new condition from Amazon on 5/27/2024 for $6.90.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Brianna Westervelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marc Myers embarked upon a herculean task in covering the history and evolution of the rock concert, but he has done so here with aplomb. Inevitably, a history of rock 'n' roll itself comes along with the history of rock concerts, making this title approachable to anyone from novices to amateur music historians and beyond. Rather than focusing on a specific genre or era like other oral histories I've read (punk rock, hard rock/heavy metal, MTV, the New York scene in the early '00s), Myers broadens his scope from nascent rock 'n' roll in the 1950s and small club gigs to the larger-than-life Live Aid shows. However, I did think it a bit odd that there was little to no talk of punk. Still, there are seemingly seamless transitions between the various eras and iterations of rock concerts covered (with just a little bit of help from the author). Though perhaps a bit more editing was in order as it certainly took some getting used to when one person's oral bit would span several paragraphs or pages; a marked change from other oral histories.

Despite the hard stop at Live Aid in '85 and the epilogue to cover everything since, I'll await a part two, Beyond Live Aid, or something like that. Just give me all the oral histories.

Thanks to the Grove marketing team for the galley. (And sorry it took me so long!)

[John Mullarkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history of the rock concert as told by artists, fans, promoters, technicians, roadies, and journalists. All angles are covered in chronological order from its early stages with Alan Freed in the 50's through the onset of big media and Live Aid in 1985. This is a terrific oral history, complete with candid insights from the likes of Ian Anderson, Steve Miller, Cameron Crowe, and many others in all aspects of the business. What is particularly enlightening and interesting is the details about the advances in performance technologies through the 70's - in sound lighting, and staging shows, and the rise of electronic ticketing in the eighties which in many ways transformed the business of putting on a show. There are details about some of the famous venues and of course the culturally memorable shows including Newport, Altamont, Woodstock, and in the closing chapter, Live Aid. It is an engaging and unique take a type and style of performing and performance that started in small theater settings with multiple billings to outdoor festivals, and then arenas and stadiums, all within a relatively short period of time. For a fan of rock music, this is a great history.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots Of Memories For An Old Man

This book was a fun read because it conjures a former life.
I grew up in suburban Los Angeles and my first concert was a KRLA “Saturday Night Thing” featuring Steppenwolf and it cost about $1. Before high school graduation we’d seen The Doors, BB King, Moody Blues, the last show of The Yardbirds and quite a few others at The Shrine Exposition Hall. Going to college in NorCal, we saw almost weekly shows at The Fillmore or Winterland. The Berkeley Ball Ball featured five major bands including CCR, Jefferson Airplane and The Dead for $5.
Those were the days!
These days, many of my heroes are dead, with more dying all the time - The Band’s Garth Hudson just last week - and just about my last show took me full circle - Steppenwolf’ last tour with a retiring John Kay and a bunch of young musicians that could have been his grandchildren.
This book brought back a bunch of good memories, the music and of a time when things weren’t great but we were trying to make things better - with music and love.
This book is a good read and brings better memories.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly well=researched book -- it is an oral history with an amazing variety of interviews that spans decades. The variety of interviews is amazing - from performers, to promoters, to roadies, to fan club presidents. It made me nostalgic for some of the first rock concerts I attended in the 1970's and 1980"s in particular and I have a newfound appreciation to the 'behind-the-scenes" logistics and sound and stage design as technology and audiences got more sophisticated. There were many famous concerts referenced (such as Woodstock) which I know more about because of the famous documentary film as well as other histories of the festival - but I learned new information in Marc Myers' book. I also learned about festivals such as Wattstax which I am embarrassed to say I did not know about and there is a film about this festival as well I now learned. This book is an immensely enjoyable read.

I highly recommend this book!

[John Lyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad I read this book, it's excellent. I've read books by so many musicians and other people in the realm of the music industry, this one is a welcome addition. Having lived through part of the story either as a fan of artists interviewed, by seeing them in concert, and by having witnessed the de facto culmination of the story live (on TV), I have an intimate relation to the story. It was especially nice to read details about seminal concert events firsthand from organizers and participants, including some of my favorite musicians. Personally, I've had so many fun and interesting concert experiences that I'm writing what may be the first concertgoer's memoir of some of those treasured experiences, one of few perspectives rarely, if ever, covered in a book.

As a passionate environmentalist whose focus is plastic pollution, I was happily surprised to see my cause mentioned in the epilogue. http://www.strawwarsusa.com

[Mark M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book taking things from rock's humble beginnings (and the accounts of a number of artists' humble beginnings) of live performance to arena and stadium venues along with today's utter-gouging ticket prices which are simply not worth it, sorry to say.

A lot of rockers don't even need the money.

Example:

Dave Grohl is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and director who has a net worth of $320 million dollars.

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/ric...

Even artists who only had a few hits and are now largely forgotten can be multimillionaires:

Buffy Sainte-Marie is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and visual artist who has a net worth of $3 million.

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/ric...