I feel a bit ripped off. We paid £25 a ticket to see a very well-known comedian on a pre-tour run of new stand up. He seemed to run out of material before the interval, and kept telling us to remember it was "a work in progress". In the second half he was obviously struggling to keep the flow going and it was all a bit poor. Perhaps I have been on the backwoods too long and £25 is a give-away price, but I can't help feeling a bit miffed as he will not be bringing the final and fully worked show to our local theatre, suggesting we are only worth half-measures. Human guinea pigs don't usually pay for the privilege!
Pre-tour shows
- Thread starter Georginazn
- Start date
It is rare that I go to see shows these days due to the expense, though I did go to the theatre a few months ago for my birthday, my partner, my daughter and myself. The cost of the tickets was nearly £80 (about £8 of which was for fees of one sort or another). The show was great but it does seem far too expensive for a show that lasted just over 2 hours. I think it will be a long time before I indulge in such an expensive night out again.
The trip to see Michael MacIntyre was the first time I have been to the theatre for about five years! Staying in is the new going out after all. It was worth going to see Star Trek on the big screen, but we usually get DVDs too rather than go to the cinema - I don't care if I am not the first to see a blockbuster. If I do go to the flicks, I never, ever buy food and drink there - way too expensive.
I too tend to opt more for DVDs rather than going to the cinema, and do prefer watching movies at home curled up on the sofa in my pyjamas. I don't go to the pub anymore either, partly due to the fact that my local closed down 6 months ago, but pubs don't seem the friendly community places that they used to be. Staying in more does have a lot to do with the credit crunch and cutting back on my spending, but going out just seems to have lost it's appeal.
TracyG you're hit it on the end. Going out doesn't seem as appealing as it used to. I remember getting very excited at the thought of a Friday night out. Now if I have to go out I tend to grit my teeth and grin and bare it. I am now a stalwart fan of LoveFilm and get very excited when that little DVD pops through the letter box. Having said that, I watched The Piano last night and about twenty minutes before the end the DVD gave up the ghost. It was wrecked right through to the end. I shall have to write and complain ... but anyway, I do like plays so if anyone out there finds out how I can get bargains please do let me know!
I enjoy the experience of the cinema, but not the expense. On top of this, with a nine month old child, we don't get to go much any more.
In a rare occurrence my wife took our son out to meet a friend yesterday, so I lived a bachelor life again for about eight hours. I thought "I want to go to the cinema again". We've had a cinema de lux open nearby (posh leather seats, waiter service etc.) and as you can imagine it's expensive - about £13 a ticket - but I was considering it for the experience, especially since the bog standard out of town cinema was £7.50. But once I weighed up the cost of parking as well (about £4!!) I decided to take advantage of the out of town multiplex.
Big mistake. Full of kids (about five different groups) who were more interested in chatting, giggling and throwing popcorn than actually watching the film. To make it worse, their parents were with them. I was about to 'have a word' with the group nearest me when I realised this and figured if their parents were happy to site there whilst they ruin everyone else's experience they would probably be willing to bop me on the nose for daring to tell them to control their little angels.
Luckily the film was quite loud, which drowned a fair proportion of it out, but I could still see the popcorn flying.
So I wish I'd spent a bit more for a premium experience.
One thing I did notice though, is that cinemas are trying to squeeze even more cash out of us. They have started to label the seats in the middle of the auditorium as 'premium' and charging more for them. I've noticed this in several different cinemas now.
As for the cost of food and drink, I always find coffee quite reasonable at the cinema.
Onto staying in.... I do enjoy this. We were members of one of the DVD rental services and it was great to watch some films that otherwise we might not have watched, but once the little one came along we found it tough to watch them, even after downgrading our package. I must say, cancelling was easy and no hassle - nowadays you often seem to have to phone up and cancel, which annoys me.
Going out in general... I was never hugely into this anyway if I'm honest. I do wish I had more time/cash when I was younger (says the young pup...) to get out and see more bands/live music when I had the chance. But I also realise this was because I had a job with pretty unsocial hours (evenings and weekends).
I've booked tickets for We Will Rock You later in the year as a birthday present for my wife, they were about £40 for the stalls which is steep, but I suppose if it's as good as people say it will be worth the night out.
On Friday I went to see Oasis in Cardiff. The tickets for standing were £48, but when you consider there were three support acts as well as two hours of Oasis (a total of five hours of music) I thought it was cracking value.
Warm up gigs.... they can be hit and miss. I know some friends that saw Lee Evans in Swindon before one of his tours, supposedly despite a few flat gags (which he acknowledged) he was pretty much on top form. I've seen some comedians who were about to go to the Edinburgh Fringe and they too were worth the money (which was only about a tenner for four acts). I have to say though, £25 for a warm up gig is quite expensive. I'm seeing Eddie Izzard in Cardiff in November and the tickets for that were £30 each, and I know for sure that he will be on top form.
In a rare occurrence my wife took our son out to meet a friend yesterday, so I lived a bachelor life again for about eight hours. I thought "I want to go to the cinema again". We've had a cinema de lux open nearby (posh leather seats, waiter service etc.) and as you can imagine it's expensive - about £13 a ticket - but I was considering it for the experience, especially since the bog standard out of town cinema was £7.50. But once I weighed up the cost of parking as well (about £4!!) I decided to take advantage of the out of town multiplex.
Big mistake. Full of kids (about five different groups) who were more interested in chatting, giggling and throwing popcorn than actually watching the film. To make it worse, their parents were with them. I was about to 'have a word' with the group nearest me when I realised this and figured if their parents were happy to site there whilst they ruin everyone else's experience they would probably be willing to bop me on the nose for daring to tell them to control their little angels.
Luckily the film was quite loud, which drowned a fair proportion of it out, but I could still see the popcorn flying.
So I wish I'd spent a bit more for a premium experience.
One thing I did notice though, is that cinemas are trying to squeeze even more cash out of us. They have started to label the seats in the middle of the auditorium as 'premium' and charging more for them. I've noticed this in several different cinemas now.
As for the cost of food and drink, I always find coffee quite reasonable at the cinema.
Onto staying in.... I do enjoy this. We were members of one of the DVD rental services and it was great to watch some films that otherwise we might not have watched, but once the little one came along we found it tough to watch them, even after downgrading our package. I must say, cancelling was easy and no hassle - nowadays you often seem to have to phone up and cancel, which annoys me.
Going out in general... I was never hugely into this anyway if I'm honest. I do wish I had more time/cash when I was younger (says the young pup...) to get out and see more bands/live music when I had the chance. But I also realise this was because I had a job with pretty unsocial hours (evenings and weekends).
I've booked tickets for We Will Rock You later in the year as a birthday present for my wife, they were about £40 for the stalls which is steep, but I suppose if it's as good as people say it will be worth the night out.
On Friday I went to see Oasis in Cardiff. The tickets for standing were £48, but when you consider there were three support acts as well as two hours of Oasis (a total of five hours of music) I thought it was cracking value.
Warm up gigs.... they can be hit and miss. I know some friends that saw Lee Evans in Swindon before one of his tours, supposedly despite a few flat gags (which he acknowledged) he was pretty much on top form. I've seen some comedians who were about to go to the Edinburgh Fringe and they too were worth the money (which was only about a tenner for four acts). I have to say though, £25 for a warm up gig is quite expensive. I'm seeing Eddie Izzard in Cardiff in November and the tickets for that were £30 each, and I know for sure that he will be on top form.
I do sympathise Chutzpah - when ours were little we gave up the Sunday papers, as we got so ratty with an interrupted read! Now we don't get them because the news is so hyped and manipulative!
As for going to the cinema, as long as it's not a children's film I am only bothered by the munching, chewing, paper rattling, audience. When the children were young I did often have to ask kids to be quiet, or stop kicking the seats which always got the required response without argument, but I had had to work up to it, and stayed tense, as well as my children squirming with embarrassment!
We Will Rock You is fantastic! I went with DD when she was applying for Uni and had the chance to work in wardrobe for a night. I loathed Queen, now I love them. It was really good fun!
The best show I ever went to (apart from Marvin Gaye in the way back when) was Andy Williams when he was 83 - what a star performer - I felt as good as if I'd seen Elvis!!!
As for going to the cinema, as long as it's not a children's film I am only bothered by the munching, chewing, paper rattling, audience. When the children were young I did often have to ask kids to be quiet, or stop kicking the seats which always got the required response without argument, but I had had to work up to it, and stayed tense, as well as my children squirming with embarrassment!
We Will Rock You is fantastic! I went with DD when she was applying for Uni and had the chance to work in wardrobe for a night. I loathed Queen, now I love them. It was really good fun!
The best show I ever went to (apart from Marvin Gaye in the way back when) was Andy Williams when he was 83 - what a star performer - I felt as good as if I'd seen Elvis!!!