Richards ‘Justifies’ Stones Ticket Prices

Keith Richards defends the Rolling Stones exorbitant ticket prices, which have forced many of the band's longtime followers to sit out the current 50 & Counting dates. The band is on the cover of the current issue of Rolling Stone, and Richards sheds light on how he can justify charging $600 and upwards for a two-and-a-half hour arena show, saying, "From my point of view, it's like this: We say we want to put a Stones tour together and people come to us with proposals. And these proposals are all basically the same. We actually did push down the prices a little bit. We took the lower offer, in other words. But, um, it's the price of the market. I don't really know. I don't have much to do with it other than I would like people to get in, to be able to afford to get in, without sort of starving their babies and all. And that's about it."

In response to the rumors that the Rolling Stones are running into trouble by out-pricing a large contingent of fans, John Meglen, co-president of AEG Live subsidiary Concerts West, told Billboard: "It's unfortunate in our business that everybody wants to be cynics. The fact is, the tour is doing great and we have no problems whatsoever." The band's current dates are expected to gross nearly $100 million, with Meglen claiming that over 20,000 $600 tickets were sold in Los Angeles across the four shows.