When the Rolling Stones take the stage at Barclays Center on Saturday for the first of three US concerts marking their 50th anniversary — which follow a pair of similar shows in London last month — it's a safe bet that few of the fans who witnessed the group's first American appearance in 1964 will be there to greet them.
In those days, the audiences for the self-styled "World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band" were made up almost entirely of screaming teenage girls. When the group appeared at Carnegie Hall, a matinee performance (yes, in those days pop groups gave matinee performances) was stopped after three songs because fans got out of control.
The band today, Jagger, Richards, Ronnie Wood and Watts, looks ready for a spot of tea.
These days, the only screams the group will be likely to attract from teenagers are ones emitted in horror. Meanwhile, older fans may well let out their own shrieks of disbelief at the prices being charged for the anniversary shows.
At the box office, tickets for the sold-out Barclays show, and a pair of others to follow at the Prudential Center in Newark, went for about $100 for the nosebleed seats up to about $750 — well more than $800 once you tack on Ticketmaster's "convenience charge." Then there are the various "VIP Packages," which in Newark topped out at a staggering $2,450.
Of course there's a lot of expense to cover: For their total of five shows in Britain and America, the Stones are reportedly being paid about $25 million.
Not that any of this comes as a surprise. They may be long spent as a creative force, but the Stones are a thriving corporation, steered by a CEO — Mick Jagger — who's demonstrated a mix of shrewdness and business acumen that makes him the peer of any strait-laced captain of industry.
We can put aside Jagger's blithe explanation that when it comes to ticket prices the group is merely a hapless victim of market forces — or Ronnie Wood's shrugging dismissal that, "We've got to make something." The Stones long ago set the benchmark for shameless cynicism when it comes to exploiting "the brand." Among the luxury items on offer when the box set of "Exile on Main Street" was released two years ago was a limited-edition box of three lithographs, "signed individually by Mick, Keith or Charlie," priced at $2,500.
If that's too rich for your blood, you might opt for the "Brussels Affair" box set that Ticketmaster is offering bundled with Barclays tickets for a relatively paltry $863.
By one account, the biggest crush of the opening-night concert at London's O2 Arena was not at the front of the stage, but at the merchandising stand, where eager customers were spending more than $300 on a poster of a gorilla's face — the artwork on the cover of the band's new greatest hits album, "Grrr!"
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