Harry Styles is back! And with him he has brought a new debate over how expensive concert tickets can reasonably be priced.
A standing ticket at his string of Wembley Stadium shows will set you back £144.65, causing much outrage from his fans.
Can this be affordable for students?
In Newcastle, the average student living costs range from £1,400 to £2,000 a month, making one ticket to the show 10% of some student’s monthly costs.
That’s more than fourteen hours of work for the average university student working a minimum wage job, or a pretty hefty chunk out of the maintenance loan.
There’s also travel to consider. Harry Styles’ ‘Together, Together’ tour only has shows in London for the UK dates, aside from the recently announced one-night-only gig in Manchester.
A single adult ticket to London generally costs at least £25.90, according to trip.com, and that’s just the journey down there. You’re probably looking at around £50, minimum, for the whole journey there and back.
But it’s not just Harry Styles that students have to make a journey to see.
Major concerts are a rarity in Newcastle, with the closest locations often being in Manchester or Scotland.
The closest tour date on Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour was in Edinburgh while the closest date on Billie Eilish’s ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ tour was in Glasgow.
And the price was once again an issue, with the average standing ticket at Eilish’s arena shows being £145 and the general admission into Swift’s stadium tour standing at £110.
So, you’re probably looking at around £200 as a starting point to attend a major concert currently, and that’s without considerations such as food, clothes and accommodation if you choose to purchase those things.
So, for a basic concert and travel package, you’re looking at at least 10% of the average monthly student budget in Newcastle.
And while almost half of students say they face financial difficulties, according to the 2023 survey, it may be fair to say that concerts maybe just aren’t on the cards for the next couple of years.
But it isn’t all bad. Harry Styles recently announced a one-night-only concert in Manchester and while the tickets are under a ‘request’ process, they are only £20, so there may be some hope.
