Originally posted by LikeASong:The dynamic pricing phenomenon is partially to blame, but the fact there are plenty of GAs (GAs! always the most longed-for tickets - and one type that's not subject to dynamic pricing) available for several of these shows tells a different story, one about demand and band relevance.
The very large size of some (but not all) of these fields is partly to blame for some of these shows still having GA's left. Both Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide have fields that are over double the size of a football field. Perth is even larger I believe.
Also fans & getting older, & are probably gravitating to seats, but baulking at the prices. One of my friends has chosen seats, I thought she'd never do that!
The "sold out" concept lost its meaning in the 90s when they moved from the "local promoter" approach to the "global promoter" that's now the rule. LiveNation can declare a show sold out with as few as 60% tickets sold (maybe 50, maybe 70%, depends on the market, average ticket pricing and type of show) because that's when they start getting profit. Everything that comes after that ~60% is pure plain profit. And it's very common that shows that could have sold thousands (even dozens of thousands) of tickets more are declared as sold-outs just for billboard marketing reasons. A tour with 53 out of 53 "sold out" shows is regarded higher than a tour with 119 out of 154 sold outs.

