Robert Plant has put paid to rumours that Zeppelin will tour again, at least with him doing lead vocals. While I'm not a died in the wool Zeppelin fan by any means, I must take my hat off to Robert for issuing this statement (he's currently on tour with Alison Krauss) while many 'old time' bands are jumping on the reunion tour bandwagon.

Now I don't begrudge anyone making money, but it does get my back up when I see bands like the Eagles or Beachboys, way past their prime, stroking their fans for tickets. Well, okay, maybe a starting ticket price of $55 USD plus ticketmasters' mystery fees is worth it as a starting point to see a band like the Beach Boys, but not for me.

Even worse is the example exemplified by a band I really respect(ed) AC/DC is one. For their recent Black Ice tours, all seats, no matter how crappy are $90. If you can get them. You're more likely to pay well into the hundreds if not thousands of dollars though. The concert in Toronto sold out in 20 minutes. On ticketsnow, the scalping, I mean "secondary market" site owned by Ticketmaster, you're looking between 295 and 1000 each for tickets. While this may not be the bands fault per se, it shows that bands themselves aren't the only ones cashing in on hard core fans and the bands are doing dick all to make sure that their fans have reasonable access to come see them. Working man's band my ass.

Save your cash and see some local bands.