Recession Sends Big Concerts Under $10: U2, Jonas Brothers

ABOVE: U2 with big hair in the ’80s. Just one of the bands being hit by the recession.

If there’s any silver lining to the current recession it’s on the musical front, where last-minute tickets to hear big acts like Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen are available for as little as $1, according to a Reuters report.

According to the report, eBay Inc’s StubHub, the leading Internet ticket re-seller, has confirmed that last-minute concert ticket sales at sharply lower prices are on the rise for acts like Paul McCartney, Springsteen, Jonas Brothers, Coldplay, and U2.

“People often assume a secondary ticket site only offers inflated prices, but it’s very challenging right now,” Sean Pate, a spokesman for San Francisco-based StubHub, was quoted as saying. He said cheap prices were not showing up just for “nosebleed” seats or lawn seats, but rather in all seat locations for top performers.

Many of the big tours are reportedly sold out through vendors like Live Nation, but a certain percentage of tickets find their way onto the secondary market on sites like StubHub or craigslist.org. Given the economy, many of these tickets are being sold by a combination of ticket brokers and regular fans at steep discounts