A Steely Dan Ticket Costs More Than Fine Colombian

Earlier this month we came across a pair of Steely Dan tour dates near Chicago that we figured were just the first of many shows the jazz-rock band will play this summer. Today, another date has surfaced, as the bayside San Diego venue Humprey’s By The Bay has announced its 2013 lineup, which finds Steely Dan performing there on August 21st.

NBC’s SoundDiego website lists all shows and ticket prices for the season and we were surprised to see Steely Dan tops the list of ticket prices by a whopping $45. Steely Dan fans will have to pay $155 face ($169.50 with fees) to see the band play at Humphrey’s By The Bay. For comparison’s sake, tickets to see Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys AND Alejandro Escovedo are only $55 a piece, while tickets to see legendary performer Willie Nelson run $88. Jazz pianist Diane Krall, who will play the venue on September 20th, is the only show on the lineup for which tickets are over $100 (tickets to see Krall’s Glad Rag Doll show cost $110).

Steely Dan famously sang about making “tonight a wonderful thing” in their 1980 hit Hey Nineteen by enjoying “the Cuervo Gold” and the “fine Colombian.” If you pair those two things with a Steely Dan concert in San Diego, you’re looking at a $300+ night as Huffington Post puts the street price of a gram of cocaine in the U.S. at $120, while you can buy a liter of Cuervo Gold for $15.98. Bear in mind Humphrey’s By The Bay is an intimate venue with a capacity of 1,450, but it isn’t often a ticket to a Steely Dan show costs more than the “fine Colombian,” though some say the Dan were singing about weed not coke.

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16 Responses

  1. Scott,

    Fine Columbian was pot, not coke. Columbian was a relatively high quality weed in those days. The bottom of the barrel being Mexican, followed by Jamaican, with commercial grade Columbian the next step up the ladder. Of course compared to today’s offerings it would be like a McDonald’s hamburger compared to a porterhouse from the Palm.

  2. You should also consider that they have a 10 piece band of top notch players, I don’t think any of the “comparison shopping” was done with bands that are comparable in size.

  3. Saw them in 74, don’t remember the price. To date, one of the best shows I’ve seen. They were eight piece, near original line up. Saw them last year. Ten piece, 37 years apart, not nearly as good as 74, but still absolutely great. Front row center behind the VIP seats. $500.00. Worth every penny “to me”. What is the writers point? Are you saying Steely Dan has, somehow sold out? I just can’t see any reason for the bytes? Too much? Don’t go! Can’t afford it? Write better stories.

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