Summer Concert

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

The first concert of the summer for me this year was Ben Harper in a small town in the region of Girona. I love going to live shows, but I don’t think you’ll find me at Coachella or Bonnaroo. I’m not built for that kind of multi-day experience. I’m good at about 2 hours (encore included) and I can go three hours with an intermission. I saw that Ben Harper was coming earlier in the year and put that in my back pocket because our vacation plans weren’t set yet. I reached out to my brother in law Julio back then to see if he was interested, since he’s always in for a live show. Nothing was set in stone and he called me on Thursday to see if I wanted to go to Ben Harper on Friday. I got on the internet to buy a ticket and due to that final security check when you click ‘purchase’, I was unable to purchase a ticket. It looped me back to the enter my information again. Shit! I tried different credit cards to bust through this, but was ultimately defeated. In the end, Julio put my ticket on his bank card. BTW, a Ben Harper ticket will set you back 52 euros (~$58) these days. For transparency the ticket costs 48 euros and 4 euros are for fees and taxes. Relatively speaking, I can see Ben Harper in my hometown of Milwaukee, WI in October for $52.50 face value. After accounting for taxes and other frivolous fees from AXS, the final price is $76.26.

Opportunity Cost

Simply put, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone where, given limited resources, a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives. Assuming the best choice is made, it is the “cost” incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would have been had by taking the second best available choice. I had to apply this economic principle at the train station. In order to go to the concert, I had to link up to Julio in Girona. How do I get to Girona? Train! Nothing gives me more anxiety in Europe than taking trains. There are often so many available options to navigate from Point A to Point B: express, local, regional, high-speed, etc. To get to Girona, I could take the high-speed train and get there in 32 minutes. It also cost 32 euros. This threw me for a loop, because I had to let Julio know when to come get me in Girona. I wasn’t going to spend 32 euros to get to Girona. The high speed train was scheduled to depart Sants Estacio at 17:30. The time was now 17:02 and I had to figure this all out on a Friday. I went to the Rodalies ticket machine and punched in Girona for my destination and it gave me a 17:16 a 17:36 option. Both would take over 90 minutes to get to Girona and cost only 8,40 euros. I took the 17:16 and quickly proceeded to the correct platform after asking a few people if this train was going to Girona. I’ve gotten on the wrong regional train a few times and places in the past. There is some lingering PTSD from those experiences.

Opportunity cost is divided between explicit and implicit costs. The explicit cost of the 17:16 train is ~24 euros less than the high speed train. The implicit cost of taking the 17:16 is leaving 14 minutes earlier and arriving an hour later than the high speed train. Another implicit cost is beer. I’m going to a show where I will need both food and drink to get me through the night. Pre-show beers are usually 2 euros for a tap beer and get bumped up to 4-5 euros inside the venue. This is a lot less than the $11-15 cost of beer at a show in the US. Taken as a whole the opportunity cost of taking the high speed train for 32 euros is the 1 hour and 6 beers I would lose.

The Donation?

One thing that irritates me more than anything in this world are hidden fees or surprises at an event. We go to concerts for the “experience” and to “escape” from the most mundane aspects of our lives. As Bob Marley says, “One good thing about music is, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” The Kantian Categorical Imperative states that a person should act as if the principle of one’s act could become a universal law AND a person should treat other people as having intrinsic value and not merely as a means to achieve ones ends. At a concert, I don’t want to be bothered with anything other than the music. I don’t mind if you want to set up a booth giving out information about your cause or anything like that. I just don’t want to be approached by any “Brand Ambassador” or being asked for any other of my personal information. It’s pretty wild watching these Brand Ambassadors work their schtick and making eye contact knowing that I am so far out of their target demographic that the only information they could give me of value is where I can find the closest bathroom. The feeling is mutual.

Beer cost 4 euros at this venue. I ordered 2 beers and was charged 10 euros. Where did those 2 extra euros go? At concerts in Europe, you often are required to put a deposit on your cup for 1 euro. At the end of the show, you can return your cup and get your 1 euro back. I think they’re banking on people just keeping the cup and re-using it so the cup does not end up in a landfill. I think this is an excellent idea. Most people are rushing to get home so they skip the final step of returning the cup. Interestingly enough, I never see these cups in the garbage or on the ground. Seriously, who would throw away 1 euro? The cup either goes home or returned for the 1 euro deposit; but, it never gets thrown away. I choose to always return the cup so it can either be re-used at a future event or properly recycled. After the concert was over, I went up to the bar for the exchange and was told I could return the cup, but I would not receive my 1 euro because it was a donation. A donation to what was not made clear. Basically, I was strong armed into giving 1 euro and it felt like a back-handed way of squeezing 1 euro out of me and every other concert goer. Oh well?!?! I have a collection of misfit cups that I’ve collected over the years that I use at other events. Festa Major Sants is coming in August and I will bring one of my cups from my private stock to the party and save both the environment and 1 euro.

Final Thoughts?

I had an excellent time at the Ben Harper show. He played a lot of his classic songs and it felt like Ben doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with his awesome bandmates. The venue was excellent and laid out for chilling and hanging out. They have a concert series at this venue every week through the summer. I would go see Wilco in August if I weren’t traveling though Ireland. There’s something magical about seeing a show under the stars. Concerts start late here. Ben Harper was not scheduled to go on until 10pm and the show went on for almost 2 hours. There were a few expat Americans hanging out and dancing like hippies next to me which was nice to see. There was also a large contingency of amateur videographers documenting the show. I struggle a lot with this. On the one hand, you’re documenting the event. On the other hand, you may be affecting the user experience of someone who may not want to watch the concert through your mobile phone. I feel like mobile phones don’t have any place during a show, but I’m also guilty of taking photos. I went to see Dave Chappelle at Radio City Music Hall a few years back and I was required to have my phone locked in a case for the duration of the show. I don’t think every show should require the concertgoer to lock their phone, but people should not record the whole thing from start to finish. That is #annoying. There were a few apartments where people were hanging out on their balconies enjoying the show which reminded me of the rooftops around Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hopefully, I can squeeze in another show before the end of summer. It’s been super hot and any respite from the heat is welcomed!