OPINION: I bought concert tickets and a weekend away in London for less than a night in Dublin

With major sell-out shows coming to Ireland this summer including Oasis, Lana Del Rey, Olivia Rodrigo and Zach Bryan, hundreds of thousands of people will flock to Dublin to spend their money on the very pricey gigs which seem to exponentially increase in cost each time another concert is announced. 

But how much money is too much when it comes to gigs here in Ireland? One major factor to consider when it comes to concerts here is that the vast majority of them take place in Dublin, meaning that most people are forced to organise a way of travelling to the concert or else find accommodation for the night: no cheap task for a country with poorly connected public transport and an extremely expensive hotel market. 

Even if neither of those things are an issue for you, dynamic pricing has made buying concert tickets incredibly costly and quite literally unpredictable. Long gone are the days where the advertised price of tickets gave people an idea of how much they would be paying for concerts, of course excluding taxes and other sneaky charges. 

Now, people have no idea when they join the stressful Ticketmaster queue just how much they are going to pay for tickets. The outrage that erupted last September when the Oasis tickets went on sale were just one example of dynamic ticket prices gone mad. 

Late last year, Lana Dey Rey announced she was returning to Dublin to play for the first time in the Aviva Stadium on June 30 of this year. As a lifelong fan, I rallied some friends and we decided to try get tickets. The tickets were advertised for roughly €80 and, as concerts are now adays, I expected them to be a lot more.

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Charged as the chief organiser for the plans, I asked everyone before the presale tickets came out, just how much everyone was willing to spend. Of course, no one wanted to dash anyone's hopes and they also didn't expect anything too extreme. Low and behold, I joined the queue and saw some tickets go for €350 each. Not a hope. 

I eventually got rear pitch standing tickets, the cheapest I could find, for €116.75. They were expensive but in comparison to some concerts, they weren't extreme. However, I did recently buy tickets for a concert in London and was quite shocked to discover that when I added in flights and a hotel for three days, the price was actually lower than going to a concert and staying in Dublin for just one night. 

My favourite artist of all time, Ethel Cain, announced a European tour recently and unfortunately Dublin didn't make the cut. She had been on the Electric Picnic ticket and gigged in Dublin last year, but I missed both shows and simply couldn't miss out again. As a smaller artist, her tickets were cheaper at €63.62 each and so when I looked into it, London was actually a viable option. 

Through LoveHolidays, I was able to source an entire three-day trip with flights and accommodation for €259. This includes an early morning flight on the Friday before the concert on the Saturday and a late flight home on the Sunday and then a three-star hotel in the centre of London. There's even deals for €159, depending on how far you're willing to travel to and from the concert itself.

For the ticket, flights and hotel for three days and two nights it would cost per person €322.62, with the possibility of doing it considerably cheaper if you're willing to stay at a lower rating accommodation further from the concert venue. 

In comparison for the Lana Del Rey concert, to stay the night in Dublin hotels on average cost well above €200 - and consider that's just for one night, no breakfast and it's a Monday! Add that to the cost of the ticket, the price of the train ticket which would be €17.70 and your total amount is €334.45. Most hotels are €250 plus which would bring that cost closer to €400, all for just one night. 

There's a clear winner here when it comes to value for money, one night in Dublin versus three days in London. However, it's a depressing conclusion for Ireland's entertainment industry and for everyday people who want to simply enjoy a gig without forking out hundreds and not actually get the value for what they're paying. 

Of course, travelling to London is a privilege and still definitely a cost. The issue at hand here is that it is still cheaper than travelling an hour up the road essentially for one night to do the same thing. By travelling to London for a concert, you get a weekend away and for a cheaper price. It simply doesn't add up.