If in the last couple of years, you had the pleasure to attend a major, once-in-a-lifetime musical act, say Kendrick Lamar’s or The Weeknd’s, you know well about the gaping holes left in your bank account. However, it’s an entirely different discussion when you have to buy concert tickets for your mates, too.

As u/No_Aioli8006 shared on their “Am I The [Jerk]” post recently, he was “lucky enough to snag six tickets to see Garth Brooks in Vegas.” Those aren’t cheap, you know. A single ticket for Brooks’ concert starts at $250, going all the way up to an eye-watering $900 to see him at arm’s length. Everything was fine until the point where the author’s friends kept stalling to pay him back for the tickets in time. Having no other choice but to find people that would be happy to cover all the gaping holes in their bank account for the tickets, feelings were hurt, demanding moral judgment from the AITA community.

Engaging in acts of kindness for friends can sometimes backfire, particularly when those friends fail to keep their end of the promise

Image credits: Wikipedia

Choosing between friends who conveniently “forgot” to pay back and accumulating credit card debt, the author found a solution not everyone was fond of

Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

Image credits: freestocks (not the actual photo)

Image credits: No_Aioli8006

In the dark ages before the Internet, people actually had to physically leave their apartments and queue with a $20 bill in their hand in order to see their beloved musicians. Sort of like people still do with certain movie premieres (particularly Star Wars and Marvel films) and new collections of Supreme clothing, it seems. You didn’t know if it was sold out and how long you’d be waiting, hoping that you’ll score.

But that was part of the charm of the overall concert experience. “We arrived downtown and took our place on the sidewalk armed with beer, Dr. Pepper, tortilla chips, and cigarettes. We had neglected to bring blankets, pillows, even a folding chair, which made for a long 18 hours. It was quickly obvious, however, that it did not matter; we never slept,” Paul Combs reminisced for The Riff magazine. “No one slept because we were all too busy sharing stories with fellow Springsteen fans, too hyped about the upcoming show, too happy blasting ‘Jungleland’ and ‘No Surrender,’ too content to be among a large group of people who actually got each other.”

Image credits: Zichao Zhang (not the actual photo)

Not to sound like a grandpa, but how times have changed! Not only did we lose that collective queuing experience. But ticket prices have become stratospherically high as well. According to a 2018 investigation by the BBC, ticket prices for large arena gigs have witnessed a staggering doubling since the late 1990s. After adjusting for inflation, an increase of approximately 27% has been observed.

A paramount factor driving up concert expenses, then, is the ever-increasing fees demanded by today’s superstar musicians. The likes of Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and other A-list artists have established their brands as global phenomena, commanding substantial performance fees that reflect their unparalleled star power. Taylor Swift, for example, reportedly makes an eye-watering $9 million per concert. These astronomical costs are then inevitably transferred to ticket prices, placing a significant burden on fans who strive to witness their idols’ live performances.

Concert or not, being the helping hand can sometimes go horribly wrong

We’ve all been in a situation, at one point or another, when a friend or a colleague asks for a favor (usually, but not always) involving money. Should you give in and be the helping hand? Well, there are many things to consider. “Individuals who failed to honor past agreements” or “exhibit a track record of unreliability, irresponsibility, and/or resisting or rebelling against authority” is a major ‘red flag’, Shawn Meghan Burn, a Professor of Psychology and the author of ‘Unhealthy Helping‘, told Bored Panda in an email.

Dual helping relationships, as she explains, “arise when we try to help a friend or relative by lending them money, renting them a place to live, or hiring them to work for us.” From therapists counseling their colleagues to friends offering guidance to one another, these interconnected bonds emerge in various forms and contexts. For example, becoming your friend’s or colleague’s landlord. And while it might seem like a nice arrangement at first, things can get messy when there are power dynamics involved.

“Some such people (especially narcissists prone to manipulating others) will make resist your efforts to get them to comply with the agreement and make it hard for you to end the arrangement,” Burn explained. “Be honest with yourself about who you’re dealing with. In their minds, they aren’t just anybody and your treating them as you would an employee, renter, or borrower, is hurtful.”  

A case in point: lending money. Nearly 46% of adults who lent money to friends or family reported having a negative outcome, while 37% reported they lost money and 21% experienced a damaged relationship with the borrower, a recent survey by Bankrate found. To mitigate the potential for hurt feelings and misunderstandings, Burn recommends establishing firm guidelines. “Set clear ground rules, including expectations regarding repayment, work performance, or rent, how long you’re willing to help, etc., ideally in writing,” she argued. “And don’t risk more than you can afford to lose, just in case.”

People backed the author for having every right to do what he did with the tickets

Although, there were some who believed that everyone in this situation was a jerk

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