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Religion/spirituality

Cliff Richard for example

(97 Posts)
annep Sun 02-Dec-18 08:46:30

Just reading an article on how Cliff Richard has spoken about the profound effect Christianity has had on his life. What I don't understand is how he thinks its ok to charge so much for his concerts when he has more than enough money. Many of his fans can't afford to go. It doesn't seem very Christian to me.

Jalima1108 Sun 02-Dec-18 15:20:43

I used to go to see his films when I was about 13 or 14.

SueDonim Sun 02-Dec-18 15:17:47

Maybe that was the same concert, Annep , as it was the clash with a Jewish festival that changed our tickets. We were able to use our flights in the end but it meant we had to change a lot of the other arrangements around them.

annep Sun 02-Dec-18 15:13:02

Suedonim you are very tolerant. I would be extremely annoyed if I had bought a ticket and paid for flights. Unless there was a very good reason like illness. In the instance I quote management had made a mistake and booked Cohen on a Jewish feast day. They should have compensated imo. Badly done.

annep Sun 02-Dec-18 15:09:26

I didn't object to anyone being comfortably off Maryeliza. But good point about judgement and fallibility. Paddyann good point about reductions too.

paddyann Sun 02-Dec-18 14:53:36

I wouldn't go see him either,never been a fan but I have no problems with his ticket prices although maybe he could give decent reductions for older folk who have been following him for decades .I rarely go to concerts where the artists are older ,I like to find fresh talent
.The exception was the late John Martyn who we saw just weeks before he died ,gone was the young golden haired boy I saw when I was 17 and in his place an old man with one leg ,a massive weight problem and an addiction to alcohol ,easily explained the bottle by his side.
However when he opened his mouth to sing the magic was still there and the entire room was in awe .We were lucky to see him in a small venue with around a hundred people, no frills and only his usual band so tickets were less than £50 a head ,but I'd have paid 10 times that for the memory of seeing him after all those years.Made even better by being able to chat to him in the interval and after the concert was over.

maryeliza54 Sun 02-Dec-18 14:38:14

Nice logical argument ab you tell ‘em. I’m not wanting to deflect or be goady( given the nature of this particular forum) but I get equally fed up with the argument that you can’t be genuinely left wing and comfortably off or - perish the thought - drink champagne. There are plenty of moral principles that Christians and left wing people both share and should follow but being paid less than non Christians or right wing people isn’t one of them. It’s easy to be judgey isn’t it about those who have principles that they try within the limits of their fallibility to follow

SueDonim Sun 02-Dec-18 14:32:17

That's your right, Annep, to not go to see him any more. As others are saying, I don't see why his tickets should be priced any differently to any other pop star simply because he's a Christian.

The cancellation must have been annoying, the same happened to me when the Leonard Cohen concert I was going to was changed, which involved return flights for three of us, but I didn't expect compensation.

People do complain about ticket prices but then people complain about the price of any-and-everything! A visit to the cinema costs upwards of £10.50 nowadays and even amateur performances in my locality are upwards of £15 a ticket.

Anniebach Sun 02-Dec-18 14:30:18

So how is he not following the teachings of Christ? If you mean give all that you have to the poor then I confess I too fail on this

Anniebach Sun 02-Dec-18 14:26:47

Right, so I as a Christian should settle for lower pay than those who are not Christians for doing the same job?

Jalima1108 Sun 02-Dec-18 14:23:34

I wouldn't pay to see Paul McCartney nowadays (although I did see him in 1962; he was good in those days).

annep Sun 02-Dec-18 14:22:14

Christians are followers of Christ and his teachings.

annep Sun 02-Dec-18 14:20:05

Actually many people think ticket prices are much too high - google it.

Jalima1108 Sun 02-Dec-18 14:17:33

He's not that well off in comparison to some:
According to the annual Sunday Times Rich List the 77-year-old icon was worth £58m in 2016.
The three-time winner of The Sun's "Male Pop Personality" of the year award came 41st in the list of the UK's 50 richest musicians.
Englebert Humperdinck (£70m), Gary Barlow (£75m), and Sting (£185m) all came higher.
The list was topped by Sir Paul McCartney who is worth an eye-watering £760m.

Apologies, against my better judgement, that was from the Sun, 27th November 2018
(I didn't buy it)

Elegran Sun 02-Dec-18 14:16:16

Bringing the conversation down to much lesser prices - If the going rate for a ticket to see an ordinary and unknown singer were £15, should one to see an ordinary unknown Christian singer cost £7.50?

A famous Christian pop star whose concerts cost many thousands of pounds to stage is worth the same to see as an equally famous atheist pop star.

maryeliza54 Sun 02-Dec-18 14:15:41

I’m with ab on this. The price charged for his concerts I don’t think are anything to do with his Christianity. He’s open about his Christianity so if I heard he’d treated staff at his concerts badly for example ( which obvs I’ve never heard) I’d think that could be criticised. We live in a market economy and artists can charge whatever they want (and do). Why not?

Jalima1108 Sun 02-Dec-18 14:11:01

^ I don’t understand why you believe he should charge less because he is a Christian.^
Me neither really, sorry; because he is a Christian he may want to keep making money in order to support his charitable causes.
I don't think £100 is more than other artists charge - in fact probably quite a bit less.
Rather like house prices - your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay! If the concerts sell out then the ticket price is not too high.

Elegran Sun 02-Dec-18 14:10:59

True, Annie If £100 is too much for a Christian to charge it is equally too much for anyone else to charge.

Anniebach Sun 02-Dec-18 14:07:30

annep. I don’t understand why you believe he should charge less because he is a Christian. I can understand you saying you think £100 is too high a price for a ticket to see a singer but not it’s too high a price because the singer is a Christian

annep Sun 02-Dec-18 14:07:05

I've been to see him 3 times SueDonim. I have loved him for many years. I think it was too much to charge and stopped going. Especially after a concert was cancelled at short notice - not his fault - managements fault but I still think some compensation could have been offered as well as ticket refund.. I expected more from him and was disappointed.

SueDonim Sun 02-Dec-18 13:46:54

I wouldn't want to go and see Cliff Richards but £100 a ticket doesn't seem to be unusual nowadays.

Leonard Cohen hit the road again because most of his money had been stolen by his unscrupulous manager and he needed to make ends meet. I for one was very grateful for that as I was able to see him live, it was a wonderful evening.

We also forget that these 'old' performers are still being rediscovered by new generations who might want to see them perform live, even if their voices aren't in the shape they were 20/30/40 years ago.

Both of my young daughters came to see Leonard Cohen with me and they loved what they heard. Likewise, we all went to see Fleetwood Mac - what a performance from a bunch of oldies!

annep Sun 02-Dec-18 13:44:11

Of course everyone should be paid a proper amount for work. I'm not disputing that. But to finance a luxury lifestyle, by overcharging fans by so much is wrong in my book for anyone to do.
And I expect Christians to think differently. I didnt object to Cliff earning money, just to charging too much. I do not dislike him. I had every sympathy with him in recent events.
But I am obviously in a minority of one.

I don't have a cleaner Janeainsworth. I have been discussing it and am amazed that many friends think its ok to pay minimum wage which we know isnt enough. I hadn't thought any further. Thanks for your useful reply.

amethyst67 Sun 02-Dec-18 13:26:58

It costs a great deal of money to stage lavish productions like these and £100 is less than some other entertainers will charge.

My SIL is in a band which supports many of these top stars and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of skilled and well-trained personnel involved in putting on a concert - including paying the other musicians involved. Then there is the cost of travelling and transporting to other venues, perhaps overseas too.
Add to that the cost of promoting and agency fees etc and the costs mount up.

I'm sure that Cliff pays his due taxes and I understand he donates a lot to charity.
As long as people are happy to pay the price then that seems fine by me. He's not running a Christian charity for his fans.

BTW my SIL has never been in a supporting band for a Cliff Richard concert but I'm sure they wouldn't turn down the opportunity - it's work, isn't it!

Elegran Sun 02-Dec-18 13:18:01

A thought - perhaps a Christian like Cliff might take less than the going rate for his work, but should all the technicians follow suit, the lighting engineers, stage hands, venue staff, electricians, riggers, medical staff, roadies, sound engineers, lighting crew, catering, tour manager, backing singers, extra musicians, dancers and so on? Should the hirers of forklift trucks and scaffolding, the drivers of articulated vehicles, work for nothing because the main artist is a Christian?

The labourer is worthy of his hire, (That is in the Bible) Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's (so is that)

Anniebach Sun 02-Dec-18 13:16:48

I did see Sinatra at one of his several goodby tours at the Albert Hall in 1981, he was 66 , would have gone if he had been 86

Anniebach Sun 02-Dec-18 13:09:34

Gill, ‘ yes his voice and his genius with the guitar, magic, who plays a guitar better than Willie , no one