When Are Jazz Fest Tickets a Bargain? Ask Pearl Jam Fans

Pearl Jam, by Danny Clinch

On the first leg of Pearl Jam’s “Dark Matter” tour, seeing them at Jazz Fest is the least expensive way to do it.

[Updated] In New Orleans, one of the many rituals tied to Jazz Fest is complaining about ticket prices. They get more expensive every year, but so does everything else. Still, for everybody who remembers tickets that cost $20 or less, this year’s $129 in advance and $135 at the gate is hard to process.

This year, Jazz Fest has tried to make it easier for locals with expensive weekend wristbands that reduced the per-day cost to under $100, and Louisianans can purchase reduced price tickets all weekend, not only on Thursdays. Locals Thursdays feature $50 tickets for those with a Louisiana billing zip code, but Louisianans who wish to purchase advance tickets can get them for $95. Locals tickets will be $105 at the gate.

Still, ticket prices need context, and one is the cost of tickets at other major festivals. A one-day ticket at Bonnaroo is $169, and a Lollapalooza single day ticket is $189. When Jazz Fest put tickets on sale, four-day weekend passes broke down to less than $100 a day and were cheaper than weekend passes to Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.

Another context is the cost of tickets to see the headliners. Pearl Jam will play Saturday, May 3, and on the current leg of the Dark Matter tour, Jazz Fest’s $135 at the door is the cheapest ticket available.

The tour starts in Hollywood, Florida at Hard Rock Live on April 24 and 26, where the cheapest tickets available through Ticketmaster are $1053 and $1039 respectively. After that, the least expensive tickets are priced as follows:

April 29 - Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena: $178
May 1 Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena: $193
May 6 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena: $175
May 8 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena: $510
May 11 Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center: $325
May 13 Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center: $302
May 16 Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena: No tickets listed
May 18 Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena: $604

For fans in cities that Pearl Jam is not hitting on this leg of the tour, the cost of travel to New Orleans and a Jazz Fest ticket is less than the cost of the show in some of these markets.

Updated at 2:30 p.m.

The information about ticket prices for locals was added after the story was initially published.