It’s a marvelous night for a moondance, if you can spare $7,000 for you and your date.
A pair of “dynamically priced” seats in front of the stage were among the handful of tickets left Aug. 26 a couple of hours after tickets went on sale at 5 a.m. for Van Morrison’s two-night stand Oct. 12 and 13 at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club in Portsmouth.
By 9 a.m., only four tickets remained for the Saturday show. The best pair — right in front of the stage — were priced at $3,102.50 each (plus more than $500 in added fees per ticket). The cheaper pair, not quite as exclusive, were $2,502.50. Only two remained for the Sunday show, at $2,250.
Lucky fans who had not already bought tickets through the club’s in-house presales had a shot at 140 tickets reserved for the general public sale that started at 5 a.m. Average ticket prices were about $300, and were as low as $100 for seats in an upstairs bar, according to Suzanne Bresette, who books shows for Jimmy’s.
The Morrison shows are the most expensive at the 312-seat music and dining venue since it was opened by restaurateurs Peter and Michael Labrie in 2021 on Congress Street, where it previously hosted jazz icon Herbie Hancock, another high-price booking.
“We believe that the opportunity to see Van Morrison in a small, intimate venue such as Jimmy’s would be in high demand,” Bresette said. “And so that is why we had confidence that we could charge the necessary ticket price.”
The necessary price to secure the booking with the Irish singer included setting aside some tickets that are commanding Taylor Swift-style prices.
“Van Morrison’s team required that a certain number be put on as dynamic pricing,” she said, referring to Ticketmaster’s variable pricing that is based on demand.
Tickets for the Morrison shows hit even loftier heights on the secondary market. The most expensive seats on StubHub were $8,861 each, or about $12,000 after fees.
A fantabulously expensive night to make romance.
Tickets for most shows at the club range from $50 to $100, with seats at the bar priced as low as $15 before fees. Ironically, Jimmy’s had a sold-out Van Morrison tribute band booked for Aug. 27.
Securing the real deal was a major coup for the club, which features dinner service and table seating.
“It was all timing, and it just happened to work,” Bresette said. “He was finishing a run in the U.K., and he was headed to the West Coast to do another run. And he was able to schedule to fly into Pease, so we could make two days work.”
Morrison, whose hits include “Domino,” “Wild Night” and “Brown Eyed Girl,” typically plays at theaters that hold several thousand people and usually tours only the East and West coasts when he visits the United States.
“Every so often he does a show or a couple of shows in a smaller venue, so we feel very honored that he chose Jimmy’s for this run,” Bresette said.
Patrons wait for Herbie Hancock to take the stage at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club in Portsmouth in 2022. The club booked Van Morrison for a two-night run in October, with prime tickets priced as high as $3,000. (Photo by Allegra Boverman)
Morrison plays Red Rocks in Colorado
Even in his ‘70s heyday, Van Morrison had a reputation for exceptional musicianship but no rapport with his audience and a cranky disposition. In June 2005, when the singer played Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the iconic outdoor venue in Morrison, Colorado, newspaper advertisements and printed Ticketmaster tickets bore a warning: “No opening act. 7:30 p.m. sharp.”
Morrison and his band took the stage several minutes late. They played for exactly 90 minutes, during which Morrison said not a word. He sang with passion and played guitar, saxophone and harmonica, and even played a few of his hits.
As the crowd of 9,000 exited, the sun had barely begun to set at a venue famous for its nighttime view of the Denver skyline from the mountains.
Ticket price for two seats at row 44: $99.50 plus fees.