Music is a big part of my life. So were live concerts back in the time when I could afford them.

Don't get me wrong about ticket prices. I think they are entirely fair given what the internet has done to album profits. Live performances and composing music scores are the only ways  bands make real money in today's world of Spotify, Pandora and music sharing. 

As a music-lover, I believe musicians are grossly underpaid no matter how much they make, given how much pleasure they have given me. Unlike politicians, hedge fund managers and software application developers, musicians add joy to regular people's lives. There's no class of people I'd rather see filthy rich. 

High ticket prices only mean that I can only afford a few concerts a year when I'm home.  So when my good friend Lupita in Mazatlán invited me to go with her to see Yuri, Mexico’s Madonna, my first concert in Mexico, I was very excited.

Ticket pricing and distribution

A ticket to see Yuri at an outdoor venue was 650 pesos (about $35 dollars) for very good seats, right behind the VIP section. VIP tickets ran about $1,500 pesos (about $78 dollars) with VIP seating arranged in long tables covered in white linen in front of the stage, rather than individual seats.  Sitting in the VIP section would have been like seeing her perform at your wedding.

By contrast, a good ticket at Denver's Red Rocks, America's premiere outdoor venue, for say, Foreigner, who like Yuri is an 80's act, cost $90 for a stadium style seat. Red Rock has a capacity is only 9,525. The biggest names don't usually play there unless they are so smitten by the magic of the venue (as Santana is) that they don't care (and are as cool as Santana).

A decent ticket to Matchbox Twenty at Denver's Pepsi Center, a venue that can accommodate the biggest names, which will start at about $100. The sky's the limit for ticket prices for the biggest acts. In general, in Mexico, you can count on a ticket costing half of what you’d pay at home.

Another interesting aspect of the ticket process was that instead of going online to purchase it. Buying tickets for big concerts in the U.S. has grown very complicated requiring elaborate online purchasing strategies among friends, multiple browsers, and purchasing at the moment tickets go on sale. These strategies aren’t necessary in Mexico.

You can buy tickets online for events in Mexico rather than an outlet but you might need a Mexican credit card. The U.S. credit card I use in Mexico, a Visa Discover Travel Card, which I highly recommend (no currency exchange fees and accepted in most places credit cards are accepted), didn’t work for special event ticket purchases.

Fewer people use credit cards in Mexico so performances have to make other options available. I purchased tickets for an event several months later at an upscale women's apparel store. Can you imagine buying tickets for a big U.S. concert at an Ann Taylor store? (Maybe the stores should….I tried on three dresses while I was there.)

Ordering a drink at a Mexican concert

As we waited for Yuri to start and the opening band played, a server made rounds to collect our drink orders. Notice the price of the beer (cerveza) below. Thirty pesos ($2). Okay. Fair enough. Now look at the price of tequila, rum and cognac. I almost fell out of my chair.

Even while recognizing that the notion of a $42 drink was insane, it was so far outside the bounds of my comprehension that they would sell the liquor by the bottle at an outdoor concert that I was on the cusp of believing that maybe that was the price of a single drink. After all, I have paid over $20 for a martini in a bar in the U.S. so why not $42 for a drink at a concert? 

When I asked someone the next day about it, he informed me the price was for a bottle. I said there were only two of us. We couldn't drink a whole bottle, I told him, and the menu didn’t even list individual drink prices. No, he told me, you take the bottle with you when you leave (idiota). Coming from an American city that won't let you leave a restaurant with a paper cup of wine in your hand to walk to a concert a block away, I'm still reeling.  

People sing more at concerts in Latin America.

The audience sings more at Latin American concerts, not just the refrains, entire songs, which is something I've only seen at Bruce Springsteen concerts back home.  

If you too know all the words to Thunder Road, you know just how good singing a song at a concert feels.  I recommend memorizing a few refrains from the most popular Spanish songs so you can join in (and endear yourself to Mexicans, which I can never get enough of). 

The After-Show

As I mentioned, the opening band was very good. When the concert ended, I'll be damned if it didn't come back, stage right, and play a set even as people had started leaving. They were largely a cover band playing some of the best known Rock songs ever produced in Latin America. Since I know the lyrics of a few of the most popular songs in Spanish, I was able to keep singing.

About a third of the crowd stayed and danced, working off some of that post-concert adrenaline and ensure that car valets didn't have a crowd of a thousand people standing in the parking lot waiting for their cars. People left in controlled waves.

The After-After Show

After a few more songs, we began to leave. To salute us, a fireworks show went off for about 10 minutes. (I didn't list this as  #5 because I'm sure this doesn't always happen. I've never seen it at home after a concert though.)

My advice?  I have written frequently how important it is to make native friends as an expat. I had the extreme good fortune of being invited to this concert by a Mexican girlfriend. If you're living in Mexico for awhile and you see advertisements for what looks like a big show, buy a few tickets, grab your target Mexican (and if you're a woman your abanico), and get ready to have a grand time.

Related links:

Get to know a few of the best Rock songs in Latin America.

It not just rock concerts you'll be able to explore, but rather all types of live performances. - Ventanas Mexico

Music is so inherent to understanding a culture, don’t ignore getting to know regional Mexican bands. Ventanas Mexico

To get you in the mood, a little old-fashioned rock and roll by Ariel Rot, "Necesito un Trago," (I Need a Drink).

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About the author:

Kerry Baker is the author this blog and has written three books for aspiring expats. The second, "If Only I Had a Place," a guide to renting luxuriously for aspiring expats as they explore the option of Mexico. Her most recent book is “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico.” Both a how-to and her own wild ride to establishing a life in Mexico. Most recently she released The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico, guide to healthy cooking in Mexico (You’re gonna need this.)