That scunnering feeling we’re being ripped off for big gigs as hotels cash in

The numbers spun like a fruit machine the second Oasis announced two gigs at Murrayfield next August, and the prices were eyewatering, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has tried to book for any major event. I spent summer travelling to Cardiff, Belfast, London and Sunderland to see Bruce Springsteen in concert and the biggest pain was getting accommodation at a price that didn’t stick in my craw.

Cardiff was hopeless. The city doesn’t have the rooms to cope - just ask any rugby fan who has ever gone there for an international.

A Springsteen forum I’m a member of suggested Newport - 15 miles and two train stops away. One Google search and I had a room above a pub for £90. Well, I did until the email to say “listen if you’re looking for Newport next to Cardiff you’ve got the wrong one - we’re the Newport in Pembrokeshire.” Take two, I got the right town and a still decent deal, with travel prices akin to the price of a pint. As I stood in the queue at Cardiff Station, I got chatting to the folk in front of me - they came from Cupar!

Belfast was okay for accommodation, while in London I stuck with the cheap as chips, windowless cupboards that pass for bedrooms in Easyjet Hotels. Four nights in the capital for around £400 ain’t too shabby. Sunderland was a lost cause, however, but thankfully Newcastle was cheap, and the Metro perfect for getting there and back on a night when the rain was, to quote Springsteen, hellacious.

I’ve travelled UK wide for a host of gigs and festivals over the years and accept that prices go up as the laws of supply and demand kick-in, but no-one likes being ripped off - and that’s the scunnering feeling most music fans have every single time they begin the hunt for a place to lay their heads.

We are already at the mercy of Live Nation and Ticketmaster and their woeful service, the advent of dynamic pricing is nothing other than a huge con, and now hoteliers are taking ‘way more than their pound of flesh.

We choose to spend hard earned money to get to festivals and major events - and we absorb every single hike because the desire to be there, to experience something unbelievably special - whether that’s Oasis’ reunion, Taylor Swift or The Boss on the big stage. These are more than just gigs. They are moments that remain in hearts and minds forever.

I don’t want to tally up my Springsteen bill this summer because, to me it was priceless, but it is getting harder and harder to find ways round the utter greed that is consuming every aspect of the sector, and it is pure profiteering. Maybe, just maybe, there should be limits on how much they can raise hotels prices - a fixed percentage - rather than thinking of a number and doubling it.

Or we do what a guy who came to see Springsteen in Edinburgh did last summer. Chatting to him pre-gig, he said he’d flown up from Birmingham, and rather than shell out for a hotel he’d spend just hours in, he went straight to the airport to kip on the floor before boarding the red eye shuttle. He was home by mid-morning with his wallet still intact.