By jman2112
echoesofoldapplause.com

We can use me as an example for the expenses incurred during the R30 tour below. You have to take into consideration that people freaked on me and wondered how I afforded all that I did and saw during the tour. But you also have to understand that there were THOUSANDS of other people that also did WAAAAAY MORE than I did. People flew from Venezuela to Milan, from Japan to California, from Toronto to London. Someone flew from Los Angeles to Munich and drove a rented sports car (or two) around the country side like a Red Barchetta at 150 mph and ended up at at the Frankfurt show. I know at least a half dozen people who paid ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS each for a front row ticket to a show, a pair at a time, for MULTIPLE shows. Someone flew from Florida to Los Angeles back to Florida and then round trip from Florida to New York again. This person has a husband and a couple of kids. So factor that in, too. This isn't a joke. And it might sound somewhat shocking, but it is pure reality. I know one person who saw three shows and paid $6,000 BUCKS just on tickets. Oh my GAWD.

I do know, however, that a LOT of these people don't really have a lot of money. They are not rich or millionaires. I do know a millionaire, but he doesn't listen to Rush. He likes the Who. The people who I mentioned above that I do know personally are average, working, hold down a job type of people, people with a family or a boyfriend or whatever. Whatever. I'd NEVER pay $1,000 for a ticket to anything, except maybe an airline ticket to Indonesia or Australia to go surfing. Even then...sorry, I was fantasizing there for a moment.

So this is nothing special, really. It's just reality. Who bought a digital camera and took it to a show just for the sole purpose of getting some shots of Rush? A LOT of people, let me tell you. They all emailed me and told me so!!! A couple hundred bucks is a lot of money, as far as I'm concerned, whether it is spent on concerts or anything else. If someone gave you $500, would you think it was a lot of money or would you think it is just chump change? $500 is a lot of money in my book.

Here's the rough breakdown of my R30 experiences. You can compare them to yours, or to the people I mentioned above, and think what you want:

1)St. Louis/KC all inclusive, $300 cash plus $721 tix/air/hotel ($1,021, 2 shows, $510.50 per show)

2)SD, LA, PHX, VGS, Irvine - $300 cash plus tix, expenses, etc., $729.92 ($1,029 five shows, $205.00 per show)

3)RCMH, $300 cash, tix/air/and expenses (cheesecake and pizza) $944.19 ($1,244.19, two shows, $622.00 per show)

Grand total: @$2,395 on a credit card, and $900 cash, so about $3,295 total so far.

$366 average per show.

*I have about $300 in receipts for photo stuff/film/developing.

*Spent $100 for shirts and stuff from the backstageclub.com.

*Bought four shirts @$40/each, $160. (included in cash).

*Bought 2 books, $20ea/, $40. (included in cash).

*Key chains, tour books, pins, etc, $50 (included in cash).

*No clue as to food and beverages, but Steak and Shake, Dennys and the $12 L.A. salad and $17.50 to park in LA come to mind (included in cash).

*In New York I bought a "City Pass" for a bunch of attractions entrance fees, $50 (on the card).

So, add about $450.00 to the total and now the GRAND TOTAL is $3,745.00, which is probably within $500 of what I actually spent. I'll blow off the interest on the credit card because it was my choice to do it that way, and that's how I was able to do it. So that is my answer. I devoted an entire credit card to this tour, and nothing else is/was put on it. I did it that way to specifically track my R30 expenditures after so many years of expenses.

Do you have other Rush expenses? In my case, I do. Besides the $75 per month bill for R30 at 7.7 percent, none of this covers any of my web expenses, including new software, hosting fees, traffic fees, ISP fees, computer upgrades, etc. Those are "Recurring Monthly Rush Expenses" (it works out to be about $50/month), and that doesn't include the THOUSANDS of hours of FREE labor (about 2 to 3 hours per night since March, 2004 to the present - email, corresponding with fans, developing web pages, developing new code, research, searching the web for new and interesting articles/tidbits/photos, editing and sizing photographs, uploading, etc...). But this is my choice. It keeps me connected, which is my justification. This $50 makes me VERY happy each month. Oops. That's wrong. It's $75 plus the $50, that's $125.00/month. That's a lot of Rush money each month. That's a vacation, buddy. That's two surfboards. Damn.

Do YOU have "Monthly Recurring Rush Expenses?" I bet a lot of webmasters and fans do. Contact: I am not alone.

$3,745.00. Dollars. Bucks. Cashola. Whumpum.

Unfortunately, I have a brain that says, well, jman2112, isn't that something like between 15 and 20 percent of your ANNUAL income? I spent the "equivilant" (mostly deferred) of 15 percent of my annual income on a BAND on the ROAD in THREE MONTHS?

Damn.

How much did you fans spend? Do you REALLY want to know?

If you can handle it, click $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$