Concert season is in full swing, with promoters continuing to announce big new shows every week at top metro-area venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Ball Arena, the Fillmore Auditorium and Mission Ballroom.
But with tickets for many big shows starting at $80-$100 and running up beyond $200 and higher for basic seats, it’s a budget calculation most fans didn’t need to make a few years ago.
Promoters blame record demand and point out that a concert is on par with other nights out in terms of cost. But concerns about hidden service fees, inflated prices and monopolistic behavior continue to dog the concert industry, as they have for decades.
That’s lately reinforced by the jury-trial verdict last month that found Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster, held an anticompetitive monopoly through every aspect of concerts, from booking to taking a cut of nacho and popcorn sales at venues. The jury found Ticketmaster had overcharged consumers in 22 states, including Colorado.
Despite the Live Nation settlement, ticket prices will likely in 2026, according to music analysts and trade publications. So what’s a fan to do?
Here are some things to consider next time you find yourself in an online queue.
Who sells official tickets for Denver’s top concert venues
Denver and the rest of the Front Range are busy music markets where fans can enjoy concerts at venues ranging from tiny clubs and halls to massive amphitheaters and stadiums. Because of that variety, it’s important to know which ticket company is the official vendor for each, since you’ll get the best price from the get-go.
In Denver, AXS — owned by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz and his AEG Presents company — is the biggest player. AXS is the official seller for city-owned venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre and downtown’s Bellco Theatre. It also controls Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, Mission Ballroom, the Denver Coliseum, and historic theaters like the Ogden, the Gothic and the Bluebird.
Denver is also the rare market where music promoter Live Nation doesn’t dominate bookings, but its company, Ticketmaster, still has a sizeable foothold here. It sells tickets for huge concerts at sports venues such as Empower Field at Mile High and Coors Field, where some big names, Paul McCartney and Billy Joel, recently played. Ticketmaster is also the official vendor for Ball Arena, the Fillmore Auditorium, the Paramount Theatre, Lodo’s Summit Music Hall and Marquis Theater, Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, and a handful of nightclubs.
But here’s one of the places where things get confusing. Ticketmaster occasionally sells tickets for shows at Red Rocks — see the Cement Gardens concert on Oct. 11 — and even resells tickets for Mission Ballroom, despite it being owned by AEG Presents.
Official after-market ticketing
Ticketmaster is currently selling tickets to shows at Coors Field, including singer-songwriter Noah Kahan (Aug. 8-9), despite the fact that both shows are sold out. How can that be? Because Ticketmaster’s site also allows people to In this case, Kahan is using the company’s Face Value Exchange “to help fans get tickets at the original price,” according to Ticketmaster’s website. “Tickets will be non-transferable and can only be resold on Ticketmaster at face value.” That’s all well and good, but when the only resale tickets available start above $350, your eyes may start to water.
Basically, if you’re going to a show like Bruno Mars, who’s at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium Sept. 26-27, your first stop should be the official ticket seller (Ticketmaster). But since it’s sold out, you’re also going to see that tickets start above $350 and range up to more than $1,200 per seat on Ticketmaster, given that they’re resale tickets. That’s comparable to what StubHub, for example, also has on sale for that show. If you want to guarantee your ticket is legit, you’re better off buying from Ticketmaster.Ticketing fees, explained
Ticketing fees are standard for most shows, but here in Colorado, you’re at least guaranteed to see the full price while shopping around. That’s after Gov. Jared Polis in 2024 passed the Consumer Protection in Event Ticket Sales bill, which requires both primary sellers, such as AXS and resellers (on any site), to show you the full price of the ticket from the start. The law also protects buyers of resold tickets, expands the availability of refunds, and bans look-alike websites and deceptive social media posts.
Ticketmaster and AXS are comparable when it comes to ticketing fees, which can make up 25% of the purchase price, so you won’t see a significant difference there. That does, however, mean that a $60 general admission ticket to Suki Waterhouse’s July 28 concert at the Fillmore Auditorium was actually closer to $45 before for facility maintenance, revenue-sharing with venues and artists, and customer service costs.
Smaller, legitimate ticketing companies such as charge much lower fees, although their events are usually at much smaller venues. In Denver, that’s 3.7% of the purchase price, plus an extra $1.79 per ticket. Eventbrite also charges a fee of 2.9% of the total order for payment processing. That is still far lower than the 25% markup from Live Nation and AXS.
How to spot fake websites
Whether you’re looking for an original or resale ticket, don’t just buy from the first link that appears on a Google search. Unofficial sellers such as Event Tickets Center appear as sponsored, look-alike ads above official sellers such as AXS. The resellers are counting on you not to notice the difference, even if sites such as Box Office Ticket Sales and Go Tickets offer 100% authenticity guarantees.
The best-known and most visible resale sites include StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, TickPick, CashorTrade and Gametime (that last one for sporting events). Some advertise fee-free purchases, such as TickPick, and will match lower offers if you can find them. But if there are other fees, resellers are required to show them up front.
Not all are created equal. In April, third-party resale site with the Federal Trade Commission, which said it was “deceptively advertising ticket prices on its website without clearly and conspicuously disclosing upfront how much consumers actually would pay, including all mandatory fees.” The company also refunded $3 million in fees to Colorado ticketholders in 2021, following a lawsuit brought by state attorneys general.
If you’re determined to buy a resale ticket, compare prices from both official sellers and third-party websites to get a sense of their true range. A standing-room-only ticket for Liz Phair and Sleater-Kinney at the Fillmore Auditorium on Sept. 14, for example, costs $64.75 on Ticketmaster, fees included. On resellers SeatGeek and StubHub, it’s more like $80 to $100 for the same ticket. In this case, you should buy from Ticketmaster, especially since the show’s not sold out. Because when it is, all the prices jump up across the board.
What if it’s sold out?
Tickets to popular shows tend to sell out instantly, often confusing and frustrating buyers who thought they were at the front of the virtual line. There’s little to be done about that outside resale tickets, but you’re likely to get better prices if you can wait until just before the show, when resellers, third-party websites, and scalpers are desperate to turn a profit. At that point, you may also get them for less than face value, since they’d rather sell them at a loss than not at all.
The same advice overall applies here: compare official resale sites vs. third-party sites for the best price, and beware sellers who are charging far more than the average. You can also try to connect directly with sellers through social media or forums such as Reddit, but there are restrictions on commercial activity on public sites. You’re also shedding the consumer protections that are available on most sites when you buy from someone directly, so consider the risk.
All ticketing services, even resellers, require accounts with email addresses, and the big ones (Ticketmaster, AXS) have apps you can download to manage your passes. That’s not a bad thing when you’re the first to get cancellation or rescheduling notices, with details on automatic refunds and other options. Promoters also often “release” tickets they’ve reserved as the event gets closer, so be sure to check from time to time if you got shut out initially.
In-person buying options
If you want to go old-school and pick up mobile or paper tickets in person (and therefore shave off some of the fees), the AXS ticket window is open for limited hours on Saturdays at the Denver Coliseum, Mission Ballroom and the Ogden Theatre, and some weekdays. Be sure to check the hours on their respective website.
Ticketmaster has more limited windows for pre-purchased tickets (i.e., not on the day of the show), with the main location at Empower Field at Mile High.
