Fresh on the heels of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia live, today Seattle Theatre Group announced that Steve Martin will be coming to Benaroya Hall November 3. He'll be performing "an evening of bluegrass and banjo" with his backing band, the Steep Canyon Rangers. That sounds funny, right? Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. and will set you back $55-75, plus Ticketmaster fees. Not so funny, Steve.

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$55 to $75 is actually kind of standard for a bigger name concert these days. I really don't see Steve Martin charging $9 or even $20 for tickets. Plus, he's not really catering to college students but probably older people with disposable income. I read Pearl Jam was charging $60 for all tickets at Key Arena. Being that Benaroya is a much more intimate venue by about 1/6, I'd say $75 is a good deal.
That's more expensive than anything else at Benaroya currently being sold via Ticketmaster--including an evening with director Kevin Smith. Whaaaaaaaa?
In fairness to Martin -- and I know this may be hard to believe -- but he is actually considered one of the better banjo players in the world, at least among those who play clawhammer style. Very few can actually do it at all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/arts/music/02banjo.html