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Cheaper Prince Tickets To Entice 'Casual' Fans

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - "Purple Rain" solidified Prince's status as one of the greats. Like many Prince fans, Jesse McMonagle remembers where he was when he saw Prince's cinematic debut.

"I snuck into 'Purple Rain' when I was in fourth grade," McMonagle said.

And when tickets went on sale for a St. Paul stop on Prince's "Live Out Loud Tour," McMonagle bought ten tickets at $289 each, expecting his friends would definitely want to come along.

But when they heard the ticket price, their purple passion petered out.

"Ticket price is too high," he said.

Ticket King's Mike Nowakowski says promoters had to slash prices to try and sell out the venue.

"Initially there was the clambering for tickets right after the show was announced and the tickets went on sale, so we sold a bunch at that point," Nowakowski said. "And then it just stopped."

First-tier tickets now cost $259, second tier $149 and $99 for third tier.

"There were a certain amount of people that would pay anything to see Prince in a little venue like that," he said. "And then the casual Prince fans was like, 'I'm not paying that kind of money to see anyone.'"

Nowakowski says Myth has three things keeping the show from selling out: The nightclub is in the suburbs, its Memorial Day weekend and many people have plans and promoters got greedy.

"The promoter and the people that set the prices just overestimated what people would be willing to pay to see Prince in a small venue," he said.

Nowakowski believes the shows will sell out at the last minute because a lot of people will decide that it may be their time to finally see His Purple Majesty.

Prince will perform two shows Saturday at Myth in Maplewood. The first show is at 8:30 p.m., and the second starts at 11:30 p.m.

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