my biggest beef with the pricing has been the HUGE jump in base tix pricing this year; $40 min. to see the black crowes, pixies, kraftwerk, coldplay, etc....shows i saw at 4 different venues (3 in NC, kraftwerk at 930), where last year the cheapies for these shows seemed like it would have been $25-30. and those shows were all before gas prices (read: higher travel costs for bands) went towards the roof.
the extra surcharges were just adding insult to injury, and i have to agree with posters that say a surcharge/handling fee that's 25-50% of the tix price is out of hand. a $7.50 fee for a $15 show? -no thanks; those $40 shows i saw didn't even have fees that high!!
it's just the reality of the high costs of touring and biznesh that we're going to have to get used to. and, as many have noted, you just pick your battles one by one. i just go to less shows and try to find tix with a minimum surcharge. if i have to get tix online, i choose e-tix all the time now: it's usually the cheapest option, i can print them out right away, and i can reprint them should i 'lose' them, or e-mail a buddy's tix to them if we're going to meetup at a show.
re: "the cat's cardle", i'm assuming that this is Frank Heath's Chapel Hill club Cat's Cradle and not some local place (newbie here, still learning all the local spots). that was my local place to see shows for the last decade, and their e-tix are great. you don't wait in line for willcall and then again to get in; you just show up in the main line and you're in. frank also would have tix to their shows at indie record stores like CD Alley or Poindexters where there would be real tix (for the "i want my tix stub" crowd) and NO service charge that i recall.
i am sure that this discussion will continue to evolve as touring costs skyrocket, wages remain flat, and the economy worsens. alternatives to Ticketbastard will continue to emerge and many of the new models will adapt and incorporate user feedback to try to bring things in line for the lower/middle class show-goers. until then, we can just pick and choose which shows we can afford, continue to support the clubs and bands, and continue to voice concerns and alternatives to practices which can be seen as annoying/gouging. business models/practices will keep evolving, and so will the needed discussions about them.