McCartney fans don't need scalpers

Paul McCartney … c'mon, he's a living legend, the most popular singer and songwriter in pop music history. I will not debate this.

He was in the Beatles!

And Wings?

McCartney hasn't performed in Houston since 2005.

So it's understandable that scalpers, excuse me, proprietors of the secondary ticket market, are asking ridiculously high prices for McCartney's concert Nov. 14 at Minute Maid Park.

They're asking upwards of $2,000 for a ticket on the floor. Even the cheap seats are expensive, as much as $100 for a ticket in the upper deck. These seats are so high up, mountain climbers are being hired to make beer runs whenever McCartney says "Here's a song off my new album."

There's no shortage of marked-up tickets available on StubHub, etc.

Last time I looked, there were 3,414 tickets for sale on StubHub, and 1,400 tickets on eBay. Someone on craigslist is offering a luxury suite with 18 seats for $8,075.

Throw in the other ticket-selling websites, brokers and agents - there's got to be 10,000 seats available on the secondary market for an extra fee.

Here's what isn't so understandable:

The Paul McCartney concert is NOT sold out.

You don't have to pay a scalper for McCartney tickets. The Astros told me there are 5,000 seats still available at www.ticketmaster.com … at face value. What a concept, paying what it says on the ticket.

Tickets are available at the $175, $125, $99.50 and $59 price levels.