Plus, all this bitching is a little hollow. In all venues, there are tickets for $50 or so $$$ or less. Some have been about $20, which I suggest is affordable to almost all and if you can't afford $20, you shouldn't be going in the first place as you likely are struggling to put food on your table. What people are really bitching about is they want to sit on the front row for $20
As for the tour making money, it seems to me that Live Nation, et al, have lots of people who figure out the state of the economy, the draw of FM, etc., and work the numbers through that economic model. In other words, the price point of profitability of the show is not based on 100% occupancy