Pop! Quiz: How much would you pay to see Madonna?

The other day in the middle of a conversation with a friend I had an unfamiliar experience: I had sticker shock on someone else's behalf. See, my friend had just revealed to me that he paid what he considered to be a steal for a ticket to see Madonna at Madison Square Garden.

The ticket cost?

$180.

Not even taking into consideration the fact that I wouldn't turn around to see Madonna, that's a preposterous amount of money to pay to see someone whose life and various faces have received more coverage than the Iraq War. Is there really anything more to see?

I see plenty of live music and I think $50 (which I paid to see Feist recently) is even a bit much to ask for ninety minutes of pop music in venue overpacked with paying patrons (that said, Feist was amazing and totally worth suffering the drunk people next to me and the Dutch tourist who kept kicking the back of my seat). Has my indie rock upbringing jaded me on big-ticket shows, or is Madonna really as much of a money-grubbing Planet Eater as I think she is?