Anybody else heard Kyuss? Any Queens of the Stone Age fan should have, seeing as it was basically QOTSA with a different singer. Also, I think Josh Homme is one of the best guitarists of our age. Anyway, here's my list:
Kyuss
Queens of the Stone Age
Tool
Radiohead
Yo La Tengo
The Black Keys
The White Stripes
WEEN!!!!
Robert Johnson(I know he's not a band, but he's still better than 90% of the crap released today)
Beck
Miles Davis(same as Robert Johnson)
Sigur Ros
Rye Coalition
Built to Spill
Wilco
The Walkmen
eels
That's sort of a long list, sorry, but I work in a CD store so I have access to lots of music.
As for the concert price topic, I saw Weezer, Tencious D, and Jimmy Eat World at one venue for about $30-$40, and a few months ago I Queens of the Stone Age and Rye Coalition(they play old, Zeppelin-sounding rock) for only $17. Great show.