I guess I'm surprised at the price because I've been able to win Kaboom Box tickets at least 2-3 times, and back in the dot-com era, I won place on one of the many sponsored ferries KFOG had out on the water to watch the show. The downside to the Ferry was that we missed seeing Kenny Wayne Shepherd cause the boat took off during his set. Oh boo hoo. ;-} (AtomicTangerine.com)
Also, on Piers 30/32, the Kaboom Box was well-located for fireworks-viewing, but pretty lousy for the music. So we staked out a spot close to the stage, and then shuttled back and forth. Kind of a pain. Again, boo hoo.
(Seems like having the stage and fireworks at opposite ends makes sense though, because otherwise the stage blocks the fireworks for a large part of the audience.)