Big Star=Big Surge Prices.
 

In Tampa this weekend for a meeting and so was Taylor Swift ( she did not perform for our group. ) . A couple of us called for Uber on that night and were told that that prices were 3-4x surge pricing.
We were fortunate enough to have enough friends who rented cars.

We were in the same boat - interestingly, which I only found out once I'd secured a lift, Uber X & XL were both subject to surge prices (up to about 9x), but UberSelect was still showing as normal price and so presumably would have been much cheaper overall.

I hope everyone knows there is a fare estimate for every Uber options.

As you say, it often works out that more expensive options (base) become cheaper when you factor in surges.