Pre-booking to Maritimes area cancelled!

[jarkko]

Contrary to our earlier notice, no pre-booking is available to the Maritimes concerts due to the technical difficulties related to ticketing systems of the small theaters

[mirka]

Gosh, I hoped to see him there.....
Will they sell through phone/Internet at all, or all the tickets are sold among aunts, uncles, and rabbit cousins ?

As much as I understand that the reason for this World Tour in part is LC's financial predicament, I wish LC and the management would make it easier for his fans to get tickets.
The information about pre-sales seems to be confusing and inconsistent, and -as the Maritimes example shows - there is no guarantee the particular venues will follow the pre-sale rules.

Is it possible that LC doesn't know how the idea of pre-sale is implemented ?
doesn't care about his fans, or is not in position to make any decisions ?

[Henning]

Mirka - Leonard is in the studio and rehearsing with the band. That's his job. Do you think he has got time to take care about all this mess with tickets ? Maybe he would call off the whole thing if he got aware of all this struggle. Would that make you happier ? I would love to go to the Maritimes. The chances are almost zero. Sometimes you are lucky, mostly you are not. But the beat goes on.

[anneporter]

Mirka--what a strange sense of entitlement you have!

I live in St. John's, very far off the beaten path.
Leonard Cohen has a very strong and devoted fan base here--and it includes me, my aunts, grandmothers, my children and thier rabbitty cousins. We feel blessed that Leonard Cohen has decided to come here so graciously, since it is not an easy place for touring musicians to stop.
I have been asking the universe to smile on me and let some of the tickets in the mad scramble fall my way. I have taken the day off on ticket day to do everything I can to make it happen.

But if it doesn't happen, so be it. My friends, neighbours, and rabbitty cousins also wish for tickets, and I will be pleased for them, even if I am shut out.
And if you are shut out, I may not cry for you.
May I be generous in spirit.
May you be genrous in spirit
May all peole be generous in spirit.

Namaste.

[russeII]

Indeed. I'm from St. John's as well and this does seem like a fairly isolated incidence as many other acts have done pre-sales in the past. I think it may be due to the particularly small venue which does not often see acts quite as popular.

But that's okay, everyone will still have a fair chance at tickets, although going on sale while many are at work may prove difficult. Good luck to you Anne.

[jarkko]

Mirka, Leonard has nothing to do with the routine ticket sales. He is rehearsing the songs with the band. The tour itself is organized by AEG Live and a lot of other professional companies who are doing their part in this huge project.

It turned out that the small theaters in the Maritimes cannot handle the presale because of all kinds of technical problems.
These theaters also have subscriptions and members themselves with right of first refusal, so they are no doubt doing pre-sales with their own members and subscribers all the time.

[tonedeaf]

This is kind of a drag, but hey, I'll just call my Uncle ,I'm sure he could hook me up

That was a really condescending comment BTW.

I'm kind of confused, The Capitol Theatre in Moncton has online ticket sales, so I'm not sure why they couldn't handle a pre-sale. I'll be on the road to Quebec for a ski holiday This Thursday @ Noon, so my partner will be furiously dialing my cell phone while we motor to Quebec City. I WILL be in that beautiful small theatre on May 23, come hell or high water.

Thank you Leonard Cohen for choosing our small out of the way area of the world, you will enjoy performing in our vaudville era theatre.

[ray13]

The venue in Moncton holds 800 people. The chances are slim many fans will get to attend. Best of luck to all.

[ohrus]

The unfortunate thing is that many of the tickets for the St. John's show will end up going to Fog Devils season ticket holders (ie local businesses, for the most part). Why a god awful hockey team would be allowed first pick of tickets at a venue that is not where the hockey team plays is beyond me. At least that is what was told to one member of the forum who contacted the Mile One box office.

I'm not going to be holding my breath for tickets to this show and I'm hoping that either the venue is changed or another date is added.

[phantomlimb]

i called a st. john's fog devils season ticket holder to see if they were able to get pre-sale and apparently they are not.

[Piddleville]

The venues are all small (Fredericton seats slightly over 700) and there are loads of people who want to see Leonard. So I'm not holding my breath. I'll try getting tickets and cross my fingers. However it goes, I'll keep in mind that whether I get to see him or not, Leonard will still be singing to us sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song.

[ohrus]

i called a st. john's fog devils season ticket holder to see if they were able to get pre-sale and apparently they are not.

Well that's good news, and a rumour dispelled. It would be nice for everyone to have an equal shot in the madness come Thursday. I'm still undecided whether lining up or repeatedly pressing redial will be the way to go. My gut is leaning on redial.

[Tri-me]

I am going on the CBC morning show tomorrow morning to talk about the concert and just completed an interview at my place for the CBC. I talked to Tim Yerxa who manages the Play House here in Fredericton to get my facts straight.

NO ONE IS GETTING SPECIAL FAVOURS TO OBTAIN TICKETS FROM PLAY HOUSE STAFF.
It is a level playing field on Thursday to get tickets. Tim (I don't know him) told me he has been asked many times over and over from friends to get tickets, everyone has to get their tickets the same way.

[Hlstone84]

Just a quick question. I am a newfoundlander living in Victoria, BC. I was going to get tickets via the presale, but as that is cancelled, how can I go about purchasing them? I noticed on the Leonard Cohen Files site that it says " Holy Heart Theatre
on sale Thursday March 20 at 12 noon (locally only, no presale)"

Im curious where I go to get them if there is no presale. Not sure what "Locally Only" means...Can anyone answer this question for me?

[nil_by_mouth]

Whilst I agree with everyone here that the earlier comment is simply asinine, I wonder whether the fact that shows aren't selling out as quickly as one might have thought may be a factor. I just checked on tickets for Toronto, and there are still seats available for every night. I know that some of these are single seats, and that all of the shows will be sold out, but the fact that there are any just shows that the mass appeal (beyond this board) is not as rabid as we might imagine. I believe Montreal was the same, with it not being an instant sell-out..which is what most people here would probably have feared.

And before this is read as a slight, it's not - it's simple market economics. The tickets are not cheap, and whilst I have happily paid far more than I would be prepared for most shows, this is a special occasion - not everyone, in these times, wants to or can shell out a few hundred per ticket.

If tickets were being sold for S50-100 a head, they'd probably be flying more quickly, so the need for a pre-sale to look after die-hards would be greater.

I don't know the venues in question or how they do things usually, or even how small they are...so I may well be off. I am also not presenting this as a cynic who - I am sure the reasons that have been given are going to be a factor in the decision not to have a presale....I simply think that the reality of ticket prices might dampen demand a little bit....and therefore the necessity for a presale. I recall the words "depending how on how these presales go" being used before Montreal and Toronto - maybe this answers that (or at least be a factor in the great scheme of things).