Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

USA and Canada (April 1 - June 4, 2009). Special concert for fans in NYC (February 19). Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
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KaimiK
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by KaimiK »

Marcie,

With constant upgrading, I ended up with three extra tickets. I posted them in the "tickets for sale" thread and sent a message to each person who had posted anything in the Seattle-related threads. One person from the forum replied and is buying one ticket. I put the others on craigslist at face value and they both sold within 2 days. I asked to be paid via Paypal or a money order, full amount. Then I mail the tickets Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. And for my one will-call ticket, I asked for half of the cost up front and we'll meet just before the show. That's how I've handled all the extras I ended up with! I'm feeling very, very fortunate though. My husband already thinks I'm half obsessed, partly with LC and partly with beating the Ticketmaster machine! If I'd have ended up not selling, uh oh... :shock: Good luck!
You let me sing, you lifted me up, you gave my soul a beam to travel on. You folded your distance back into my heart.
Walsh75
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by Walsh75 »

See now that's the thing that worries me for my ticket up for sale.

I was just telling a friend that based on these board, LC seems to be more popular among ppl in certain cities/states. I see a lot of people from Seattle, Arizona, NYC, Boston, etc.

Not so much for Detroit..Don't know if that's because of our economy, good seats now on Ticketmaster, ppl around here unware that he's coming, etc.

I am happy for you. One or two tickets will be a pain to unload as it is in most cases.

As of now, things seem to be moving on seats, but slow for Detroit. I checked TM.com early today and they were now showing 2nd Row Orc Pit for sale.
tamarisms
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Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:21 am

Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by tamarisms »

Hi. I was just wondering if anybody knows how the following situation came about: I first tried to buy tickets for the Leonard Cohen shows in LA, at the very start of the amex presale and the general public sale. Using best available & any price, the best seats that came up were orchestra-right rows QQ and BB. (These are in the third-best-tickets-category going by the pricing tiers, but they are off on the far right side of the theater). Since I purchased these tickets I have checked in on ticketmaster and found that with each passing day, the best available tickets at any price get better and better. Now, less than two weeks before the shows, I just looked for tickets and was offered PIT SEATS (!!!) for both shows at their face value prices. In addition, there are over 400 tickets for each show available on stub hub. In many cases these tickets are now available for less than ticketmaster originally charged.
I am trying to focus on how lucky I am that I even get to see Leonard Cohen live, but I am becoming increasingly frustrated. I now have extra tickets that I can't even sell at half the price I paid for them, AND it turns out I could have gotten better seats if I had waited until now to buy tickets.
Does anyone understand what is going on with these shows? Where are all the good tickets coming from? Where were they before? Is this related to the other ticketmaster scandals even though there is no resale through ticketsnow/marketplace for these shows? And why is nobody buying the cheap tickets on stubhub?
Any information/thoughts would help. And if anyone is interested I have three extra tickets for the April 10th show.
Pomona
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Location: Boston area

Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by Pomona »

Hi tamarisms,
Yes, zillions of us are going through the same thing. If you read thru the Find/Sell/Swap Tickets thread you'll see what I mean. I bought a ticket (Boston) during the Pre-Sale, and even though I got thru right away, it wasn't a fantastic seat. It was a very good seat, but not great. During the Public sale I scored a much better seat & was able to sell the Pre-Sale seat. Now, two days ago, I snagged a 2nd row Pit seat, so now I'm trying to sell the 2nd ticket that I bought. Oy. The consensus is that virtually all of the very best seats were held, or were for sale at a super-premium. It appears that very few sold at the highly inflated prices, so all of those front-row-type seats have made their way to the Box Offices during the past few days. Many, many, many folks have upgraded a number of times (hello!) and these same people are now trying desperately to unload many, many, many tickets. As you say, it's best to focus on our great good fortune of being able to see Leonard. :D And for what it's worth, I've never before done this frantic upgrading for a concert. The only reason I did it this time is because it is unlikely that I'll ever see Leonard again, so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to see him well enough to remember his every move and expression for the rest of my life.
May 4 1985 Berklee Boston / Feb 19 2009 Beacon NYC / May 29 2009 Wang Boston / June 4 2009 Red Rocks / Dec 15 2012 Wang Boston
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mirka
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by mirka »

.
I encourage anybody scammed by TicketGouger to file a complaint with their State Attorney and Department of Justice.
Details on how to file a complaint with DOJ are at the bottom of this page:
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm

Update on the status of TicketGouger investigation as per WSJ:
APRIL 3, 2009,
By Ethan Smith
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. (TKTM) said Friday that it has received subpoenas from four government agencies in the U.S. and Canada, including the Justice Department, investigating the company's activities in reselling concert tickets.

The company sent an email Friday to ticket brokers who use the company's TicketsNow Web site saying that it had received subpoenas from Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the New Jersey Attorney General and the Canadian Competition Bureau. The company confirmed that the email was authentic but declined further comment.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-200 ... 13310.html
Last edited by mirka on Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
/Warsaw March 22 1985 / Halifax May 16 /Charlottetown May 18 / Dublin June 15 / Vienna Sept 24 2008/
Oakland April 13, 14, 15, San Jose Nov 13 2009/
Las Vegas Dec 11 2010/ Oakland March 2 2013/
enilorac
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by enilorac »

Pomona wrote:
it's best to focus on our great good fortune of being able to see Leonard. :D And for what it's worth, I've never before done this frantic upgrading for a concert. The only reason I did it this time is because it is unlikely that I'll ever see Leonard again, so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to see him well enough to remember his every move and expression for the rest of my life.
I have to agree. It's really clear now, looking at the ticket flow for Philadelphia, that AEG must have held back huge numbers of the best tickets. Philly is NOT a TicketMaster venue, and I doubt the Academy of Music chose this strategy. I am planning to take a friend - an even more avid Cohen fan than I - and I have now bought three sets of tickets for the two of us. The first set I got on opening day of public sales were in the Amphitheatre, the highest balcony level. Tried again the same day and got back of the orchestra (Parquet) and took them. I thought that was it. I gave the Amphitheatre tickets to a friend who needed to have something nice happen to him. Then, April 1, I check on a whim and find front row center seats. I allowed myself to be gouged; I bought them. The friend who's going with me says Cohen is the one person he's always wanted to see and has never seen. I want to see his face when he finds out we're in the front row. But now I'm trying to unload the back orchestra tickets, which is hard since the venue now lists much better seats at the same price.

I chose to buy the extra tickets. I don't really regret it. If I have to, I'll give those away, too. But you know, I bought in good faith. I am trying to support a good venue and a great artist, as well as trying to have a wonderful experience for myself. I work in a public service job for a very small non-profit. Paying for this will involve many months of sacrifice in other areas. It's sad to be treated this way... and what makes it bearable is knowing we'll all experience something breathtaking, and I'll get to see my friend's face as we walk down the rows, and he keeps expecting to turn off to some middling set of seats, and we travel on to the front.

And I may have to laugh if my friends in the Amphitheatre seats wind up right next to us instead, upgraded to seats that were held against a demand that never came. :roll: Has any concert on this tour, I wonder, ever really been "sold out?"

I go to concerts a lot. I never ticket shop like this. But this is Leonard Cohen, and for this I'm just a little bit more willing to be royally screwed by less than ethical "business" people.
surfergirl
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by surfergirl »

I look at it this way: my contribution to the LC retirement fund.

For LA April 10th, I purchased AMEX and remain happy with my tickets.
For LA April 11th, I held back purchasing tickets when they went onsale, waiting for Pit to open up. As time went on and they didn't, I approached my contact at AEG and bought decent tickets at face value. Then when 2 pit tickets came up (2nd row, aisle seats), I bought them because I KNEW I would regret it if I didn't. I placed the other two seats I had for sale on this forum, on craigslist, and on my facebook page. One of my friends bought them, so fortunately I am not out extra money. My alternative plan was to donate the tickets to a friend of mine who loves LC but can not afford to go.

The point is, if you have an extra ticket that you know (or believe) you can't sell, it would be nice to be charitable with the ticket and offer it up for free to a real LC fan than let the seat go to waste or to be used to hold a jacket or purse. I'll bet if you put up a ticket on the buy/sell/exchange thread with the subject line "free", you'll get a lot of interest, and feel very good as well.
I was cautioned to surrender, this I could not do . . . .
enilorac
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by enilorac »

I absolutely agree about giving away free...but I've already done that for a real LC fan with one pair of tickets. It would be very, very nice to recevie some money for the second "extra"pair. If not, though, I shall certainly give them away rather than have them be wasted.
szarz
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by szarz »

Sorry. I do not have the time to read this entire forum but why are the tickets so expensive to begin with? Secondary sales aside. Why are we being raped?
Walsh75
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by Walsh75 »

Prices have nothing to do with this issue. It's a matter of certain tickets weren't for sale on the actual sale days at the time.

As far as prices go. $250 for main floor/front row has been the average "non-Vip" price the last several years for just about every top name act.
szarz
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by szarz »

Not sure what planet you are from but $250 is not the average price for any top-name act. I defy you to prove that ridiculous statement.
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MarieM
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by MarieM »

Van Morrison
$350
$250
$125
$90
per Ticketmaster
Marie
Speaking Cohen
Walsh75
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by Walsh75 »

"Not sure what planet you are from but $250 is not the average price for any top-name act. I defy you to prove that ridiculous statement.szarz "

Hey no need to get snotty. I'm not sure what country you are from or what the year was that you were last at a concert (if ever) but that is the going rate.

And guess what? I paid $650 for each front row ticket for The Who back here in Oct. Those were VIP seats. Regular price main floor were $300. They said all the money was going to charity in each city.

But since 2006, I've seen Genesis, Roger Waters, The Who in 2006, The Police (twice), Van Morrison (twice), and tons of others. All tops acts. All could be on their last tour like Cohen. All on average for main floor seats $250.. And yes. This second time I saw Van I paid $400 for front row. The $100 extra was for the "perk" of front row as regular price was $300 for main floor at The Fox here in Detroit. The very same venue that Cohen will play on May 9. So I could disprove your comment by saying I'm getting away $150 cheaper to see LC as I only paid $250 for front row.
Walsh75
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by Walsh75 »

Megan. Yes. Don't know if the VM prices you listed are for this current tour. But last year I foud it odd that some cities charged $300 and other charged $350 for top seats. Again I paid $400 for Detroit VIP, but for cities with the $350 seats, it still was $100 extra for front row. So some had to pay $450 to see him play his usual 90 mins.
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MarieM
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Re: Comment on the ticket issue from the tour management

Post by MarieM »

The Van Morrison quote is for his concert in May at the Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley.
Marie
Speaking Cohen
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