leonardcohenforum.com

Bean - Totally agree! Leonard ticket prices in the UK previously averaged about £75 (which was aleady in the high price category). I think I paid closer to £100 for O2 and Royal Albert Hall, but that was for very best seats. The Paris tickets at 199.00 euros =£166.00. To the best of my knowledge, the only two musicians of a similar ilk who have charged comparable prices in recent times (both at the Albert Hall) were Cat Stevens whose top price tickets were around £125, and Van Morrison whose front seats cost £200 (and widely criticised). I didn't go to either of the latter two shows.

I've never seen Cat Stevens in concert but a Google search should tell you the disaster that was the last time he played on these shores. Van Morrison's O2 concert this year was the same price as Leonard's Lissadell concerts. VM while brilliant plays for 1.5 hours and Leonard plays 3 hours + so in my opinion Leonard is well worth the money we pay except Paris which is extortion. We were going to go to Paris until we discovered we could get 2 Ghent concerts for one Paris so Ghent got the nod and as the opening concerts of the tour will be extra special.

Oh Bean, don't go there!

I am not sure how many of the posts/threads you have read the on the Forum (it is very busy at the moment due to the Tour, so hard to read all the posts I guess) but you will see that I brought this up a little while back.

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=31712

musicmania, surely prices are relative to what one has in their pocket?

Some years ago when we had 4 children to bring up and a mortgage, we were as keen a fans then as we are now and no way could we afforded to go to more than one gig, possibly two at a push and only on rare occasions did we buy best seats.

Vicomte wrote:musicmania, surely prices are relative to what one has in their pocket?

Some years ago when we had 4 children to bring up and a mortgage, we were as keen a fans then as we are now and no way could we afforded to go to more than one gig, possibly two at a push and only on rare occasions did we buy best seats.

Prices are relative to what people what people will pay not how much money we actually have. I technically couldn't afford to go to Las Vegas for the final concerts of the last tour but as I really wanted to be there I got a bank loan which took me all of last year to pay back. For me the struggle after it was worth it but we all have different priorities. Of course I know not everyone is in that situation to be able to do what I did. It is all down to economics and what some people consider cheap (maybe the Parisennes???) is considered expensive to others. While I definitely agree with the fact the concerts are very expensive for a lot of people and me included or I would have booked Paris I do believe that for value for money there are few artists that can match what Leonard gives to us in concert and for me that makes the prices (except Paris ) worth paying!

Yes presenting the actual credit card would be quite a good idea. Other than that, limit it to two tickets per person. doesn't eradicate touts entirely but certainly reduces them. Being a new member, I am horrified at the idea of needing to be a member for a year or more to get pre sale tickets. completely love LC more than any other artist. used to be an avid gig goer generally, but had to greatly reduce it due to change in financial circumstances, the LC tickets are quite a lot for me, and I am just so pleased that I found out about this forum, albeit, rather late in the day, as LC is the only artist I would pay this much to see, these days.

It also seems crazy to me that content of this forum are google-able - my friend has a community forum and there are forums within that that only members can view - this would surely solve a lot of the problems!? touts are a real nightmare and anger me greatly.

ps - yes name on ticket is probably the most effective solution...not sure why they don't do this. is wonderful to have a personalised ticket for an artist you love as much as LC, in any case. and they should certainly do this for pre sales, if not doing for main ticket sales.

I am a new member too, but believe me when i say i didn't share the link - didn't even tell my friends who are fans about pre sales. I thought to tell one, then thought better of it. a true fan would find this site.

Names on tickets and having to present the credit card, sound on the face of it very good ideas to stamp out touts; however they would only be effective if they were enforced i.e. to gain admission to the venue you had to either present your credit card or a form of i.d bearing the same name as on the ticket. Imagine the problems it would cause for thousands of people to gain access to the venue if they had to show id! I can't see any venues wanting to do that.

Vicomte wrote:musicmania, surely prices are relative to what one has in their pocket?

Some years ago when we had 4 children to bring up and a mortgage, we were as keen a fans then as we are now and no way could we afforded to go to more than one gig, possibly two at a push and only on rare occasions did we buy best seats.

musicmania wrote: Prices are relative to what people what people will pay not how much money we actually have.

You have taken "surely prices are relative to what one has in their pocket?" too literally. Putting it rather more simply then, prices are relative to what money people have, or can gain by way of some kind of credit/loan. This still rules out many people. In France for instance, where we have lived for over 20 years, credit cards in the way most of the people on here know them to be, is quite different. Many people will have cards but they will be debit cards, that will mean that the bank will have to pay out almost immediately. There are similar credit cards but not everyone will be able to get one. Credit is rather more difficult to get here than in the UK, one is not allowed more than 33% of their salary against credit and THAT includes any mortgage if you have one. And in Paris where you might think the people of Paris may see it as cheap, well that is by no means the case.

So far, Paris is the only French venue and France covers an awfully large area, far larger than the UK and Ireland put together for his fans to be able to see him. I have already said that a friend of our Daughters was excited by the fact Cohen was back but completely deflated by the cost of the tickets and his inability to afford a ticket. What you did to see Cohen last year was not a player for many people, I surmise you had to have been a good credit risk to get that kind of loan? Again, many people with rather more outgoings, kids, food, mortgages, debts etc and just a big a fan as anyone else, simply couldn't afford to do it. So sorry, I repeat to be able to afford whatever concerts one wishes to see, you need to have the funds available, in whatever method that might take but for many, that really is not possible at the price of tickets at some venues. One can tend to forget just how well off we are compared to many and talk of our sacrifices to see L.C, well we are pretty lucky to be able to afford to see L.C in whatever way the money to purchase is sought but surely we mustn't lose sight of those fans that just don't have the money, nor the ability to get a loan for higher priced venues, or even to get to a cheaper venue.

There but for the..........well we "all" now the rest

I don't suppose keeping it all in one thread would be too much of a problem, surely?

da2008 wrote:I don't suppose keeping it all in one thread would be too much of a problem, surely?

I presume you are referring to the "debate" about ticket prices? In which case, I agree with you.

Certainly, this thread has moved a long way from Rob Hallett's original message about abuse of the fan pre-sale facility which was a very important point in itself.

Wendy

Mabeanie1 wrote:Certainly, this thread has moved a long way from Rob Hallett's original message about abuse of the fan pre-sale facility

As I see it, Rob Hallett's thread title is fair game for all comments about "Tickets". Had he wanted to confine this thread to pre-sale tickets, I imagine he would have assigned a more narrow descriptive title at the onset. Word has it, RobH is one smart dude.

---Arlene

I don't see how it's relevant. There's a thread where people vent about prices. I'm sure Rob will be able to find the appropriate thread IF he needs to know what people say about PRICES.

bridger15 wrote:

Mabeanie1 wrote:Certainly, this thread has moved a long way from Rob Hallett's original message about abuse of the fan pre-sale facility

As I see it, Rob Hallett's thread title is fair game for all comments about "Tickets". Had he wanted to confine this thread to pre-sale tickets, I imagine he would have assigned a more narrow descriptive title at the onset. Word has it, RobH is one smart dude.

---Arlene

You seem quite a smart dude yerself, Arlene

Well I am sure glad that we sorted out the fact that the only ‘real’ Cohen fans belong to this forum.

I personally joined this forum in 2008 after the announcement of the tour. Prior to that, I was a frequent reader of the forum. One does not need to join to read the posts. I decided to join and participate since I knew I would be attending a few shows. I didn't buy any presale tix for any of the shows I attended, but by some standards I am an opportunist simply by joining to have that ‘inside info’. For anyone to suggest that only forum members are ‘real fans’ is ridiculous and self-serving. I was a real fan the day before I joined.

Since one does not need to join the forum to read the posts, all is fair game to anyone with a computer. And guess what!? Nothing is a secret with the internet. Of course, nobody on this forum called a friend who was not a forum member and gave them the password right?

And guess what again? Everyone has presales these days from corporate sponsors to fan clubs.

A google search of ‘leonard cohen presale’ returned this as the first result:
“The Leonard Cohen Files
http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/
Welcome to The Leonard Cohen Files - a tribute to the music and poetry of the ... Tour - we have the list of concerts, with ticket and presale information (Mar 26) ...”

This brings me to the Tom Waits Experience. Here’s a guy who is serious about getting good tix in the hands of fans!

For the presale on one tour, membership to the fan sites was closed and then only those with registered email addresses were allowed to participate in the presale. Then, you were required to pick up the tickets day of show. This made it difficult for the scalpers, not impossible. But a scalper in Chicago was not selling LA tix for sure.

So they decided to take it one step further on the next tour. Limit of 2 per person and you had to be there in person to pick up the tix again. Even better, once you had picked up your tix, you and your guest had to enter immediately.

All of these efforts to get tix in the hands of fans did not stop the whining and complaining from those same fans before, during and after. My friend will be late. This is unfair. I am in a different time zone. My plane was late. My computer didn’t work. My internet didn’t work. My puppy is sick.

As long as there are crazy fans, willing to pay insane prices for tickets, scalpers will continue to find a way to get the tix first.

I am not criticizing anybody’s efforts. After all, it is the thought that counts. Not the execution. If you leave the front door open, people may just walk in.

Cheers,
Ken(adian)

Ken,

Thanks for your post...you have raised some interesting points. Dylan used the "tickets on the day" method when he played at the Roundhouse a few years ago. Those collecting were given an arm band, which we had to keep on. In this case, the ticket office opened about 10am, so people started queueing again immediately for the concert, which was at 8.00pm. The queuing turned out to be a good experience (actually more enjoyable than the concert itself, in this instance!).

Regarding the issue of "fans", I have always despised the word. Dylan once said that he disliked fans, but related to individuals. I took this to heart, and have always tried to be myself when I've met a musician or someone who has a mutual affinity with their work. I've tried to avoid fandom, since I've found that what goes down at fan gatherings is more akin to "celebrity worship syndrome". Wikipedia says this as an obsessive-addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity's personal life, and is generally related to high levels of depression and anxiety, stress, or illness! (I wish that wretched album was not called "I'm Your Fan"). Thus if ever a "Real-Fan" card were offered to me, I would take it as an insult.

Finally, I think it's important to keep a sense of reason, when exploitative prices are asked for tickets. I went to the Paris Olympia site, and was offered a fourth row centre seat for a Leonard concert at £166.00. Then, I thought "I would expect the concert plus a Eurostar ticket for that price", and declined. After all, as Jim Devlin sometimes says - "I know what he looks like"!

All the best, John E