Gig tickets

chrisd

chrisd

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The wife was keen to see Adele live at the O2 on her tour in March/April but I didn't get past the "waiting room" area in the quest for 2 tickets!

So today I look on Viagogo (other robbing b's are available) and a pair of tickets, seated so far away from the stage that I might as well sit in the car park, without booking fee and vat are in the region of £700 - let's hope she releases a DVD!
 
The sites reselling tickets are an absolute disgrace and they are scum bags, taking advantage of often young kids desire to see live music to make a profit. It is legal ticket touting in 90% of cases. And the thing is that most of these sites are owned by the major ticket agencies and tickets end up on the reseller sites before they have gone on sale to the general public. I know Adele did her best to try and prevent this happening, as do bands like One Direction who actively encourage people not to use these sites and try and set up a reselling site between their fans at face value. But as long as these sites are legal there will always be a way. If the artist got some of the cut then it would be slightly (but not much) better as they are putting on the show. But they do not.

The thing is that the 'average fan' is finding it harder and harder to get tickets for a gig. As once you have taken out the tickets for sponsors, competition winners, the ones bought by people the second they go on sale using computer programs with the sole intention of making a profit at the expense of the proper fans and the ones they mysteriously end up on reseller sites before they have gone on sale to the general public, then there are very few left.

And the more you exclude the average fan from gigs then like football grounds, the concerts will become more and more full of corporate or very rich people who can afford to pay the rip off prices and go to just say they were there and tick it off their list of things to do, as opposed to being a passionate fan of the band (or team). And all that leads to is a lack of atmosphere and rubbish gig.

This makes interesting reading http://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/11/which-probes-ticket-resale-rip-off-422307/
 
I wanted to get my 3 tickets for the capital radio jingle bell ball. got to work early so I could log in and sit in the waiting room for the 8am kick off. waited and waited and at 8.15 was told that all tickets were sold.
while waiting for the official website to open (I had priority access) I had AXS on another screen and could see thousands of seats for sale at greatly inflated prices plus "admin fees."

given that the cost went from £100 (direct) to over £350 (AXS) I could justify the price and so my girls didn't get to go. I did raise this with Capital Radio but at the end of the day they don't give a toss as the tickets get sold
 
Viagogo stub hub and the like are basically online touts, and with anything that is in short supply and high demand there will be a black market. The choice is yours if you miss out legit then it's either pay well over he odds of don't go.
 
Which is why i never go to gigs, you get mugged off for tickets, mugged off for food and drink and merch when you are there, mugged off for parking/travel.. No thanks, will wait for the DVD of miss out.

These companies employ tons of people to sit on phones or websites to bulk buy tickets, its wrong wrong wrong in my opinion. All decent sized gigs should be like Glatonbury where you register your intent to buy tickets, upload your photo etc etc... Only registered people can buy their own tickets (maximum of say 4) and the head buyer has their photo printed on the ticket. If they are not there at the gate on the day of the event, they don't get in. No reselling unless back through the organizer where there would be a partial refund and the tickets get offered at face value to the highest person on the waiting list.
 
Unless you get lucky in the presale these days its pretty much impossible to get a decent seat at the 02.

Had a look for some tickets last week and all that was left was the upper tier and you need a telescope to see from up there :p
 
Have to give credit to the Foo Fighters for their gigs in the US. They are going back to selling tickets at the box office only with limited numbers per person just to ensure that the fans get them and get them at face value.

It is rare for me to bother with larger gigs these days and I only go if I can get the tickets on release rather than through these re-sale sites.
 
These days I tend to stick to much smaller gigs where I can get the tickets either directly or via an online agency for a decent price, although theres always the obligatory "booking fee". Not sure I can really be bothered these days for the hassle of a major act or event like Glastonbury and see it sell out in minutes and then see resales, seconds later at three times the price. Surely there has to be tighter legislation and control but no one seems to give a toss
 
Had this the other month managed to get through but had three tickets in my basket instead of the two i wanted. Didn't want to risk going back so paid for all three.. Hopefully find a mate that wants it if not will look to offload it at face value.
 
Should try a ballot system. A week to put your name down, then you get lucky and get a pair of tickets if your name comes out the hat.
 
Believe a number of artists are forming a group and will refuse to allow their tickets to go to resale sites
 
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