Beating the scalpers at their own game?

I'm making good on my concert-going promise, and adding No Doubt to my roster of shows in the coming months. To be honest, the original intention of the resolution was to see more inexpensive shows in the city and check out some new bands, but I can't resist the nostalgic allure of Gwen Stefani and company. 

I am intrigued by their ticket-selling model (and a little surprised by their $80 top ticket price). Instead of offering a standard mailing list pre-sale replete with password easily stolen by scalpers, ND's pre-sale is a bit more complex. Here's a direct quote from their website:

You can now validate your email address to be eligible to join the No Doubt Tour Club to get the best seats in the house for the upcoming 2009 Summer Tour featuring special guest Paramore. For a $15 per show membership fee (charged at the time of purchase), Tour Club members will receive the following...

• GUARANTEED access to purchase up to 4 prime tickets (limited number of memberships per city!)
• Tickets printed on custom designed commemorative No Doubt Tour Club ticket stock with club member name printed on each ticket
• Exclusive No Doubt Logo Sticker
• Exclusive No Doubt Tour Club Magnet
• Exclusive No Doubt Tour Club Iron-On
• Access to No Doubt Tour Club web page with exclusive photos and tour updates

The final scalper-beating measure requires that all Tour Club purchases be picked up at Will Call. In an article from the LA Times, No Doubt's tour manager admitted that he hatched the idea from hearing about how Bruce Springsteen held tickets for the first 10 rows at Will Call only - theoretically circumventing scalpers ability to keep the best tickets away from the biggest fans. Of course, Will Call or not, scalpers are still going to get their hands on these tickets, and such a model won't work for the entirety of a large venue (reportedly it's about 1,500 tickets per venue).  

It's an interesting idea, and any initiative to put the best tickets in the hands of the people who really want them is something I wholeheartedly support. If you're not interested in paying top dollar for what's sure to be a fun summer concert, there looks to be $10 lawn seats for sale at many venues as well, so it looks like everyone should end up happy. Except for the scalpers, of course. And that's exactly the goal.

But why are the tickets so BIG?

So these

arrived the other day, which, yay. But can we take a minute to address the fact that they seem to be unnecessarily oversized? Here's a standard demon spawn Ticketmaster ticket for comparison:

That's a pretty big size difference. Maybe they're just trying to justify the service charge that amounts to 40% of the ticket price (Live Nation - now with more ticket for your money!), but how am I supposed to fit that in a pocket or teeny little clutch? I mean, there's just no room for a purse when you're rocking out at a GA show, and I like to keep my ticket stubs in good condition for my box of keepsake awesomeness. Oh well. Doesn't make me any less excited for the show!

Pick a Ticket

My friends are counting on me to use my ticket mojo to grab some good seats for the Phillies game this weekend. And I know that Comcast Tickets has drops day of game (which I proved earlier by pulling up a pair of primo seats for tonight's game against the Marlins), but do I risk getting completely shut out of the game by waiting until Friday? Or should I go ahead and buy some less good, but slightly overpriced tickets off StubHub?

Dilemmas, dilemmas...

Oh yeah, it's business time!

From that Northwest bastion of indie rock and pop:

Flight of the Conchords.
Town Hall - New York, NY.
May 6 & 7.

I'm squealing, dog-whistle style. This is so awesome, even if it does mean another battle with Ticketmaster.

There's Something About (Hating) Ticketmaster

When I bought Ricky Gervais tickets for my parents to give to me for Christmas, it was a tossup as to which date to get tickets for - I pulled up nearly identical seats for both shows. So I went for the 15th. How was I supposed to know that July 15th was the date for the baseball all-star game at Yankee Stadium?

Not that that's going to be an easy (or cheap) ticket, but.... boo.

Semi-related (because the Ricky Gervais tickets arrived today and I was looking at them), I'm no consumer advocate, but doesn't it seem that any and everyone who buys a ticket to a concert/performance/sporting event is getting royally raped by Ticketmaster? There is a disclaimer on the back of the ticket saying TIME, OPPONENT, ROSTERS AND DATE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. ENJOY THE EVENT! So in addition to tacking an additional $20 onto your order for the "convenience" of doing battle with the scalpers' automated programs so you can buy a ticket in the upper tier, you are seemingly not guaranteed to see the event you paid for. Lovely!

I hate you, Ticketmaster. 

2/19/08

I got all excited this morning because I was convinced that I had beaten the system - the system being Ticketmaster. But when you think about it, logging on and buying a ticket to a concert during a fan pre-sale is not beating the system. It's doing exactly what the system is supposed to do.

Oh, whatever. I am in possession of a general admission ticket to see the Foo Fighters play Madison Square Garden on February 19th. I'm psyched. Beyond psyched, really. And a bit impressed, as I told the world to stop sucking, and it did, at least a little bit.

But Ticketmaster can still suck it for being such a bitch during the Bruce Springsteen ticket frenzy - the tickets for the Philly show weren't sold through Ticketmaster so I've still got some Bruce-related demons to resolve there (hopefully this summer at Giants Stadium).

A more substantial rant on Ticketmaster to follow.