What price, music? reseller concert tickets. .

[coda]

Paul McCartney

Rolling Stones

note, event prices are sorted from lowest first.

[skonopa]

Geez!!

I'll stick with my $100 ticket to ProgPower VI in Atlanta! Granted, those tickets are now sold out, so it is a pretty good bet that if there are any tickets available, they will be much more than $100. (Quick check of eBay shows two, one currently bidded up to $134 and another for $110)

Especially since I am not all that big of a fan of Paul McCartney nor The Rolling Stones (I don't own any of thier albums, in fact). I'd much rather see Stratovarius than The Rolling Stones anyway. Certainly helps the ticket was much cheaper.

[colterphoto1]

I wish every scalper to rot in hell!

[nicholtl]

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On 5/18/2005 9:12:47 PM skonopa wrote:

I'll stick with my $100 ticket to

ProgPower VI

in Atlanta! Granted, those tickets are now sold out, so it is a pretty good bet that if there are any tickets available, they will be much more than $100. (Quick check of eBay shows two, one currently bidded up to $134 and another for $110)

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Damn! If I had known about that concert, I would've booked myself a flight and a ticket to the show! Now that my older brother has moved down there for his hospital residency, I have an excuse to go visit him. Steve, what sites (or otherwise) do you use to keep up-to-date on all things metal?

[fini]

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On 5/18/2005 9:27:57 PM colterphoto1 wrote:

I wish every scalper to rot in hell!

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Boy, the meetings have really mellowed you out!

[skonopa]

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On 5/18/2005 10:44:18 PM nicholtl wrote:

Steve, what sites (or otherwise) do you use to keep up-to-date on all things metal?

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Often times, I'll go the individual bands' sites themselves (I found about the ProgPower concert from going to Stratovarius' site).

Also, sites such as Metal Storm are good sites.

if all else fails, do a Google on "Progressive Metal". Alll kinds of good stuff comes up.

[Audible Nectar]

Ticket scalpers are like lawyers. Sometimes we would like to see both in the bottom of the ocean - until you need one.

My beef with ticket reselling/brokering/scalping is this:

Ticket resale/scalping laws favor the "broker" or the person with a ticket resale license. Many state laws prohibit the resale of tickets without a license. In such states, brokers can resell over face value and private parties cannot.

An organization known as the National Association of Ticket Brokers lobbies lawmakers to have laws like this - where private parties cannot scalp, but the brokers can. This creates a situation where the brokers have the consumers over a barrel - because that means less competition for the broker. Aggravating the situation is brokers' propensity to use "inside" information, connections, or hookups to obtain tickets, while normal customers wait in "random number lottery lines" in hopes they can get a spot in line good enough to get tix. This leaves the brokers holding thousands of tickets for hot events. Like the Super Bowl.

I went to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl this year - without tix. I went to two prior Super Bowls (XXV and XXXVI) without tix and found them on site. No such luck this time.

Tickets were running $3000 per ticket - MINIMUM ($500 face). Literally DOZENS of people who had prepaid brokers for tickets stood out front of the Adam's Mark hotel (AKA "broker central" in Jax during SB week) without the tickets they paid for. Many I talked to paid 4500-5000 per pair up front, to be delivered in Jax. When the "market" went to $3000-5000 per ticket, guess what? The brokers sold the tix to the "highest bidder" on site, instead of filling the lower charged prepaid orders. It was a freeking ZOO.

I saw UGA football players scalping tix for $3500 per ticket. Got 'em from the Redskins, supposedly. Mike Tice apparently had them, as an investigation by the NFL on Super Bowl scalping led directly to Mr. Tice (apparently NFL coaching doesn't pay enough - he has to scalp their tickets too).

I saw counterfeit tickets being sold (or attempted) for $2500 each. I later saw that fellow get arrested.

Needless to say, I didn't get in. And all of this may sound like I don't care much for brokers. And you would be right. But sometimes, you cannot do without them - just like a lawyer.

But my biggest beef is that brokers can sell in states that private parties cannot. If it is legal, it should be legal for everyone. Prices are lower in places that allow open reselling (like Indiana), because private parties are competition for brokers. I prefer laws that allow reselling of tickets by anyone.

And yes, I plan to be in Detroit this year.......goin' XL, baby

[jacksonbart]

Holy Cow those are expensive. Wachovia ranges from $210 (nose bleed) to $885 (mid floor), ouch. I think I will save my hearing and the $ and by the DVD in a year and half. If it was Clapton, maybe.

[skonopa]

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On 5/19/2005 7:50:59 AM jacksonbart wrote:

Holy Cow those are expensive. Wachovia ranges from $210 (nose bleed) to $885 (mid floor), ouch. I think I will save my hearing and the $ and by the DVD in a year and half. If it was Clapton, maybe.

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And to think, I've only paid $50 for that ticket when I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra this past fall. That was a seat on the floor, third row from the stage, directly in front of the lead vocalist! I was no farther from the stage than I would be sitting from my own TV set in my living room! That was a friggan awesome show, and well worth every cent of the $50! There is no way in hell I'd pay $885 to see a band - I don't care who they are!

Give me TSO over The Rolling Stones anyday! (put this in perspecitive, I own all four of the TSO CD's, but I do not have a single 'Stones CD in my collection)

[colterphoto1]

Led Zep 1977 $9.50. Got the ticket stub. Scalpers/brokers SUCK!

[fini]

We're gonna see Diana Krall and Regina Carter on the 28th. Tickets (general seating) were $35 each. Sold out the first day, though.

I saw that Acoustic Alchemy ( a guilty pleasure, for sure) will be playing around here next month for free! You bet I'll be there.

Hoping to score some comp tix (a friend works there) to see Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson tomorrow night. Looking a bit iffy, right now...

Lovin' the cheap seats....

[grillecloth]

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On 5/18/2005 9:27:57 PM colterphoto1 wrote:

I wish every scalper to rot in hell!

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And evry person who waits inline to help em

[colterphoto1]

It's one thing to purchase a McCartney ticket for $125. I think good seats at this show are worth it. THat's the face value I paid last time he came around. Concert of a lifetime.

What I object to is the all to often practice that I must pay a scalper $100 for $30 tickets for a mediocre show and seats. The middleman who sits on his butt at a desk is collecting money that should be going to the performer. Or staying in my pocket. What a bunch of rubbish!

Michael

[dodger]

We had a law stopping the sale of tickets at above face value. It expired two years ago.

But I agree with the one above who pretty much make a living standing in line to buy tickets.

Then you have your comps, you name its and the average person has about a five percent chance of making it into the first fifteen rows.

Then you have the fees added on.

A caution: If the person on the phone asks for your information several times, wait about twenty minutes and then call your card company.

I had one on a Friday night do that, called my card fraud section, found several charges. They could not reach a Supervisor. So for all that weekend Mastercard could not be used.

[skonopa]

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On 5/19/2005 11:16:28 AM fini wrote:

We're gonna see Diana Krall and Regina Carter on the 28th. Tickets (general seating) were $35 each. Sold out the first day, though.

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And in August, I am going to see Hammerfall and Edguy. Those tickets are only $30 (general seating as well).

Also, we have the Bluemont concert series in this area every summer. The current line-up for this summer is still TBA, but in the past, they've had things such as the various Marine/Army/Navy bands, the local symphony orchestra, and so forth. These are only $5 to go to, and they often have some pretty good acts there.

And coming up this weekend, is the Haymaker festival. I am not going, though, as there is nobody there I really care to see at the asking price of $75/ticket ($95 on the day of the show), even though it is less than 20 minutes from my house. They do have some pretty good acts there as well, though.

Yup, gotta love those cheap seats. Plenty of good live entertainment can still be found for relatively cheap (at least beyond seeing the local cover band at the bar, although even that can be fun at times.)

[skonopa]

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On 5/19/2005 12:14:47 PM dodger wrote:

Then you have your comps, you name its and the average person has about a five percent chance of making it into the first fifteen rows.

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Exactly! I don't know how the hell I managed to luck-out and score that third-row, center-stage, seat at that Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert last fall, but it was awesome. I just simply bought the ticket through TicketBastard on a whim (and don't even get me started on those fees!). This time, I've sighned up on the TSO mailing list, which supposedly will alert when the tickets go on sale, before they are generally available. Maybe I'll luck out again the next time.

[dodger]

You all know my love with webtv. One added part is that if a site does not respond fast enough you get the message "The Site Has Kept You Waiting With No Response For More Than One Minute."

JacksonBart - you'll love this:

Clapton come to Buffalo 2 or 3 years ago. Sit 10:00 A.M., tickets go on sale, pick out seats, enter credit card info, needs to be processed. They note not to log off as it may take a bit.

After a minute, I get the webtv notice, connection broken. Look for other seats, enter info, processed fasted. Not happy with seats but that's life.

Aweek later I call to find the exact cost, I almost lose it. Well even though webtv broke its connection, ticketba$tard computer kept going. 4 seats? No, 8, the ones I wanted and the second four. Sold the second four for what I paid. One great Concert, ate at a place called Salvatore's, went to concert, stayed in Buffalo overnight. 15 on a 10 scale.

[Duke Spinner]

AAAhh ...Salvatores Italian Gardens ...

great place ..!

[jacksonbart]

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On 5/19/2005 1:00:21 PM dodger wrote:

You all know my love with webtv. One added part is that if a site does not respond fast enough you get the message "The Site Has Kept You Waiting With No Response For More Than One Minute."

JacksonBart - you'll love this:

Clapton come to Buffalo 2 or 3 years ago. Sit 10:00 A.M., tickets go on sale, pick out seats, enter credit card info, needs to be processed. They note not to log off as it may take a bit.

After a minute, I get the webtv notice, connection broken. Look for other seats, enter info, processed fasted. Not happy with seats but that's life.

Aweek later I call to find the exact cost, I almost lose it. Well even though webtv broke its connection, ticketba$tard computer kept going. 4 seats? No, 8, the ones I wanted and the second four. Sold the second four for what I paid. One great Concert, ate at a place called Salvatore's, went to concert, stayed in Buffalo overnight. 15 on a 10 scale.

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Dodger

2 or 3 years ago? That would have been Pilgrim or Reptile? I am guessing Reptile. Wow. I have seen him live only 3 times but have loved every minute of it. Of recent stuff I have the Sessions for Robert J on DVD and its turned into one of my favorites. The performance and sound is very good. To digress as for blues I have been on a Junior Wells kick of late.

Did you go to the Lilac festival this year? Forget what time they bloom up there. I loved going there. We have a lilac tree/bush on the back corner of our house and it reminds me of the festival. Here they are about 8 says past thier peek. Spent 4 years in Rochester at U of R. Graduated in 94. Spent the summers up there as well. Some of the best summers of my life, so far anyway. Great town.

[Gilbert]

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On 5/18/2005 9:27:57 PM colterphoto1 wrote:

I wish every scalper to rot in hell!

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Ooooh, can't you just feel the love. Michael, your just oooozing with love an affection. Makes me tingle all over with a warm and bubbly feeling.

.

.

.

.

Shoot....personally, I love scalper's. Heck, if it wasn't for scalper's, I'd a never gotten 3rd row floor tickets to the Stones "Tattoo You" concert in Houston. That was a hoot getting hosed down with the fire hose by Mick himself, and I also wouldn't have seen Paul McCartney's performance at the Ford in OKC (yep, floor tickets again, right up front), and the list goes on and on.

I've never had a bad experience with a scalpers. Sure I've had a few try to mis-represent the seating location, but that's why I always took a seating chart with me.