I spent an hour of my life I will never get back last weekend fruitlessly attempting to score Billy Joel tickets for his Shea Stadium concert. An hour of phone lines ringing busy, circuits being tied up, and web sites refusing to load. I mean, I never even got close to being able to purchase them.
Now, on ebay, there are no less than 194 sellers peddling anywhere from two to four tickets apiece.
Did anyone buy tickets to actually go and SEE the dámņëd concert?
PAD
• 
You’ve had the normal experience of buying tickets to any highly hyped concert in NYC.
Calling to get tickets when “they go on sale” is usually frustrating and useless.
I’ve actually had seats online at Ticketmaster, and by the time I got my credit card out of my wallet to enter my numbers, the page “timed out” and I was left with out seats.
But hey, if your rich enough, you can buy tickets to anything.
Part of what John Edwards calls the Two Americas
Or I guess what Larry Kudlow calls the Free Market.
Concert tickets are the new 90s comics. All they’re missing are shiny foil/hologram covers with “Collector’s item” stamped on the cover, but it’s the same thing. People with some cash…and some time or an “in” at the box office…check out the new shows to see what might be hot. If you want to see any of these, and it also includes big sporting events, you’re only real chance is on an auction site, or to pay a heavily inflated price at a ticket broker.
I don’t see any other way around it, given our preference for a free market, but it sure does rankle. I’d bet that close to half, if not more, of tickets to a hot show are not used by their original purchaser.
While I don’t disagree with Bobb in terms of overall trends, there are exceptions. We scored Springsteen tickets — floor seats, even — just on the usual Ticketmaster site. I don’t doubt that there’s a huge element of luck involved, and that the brokers are going nuts with all this … but it’s not impossible to get them the “normal” way.
PAD, I hope you manage to get tickets somehow — Billy’s a ton of fun live.
TWL
Peter, a second show was just added. Tickets on sale Saturday at 9 a.m.
We’ll be trying for them too, so don’t snipe us. 🙂
TWL
Somehow, Tim, I doubt I’ll even bother to try. Fool me once, and all that.
PAD
No matter how the method or technology connected with buying tickets seems to change, the scalpers, sorry, brokers always seem to be several steps of the curve. I remember when I was working in New York during the eighties, if there was a big concert coming up at Madison Square Garden, they used to pay homeless people X number of dollars to stand for hours and hours to reserve their place on line. It was strange to go to work at seven in the morning and walk by the Garden to see dozens of very scruffy-looking people standing in life for Neil Diamond tickets.
I had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.
For all the money Ticketmaster charges, you’d think they be a little more stringent on scalpers.
I had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.
For all the money Ticketmaster charges, you’d think they be a little more stringent on scalpers.
I had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.
For all the money Ticketmaster charges, you’d think they be a little more stringent on scalpers.
I had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.
For all the money Ticketmaster charges, you’d think they be a little more stringent on scalpers.
I had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.
For all the money Ticketmaster charges, you’d think they be a little more stringent on scalpers.
Your call, of course, but I do hope you try again. I haven’t had any luck going the phone route for a while, but Ticketmaster’s web site works okay for us. (It helps if you sign up with them — it means you get an annoying newsletter once a week, but that’s it.)
TWL
ACTUAL COMMENT: Well, you like Billy Joel. I mean, there’s your problem right there. 🙂
CAN’T-LOOK-PAST-THIS SUB-COMMENT:
there are no less than 194 sellers
“FEWER!” You know better! 🙂
this is so slimey to me – the buying of X and selling it on e-bay for jacked up prices is just taking advantage. Especially when it comes to comics and other collectibles (death of Cap and it’s predecessor Death of Superman) that some poor fool buys at a high price thinking it will pay for his kids college fund and can be found in a dollar bin 5 years later.
it’s cheating people, pure and simple.
this is so slimey to me – the buying of X and selling it on e-bay for jacked up prices is just taking advantage. Especially when it comes to comics and other collectibles (death of Cap and it’s predecessor Death of Superman) that some poor fool buys at a high price thinking it will pay for his kids college fund and can be found in a dollar bin 5 years later.
it’s cheating people, pure and simple.
this is so slimey to me – the buying of X and selling it on e-bay for jacked up prices is just taking advantage. Especially when it comes to comics and other collectibles (death of Cap and it’s predecessor Death of Superman) that some poor fool buys at a high price thinking it will pay for his kids college fund and can be found in a dollar bin 5 years later.
it’s cheating people, pure and simple.
this is so slimey to me – the buying of X and selling it on e-bay for jacked up prices is just taking advantage. Especially when it comes to comics and other collectibles (death of Cap and it’s predecessor Death of Superman) that some poor fool buys at a high price thinking it will pay for his kids college fund and can be found in a dollar bin 5 years later.
it’s cheating people, pure and simple.
this is so slimey to me – the buying of X and selling it on e-bay for jacked up prices is just taking advantage. Especially when it comes to comics and other collectibles (death of Cap and it’s predecessor Death of Superman) that some poor fool buys at a high price thinking it will pay for his kids college fund and can be found in a dollar bin 5 years later.
it’s cheating people, pure and simple.
I smell an upcoming issue of X-Factor wherein Jamie Madrox, in an attempt to score tickets to a Billy Joel concert, makes 12 dupes of himself to all call Ticketmaster at once, and even THEN, he STILL CANNOT GET A TICKET.
Yeah, wife was pìššëd when she twice couldn’t score Hanna Montana tickes for concerts in Detroit and they were on sale online for almost $250 a piece. WTF?
This will never happen, but there really should be a law limiting ticket sales to four per person, and no other charges besides what it cost for the ticket. Between ticket prices, surcharges and scalpers concert goers are hit coming and going.
Limiting tickets p’s me off – if I want to take my five kids to see a show, be it Broadway, concerts, or the circus, I can’t, because by the time I get one set of 4 and try for another, I’m screwed. God forbid grandma wants to go, too. And buying tickets in person is no better – you still have to pay the false charges of activity fees, parking fees (even if you don’t bring a car), facility fees, and the best yet, the $2 fee for me to print the ticket myself on my own printer!!!! If the ticket price wasn’t enough to bankrupt you (Billy Joel included, which is why I haven’t seen him in 15 years), now add $10 in hidden charges to each ticket – $70 for me, which is why we almost never go anywhere.
How about we go with a higher limit like ten? That should accommodate most families, and overhaul the system enough where everyone can get tickets at a reasonable price.
I can’t believe we had to wait a whole 3 hours before someone made fun of him for liking Billy Joel. I would have done it sooner but I just read the post.
I don’t even know who that is.
I’ve long since given up on going to concerts. Either the prices are already ridiculous, or they are made obscenely so by the E-bay hounds who have done what you ran into.
Did he really just say “I don’t know who that is”? I haven’t felt that pain since my 10 year old nephew asked me “Who’s Kermit?”
When I read the blog I heard childhood hits like Born In The USA and Footloose ring in my head. Then I realized that was Bruce and I had no idea who Joel is.
But I went through a similar experience myself a recently. I had a explain to a twelve year old what VHS tapes were as hey didn’t know. That one really made me feel old.
Footloose isn’t Bruce, Lester — it’s Kenny Loggins.
TWL
Sorry. I did not mean to slight any of the above mentioned performers or those who enjoy their work. I never owned any of their albums and only heard their songs in stores when I was a child so they all blend together.
As I’m aging I’m noticing that a lot of things blend together as time marches on. That’s really starting to bother me.
I don’t think any of us are feeling slighted, never fear (although I can only say with certainty that I’m not feeling that way). Depressingly old, perhaps; slighted, no.
TWL
I don’t think any of us are feeling slighted, never fear (although I can only say with certainty that I’m not feeling that way). Depressingly old, slighted, no.
Hm. Like I remember that young whippersnapper posting Next Generation reviews like clockwork on rec.arts.startrek (no .current, no .reviews, no .misc…….)
Hm. Like I remember that young whippersnapper posting Next Generation reviews like clockwork on rec.arts.startrek (no .current, no .reviews, no .misc…….)
Yeah, that Michael Rawdon was something, wasn’t he?
TWL
Posted by William Gatevackes
For all the money Ticketmaster charges, you’d think they be a little more stringent on scalpers.
Ticketmaster is in the process of suing at least one of the companies that peddles software that allows scalpers to “jump the line” online and score the tickets ahead of legitimate buyers.
The Hannah Montana scandal finally p[ushed them off dead center.
“I had a explain to a twelve year old what VHS tapes were.”
1997. Family reunion. My then six-year-old cousin was curious about the T.V. set in their cottage. She asked me what are the two large knobs are for.
They were the VHF and UHF channel selectors. She’d never seen anything like them. The only T.V.s she’d encountered up to that time required you to use the remote to change channels (and maybe you could also press flat buttons on the set itself to move up and down the channel line-up).
On a somewhat related note, at another cousin’s 9th birthday in 2002, I quoted Bill Cosby’s routine about Superman to her. The routine opens with, “we find Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter,…”
“Who’s Clark Kent?” she asked.
I think both she and her younger sister had heard of Superman (if memory serves), though they knew not of Clark. If so, it’s curious they’d know the one name, but not the other. Obviously they weren’t watching Smallville, but even so you’d think they’d have at least heard the name.
On the other hand, not every person younger than a particular age (whatever that age might be in the given circumstances) is ignorant of people, places and things (and other nouns) from “the old days.” One of my closest friends is, at 23, a huge life-long fan of Jack Benny in particular, and old-time-radio in general; and is probably just as knowledgeable about him (if not more so) than people who grew up listening to him on radio or watching him on TV.
(Jack Benny died in 1974, a decade before she was born)
In fact, she used the occasion of Jack’s birthday (Feb. 14) to tie a series of lessons at least tangentially to OTR and that era. Her class not only listened to an episode of the Jack Benny Show; but also discussed such things as comedians entertaining the troops in USO shows; general OTR comedy of that era; the government during WWII; and changing social mores since then.
As to the original topic, I agree something needs to be done to keep people from getting gouged when trying to buy tickets for some thing or other. The total price (including tax) should be clear to the buyer up front.
And they should be reasonably available. I understand shows being sold out, but they shouldn’t be “sold out” because speculators bought up the tickets to re-sell on eBay or elsewhere.
Rick
“…We didn’t buy the tickets, the prices were turning, and our stomachs churning…” 🙂
>>wherein Jamie Madrox, in an attempt to score tickets to a Billy Joel concert, makes 12 dupes of himself to all call Ticketmaster at once, and even THEN, he STILL CANNOT GET A TICKET.
Better yet, friend of Jamie’s wants to go to a particular concert, and Madrox assures them of front row seats. Friend can’t figure out how till they turn up at the venue, and every other audience member there is Jamie Madrox.
When I was in college, we (as in me, and whoever my friends were at the time) would literally go to one concert per week. For the most part, they weren’t “in demand” shows…a lot were standing room/general admission shows, so we never had a problem with seats.
But once per year, Around March, we would wait for the day when everything (yes every single show for that year) and either Jones Beach or the Garden State (now PNC) Bank arts center went on sale. We knew then attempting to call was pointless (and this is back in 98.) So we would go and *attempt* to find an empty TM location.
Even for those shows…And Im talking bands like Goo Goo Dolls, No Doubt, and even Chicago…if I couldnt get to the TM kiosk within 20 minutes of them going on sale, I was screwed.
The only time I ever “lucked out”…I had bought tickets to see Everclear before they made it semi-big about one week before the show and somehow scored 2 row seats. Yeah it was because the seats were literally 3 feet from the speakers. With much shame, I had to ask for earplugs because I really thought my head was going to explode.
I am in LA right now and I saw that BJ was going to be in Anaheim this coming weekend. I didn’t even try to go on Ticketmaster.
I went on eBay and scored two excellent tix– after the concert had only been on sale from Ticketmaster for about an hour. I’ve noticed that some eBay resellers will dole out their tickets– selling the first set(s) at a lower price to gauge demand. I figure I paid a $70. premium per ticket (not including what the seller must subtract for eBay fees and the like on his end). 15 minutes reading some auctions on eBay and I was done.
Peter, I know you value your time as much as I value mine… and $140 was more than worth not spending a lost hour or more (I tend to obsess on things like this)… Plus I felt zero frustration making the eBay deal.
Another great way to score excellent tix is to join a particular performer’s fan club. If it is a long time, hard touring performer like Elton John– you can be eligible to purchase tickets for only a $36 yearly fan club fee. (You get exclusive CD’s etc. with the each Elton membership– more than worth the cost.) I’ve scored Elton tix all over the States and have never been any further back than 4th row. I knew I was going to be in Europe in early summer (strike permitting) and I knew Elton and his band were going to be in Europe touring at the same time. I checked his ticket web page and now I am going to see Elton perform in Vienna this summer. Now THAT’s mind blowing!
All I can say is, “Bless you Al Gore for creating the internets.”
had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.>>>
I lucked out on Billy’s last tour. I got shut out when the tickets went on sale, but the Friday before the concert (which was Monday), I went on Ticketmaster to see what was available and got tickets for section 96…and it was a great show, with Richie Cannatta (the original sax player) joing the band. Sometimes it’s best to try right before a show, when people might be more anxious to get rid of their tickets. I plan to do that for Van Halen. As for liking Billy Joel, it’s kind of the law if you’re from Long Island. 🙂
had the same thing happen to me during the first show Billy Joel did at MSG a year or two back. Working the phones and internet at the same time and the show was sold out in about 5 minutes. I eventually got tickets for his record breaking show a few weeks later.>>>
I lucked out on Billy’s last tour. I got shut out when the tickets went on sale, but the Friday before the concert (which was Monday), I went on Ticketmaster to see what was available and got tickets for section 96…and it was a great show, with Richie Cannatta (the original sax player) joing the band. Sometimes it’s best to try right before a show, when people might be more anxious to get rid of their tickets. I plan to do that for Van Halen. As for liking Billy Joel, it’s kind of the law if you’re from Long Island. 🙂
The first show reserved tickets that were pre-sold to NY Mets season ticket holders. I know a lot of people who bought the maximum number of tickets (six) and sold 2-4 at stubhub. If you wanted tix that badly peter, you should also be a Mets ticket holder.
The new show will NOT have such a pre-sale, so there will be a lot more tickets available to the public. If you want to go, try to get tickets, as this is a whole new ballgame as it were without the Mets ticket holders taking the early seats.
Across town, the Pope will be at Yankee Stadium in April, and the Vatican has said that they won’t let people scalp tickets or put them on stubhub/ebay. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out. I’d say they’ll need all the help they can get, but, hey, it’s the Vatican, they already have all the help they can get.
—matt
“Don’t you know about the new fashion honey?”
(The new fashion for getting tickets I mean)
“All ya need are looks and a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY!”
Sold out, ain’t nice
Even if they’re overpriced
it’s still Billy Joel to me.
“Did anyone buy tickets to actually go and SEE the dámņëd concert?”
I saw The Ðámņëd. They do a great show.
The anti-scalper policy with some of the larger venues in San Francisco is interesting. You buy your tickets, collect your tickets through willcall at the door and then enter. In fact, Once you have collected your tickets, you HAVE to enter and they will only allow access to the ticket holder with matching identification. A good system, though it almost caused me problems as I actually had acquired the tickets to one particular show as a gift for a friend.
michael t said:
The only time I ever “lucked out”…I had bought tickets to see Everclear before they made it semi-big about one week before the show and somehow scored 2 row seats. Yeah it was because the seats were literally 3 feet from the speakers. With much shame, I had to ask for earplugs because I really thought my head was going to explode.
It’s a shame you can’t post pictures on this forum, because you would totally be staring a WITHERINGLY JEALOUS icon in the face right now.
PAD, I feel your pain. I tried for hours to get tickets to the Huntington, W.Va., premiere of “We Are Marshall.” (That’s the city where the real events happened and part of the movie was filmed. My mom and I went to the school and we were extras.) Anyhoo, the Web site crashed before anyone could buy a ticket, so scalpers ended up putting tons on eBay. Of course, I contributed to the problem because I got literally the last two available on eBay for some ridiculous price (Christmas present for Mom who was there when the crash happened). ‘Twas awesome, but I still remain a little ticked.
Getting tickets off the ticketmaster site isn’t the easiest thing to do, however, just refresh the hëll out of the webpage the time they go on sale, set the ticket number you want, and wait, wait, wait. (there’s this little moving icon thing, it *does* eventually load the page). Just try to get them online at the site the very second they go onsale (forget the phone lines, those are just bad news) and you should get something. about 10 minutes after they go on sale, though, all bets are off.
Who do you think he is, Frankie Valli or some kind of big shot?
Why bother going to live shows at all?
Seriously, do you think you’re going to get anything better (forget the question of newer) than the concert taped by HBO a few years ago?
And even if you throw aesthetics at the question, are those aesthetics really any compensation for the crap you go through…or your knowledge that the high price isn’t going to the artist or to some worthy cause, but to a freaking PUSHER?
I’d rather see a local, good artist or entertainer than try to pay for a superstar. At least I know they’re getting the money.
I blame the performers. If they are a hot performer, there’s no reason not to have several shows to satisfy the demand.
When Garth Brooks came to Kansas City, they added a new show as soon as the previous one sold out. They kept adding new shows until there were around 10+ sold out shows and that screwed the scalpers who bought the first show.
Hannah Montana, on the other hand, only gave one sold out concert and there were hundreds of tickets available by scalpers. She’s so busy she couldn’t have scheduled another concert??
Anyway, I rarely have trouble getting good seats to the Metropolitan Opera if I plan in advance. Try it sometime. You might like it.
Thomas E. Reed: “Seriously, do you think you’re going to get anything better (forget the question of newer) than the concert taped by HBO a few years ago?”
Many people, myself included, find that the experience of *being there* is markedly different from — and more enjoyable than — watching something on T.V. Perhaps that’s not been you’re experience. I think we have a big enough world to accommodate both points of view.
Queen Anthai: “Well, you like Billy Joel. I mean, there’s your problem right there. :)”
I became a huge fan of Billy Joel when “Glass Houses” came out. I was nine years old at the time, and Billy Joel wasn’t incredibly “cool” at the time — at least not with the kids at my school, anyway. As I got older, I discovered Rush (World’s. Greatest. Rock. Band. EVER.), Genesis (prior to Phil Collins turning them into a crappy pop outfit), Todd Rundgren, and a number of other artists with a more alternative bent, and realized that that music was more to my liking.
Ironically, by the time I got to college, Rush wasn’t “cool” but Billy Joel, who had crossed over into “Top 40” with “The Bridge,” had become “cool.” Apparently, if a musician wants to be “cool,” he or she should create music I don’t like. 🙂
Anyway, I still have a fondness for Billy Joel. His song structures are definitely very traditional, and on the whole he’s not the most inventive musician on the block. But he puts a great deal of thought into his compositions, his lyrics can be biting and insightful, and, dear God, how can ANYONE listen to “Prelude/Angry Young Man” and not be blown away by his incredible piano-playing skills?