Boston Ticket drop update
As of noon EST, there were over 200 people waiting in line to buy tickets at the Box Office window at the Fleet Center. From creditable reports in line, over half of those in the Box Office line are supposedly paid line holders for scalpers and brokers.
These line holders have abandoned the normally peaceful line order, upsetting fans who are genuinely trying to find tickets for just themselves. People have been threatened with physical harm and the Fleet Center staff is doing nothing to control the conditions. More news to follow.
James said,
May 28, 2005 @ 7:53 pm
Sounds like the gang from ‘Saved by the Bell’ is at it again.
Tassoula said,
May 28, 2005 @ 9:04 pm
Yikes! We’re all in suspense here - how did it all turn out?
jendia said,
May 28, 2005 @ 10:22 pm
I spoke to the head of Fleet Center Security before U2 hit the stage tonight. He said only 80 tickets were dropped, and that his staff weeded out all the known scalpers from the drop line. They had many other people they suspected were “place holders” for scalpers, so when tickets were dropped, he personally went up to non-suspicious persons and led them to the ticket window. I truly believe all of those tickets went to fans. It’s a shame more tickets weren’t dropped, but in my book, Fleet Center handled everything absolutely beautifully this entire week, just as they did in 2001. Big hats off to all of them. These guys GET IT, and they truly care.
U2isABLE said,
May 29, 2005 @ 5:57 am
According to fans in the line waiting for tickets, about 200 GAs were dropped at approx. 7:15/7:30. Thankfully, as jendia said, the security *finally* did something to make the situation right.
silly cat said,
May 29, 2005 @ 6:28 pm
Well not all those 80 tickets in the first drop went to fans, so that head of security was full of it. Some known scalpers were indeed tossed out, but there was a gang of scalpers, including 1 of those black outfitted cop/rent-a-cops who had changed clothes to go in to buy tickets, who had been in the very front of the line all day, who all bought tickets and immediately came outside, right next to where a couple of us were standing (she had been in line all day with another friend, I was back and forth since I already had a ticket) to sort out the tickets and money. Cop-type left after getting his money and the rest hung out ready to pounce on needy fans.
And sorry, but the Fleet’s handling of the ticket drop line was SH*T. It was mostly ignored and folks told to police themselves until around 6pm when cops finally arrived to bring some kind of order after the day had been made miserable for alot of people. The rest of the day, the staff did nothing other than occasionally come out and make people line up single file, then disappear and let chaos reign again. One group of scalpers/thugs about had been causing trouble all day which very nearly erupted into violence with threats to “punch out” legitimate fans who tried to speak up to get them tossed out of the line. By then people without numbers were cutting, people with high numbers were cutting in…pure chaos. There really was no need for it to ever have gotten so out of hand.
GA was handled beautifully! Too bad they couldn’t apply a similar principle to the drop line. Wristbands would’ve been great. It’s official and mostly eliminates line cutting. Also having a policy of escorting ticket buyers directly into the venue after buying a ticket would truly get rid of scalpers and ensure that only fans actually get the tickets.
Sorry for th elong reply, just wanted to post what I saw.
Melon said,
May 30, 2005 @ 7:34 pm
It was only about 80 tickets (a lot were seats) that were dropped 7-7:15, definitely NOT 200 GAs. After that, they booted everyone out of the ticket line in the parking lot, and about the last 20 brought in were kept waiting in line in front of the ticket windows until 9:00pm. About 50 people from the original (fans, not scalpers) also waited in the box office area until 9pm and then the windows closed and we were made to leave the area. I was one of those people.
julie said,
June 1, 2005 @ 8:51 am
This situation sounds very similar to the one I experienced first hand in Los Angeles on 4.6. Staples Center did NOTHING to thwart scalpers, saying they know about them but their hands are tied.
I was one of the people in Los Angeles that was picked out of line by an LAPD officer policing the line to go up to the front and buy my ticket. I had made a stink earlier to the known scalpers and let the police know who they were. I was able to score 2 GA’s for my friends about 1 hour before showtime. I am eternally grateful to the cop, but I know I was very very lucky and hundreds of fans were not as lucky as I was.