U2 Tour News – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
First…the good news: a source close to the tour has confirmed to @U2 that tickets for the European tour dates will go on sale March 14 and the tickets for the North American dates will go on sale in April.
Now the bad news: the source also tells @U2 that Live Nation has been in talks with ticket reseller StubHub for some sort of role on the North American tour dates, as well as in talks with Viagogo for the European tour dates.
Now the ugly news: if you thought Ticketmaster sending folks to TicketsNow.com was a bad move, imagine how fans will feel about Live Nation partnering with the likes of StubHub or Viagogo. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts on these potential partnerships….please remember to keep the blog comments civil and family-friendly. Thanks.
Last 4 posts by U2isABLE
- Live Aid Funds Spent On Guns - March 4th, 2010
- Ticket Scammers Beware! - March 3rd, 2010
- Cashman Cashes In With U2 Auction - March 1st, 2010
- Another U2 Honor in 2009 - December 30th, 2009
Well, that’s not very good news at all. I was wondering what happened to the Coldplay tickets for this coming summer, and I found out a few things while searching…
For those who don’t know, here in Dallas a ticket for Coldplay at an amphitheater (about 20,000 people) are going for $35-$97 through Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Stub Hub is showing $58-$705. A huge difference! Not only that, when tickets went on sale, nobody, and I mean nobody got into the 100’s section, not even one single person on the Coldplaying.com site. It was 200’s and back only during the pre-sale. That afternoon of the pre-sale, online ticket brokers had most of the 100 sections already! When they went up again the next day during general sale, the only thing left was lawn.
If this is the future for U2, it’s not going to be pretty. Of course, the only way to totally avoid the rich from sitting up close is to make the floor GA again, and for $50. But word on the street is Live Nation doesn’t like GA one bit and may not do it or allow it. UNLESS! U2 steps up to the plate now and tells them what they want.
Just add me to the list of P-O’ed fans!
>>>>>>Bono’s lame excuse was that he was unnerved by seeing the same people every night. Poor little rich boy.
It held no weight, given that he had pulled the same people up on stage at multiple shows (sometimes in multiple countries).
The lottery sucked, but it wouldn’t have sucked as badly if it had been implemented so that they handed out wristbands (for the lottery) starting at noon and ending at 4pm (or 5pm if they want to go later). They do a drawing at 5:30. First number drawn is first in line and they line you up in order after that(first in line’s number -1 is last in line) and those without wristbands line up after those with wristbands.
Basically, it’s a Ticketmaster lottery. I don’t love it, but at least everyone can spend the day doing something else.
>>>only the wealthy, connected, privileged and corrupt get the access to the best seats in the house.
On this tour or all tours? I can honestly say that I’ve always gotten decent seats for U2 shows by coming up with a strategy and doing my best to execute it. That’s varied from going to a TM that most people avoided to using phones or computers.
One thing I don’t do is buy bad seats. If I can’t get what I want, i don’t go. That strategy often yields me better seats. YMMV
Bono, it was we the fans that embraced U2, back when even you probably had doubts about the long-term success of your band. We, the peasants of rock n roll, have stood and line and paid and paid faithfully. Please do not underestimate the emotional connection that U2 has with us loyal fans. We actually feel that we are somehow a part of this whole thing called U2. Don’t forget us…no lame excuses from a drummer about why some of us couldn’t get tickets the last time. Don’t put your own bank book ahead of us…don’t become the corporate whore that so many in this so-called music business have become. We expect better from you and the band. After all, it has been us fans that have collectively purchased 145 million albums since way back when. It has been us fans that have allowed you to live a life of luxury and free of want. All we want is a fair shot at showering you once again with wads of cash. And we’ll pay. But don’t screw us over. Man, we are family…we are with the band.
Don’t forget us…
I hated the fact that U2 sold their tour rights to Live Nation. I know there are die-hard fans who love the band and want to see the band live. Having said that, U2 owes us nothing when it comes to ticket prices. All I ask for them is a decent to good album every 2-4 years.
the US stadium shows won’t sell out.
Why is it a bad idea to have the market set the prices for tickets? If all the tickets were sold at auction through a site like stubhub, it’d totally cut out the scalpers, because anyone who wanted to see the show would only bid what they were willing to spend. If it was enough, they’d get tickets, if not, then someone willing to spend more would. Selling tickets through random luck at prices well below what the market will bear, like how Ticketmaster does now, is what generates the scalper market. If the tickets are sold at market price initially, there’d be no room for markup.
Why free market sucks for U2 concert? Vegas 1 in 2005. Majority of venue filled with people who paid their way in through casino. Crowd was dead.
As for the people who got tix for previous tours and see no reason to be concerned – did you read the @u2 story on online scalping technology? Unless LiveNation/TM suddenly got much better at anti-scalping on their website, you will see the cheapest good seats snapped up instantly by bots for resale on stubhub.
Until the put your name on the ticket and check IDs for the “fan” tickets, you are basically going to have to choose between paying $200 to TM/LN, paying $200 to a scalper via stubhub, paying $200 to a scalper outside the venue or paying $100 for a crappy seat somewhere in the nosebleeds.
This is not the same ticket market as 97 popmart or even 2005 vertigo. Times have changed, technology has changed and anything that increases the incentives for scalpers to participate in the presales is bad news.
Only rays of hope is that this is a crap economy and they are doing stadiums. If they do too many shows, we can buy unsold tix off the scalpers for pennies.
My solution: for locales with multiple shows, only go to nights 2+ and skip first night. Let night 1 be devoid of fans that know lyrics to any song other than b-day. Would be funny to watch them try to figure out why the first show bombed even bigger than usual.
————–Pat Said ——————
Why is it a bad idea to have the market set the prices for tickets? If all the tickets were sold at auction through a site like stubhub, it’d totally cut out the scalpers, because anyone who wanted to see the show would only bid what they were willing to spend.
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Pat, you clearly don’t understand what Stub Hub is, much less how it works. Brokers sell tickets on Stub Hub (as well as it’s sister site Ebay). There is no bidding on Stub Hub.
Steve, there’s no meaningful difference between now and 4 years ago. All this BS that you can’t get good tix to shows is just that. I got floors for Springsteen in NJ for the last show. Was it hard? No it was not. I did it as an afterthought. My brother lives near the venue, so I figured if I got tix, I’d make it an excuse to visit and go with him to the show.
The idea that you somehow had a better shot 10 or 15 years ago is ridiculous. The game was different, but the brokers always have an advantage, because they’re willing to pay people to buy tickets for them, and because they understand how to play the game.
Most people that drop a quarter in an arcade put money in the machine and mash buttons without any idea of what the point of the game is or the rules to the game. The vast majority of people, including those complaining on this blog, approach buying tickets the same way.
I may get shut out this tour (though I doubt it), but I’ve generally found that I get great tickets. Last tour that meant 2 tix to both SD shows. 2 Floors 2 2 of the early chicago shows (traded to get a floor for all 4) and did the same for several others. On Elevation I bought floor tickets (at cost) for over a dozen shows. I went to some, and others I bought when friends asked me to give it a shot. Those tickets were often in the biggest U2 markets (e.g. NY/NJ, Chicago). I also sometimes resorted to brokers (who had, prior to the west coast shows, cheap prices for the first leg shows). I sometimes bought some from the tour operator (when I couldn’t work out trades, as happened with LA3 and the tour closer)
I had no connections. And I didn’t have special software. In fact, for 2005, all I had was a cell phone and a PC.
Maybe I’m just lucky, but I’ve been pretty successful at getting tickets since the early 90’s. Almost 20 years of success (20th row for the Stones, 12 for ZooTV, 4th For McCartney, 10th for Pink Floyd, 12th for Genesis in ‘92, 8th row Prince’s 98 tour, 10th-15th for Prince’s Hits Tour, 10th-15 for 2nd Dallas show, to name but a few non-u2 shows) isn’t just luck. It took a lot of time and thought.
—————-Steve Said:——————-
Until the put your name on the ticket and check IDs for the “fan” tickets, you are basically going to have to choose between paying $200 to TM/LN, paying $200 to a scalper via stubhub, paying $200 to a scalper outside the venue or paying $100 for a crappy seat somewhere in the nosebleeds.
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That won’t work at all. your name on a ticket is effectively the same as what Springsteen did on the Reunion tour, and scalpers walked in with one person, gives the 2nd person a crap ticket and then the couple sat in the seats….the scalper ate a nose bleed seat. Rinse and repeat.
*****I KNOW I’M BIG, BUT ALSO ENLIGHTENED. SO PLEASE, DON’T SKIP ON*****
These “ticket-exchange marketplace” sites are a farce. They’re simply scalping scams but done in a “safe, guaranteed” and family friendly manner so the fat cats can get fatter by getting their cut out of it. This doesn’t address the issue, it simply adds to the problem, encouraging genuine fans to buy more tickets than they need, as they have what is now, this promoted opportunity flashing at the side of their screen to make a profit out of reselling them.
I think there is a certain moral justice in so-called “black market” re-sales in the sense that it gives the most dedicated fans a chance to see any really popular band if they don’t get picked by the Ticketmaster server in the lottery that has become of these 9am “on-sale” scrambles. All in all, it’s better to have a venue full of mad exuberant nutters screaming and jumping about, rather than a crowd of middle-class, middle-aged mediocrity, feeling uneasy and realising they don’t quite have the youth any more to prefer a standing pit to a cosy seat. This you don’t have to the same extent when you have at least some touts or “scalpers” offsetting the luke-warm fans who simply happened to be in front of the office computer when the tickets went on sale, and happened to be lucky. The touts then sell on the tickets to dedicated fans happily willing to pay over the odds for the tickets in a manner that the “Best of Collection” crowd wouldn’t be. Then everyone’s at least reasonably contented if not happy, and the fair weather fans don’t particularly care they’ve lost out on an evening they were really too old or not enthusiastic enough for anyway. It’s certainly a scenario that’s discouraged me (as what you’d call a moderate fan of the likes of Oasis and the Killers) from going to see them for a second time, yet Ebay was how I got to see U2 in 2005.
However, to encourage fans to buy extra tickets and sell them under the watchful (shaded) eye of Ticketmaster and Bono, which is what this does, is wrong, especially in a time of economic hardship. The whole fact that this was previously a “black” market dominated by seasoned touts was a deterrent of this in itself, but no longer now that Ticketmaster and U2 have stuck their gloss on top and making it nice, friendly scalping that’s accessible to all. Now it’s okay for everyone to seemingly screw each other over as long as the original promoter gets to tax it.
This all goes to show that the money makers aren’t interested in preventing touting/scalping but simply controlling it and profiting from it. Single ticket only sales or name stamping on the ticket with ID presented at admission (like what they’ve done very effectively at the Glastonbury Festival, genuinely caring for the fans) would eradicate the whole touting market, supposedly “legal” and “illegal.” Then of course you’re back to the 9am lottery scenario, but I’d argue that’s preferable to bending over for Ticketmaster.
You actually can equate it with sex in a sense – we all want it and it undeniably makes the only great end to a great night out or party. The pleasure of it also comes with the joy of the knowledge that you got lucky and/or the satisfaction of the ego trip that you managed to charm your partner in to bed or that they at least found you attractive enough to sleep with you. Of course, unless you have a steady partner, most nights you don’t get that lucky, but there’s always the option of cutting out the luck/charm factor, simply heading down to your local red light district or brothel and paying for it. Assuming you’re not horribly old, fat and ugly with more chance of pulling Excalibur out of the stone, do you really get the same satisfaction from it? Knowing you’ve achieved no notch for your bedpost, no trip for your ego and wasted however much on a passionless half-hour surely spoils the enjoyment when you could have saved your money, your integrity and gained the said psychological kicks. Going to a sold out gig is the same analogy. No one would deny they’d love a great seat or front row standing with a ticket they were lucky to get at the lowest price possible. So does the Edge’s guitar really ring so true when you know that you could have got in for less?
#
kc said,
March 4, 2009 @ 9:01 pm
—————-Steve Said:——————-
Until the put your name on the ticket and check IDs for the “fan” tickets, you are basically going to have to choose between paying $200 to TM/LN, paying $200 to a scalper via stubhub, paying $200 to a scalper outside the venue or paying $100 for a crappy seat somewhere in the nosebleeds.
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That won’t work at all. your name on a ticket is effectively the same as what Springsteen did on the Reunion tour, and scalpers walked in with one person, gives the 2nd person a crap ticket and then the couple sat in the seats….the scalper ate a nose bleed seat. Rinse and repeat.
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Interesting point, but this is a costly, time consuming scam for the scalper. It would also be more or less eradicated if each name was put on each and every ticket regardless of the position, with ID presented for each ticket, just as if you were getting on a plane.
DashingDebonairDave, your solution kinda sucks for everyone but the scalpers.
I shouldn’t have to decide who I’m going with to a show before I buy tickets.
If I can’t go to a show, I ought to be able to sell them to friends or other fans.
For scalpers, your plan isn’t all that costly. When you’re selling a 100.00 ticket (springsteens are less) for 500, eating a ticket that’s behind the stage (probably in the upper deck) to sell $1000.00 of tickets is not a big deal. They may even be able to write off the price of the crap seat on their taxes (they almost certainly can)
Finally, the time involved is irrelevant, because they’ll almost certainly going to the show.
I’d rather have scalpers than have the stupid policy that the Airlines have, which provides no benefit to me. And yes, ultimately, my views are based on whether it helps me or not…but if that happened, I’d find a way to play that game.
kc, firstly naming the tickets eradicates any problem with touting for standing tickets – a big victory in itself.
Secondly, if you had every name on every ticket then people would need to initially get hold of a legitimate cheap seat to get in and then way over-the-odds for a premium seat off a tout. Sure, you will get a few with money to burn who’ll do it, but you can’t deny it’s going to greatly minimise the touting market and the number of quality seats they’re willing to purchase to resell.
You could also make tickets returnable, if your pal suddenly can’t go, with an official resale scheduled. Ticket sales could also be held nearer the gig time, if you’re worried about arranging your company too far in advance, as let’s face facts, for bands like U2 facing this problem, selling a lot of tickets in not much time, isn’t an issue. Two hastily scheduled Glasgow shows nestled between the two Slane efforts on the Elevation Tour were announced only 4 days before. Yet with a capacity of 20000, they still sold out in a morning the old fashioned way, via phone and queues along the Clyde.
If these measures work for the world’s biggest music festival, I’m sure they’ll work for the world’s biggest travelling music festival.
Dave, I’m not sure I understand what you’re proposing.
But let’s say I buy tix to go with my significant other.
We break up and I don’t want to bring someone else. How do I do that, or am I SOL?
If I’m SOL, then the plan sucks. If I’m not SOL, then a scalper will beat the system.
As for having tix go on sale closer to the actual performance, I’m all for that, but nobody in the business is. They want to get your money early, because they get to collect interest for months before the show (not a big given the low interest rates, but it’s still cash in hand). Band probably like it, because it ensures that you’ve got your tickets early.
This tour will likely do fairly well, because the tour, apparently, is extremely short (6 weeks in Europe and 6 in the U.S.). That’s 30 U.S. shows, MAX. 3 NYC shows, 1Philly, 3 Chicago, 3 Boston, 1DC, 1-3 LA, 2 SJC/SF, 1-2 Detroit, 1 Miami, 1 Georgia, 1 Denver, 1 St Louis, 1 OH, 5-6 in Canada.
That’s pretty much the entire tour (if 6 weeks holds), and they haven’t even touched Houston, Dallas, Arizona, Portland or Seattle…and the truth is that I can’t image them getting more than 25 shows in over 6 weeks. They rarely play 3 shows in a row (I think it happened once in the last 10 or 15 years) and I’ve never seen 2 on 1 off last for 3 weeks, much less 6.
As a result, supply will be very limited and that will result in high demand. Nevertheless, the last Stadium tour didn’t sell out. I loved Pop and I loved popmart, but the bottom line is that tickets didnt’ sell well, even though they went on sale, as I recall, before the album came out.
Like Pop. this has a lead off single that people haven’t really liked (even fans seem less than enthused). Unlike 97, the economy is in the dirt and ticket prices will be significantly more than the $50.00 top price on popmart (anyone remember how outrageously overpriced we thought those were?)
My point? outside of the big markets, I don’t expect shows to sell out.
kc, I’m proposing you can return your ticket by a certain date to get a refund, or swap one of them for another seat. Official swap-shops at the venue could also be an option. Remember, we’re only talking bands who are guaranteed sell-outs anyway. It wouldn’t be difficult for someone like Ticketmaster to create a reasonably sophisticated returns policy (another Glasto trait) since they’ve the ability to oversee their own sponsored scalping. I’m sure a name change mechanism could also be devised via some form of identity verification (something I really can’t be bothered to devise in my head right now). As ever, where there’s the will there’s a way, but let’s also face facts, the only real reason ticket touting isn’t a universally illegal act is because most tickets for anything are non-refundable for anything other than an event cancellation.
More relevantly, (not that it effects me in any way) I’m glad U2 are back to playing American stadiums. I’ve never been a fan of arena shows, partly as my local one is more of giant shed on a river bank, amounting to numerous non-atmospheric flat gigs. But even after experiencing others in other countries, I can’t help feeling they’re an unhappy medium between intimate club/theatre gigs and stadium extravaganzas, nor do they look nearly as good on film. Held in lifeless sports venues, they have none of the intimacy of a club but none of the blitzkrieg carnival of an outdoor show, not to mention the fact that there’s no better atmosphere than great live music in the open summer air as the sun goes down. It’s time U2 are back playing stadiums only, not bloody sports halls. If they can’t who can? They’re the essence of a stadium band and practically invented the concept.
I can roughly understand why it might be financially more viable for bands the size of U2 to play arena shows across some of the US, but more specifically why are stadiums gigs generally much more popular in Europe? Is this purely due to population spread? Even so, how come stadiums aren’t utilised on the coasts where population density is high? Que you, kc.
Remember that a ticket is a license that actually remains in the control of the venue and/or promoter. The license is subject to whatever stipulations the issuer decides on, and is revokable. A point I like to make is that Disney has modeled this for years by selling non-transferable tickets that contain a unique name printed on them. In addition, ID is required for each adult, when the tickets are picked up. Finally, biometrics technology is used to collect finger print scan data – and then used again to verify the person’s ID at the turnstile.
By now, you are probably saying that the average fan would find this too much trouble to deal with. However, if a guarantee was thrown in that tickets could be sold back to an official third party vendor, fans would be inclined to put up the cash, and would do a better job of planning ahead.
Do I believe U2 & Live Nation reached an agreement that would truly cut out touts? No, I don’t. But I don’t believe the criticism should be directed at U2, especially given the history of this industry. This is a long process to reach fairness, and we can influence its future if we put as much thought into our action as we do in how we score tickets to the upcoming tour.
For fan club tix at least, the “name on the ticket” thing does indeed work. Nine Inch Nails started doing this years ago, with the fanclub presale handled by the fanclub, and the tickets with each fans name printed on them being held by the fanclub, with representatives from the fanclub at each venue with the tickets. If you didn’t bring an ID that matched the ticket info, you didn’t get tickets. No one had to pay ridiculous prices, no one was able to scalp anything, diehard fans got the great floor tickets, and it actually took me less time to get thru security than those who had paid thru the nose for scalped tix and had to wait in the main entrance line. Simple system, works great… and no one wants to use it… ???
What Chris is describing sounds great to me! I have to disagree w/Dashing…Dave’s preference of stadiums over arenas. I’ve seen them 5 times in Boston at the Fleet Ctr/Bos Garden and LOVED those shows. I thought it felt very intimate. We didn’t have GA at either venue and seats 10-15 rows off the floor was night and day in Bos vs Honolulu. Also the crowd in Bos was so much more into it, in Honolulu there were some there to see Pearl Jam, some Hawaiians just there because it was the biggest show there ever so crowd unity and intensity wasn’t the same. I still loved that show and it was great, but for different reasons. I also once had GA in Foxboro, MA right up front which was mind blowing but location is so much more crucial in a stadium and regardless of location it’s just not intimate. In Boston at every show Bono interacts so much w/the crowd talking/joking, pulling lots of people up on stage, going out into the crowd, etc. It’s just a very relaxed, intimate experience like a bunch of old friends getting together. Anyway, I was hoping they’d have both venue types but I guess I’ve missed some key info. Have they said the US leg will only be 6 weeks??? I had figured if they were in Europe for the summer, then came here in Sept (there are reports of a Foxboro show or 2 Sept 20/21) they’d do some criss-crossing of the US like w/Vertigo and when they came back it would be too cold for stadiums here. Can someone fill me in on what has been said or reported about the length of the US leg?
Kirstin, you do have a point. An arena show can be intimate if it’s a reasonably well designed, symmetrical venue with fans on all sides and a lot of focus on a stage, and is effectively a great big theatre like the Fleet Centre. Don’t forget also, that U2 designed and altered their show and stage set specifically for these kind of circular sports arenas.
One of the reasons I think the Boston and Chicago DVDs looked so good was because of the band being surrounded by the crowd – effectively what they’re planning to do this time but in stadiums, by the sound of things. That’s why I think these shows could be awesome. Even before they invented the whole concept of the B-stage, U2 have always had the desire to be in an amongst it all when they’re performing, and in words of Carly Simon, Nobody Does it Better; though I think that’s where the correlations between Bond and U2 come to a sudden halt.
However, speaking generally, a set in your average sports hall or exhibition centre cannot beat the atmosphere of an open-air summer event – as that’s what it is, a proper event. Even in streets several miles away, there’s a real sense that something big’s going down when a band like U2 plays a stadium. Of course, there are exceptions as you highlighted, but to be honest, you can’t really can’t use a comparison like Boston to Hawaii as a fair example. With the exception of the east-end of my own dear Glasgow, there are few places as Irish outside the Emerald Isle that U2 have such an affinity with than the likes of Boston, New York and Chicago. And as you say, Hawaii probably hasn’t had such as big a single event since the bombing of Pearl Harbour, if you’ll permit me to be brutally blunt.
Unless you’re going for sheer, rare record-breaking extravagance like the Stones at Copacabana (brilliant in itself), you want intimacy from any gig, even a huge stadium one, which is just as achievable as an arena, I’d argue. Just look at the Vertigo Milan DVD. Putting it on now I’m still realising what a great show that was. The band and stage design made the San Siro seem like the Colosseum; so much so that it wasn’t until a third watching I realised they were actually playing along one of the sidelines as opposed to a goal end.
My main point is that whether we’re talking stadiums or sports arenas, due to the size of the band, I can’t think of any venues U2, or alike, have played a proper gig in over the last few years that was designed with music in mind. As a result, whilst some venues obviously fair better with hosting the biggest band in the world than others, at worst, or as I’d argue en masse, (if you’ll excuse the pun) the lights, power and magic coupled with warm summer evening atmosphere of an outdoor show most often beat the contrived (and usually failed) intimacy of a sports hall.
I’m also rather put off by odd complaint that the band initially plan to tour for “only” 6 weeks in America.
While the whole continent vs single country argument isn’t really relevant here as we’re talking fanbase, why should America be given any preference over Europe in terms of timescale?
Are you telling me that there are more people in the US that want to see the U2 in the flesh than in the whole of Europe? I think not, when it has over double the population. Why should an (potential) American fanbase continue to be given special treatment as they have been so much in the past?
Lest we forget Latin and South America…. Those lovable buggers go mad and stage a national televised event when so much as Jon Bon Jovi turns up with a bloody harmonica.
Sorry for the long post, but figured it was better to group my various replies together.
————DDDave said —————–
kc, I’m proposing you can return your ticket by a certain date to get a refund, or swap one of them for another seat.
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If I can change the name on a ticket that I have so that my new GF, wife or whatever, then the system won’t work.
You really have 2 choices: make it virtually impossible to scalp the tickets and make life very unpleasant for fans or don’t inconvenience the fans and the scalpers continue as usual. You could say that there’s no resales of tickets at all, but allow official ticket swaps, but that only works if both parties must have a ticket which means you can’t take a different person than you originally said you were going to take.
People who run Ticket brokerages spend a lot of time looking for ways to get the most money from a ticket and I don’t think anything will stop them.
As for Stadiums, I’ve seen U2 in both, and there’s no doubt that Arenas are better. You can’t compare a stadium video from Ireland with the disastrous Boston video of 2001 or the Popmart Mexico video. I loved Popmart, but those shows didn’t sell out in most places and I had the advantage of being close to the stage or at the B-Stage for all but one show. Nevertheless, none of them had a crowd like you see in videos from South and Central America. TO me, the biggest disadvantage to stadium gigs is that most of the time that leads to more hits oriented sets (regardless of the band). The south American Stadium Vertigo shows looked like a lot of fun. The Hawaii show….not so much.
————DDDave said —————–
I’m also rather put off by odd complaint that the band initially plan to tour for “only” 6 weeks in America.
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Dave, Western Europe (which is where the money for shows is concentrated) is more tightly packed than the U.S. How long is a trip from London to Rome? 15 or 16 hours by car? That’s barely halfway across the U.S. It’s just not the same. Driving from one end of TX to the other. To put it another way, driving from one end of TX to the other (in a relatively straight line) is almost 1000km. On that trip through TX, you’d pass, at most, 2 venues that U2 might play (houston and maybe San Antonio, but the latter is unlikely on this tour). The reality is that between Georgia and Phoenix, they’d hit roughly 4 potential cities (over 2100 miles): Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix. You can add St. Louis for 600 more miles. Chicago is another 500. 6 venues = 4828.03km
That Amsterdam-Rome trip was 1690km. On that trip, you’ll pass near Brussels, Koln, Dusseldorf, Zurich and Milan. 6 Venues for concerts in 1/3 the distance (and that was just a random route I chose, because it seemed like a fairly long north-south run for 2 venues. Turns out they played 10 shows there last tour. On most tours, people in less populated states will likely travel further to get to one venue than you’ll travel to get to the top 3 venues outside of your country.
————–Brett said————–
Do I believe U2 & Live Nation reached an agreement that would truly cut out touts? No, I don’t. But I don’t believe the criticism should be directed at U2, especially given the history of this industry.
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Brett, on the last 2 tours, U2 was charging more moeny for most tickets than most scalpers charged 10 or 15 years ago. On this tour, tix will apparently hit 250.00 (not surprising given the typical U2 Ticket inflation since ZooTV). Yes, there will be $30.00 cheap seats, but my guess is that most(all?) will be the worst seats in the house. last tour, the top ticket price went up a bit from Elevation (which practically tripled Popmart’s top price, which more roughly doubled Zoo’s top price), but the real key was that the cheap seats went up in price and there were far fewer of them (on Elevation $45.00 seats made up roughly 40-45%). Behind the stage lower level was all $100.00 seats ($45 on Elevation) and I saw plenty of venues where the upper deck was 150.00 vs $90ish in 2002. The entire concert industry has become ridiculously expensive for fans.
—————Chris said:————-
Nine Inch Nails started doing this years ago, with the fanclub presale handled by the fanclub, and the tickets with each fans name printed on them being held by the fanclub, with representatives from the fanclub at each venue with the tickets.
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If my name is on both tickets, and I’m a scalper, I can bring in a customer and whomever is with that person will get in with a nosebleed/lawn seat. For Springsteen, you had to show an ID, Credit Card and immediately walk in. The scalpers didn’t miss a beat.
I’m not a fan of scalpers, but until I see a plan that stops them and doesn’t make it worse for fans, I’ll remain extremely skeptical of those looking to stop them.
Frankly, the idea of an official exchange would likely just be another excuse for the bands and ticket agencies to get more money from the fans. What’s that sir, you want to trade with someone? We can do that for a $25.00 fee on each ticket exchanged. To be clear that means if we exchange one ticket, they collect $50.00. And yes, I think those types of fees are likely.
DDDave & Chris, points well taken on pluses of stadiums, Milan and South America did look incredible. As I said, I was hoping to see both on this tour. But if I had to choose one, it would be arenas for my above mentioned reasons and because on Vertigo they came to Boston 7 times! I know we’re very spoiled here but I am very worried that they’ll only play here a couple times and as Chris pointed out distances between stadiums are quite far. As far as ticket prices, I paid $50/ticket on Vertigo for upper deck and $75 for 1st tier somewhat behind/side stage and I believe $90 for box seats. 1st section in front were the most expensive, I think $175/tkt. But compared to the Stones, the “other” biggest tour, U2’s prices were less than 1/2 the price. Granted the Stones take gouging to a whole new level but at the Garden and Fenway floor seats were $500 a pop and I think nosebleeds were $100 and to participate in the pre-sales you had to pay for each pre-sale and I believe the price was $100. Now they may be the greediest band alive but my point is compared to them U2 are saints. I realize all the major differences and the huge outrage there would be if U2 tried anything close to that but a lot of that is because of the relationship they have with their fans and I believe they honor that by keeping prices significantly lower than they could charge. I also know that probably no one else will agree because it seems to me they compare as Chris did to past U2 prices not other top bands. BTW DDDave, Scotland is a special place to me as that’s where I got engaged – in a tiny place in the Highlands called Shieldaig. Do you know it?
They are making a mistake planning US Stadiums for 2010. The market will not be there and there will be no “buzz” 16 months from now except from hardcore fans and that will not sell more than 20,000 tickets. Some cities they may do well, some I can see being canceled.
Lets’ not forget that we’re talking about a stadium tour during the worst U.S. economic downturn in over 25 years….if you thought “Popmart” undersold in 1997 (it certainly did both nights in Oakland) wait until September, when indications are the bottom of the recession will just be arriving. The band will make up losses from merchandise sales and the pricier tickets. The scalpers will have to deal with a flooded surplus ticket market at each show, with online re-sales dropping dramatically….which means we win!
Mark, I think you’re probably right, though ticket prices probably are only going up for the best seats (which do not appear to be field tix). With $55.00 field seats, and 10,000 $30.00 seats at each show, there will be a lot of relatively inexpensive seats. It’s not clear how many $250.00 seats there’ll be, but if they make up a relatively small number of seats and most are in $95 or less, then price may not hurt them as much. Those with lots of money won’t balk at $250.00. The question is what does $95.00 get you. Field tix get you a shot in the U2 lottery and if it’s implemented like the last tour, then it’ll suck. Spending 15 hours in line just to get a shot at an outside rail sucks is a bad system.
My guess is that they’ll do well in the big cities and not so well elsewhere. With roughly 20 shows in the U.S., I think we’ll see Chicago, NY, Boston, Miami, L.A. SF/Oak/SJC. hit and do very well. Chicago could easily see 2 or 3 shows, NY 2, Boston 2. L.A. up to 2 and the same up north. Even if it’s less than that, it’s still about half the 2nd leg in very U2 friendly markets. Miami will draw a lot of people from south/central America.
If the buzz is good from the shows (and we haven’t gone even further into recession), then 2010 will probably do better.
Nevertheless, I have to agree that going for a Stadium tour in this economy virtually guarantees lots of empty seats….then again, if that happens, you can probably buy $30.00 seats and move up to better seats…..but that only works if the tour massively undersells.
i dont know what all the fuss is about. ive seen u2 17 times and know for a fact that if i turn up at the venue about an hour before they come on stage, i will have no problem getting a ticket for less than face value. the touts were selling tickets for£20 each at the millenium stadium on the vertigo tour. i had a spare ticket and had to give it away in the end. i dont see anything being different this time around. tell me if im missing something please!
kc said,
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Pat, you clearly don’t understand what Stub Hub is, much less how it works. Brokers sell tickets on Stub Hub (as well as it’s sister site Ebay). There is no bidding on Stub Hub.
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I think you may have missed my point. What I’m saying is that the bands should auction off all of their tickets. That would prevent any scalping, because everyone is paying the price the market will bear at the time of sale. So, those folks that will pay $500 to a scalper will just bid $500 on an auction instead. Now a scalper has no way to get the ticket except paying more than I’m willing to pay. I’m obviously not going to pay them more in that case, so they would be at best breaking even and probably losing money. I might then get the ticket for $300, so the band’s thrilled (if they’re newish/small – it’s obviously largely irrelevant to U2) because they get $300 and I’m thrilled because I didn’t pay $500.
Also, I’ve bought and sold on stubhub and ebay and both sites have fixed prices as well as auctions. It’s just that most sellers don’t use auctions on stubhub, but they can and I have.
BTW – “…you clearly don’t understand what Stub Hub is, much less how it works” implies a kind of superiority that’s a bit off-putting, if you care. Especially when it’s inaccurate, but really either way. Good comma usage, though. That’s unusual these days.