Okay, I haven't ranted in a while--but I'm going to today! It's about concert tickets. Here's the story.
A couple weeks ago, Mindy asked me if I wanted to see Shania Twain with her in June. Of course, I do. I want to see all the concerts I can. I'm thrilled to have seen 4 this past year: Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks, Bon Jovi, and Brooks & Dunn.
I thought we might have one more this fall. Not quite a concert, but a special book event with Bono at the Ryman--where surely he would sing a song or two or three.
Sandy asked me if I wanted to go. We asked Stephanie and Mindy. It was to be a girl's night. Sandy and Mindy coordinated to get the tickets--Sandy in Atlanta and Mindy in Nashville--it looked like there was a limit of two. They learned the hard way long ago that even though there might be a start time, sometimes it starts earlier than that. They both logged in at 9:30--the tickets were to go on sale at 10. But here's what happened. They got a message that they were in the "waiting room"! Right at 10, they got a message that they were #500+ in the queue. Next, the message was that it was "your turn to buy." When they clicked to purchase, it was already sold out! What?? How is that possible? Okay, so we were all disappointed, but not for the first time. Try getting things at Disney (restaurant reservations and fast passes for rides) and you'll know what I mean!
Then, Mindy asked me if I would like to see Shania Twain. We got those tickets--4, so we hope to make that a girl's night--but it's not until June. There didn't seem to be many problems with those tickets. We're excited because the concert is going to be at our new soccer stadium.
Next up was the George Strait, Chris Stapleton, and Little Big Town---together! Each is a headliner on their own, so this concert stands to be fabulous. Of course, GS has been retired for a few years now, so he's the biggest draw. This concert will be out of this world. I told Mindy that I want tickets for this. They started with a pre-sale for American Express cardholders. Butch and I were in D.C. at the time and I was having trouble getting the tickets. I kept getting some sort of error messages.
Anyway, to make a long story short. We waited for the tickets to go on sale to the general public. Since we were on a Segway tour in Savannah at that time, Butch was on it. He texted me about how exorbitant the tickets were--$600+ in the area we like to be in. That's when my niece, Jackie was telling us about the "dynamic pricing." As the tickets start to sell, the price starts going up. That doesn't seem fair. So, I told Butch to just forget it.
When I got home, I decided to check. The only tickets left were very random--1, 2 or 3 here and there--in the uppermost, nosebleed section--where it's so steep that no one wants to be up there! Even Mindy said it scares her and Justin. Those tickets were over $700 each!!! OMGosh. That's downright criminal. I did not think it could get worse. But, oh, yes it did!
I told Mindy that I wanted to see Taylor Swift. The tickets were to go on sale TODAY! But, on Wednesday, they reported on the news that the presale tickets were out of sight. You could purchase tickets on Stub Hub for $22,000! Floor tickets for her show in Atlanta on April 28 are listed for as much as $35,438.
OMGosh! What is going on? Who can afford that. Something has to be done! Then yesterday, they reported on the news that the Friday sale to the public was canceled because they do not have enough tickets left. What?? Apparently, when the pre-sale opened on Wednesday, there were millions of tickets sold--the most in history. I have no idea what's going to happen next. I'm anxious to hear what Taylor Swift has to say about it. She loves her fans and has always done a lot for them.
The truth is, tickets for anything are expensive: sporting events, concerts, and theater shows. We're used to paying high prices. But it's getting to be that regular people will never have the opportunity to see anything "live." And that's just not right!!
Can you tell I'm frustrated?
Sandy wanted to comment on this post but couldn't so I'm adding them here:
I tried to comment on Mom’s blog but kept getting thrown in a loop of having to sign in. Anyway…I totally agree about the concert tickets. It’s absolutely ridiculous! And I can’t believe people are really paying $32,000 to see Taylor Swift. I mean who can or would pay that much for a concert?! And the artists aren’t getting that money! Something similar happened recently with Bruce Springsteen too.
The artists need to take a stand for there to be any kind of change, although I don’t know exactly what that is. Maybe take a page out of Kid Rock’s book and get sponsors to help cut costs. Years ago he did a tour (called the “cheap date tour”) and tickets were only like $25, T-shirts were $20, and beers were $5. He said he wanted everyone who wanted to go to be able to attend and have a good time without breaking the bank.
Years ago Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster because of the pricing issues. For this last concert that we just went to in September, you had to enter a lottery to even be eligible to purchase tickets, and only the lottery winners were able to get tickets with there being a 4-ticket limit.
When Greg and I saw Garth Brooks back in college we were sitting in our seats before the concert started and a roadie walked up and gave us 2 front row tickets. We thought it was a joke but found out that Garth always reserves a few front-row seats for the people who are in the nosebleed section to come to the front. Not sure if he still does this but was definitely a cool move.
We’ve also attended concerts where you had to show the actual credit card that you used to purchase the tickets in order to get in which obviously makes scalping virtually impossible but so annoying if you bought tickets to gift to someone else.
Mindy and I lament about this problem all the time because the same thing happens with merchandise. She’s tried to buy new release tennis shoes for Justin and I’ve tried to buy the Post Malone crocs for Elizabeth and it’s a joke. You wait in a virtual line when the items go on sale only to be told that they’re sold out in a matter of minutes. If you go immediately to eBay the items are already being listed for exorbitant prices. Like Mindy says, “there’s a special place in hell for those people”!
Okay, I cannot leave my post on a negative note. So, for your entertainment: