All this ticket fiasco has reminded me of the first time I felt screwed over in buying tickets for a U2 show.
In 1987, for the fall leg of The Joshua Tree, U2 announced the first night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and all advertising indicated that for the first hour, tickets were only going to be sold at the box office at the LA Memorial Sports Arena (right next door to Coliseum). After the first hour, they would be available through Ticketmaster outlets and phone. There were sevral thousand people outside the Sports Arena that morning and we all got wristbands. When they started announcing the order, they called it out randomaly in groups of 50 numbers ( for instance anyone with wristbands numbered like 251 to 300). I was in the first group of 50 that was called out and I quickly ran to the front one one of 6-8 lines, as there were either 6 or 8 ticket windows selling the tickets at 9am. I was going to purchase the total amount of tickets allowed which was 6 (the price was $19.50 each, no Ticketmaster service charges!). I figured since it was only me and the other 5-7 people buying at that moment, there was no way I could end up any further back then like 2nd or 3rd row, even considering that some tickets would be held out. I aksed for my 6 tickets and while they were on the floor of the stadium, I was in the 26th row! Seeing as I was supposedly 1 of only 6-8 people anywhere buying tickets for this show at that exact moment, I couldn't believe it. I realize that had I asked for maybe 3 sets of 2 or a set of 2 and a set of 4, I could have been closer, but since it was only me and 5-7 others buying at the front of each line, I didn't think it was an issue.
At this time Propaganda was only about 1 year old. I was not a subscriber yet, but I can't picture that Prop would have had anywhere enough demand at the time to hold out the first 25 rows, which are very wide in a stadium.
The day before the concert, a guy I worked with and went to school with, told me he had just got front row tickets, that his mother had got them for him. Of course I felt a bit ripped off, knowing those should be mine. The funny thing is he also played guitar and had a band. At the time U2 was known to pull a fan onstage to play People get ready or Knockin' On Heaven's Door. He told me he had practiced both songs and because he was front row, center section, he was going to try to get Bono to pick him and also, that he was going to bring a demo tape with him, just in case. To my amazement, at the show the next day, Bono did indeed bring him onstage to play the song, which when it ended, this guy did give Bono the demo tape. Anyone who was there that night or has heard a bootleg of that show (11/17/87) will remember Bono said something to the effect of "only in L.A., this guy's just given me his demo tape."
scalpers for the seats that we want. This corruption has been going on for years and I don't see any end to it.
