Share Your Presale Problems, Issues, Concerns

[dsmith2904]

The feeling on the web is this U2.com ticket presale has been pretty much akin to a disaster, especially in Europe. What has your experience been? Interference.com is working on stories about getting tickets for U2 concerts and would like to include your experiences. Please post your stories here (nightmares and good experiences equally welcome) and also include permission to quote you. Only user names will be included with the stories. We cannot quote you unless you say it's okay.

Thank you,
Ms. Devlin Smith
Contributing Editor
Interference.com

 

[Chrisedge]

Here is my story.

Trying for "best available" in San Diego,

First time through pulled GREAT SEATS UP (LL12 section) Made it all the way to the end to processing and it died.

Second time:

Bombed again with still decent Lower level bowl seats.

Had a TM manager on the phone for try 3. He gave me at least 15 passwords. Only one of which worked.

It died again.

He gave me Fanfires number to complain.

Fanfire mgr gave me yet another password (This is now about 11:25am PST)

I ended up with FUCKING NOSEBLEEDS FOR $370.05.

I bought them, but feel totally disgusted, and will most likely attend that one show and be done with them for this tour.

FUCK TICKETMASTER

(Added for this thread)

I'm especially pissed since I HAD decent tickets pulled up 3 times (All lower level bowl LL12, LL18 and LL22) the whole indivdual password, and it expiring, killed my chances of quickly trying again.

 

[zoodishbu]

My experience is like many others. I feel that many of us older Propaganda memebers liked the old days of snail mail. You were still a little uncertain exactly which dates you would get, but never the less....you pretty much got what you wanted. They could have done the same thing in an online capacity but not used Ticketmaster for the fan club. They could have done an online ordering system OFF Ticketmaster (Fanfire perhaps) and it would have gone a little smoother. Maybe they will change this for the fall leg of the tour.
I am extremely irritated that I had to fight for GA tickets w/the rest of my U2 family members when ultimately we all wanted the same thing. That is for the loyal to have our GA tickets....the true fans. If a process isn't broke, why fix it? Stick w/what has worked in the past....that way everyone is happy.
My password box would disappear and reappear, error messages, I actually HAD GA tix and lost them as I was completing my transaction. Ticketmaster won't compensate. I took nosebleed tickets just so I could AT LEAST go to the show. Now I will be at the mercy of these twisted, sick "legal" ticket scalpers and the greedy people on Ebay just so I can get the tickets I should have had as a PAID subscriber to U2.com.
I also want to comment on the fact that as a past Propaganda member, getting to enroll for a discounted rate was great when I thought I was getting 12 months. Now I have to renew my membership in June and pay $40 which will bring me up to $60 on a membership. I should have just joined for the $40 in the first place. Hopefully, that situation will be taken care of....my biggest disappointed right now is the presale. What a disaster.
This was the beauty of being a Propaganda member........priority tickets to love and support our boys in U2. The loyal fan base in the front giving them the love. I can't do that in the nosebleed. I will still be a fan but I'm very, very disappointed. I have respected Paul for his business savvy....the man is a genius. But this decision.....not a good one.
(Yes, you may quote anything you want).

 

[bonoed]

From sitting here from 8 am on to see how everybody was doing back East, it didn't bode well for the West, but it turned out to be the biggest boondoggle of a so-called presale I have ever seen. And now up on Ebay, everything we obviously should have been able to buy, but never even had a chance to buy.

All it ever gave me from 10 am on was either "TM does not have this event listed" and some weird pages that looked like U2.com (but I was on TM's site). Or it had a ticketing page, but no box for the "code," you would click it, and then the next page said "you must enter the code." but of course you couldn't, there was no box to enter the code in. Then for a long, long time all it did was give that "internal error" page. At 11:30 am PST, it started giving the ticketing page, you put in your ticket request, and lo and behold (shock) there were no tickets, only that red page saying there were no tickets.

At about 12 noon PST, it finally gave me a ticket offer! How exciting, and I was so thrilled to see it was the absolute back of Staples Center at the absolute top for $171 + fees a ticket. That certainly makes it all worthwhile.

Every other arena the exact same thing, the very back, at the very top, for the very highest price. I'm crazy for U2, but not that crazy.

Thanks U2.con for the biggest ticket fiasco from a fanclub I have ever seen. TM being a monopoly doesn't really have to give a damn, we're nothing to them, but I thought we were something to U2.

 

[SoCalMusicLover]

"I love my spouse, even though they beat on me every week."

I hate to say it, but some of you fans out there are part of the problem. Hearing comments like..."The whole process sucked, but I bought the crappy, nosebleed, $160 tickets anyways." Or, "I bought the crummy seats because I just want to go in the show, and hopefully I'll be able to sell them for what I paid, if I find better seats during the regular sale."

With reactions like these, nothing will get remedied, and U2 will gladly suck our $$ from us. I refuse to just "take" tickets that came up after all the good seats had already been sold. I'd rather wait for the onsale this weekend, and take my chances. If that fails, I'd suck it up and buy something on EBay. But the one thing I won't do, is give U2 the satisfaction, of buying up seats that are not worth the $$ I'm paying for them. When the upper level seats in Anaheim came up for $175, at about 10:30, there was no chance I was biting.

 

[Johnovox]

You may quote anything you want..

Boston - logged on - no problem. Refreshed and immediately accessed the site and requested GA. Sold out at exactly 10:00am. Everyone else I know who tried received the same message and we are all former Propaganda members. Reaccessed the site and received multiple error messages. Despite the fact that few if any GA tickets were offered, ticket brokers are now selling swaths of GA tickets (86 together!!!) all over the internet.

My disappointment is not necessarily with the Ticketmaster system, which had numerous problems, or the fee I paid to U2.com for a paid subscription to access "some of the best seats in the house." No, my real disappointment is the lack of control by the band's management in the process.

As a longtime fan, propaganda offered an exceptional service, albeit by snail mail. The broker/scalpers did not have access to gobs of GA tickets because the band via Propaganda held these tickets out of the system and made sure the fan club members got them first. Now, it seems obvious that the majority of the GA tickets were not available to the fans (thats paying fan club members) but were funneled indirectly to the brokers for resale at five to ten times face value. The vast majority of these tickets are not from U2.com members but are likely the result of behind the scenes deals. I realize that this is not U2's direct doings, but by allowing the tickets to be out of their control, the best seats in the house are not the cheapest, they will be the most expensive.

 

[nathan1977]

When the upper level seats in Anaheim came up for $175, at about 10:30, there was no chance I was biting.

Good thing you didn't, SoCalMusicLover, because chances are good TM would have yanked them out of your hands anyway, as they did with me -- twice -- before invalidating my password altogether, thereby throwing me completely out of the process.

I called Fanfire, who blamed Ticketmaster and said I needed to call them for a new password.

Ticketmaster said their system was down because of the severe traffic (did they not KNOW this is THE BIGGEST TOUR OF THE YEAR?!?!?!?!). They promised to call me back when they reset my password. I'm still waiting.

I have since faxed and emailed a letter of frustration to Principle in NY and Dublin.

But at this point, Ebay may be my only option.

PopMart: 9th row through Prop
Elevation Leg 1: GA through Prop
Elevation Leg 3: GA through Prop
Vertigo: GA through EBay for 5x the worth?

Thanks, U2.com....

And quote away.

 

[colby_giusti]

From what everyone is saying, it sounds like I wasn't the only one who had a very irritating morning trying to get these tickets. I feel that the fans were totally screwed by this presale.

I have been a propaganda subscriber for 15 years, and one of the best things about that was the opportunity to buy tickets. I never had to worry and I felt that U2 treated their fans with gratitude and respect. Maybe they should have kept the floor for only fan club first, then if there were any tickets left open the remaining GA tix to the general public. As it is, I spent over $100 to be at the very back of the arena. I'm sorry, but for as many years as I have been a fan and how much money I have spent supporting U2 by buying their music, merchandise and fan club, I think I deserved better than this. I'm not expecting front row, but at least give me a realistic opportunity to buy good tickets. As a teacher, I basically bought the only tickets I could afford, and they suck.

But, hey, I guess I need to look on the bright side..... at least I'm going....

 

[bosstime]

this morning i had an experience that pushed me to the brink of being a u2 fan. i know in comparrison my tale may not be that bad but it was a huge deal for me.
i've never seen u2 in the 7 years i've loved them, at the last tour i couldn't afford tickets so i was full of so much excitement about tuesday. i'd bought my u2.com membership solely for the purpose of getting these tickets and now that i had my code it was all going to be plain sailing.
so i tried to get tickets for the manchester uk show, firstly i was confused over whether i wanted 'reserved' or 'unreserved'tickets as it didn't explain which was which. with the warnings about codes going missing i wasn't chancing this. so i click on unreserved and go through to ticketmaster it comes up that the browser is waiting in a queue after maybe 5 minutes the browser crashes saying page not found so i try again-still fine. then it happens again and when i went to use it again it tells me my code is invalid so i email the fanfire thing. nothing happened- no response acknowledgement, nothing.
about 10 minutes later and my code magically starts working so i'm like phew... i go through and this time the fucking ticketmaster site tells me that i've not come from the right url and i've got to go through this link- i do and its back to the tour page which when i try to access the site again won't allow me cos my code doesn't work and it hasn't since despite three emails.
so i've wasted almost 2 hours in front of a computer screen when i should've been working for nothing. i don't mind doing that for the tickets but i've got nothing. i've invested money and hope in this u2 package and its got me nothing but stress and has pushed me to a limit of what i can stand of this bands rampant commercialism.
i don't care that the band is a business, and a very successful one at that, indeed i respect the way the organisation is run. however when this affects the service it gives to its customers, who pay good money and invest time in the band it crosses a line. we're meant to be the best fans in the world hey bono? well then show us some respect.
i went to see bruce springsteen 3 times on the rising tour, there wasn't as high a demand for tickets but it was run proffesionally, there was no fan club but the tickets were sold fairly and the system coped with the pressures. when i saw the stones the fan club gave the fans a good service not this shit. it CAN be done.
what infuriates me is that honest fans like us are complaining whilst immediately, before my code even crashed, i saw people putting tickets on ebay that they'd just bought through the system and taking the piss.
its a joke and how can we trust our favourite band when it shows us this loyalty?

 

[rathergoblind]

I held out. I came close to buying nose bleeds for 52.00 at the farthest point. In the end I feel I will take my chances on the regular sale. (I may be foolish in thinking this) I believe that at worst case scenerio I can get the same nose bleed seats at a ticketmaster location.

As an overview I was trying to get tickets for San Diego and had a very poor experience that took away and hour and a half of my life with nothing to show for it.

 

[R8drgurl]

I got online an hour before presale to read how the east coast fans were doing - hearing all their problems, I knew I was in for the same but still hoped for the best.

From 10:00am to 11:12am I got server error message. Then at 11:13am I finally got through and got 1 ticket in Section 101. Whoo Hoo! I was soooo excited! I hit Continue Continue Continue and no problems. Yes! Almost there! Then on the last page, hit Purchase and got error message 'problem processing your request.'

So went back to first page to 'get in line' to get a new ticket and then got error 'Password has already been used to purchase tickets and is no longer valid.' What? Then I thought, OK my order did go through but checked order history and it hadn't. So I emailed TM customer service and called. But no luck.

I have spoken to 4 different TM customer service agents who keep telling me that they will reset my code and/or call me with a new one. All the while the presale allottment for San Jose, CA show is dwindling. Whenever I finally get through to TM customer service - they can't give me a new code and but say that they will call back/or email with a new code. So I keep trying TM website to see if my code has been reset but it hasn't. Then I call TM and get same story....That's been my last 2 1/2 hours and will be my next few hours until I hear the presale is sold out.

I would be happy with a nosebleed seat at this point - I just want to be in the building. I will try on Sunday but imagine TM will be even worse with more people loggin on. It really sucks, though, that I can't get past the point of getting my code reset or a new one - especially when U2.com said that presale is first-come, first-served. We were there first but TM screwed up our codes!

 

[Popmartijn]

Anyone care for a more positive story?

 

[zootelevision]

All I have to say is f-you U2 and Clear Channel! I tried at 10 a.m. to get general admission, and they were ALL gone!!! I'm not paying $100+ for nosebleed seats at the United Center, nor will I pay some asshole on Ebay.

I guess the only good thing is that I got half-screwed, and Only had to pay $20 for my Propaganda subscription.

Oh yeah, F-you to Paul McGuinness as well.

 

[R8drgurl]

oh yea and you can quote away!

 

[Chrisedge]

"I love my spouse, even though they beat on me every week."

I hate to say it, but some of you fans out there are part of the problem. Hearing comments like..."The whole process sucked, but I bought the crappy, nosebleed, $160 tickets anyways." Or, "I bought the crummy seats because I just want to go in the show, and hopefully I'll be able to sell them for what I paid, if I find better seats during the regular sale."

With reactions like these, nothing will get remedied, and U2 will gladly suck our $$ from us. I refuse to just "take" tickets that came up after all the good seats had already been sold. I'd rather wait for the onsale this weekend, and take my chances. If that fails, I'd suck it up and buy something on EBay. But the one thing I won't do, is give U2 the satisfaction, of buying up seats that are not worth the $$ I'm paying for them. When the upper level seats in Anaheim came up for $175, at about 10:30, there was no chance I was biting.

Every seat will get sold, so I can either buy shitty ones today, and try for better ones on Saturday. Or just take my chance on Saturday. Refusing to just "take" tickets that came up after all the good seats had already been sold would do NO good, because like I said, they will all sell anyways, and I want to be guaranteed a spot inside on opening night. I wasn't expecting GA's or anything special, but I HAD tickets pulled up 3 TIMES that were decent and lost them all 3 times, then needing to call TM/Fanfire to get a new password, completely screwed me over.

I feel, I can be pissed that I lost Lower Level Bowl seats 3 times, and because of the "one time use" password + ticketmasters disaster of a website = no chance to simply try again, because my password is no longer valid.

 

[rathergoblind]

I will add that I am sure Ticketmaster and U2 did not intend nor saw any of this coming. altho they probably should have imagined a worse case scenerio. However Bad things will happen that are not expected. What makes an organization between bad and great is how they will handle and fix those situations! All eyes are now on you Ticketmaster and U2.com.

 

[LuminousTimes]

I got an error message for 1 1/2 hours here on the west coast...I would have taken any GA's or decent seats for SD, Anaheim, LA, or San Jose...I would refresh from one location to another....when I finally got through at 11:30am...nothing was left but $163 crappy seats....why pay $350 for 3 level seats?? I would rather pay $500 - $700 on ebay or a ticket broker for decent seats or GA...There is nothing decent left at these venues...and I really never had a chance to even try...i am saddened...but i will get tickets...I will just have to pay a lot for them....I thought having a membership would at least get me 2 decent tickets at face value...boy was i wrong.

 

[U24Ever4Me]

Well, I thought I'd check and see if I could find something in CA, since Seattle's presale is "later" (undetermined). Couldn't get ANYTHING/ANYWHERE... crash, lockup, whatever, I never saw a ticket offer, but you can bet they DID ask for my code, and I am willing to bet that my code is no longer good. Not only did I NOT get anything in California, but I probably just screwed my chances for getting 2 tickets of any kind through the presale in Seattle. From what I am reading, the code will have been invalidated just because "I TRIED TO LOOK".

Now I am reading things about how they only want the younger fans, new fans, "pretty girls" and there is a post on one of the sites regarding the making of the Elevation video that they actually culled the GA line just prior to the show, pulling out the pretty girls, etc. and taking them to the front of the line, so they could get to be in the video. DISGUSTING.

Us "old fans" are no longer what they want. Even Larry made some comment about hoping they got young fans this tour... they've certainly broken my heart with the callous way they've allowed Sebastian Clayton and Co. to manage their website and charging us exhorbitant fees for the privilege. I cannot possibly afford $500 or more to go see them, and in the nosebleed section or behind the stage, where they don't have to look at my "middle age self". Funny, ain't it, they're middle-aged too!

I've loved their music, respected their "integrity", but I think it's a sham now. They've fallen for their own "propaganda" and they have made themselves their own "gods". May God forgive them.

I'm not sure I WANT to ever see them or buy their music again, if they don't make a serious effort to correct this horrible treatment of fans who deserve better! What has happened has been scandalous! What little has come out of "official" response has been inadequate, to put it mildly!

HEY GUYS? DO THE RIGHT THING. DO IT NOW. I am shocked, astonished, and saddened. I truly thought, somehow, that the mess on U2.com would be made right, and all would be well. They'd see to it. How disenchanting to find out that it isn't happening. How sad. How very sad.

How many women are going to want to buy Ali Hewson's new clothing line now? How many fans will want to pay for tickets and new albums? I have to add, I'm disappointed in some of the fans, for taking this sort of treatment, and paying for the "dubious honor", out the nose... for nosebleeds.

ARE YOU LISTENING, BONO, ADAM, LARRY, EDGE? DO YOU TRULY CARE?

 

[azraelsevaen]

This crap from ticketmaster about having too many people online crashing their server? I mean? What the hell? It's a concert ticket site, they should be used to this by now. And anyway, it was a presale, exactly how many U2 fans REALLY bought memberships? I mean, if the universe of U2 fans with paid u2.com memberships crashed the web site, then they certainly wouldn't be in position to accomodate the general public this weekend?!

I hope I'm wrong, but I think we all got screwed by U2.com but hard. They should have allowed any sucker who plunked down $40 in advance -- in addition -- to the exhorbitant ticket price (more on that later) access to ALL the tickets. And if they all got scooped up by true, membership paying fans, so be it.

But not this crap. Now, after trying all morning and, like someone else on here said, competing with fellow die-hards for GA tickets or hell even the premium DECENT seats on the lower level side, I bet you people who didnt pay for the u2.com membership will be able to get unreleased GA and better seats this weekend and many of us who paid for the membership will be stuck with whatever we got.

Which brings me to my ticket. After trying three times and getting bumped every time, including once after I'd entered my credit card number, I ended up opting for the $190 ticket. Now, if this topline price had got me a lowerlevel side by the stage or closer spot, so be it, great, I was willing to pay top shelf, so I should get top shelf.

But nope. This ticket is lowerlevel rear, so basically on the opposite end of the Staples center. now, I had the same seat at the last show of the elevation tour and the ticket was $85. In fact, only the super premium seats on that tour, by the stage, were $135, or the most expensive. But this tour, the band -- and make no mistake, it's the band -- doubled the prices on the vast majority of these average seats. So while they still have GA floor at $45, like last time, and 'only' raised the price of the premium seats from $135 to $187, the NUMBER of seats listed at the topshelf price has, I'd wager, more than doubled from last time.

So, if you didnt get GA, you are probably stuck with nosebleeds for $100 or $50 behind the stage (crap-crap-mega crap), or else, for lower level, even far, far from the stage, at twice as much as last tour.

What gives?

And I bet the band doesnt even do arenas in the third leg, cause they'll have to make up so much of the lost 1st leg dates that it will all be stadiums, which sucks.

So, I guess the vertigo is the feeling left after dealing with the incompetent rip-off artists at ticketmaster and, really, our greedy, beloved band and its machinery.

I cant wait to pay $20 to park too. And $30 for a T-shirt. What a joke.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Ticketmaster said their system was down because of the severe traffic (did they not KNOW this is THE BIGGEST TOUR OF THE YEAR?!?!?!?!).

It worries me that U2.com didn't see this coming... I was amazed that they messed up so many membership payments etc - and then said that they hadn't forseen that much traffic. Well, what do they expect running a website for one of the world's biggest bands is going to ber like - 2 hits a day?! Ridiculous.

They should have been a hell of a lot more prepared. How can a groups official web organisation be so incredulously out of touch wih the fans?

That's my last moan for tonight! I do think it was justified though.

13 hours and still no tickets or code....

 

[MrBill64]

Boston 5/24

Here's my story. Quote me if you want.

I logged into U2.com around 9am est. Went through U2.com to get the ticketmaster page for the 5/24 Boston show. I started refreshing that page every 10 seconds or so starting at 9:55am and at about 9:59am, presto, I had my ordering screen. I selected 2 GA's and pasted my presale code in the box and hit return. Next page I had to copy another tickemaster code and hit return. Within seconds I had a page with 2 GA's and stating I had 2 minutes to decide if I wanted to purchase these tickets. It took all of 2 seconds to decide. Then I was given a choice of printing my tickets for an additional $2.50. I took that choice and 5 minutes later I received an email from Tickmaster with my tickets enclosed as an attachment which I downloaded and printed. By 10:10am est I had both my GA tickets in hand.

I would like throw this in as a suggestion to help eliminate scalpers getting most of the presale tickets. I think that all presale tickets could only be picked up the day of the concert at the will call window of each venue and only after showing the credit card used to purchase such tickets. This would make it very difficult for scalpers to buy up the presale tickets and resell them. Just a thought.

 

[kathode]

I only briefly had a problem. I instructed it to look for "GA" tickets at "$49.50" price for the 5/14 Philly show. It came up empty. I told it just to look for "GA" tickets, any price. Empty again. Now I was sweating because this is very important to me. I had already told a girl I could get these tickets no problem In fact for whatever reason I was under the impression that u2.com members who paid the eye-gouging $40 fee were guaranteed two general admission tickets. Well I went back to the initial screen and told it to look for simply best available, any price. I got the "looking" screen that said "Your wait time is less than one minute." It kept refreshing though, and sometimes it was going up to two minutes. I started up a new browser in a different window and ran through the entire process again, and was told the wait would be 5 minutes. Occasionally it went up to 6. After about three minutes the first window hit paydirt and I was able to acquire my two GA tickets, thank goodness. But I was sweating bullets over it. You can quote me if it helps.

 

[vchavez]

Well I didn't participate today in the presale

I still have my password , instead I'll wait for Sunday or maybe there will be added more dates for sunday.

Cross your fingers!

 

[u2warlp]

ive contacted ticketmaster here in san diego. And the gentleman who i spoke with told me that they're having trouble with the U2 passwords and should be working by this evening around 6:30pm, he also said that around 20% of all the tickets (15,000?) would be sold during the presale. Ive given up hope on going to a show here so im hoping i get anaheim or LA tickets.

Howard Stern rules.

 

[Out of Control]

For the Philly show 5/14 I tried this morning at 10:00am to get on the site and it just kept freezing up over and over again, and I have a broadband connection after a frustrating 30 minutes, I gave up. I tried later and everytime it would just tell me, no tickets available at this time...this was for any price, anywhere option.
I'm pissed off and I feel like I paid $40.00 for absolutely nothing..I will wait until saturday morning and try my luck. I must have lower level seats.

 

[rccj]

well I definitely prefer Propaganda's method of purchasing tickets. I ordered them thru the mail, and I never had to stress over getting tickets. I knew I'd get tickets. Out of the 5 times I used Propaganda only twice did I sit in the stands, and one of those times I was pregnant.

As soon as 10 am hit here, I got the page letting me choose what tickets I wanted, and I entered in my information. The next page would tell me internal server problem. This went on for an hour. I tried changing browsers. Nothing worked.

I have always been slow to criticize U2, always coming to their defense, but today I am so disappointed in them. I go to E-Bay and see someone selling 18 GA tickets for $100 each. It's wrong and not right.

Colleen

 

[MKWU2]

I also had problems with GA tickets for the Boston show. I logged into ticketmaster at 10am and got on right away and ordered..no GA tickets..so much for the "real fans getting the best seats at the cheapest prices" as said in one of the releases by the band. I finally got though at 10:17am for the $165 seats. lets just say im glad u2.com feels that real fans should be sitting in the 19th row in the back corner. I know I shouldn't be complaining since I got tickets but the real issue is feeling like u2.com and u2 themselves don't really care for their true fans.

 

[Teta040]

First, I just want take this opportunity to say:

(And yes, I am "shouting" here..excuse my poor netiquette, but I'm sure many will agree)...

TO THE UNKNOWN NEW YORK CITY DJ WHO ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT PROPAGANDA ON HIS RADIO SHOW ON THE AIR IN THE SPRING OF 2001:


I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL. IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU, WE'D STILL HAVE PROPAGANDA.

THE ONLY WAY THE BAND WAS ABLE TO KEEP THE SNAIL MAIL TICKETING SYSTEM AROUND WAS TO KEEP THE FAN CLUB AN ALMOST SECRET, WHICH THEY SUCCESSFULLY DID FOR 17 YEARS UNTIL THEN. THEY NEVER ADVERTISED OPENLY FOR IT. AS LONG AS THE FAN CLUB ADDED NEW MEMBERS AT A VERY SLOW RATE< IT WAS ABLE TO GUARUNTEE TICKETS TO ALL ITS MEMBERS< EVEN IF THEY HAD TO SHRINK THE NUMBER OF SHOWS AVAILABLE TO EACH FAN.

THERE WERE SOME PROBLEMS OVER THE YEARS, TICKETS THAT SOME GOT ONLY 2 WEEKS BEFORE THE SHOW, ETC, ORDER FORMS LATE, ETC, BUT OVERALL, IT WORKED PRETTY DARN GOOD. THE FANS FELT THAT THEY WERE GENERALLY VERY LUCKY, AND SPECIAL.

AND YOU HAD TO BLOW THE BAND'S COVER, AFTER 17 YEARS, BY MENTIONING IT ON THE AIR, THE FIRST TIME SOMEONE TALKED IN DETAIL ABOUT BAND"S EXCLUSIVE FAN CLUB TICKET ORDERING SYSTEM IN PUBLIC, THUS RESULTING IN AN EXPONENTIAL SURGE OF FANS SIGNING UP, THAT MADE ANY GUARUNTEE OF THERE BEING ENOUGH TICKETS FOR ALL SUBSCRIBERS..WELL, DEAD AND GONE.

THERE WAS NO WAY THE BAND COULD CARRY IT ON AFTER THAT, NOT AFTER THEY"D HAD AS MANY AS TWICE THE NUMBER OF FANS SIGN UP IN 1 YEAR AS DID IN THE PREVIOUS 17.

THIS MAY HAVE HAPPENED EVENTUALLY, BUT MORE LIKE 2 TOURS FROM NOW..._NOT_ NOW.

THE BAND HAVE GIVEN THE OFFICIAL REASON THAT IT"S EASIER TO DO THINGS ONLINE, BUT THEY JAB ALL THEY WANT...DON"T TELL ME THAT POTENTIAL STRAINED RECOURCES DIDN'T FACTOR INTO THE MIX.

AND IT'S _YOUR_ FAULT.

THE PHONES ARE RINGING OFF THE HOOK IN DUBLIN...BUT WILL THE BAND _FINALLY_ NOTICE?

I DON"T LIKE CURSING ANYBODY OUT, BUT...BUDDY....I HOPE YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL DESERTS YOU THIS WHOLE WEEK... AND IN A _BIG_ WAY.



*Ahem*


That said, I am very, VERY glad I decided not to do the presale....it appears that the fiasco was 10 times worse than even I predicted. To all the people on here, I feel your pain. I really do. I especially feel for those Southern and Midwestern fans in the US whose only chance to see the band on the spring leg may have been this presale.

I accepted the fact that Propaganda was dead very early on, as soon as I subscribed, as soon as I got Sebastian Clayton's "24/7 customer service" from FanFire. I belong to a mailing list where a lady who was very familar with past FanFire presales was giving us warnings, and not only was she correct, things happened that boggled even my--and her--prepared minds. TM changing the floor plan AFTER the sale was over? Brokers buying up all the fanclub GA slots?

As Keanu would say: WHOA.

Over the yrs, I have never even dealth with TM over the phone. I don't even trust them there, after numerous horror stories. I have always either camped out, resorted to Propaganda, or both. This time, with my show in Albany possibly being one of the postponed dates, I am left with only NY and possibly Boston. If I only got the MSG show I would be happy, and I don't care if I get a crappy seat. With Prop gone, I consider myself lucky to be there. I spent an horu and a half on the phone last night with my friend in NYC who we had made a joint arrangment about getting MSG tix months before. He has a great track record. He was never in Prop, (I was, so I shared some great Prop stories)and never bought over the phone. We are going for Monday, that was the plan, and if Mondsy doesn;t work, we are prepared for this too. He has gotten tix for not only u2 but other shows for the past 16 yrs, through other means. I called him up in a panic last night and he just laughed. He is supremely confident. I can't understand it! Better not to know exactly what he is doing...good luck I suppose!

Best thing about this guy is: I was going through some financial difficulties and expained to him I couldn't pay for my tickets right away. He is letting me pay him in May.Needless to say, we spent an interesting hour and half on the phone last night!

Last: I want to say: so the phones are ringing off the hook both in Dublin and in TM HQ, are they? GOOD. GOOD. GOOD. I'll bet 2 things: Paul mcG didn't beleive the U2.con article, thinking it just the nasty Dublin press that normally has it out for the band, and 2) that the TM folks aren't used to THIER phones ringing.

They can treat other fans like crap but NOT us U2 fans! WE WILL
let them know that we CANNOT BE FRIGGED AROUND WITH!! I'll bet they're used to operating in a vacuum, and with no feedback. Well, we're showing them feedback!

IN some evil way, much as I love the band, I hope that people decided not to go. Clear Channel and TM have said that they were depending on U2 to rescue the sagging concert biz. If a signifigant part of the fans decide to stay away, perhaps for good, they'll sit up and listen. They may lose business for other shows--after all, we are supposed to be the older fans with more disposable income. And you're not going to be likely to fill those empty seats with teens. They simply won't be able to afford it. And how many will keep the seats they get from brokers, once they realize where they are?

In the past, musing about the likely reaction from '80's fans to the then-shocking changes the band had undergone for ZOOTV, Bono said: "We don't mind losing the pop kids. Others will take thier place," or some such thing.
Well, the "pop kids" have grown up, gotten richer (maybe), and won't settle for peanuts anymore. . They're the ones who have decided that they don't want to pay $60 to sit in the back of the stadium, and it's why U2 play no more stadiums in the U.S. It's likely why the stadium concert in the US is dead, period, for ANY act: as the top sellers in the concert biz, along with Bruce, where U2 lead, people follow. And guess what? The "pop kids" of today don't have $100 to sit in the back row, plus fees. America is today a more have-have not society. They may have had it in 1990, but if they didn't have it then, they darned well won't have it now.

You could replace the "pop kids" then, Bono: but not today. You can't replace the ROCK adults.

I hope PAul McG, Clear Channel and TM are planning not to hide beyond vague statements to the press, and are planning a substantive response. I hope the fans continue to bombard the PM offices with calls. I hope it keeps up all week, and beyond...because we U2 fans are different than all the other sheep out there. You taught us to sit up and take action, U2? Well, we are. And we hope you are just as much victims in a way by this, and as ignorant as we..I for one am giving you the benefit of the doubt right now.

 

[yyoo]

Something seems very fishy to me. I don't understand $160-190 for way-in-the-back third-tier seats, while some seats closer up are cheaper. I wouldn't be surprised if they were gouging fans on this pre-sale. I wonder if the pricing structure will be the same for the regular sale.

Here's what I would ask of U2.com, FanFire and Ticketmaster.

1. For each arena, exactly how many seats were actually allocated for the presale and what was the distribution of the locations of the seats that were allocated.

2. Are the prices structured exactly the same per seat location as they will be structured in the general sale?

3. Just how much did they save on the Ticketmaster fees by agreeing to a 10% allocation?

And, if you really want to piss the off...

4. Who got the kickbacks? And how much?

5. Would they submit to an external audit?

 

[yyoo]

The forums on u2.com are now up. Please go there and vent.