I have not posted that many posts in this forum, but have been over the years enjoying the company and good-company of the U2 fan community.
Thinking about the latest tour ticket problems, there are some aspects of it, which made me think about who is to blame for the problems.
Many people are complaining about the prices being too high. Well, there is this whole supply and demand argument, which is true. On the other hand, price is a way to make sure that only people who really want to go to the show get to go. Here is my experience:
My first of two (only….) U2 gig was Popmart in 1997 in London. I saw the add for the concert, and thought, that would be a good one to go to – I liked U2, but was at that time not mad about them, and went partially as I always wanted to see a large event in Wembley (and am not that keen on Football). I then paid around £35, three months before the concert from a normal call in ticket office and went to see the show – great ticket up on edges side, with the video wall visible, but not 100%. Still the band was visible and pretty close, actually. This concert was so good, that it changed my view on U2 and from that Saturday evening onwards, I knew that from that point onwards, I had to go again to see them play live. 2001 arrived, and there was the Elevation tour. I was registered with U2.com, and went to the presale, and clicked and clicked and clicked – finally, I got tickets, but only knew that for sure after the general sale, where I tried again, and some weeks later, I got several sets of envelopes with 2 tickets to various shows from the presale – my clicks had worked. Being a genuine fan, I did not give into the temptation to sell the tickets in ebay, I gave two at face value to a friend, kept another two and sold the other two to a fan (but asked for a bootleg, to start off my collection) – and all was fine.
The gig was great. A friend of mine flew over to Germany where I was living at the time, and this was wonderful. Tickets were on Adams side, no GA’s (I don’t like to be in the middle of many people!!!), great, great, great concert. I told many friends about it, and some thought, next time they tour, sure, they want to come along. I thought about doing more than one show, and looked forward to the next Album, tour and all that.
2004 came, tour rumours, and the fan club. Now, I thought about joining. It takes money to create a content rich Website for fans, such as U2.com, and I can fully understand that this cost has got to be covered by someone. The best thing, though, to draw people into a sub for a U2 site is guaranteed tickets. So I can understand the rationale behind it. Then I thought, that if a large group of us is going, we can share the cost of one membership. However, when we discussed the prices, my friends kind of said – well, yes they are ok, but I am not that mad on them. Now, we don’t want to spend more than £40 on a ticket, and that’s already more than we would spend. I thought, that’s fine, and this is another way of making sure only genuine fans come and see their favourite band. I did not join, but was at the PC bright and early for the general sale – and hurrah – we got reserved tickets for Cardiff - opposite of the stage, though, I would have preferred on the Edge’s side again. We made it inl though, are thrilled and as my diary combined with current bank balance does not allow that many show, we are just pleased to make one show. My good friend who was mad enough to fly out to Germany from the UK before is joining again– two huge, but now grown up U2 fans. And the wait for it and build up is great – we just feel very very lucky.
What is the difference between 1997, 2001 and 2005? Ebay is around, people know that they can make a fortune of selling tickets there, GA got more attractive after the Elevation stage, - - - and also U2 shows are legendary and the band delivered, other than the underrated Pop, two widely acclaimed and hyper selling Albums.
The people to blame for the unhappiness of so many fans worldwide, really, are the scalpers and touts who screw us fans (I would have been on ebay if I did not get tickets), and I think we should try to give them a bloody nose this time round. How about each of us mailing the telephone numbers of people offering more than one set of tickets to PM? How would a scalper feel about getting a call from PM? Unfortunately, what we have experience over the last weeks is just one of the sad downsides of out networked economy and of U2 providing continuous great shows which sell out in minutes. We have to fight back and I think its great that U2.com is trying to fight back. We should come up with our own plan as well and use the same mechanism for this. Any ideas?
Sorry this was a bit long.