scalpers getting all the good tickets

[U2Kitten]

This is something I want to bring up before the dates are even announced, before any tickets go on sale. Now that all U2 fans know how cool GA was, if they do GA (PLEASE DO!) those tickets will be in high demand. If they don't, the front row tickets will be. What I fear is that all the best tickets will fall into the hands of scalpers before any of us true fans have a chance to get them and I am hoping some measures can be taken to prevent this. It was very strange that I could not score GA tickets getting online the second they went on sale, with 2 other people calling on the phone and another friend on her computer all at the same time, yet the online brokers (aka semi legal scalpers) had a whole shitload the next day! (some sites even advertised them before the sale even started so they must have been sure of themselves!)

I don't think that it's just that they are lucky enough to get there first. I honestly believe there is racket that may involve some ticketmaster employees. I don't want to accuse anyone in particular and don't know for sure but it sure looks suspicious. One of our members here (and she's back so if she sees herself in this I hope she will post) was second in line for tickets for the final leg of a Texas show and did not get GA! She did say she saw an employee hand a man an entire bag of tickets and say 'here you go, Steve' and the guy left! Sorry but that appears to me like they somehow got most of the GAs as soon as they went on sale (or before if they have access) and sold them, at probably a profit, to the scalpers and/or online brokers. This left ordinary fans, like me, having to pay $145 online for a ticket that should have only cost $45, and that U2 only got the profit off of $45 worth. How wrong is that? Is it okay for these scalpers to make a killing off of bands and their fans? Can anything be done to prevent this?

 

[youtwohearts]

I so agree. We were with people who were first on line and the show had 2 tier left and up, 2rd tier? Give me a break. They waited until the next show went on sale.
I can't stand that the true fans don't get a chance for good seats. I spent over $200 on some of my tickets and the seats I got from Propaganda were the best, easiest and cheapest. That is why I am so big on finding out if they will be doing the fan club ticket sales. That was the best way to get seats. I am only 5'2" I can't do GA, although I would like to, because I've done it and saw nothing. I need to be in 1st tier but I have had to go to scalpers because the tickets are always sold out. When I do tickets for U2, One4U2 and i go together, we leave my husband at home on the computer and we all have the phone and nothing works.
Please I wish some one any one would do something.

 

[U2Kitten]

Thanks, I'm hoping by a lot of us telling our stories it will draw attention to this problem and hopefully stop it before it happens again

 

[youtwohearts]

Well I agree so I am responding again to put it on the front page.

 

[Theedge555]

I am a frequent lurker / poster on the Springsteen boards. What often happened with Springsteen on the Rising tour was "ticket drops" as the concert approached. If you got shut out on the on-sale date or didn't get the tickets you wanted, as the concert approached, tickets would be released. Somebody on the boards would post that "tickets are a dropping, go now" and sure enough when you pulled up Ticketbastard, tickets were there.


It's a good idea and it really keeps the scalpers out of the mix. You have to be persistent in checking, as it occured at all times of the day. People say it's Jon Landeau (Bruce's manager) that does this, but I don't know for sure. I would hope if that's true, the manager controlling tickets, that Paul do the same thing.

Here's to hoping for Prop tickets again this tour!

 

[youtwohearts]

I've done that for U2 concerts calling the day of and seeing if anything was released. I never had luck on a U2 tour but I did on a Depeche Mode tour.

 

[one4u2]

Ticketbastard sucks!! I've slept out, been first in line, etc.. The bottom line is with ticketmaster there really is nothing you can do In reality you have every ticket outlet pulling tickets at the same time so there is no control! When I was in high school, I worked at a ticketmaster owned by someone I knew and even then I didn't get the best seats for anything let alone U2. Front row and Vip come from contests or who you know. Unfortunately that's the bottom line and it sucks because I am a HUGE fan and I'd give a kidney for killer seats!

 

[youtwohearts]

Well said. I just wish we had I don't know two tickets from Ireland Alliance.

However if they do something like Propaganda they had great tickets. I had side stage no one in front of us and we ended up in first row of first tier. I have a picture of U2 going on stage and you could see Bono ear plugs he was so close.

 

[Axver]

Reading threads like this makes me feel sick. How are THE DEDICATED FANS meant to get tickets when some pricks who probably don't even like the band are running rackets? I'm feeling so pessimistic about the tour right now. It's probably not as hard to get tickets here in Australia than it would be in the US, but I was - and still am - planning to go to a few shows at the beginning of the first leg with a couple of my dearest friends in America. I'm really looking forward to that, but considering the state of the ticket industry, I don't know if that dream will become reality ...

 

[u2valleygirl]

Reading threads like this makes me feel sick. How are THE DEDICATED FANS meant to get tickets when some pricks who probably don't even like the band are running rackets? I'm feeling so pessimistic about the tour right now. It's probably not as hard to get tickets here in Australia than it would be in the US, but I was - and still am - planning to go to a few shows at the beginning of the first leg with a couple of my dearest friends in America. I'm really looking forward to that, but considering the state of the ticket industry, I don't know if that dream will become reality ...

I could not agree more! I think TIcketbastaed is an unjust monopoly! Does anyone have any friends who are brokers? How do they get their tickets. Even fans who sleep in the strets for two days can get tickets through Ticketbastard!

Are these brokers doing things that are illegal? If so why don't we know about it?

 

[Axver]

Seems that with Ticketbastard, it doesn't matter what the law is or what band is playing, it's just who you know. I'm starting to think we should run our own counter-racket to give ACTUAL FANS tickets. I wonder how U2 feel performing to an audience that's had to go through hell to get tickets ...

I do have one question, and it's probably a long shot but I'm going to ask it - if you have a disability, can you get special tickets or anything of the sort? My problem is my vision - what a normal person can see from six metres away, I can only see from one (I think in Imperial measurement, what a normal person can see from twenty feet, I can see from three). So it's really critical that I'm close, otherwise I'm not going to see a thing. If I could only get nosebleed seats, it would probably be a better idea to simply stay home and wait for the bootleg to come out. So ... I don't know what to do.

 

[youtwohearts]

Seems that with Ticketbastard, it doesn't matter what the law is or what band is playing, it's just who you know. I'm starting to think we should run our own counter-racket to give ACTUAL FANS tickets. I wonder how U2 feel performing to an audience that's had to go through hell to get tickets ...

I do have one question, and it's probably a long shot but I'm going to ask it - if you have a disability, can you get special tickets or anything of the sort? My problem is my vision - what a normal person can see from six metres away, I can only see from one (I think in Imperial measurement, what a normal person can see from twenty feet, I can see from three). So it's really critical that I'm close, otherwise I'm not going to see a thing. If I could only get nosebleed seats, it would probably be a better idea to simply stay home and wait for the bootleg to come out. So ... I don't know what to do.

Truthfully I think if you have tickets and contact the arena where the show is they will move you. I had to do it for a Mets game I had tickets but my seats were to high up to walk and they moved us to a spot that was easier on me. Call the arena themselves to ask before tickets go on sale just a general question and you will probably get your answer.

 

[Axver]

Truthfully I think if you have tickets and contact the arena where the show is they will move you. I had to do it for a Mets game I had tickets but my seats were to high up to walk and they moved us to a spot that was easier on me. Call the arena themselves to ask before tickets go on sale just a general question and you will probably get your answer.

Ah, I wasn't aware they could do that. I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks for the information!

 

[u2valleygirl]

Good luck Axver!

 

[Axver]

Thank you!

 

[EvolutionMonkey]

I too want to know what kind of scam TicketMaster and Ticket Brokers are pulling on us. I was online the second the pre-sale last time happened and so was my friend and we couldn't even get a single GA ticket and got stuck up in the 2nd level. What's up with that ??? Yet all the brokers have all the juicy tickets, so how do they get them ? Why can't U2's Managagement (Paul McGuiness) do something about this ?

 

[Hewson]

I am only 5'2" I can't do GA,

If they do something like Elevation's heart you should be Ok, assuming you have the time to stand in line and get inside.
My wife is actually shorter than you, so she wanted no part of GA even when I explained the set up to her. So when the Boston shows came around, I took my brother inside the heart and took her to the 4th night in the lower level. When she saw the set up, she changed her mind. When they returned in the fall, she accompanied me inside the heart for the 1st Providence show. We grabbed a spot along the side of the runway on Adam's side, maybe half way back, where the crowd was thinned out a bit. She could see the stage fine and of course it was bonus time every time Bono patrolled the runway on our side including laying down right in front of us during UTEOTW. So aside from frigid conditions waiting in the GA line in October, she really enjoyed the GA experience.

 

[Hewson]

As for the original topic, most ticket brokers don't actually do anything underhanded and illegal to obtain their tickets. They simply have greater resources than you and I, including a bank of computers with top of the line internet access, a crew of people willing to stand at box office lines (I've seen this in action, back in the pre-internet days, I used to see a guy bus in homeless people and pay them $20 to stand in line for tix).
Its unfortunate, but when demand is high (as it will be for U2), the brokers buy in bulk, and now thanks to ebay and such, amateur profiteer's attempt to make money off high profile events as well. So the pool of available tickets shrinks, the only way it'll ever stop is if demand drops, like people don't buy from scalpers/brokers/ebay, which we know won't happen, because everyuone who gripes about them will use them if they don;'t get the tix they want. Kind of a catch 22.

 

[Edgey]

Scalpers are still using homeless people to wait in line for tickets. When I went to camp out to get one of 100 bracelets giving me one of the first 100 spots in line in Providence at the Dunkin Donuts Center, there were already 18 homeless people sleeping there. Fortunately, somebody in charge was well aware of this. On the day of ticket sales they drew a number to determine who of the 100 people would be first in line. They drew # 19, making the homeless people the last of the 100. I don't think it was coincidence. They of course were still ahead of thousands of other people waiting in line. I saw them handing their tickets over to one man who had a nice fat stack of tickets in the end. I certainly hold no malice against the homeless folks who were just trying to make a buck. It's just a dirty business and you have to hope that persistance and a little luck will land you the tickets you want.

By the way, I had a lot of luck that day. Only the first 4 people in line, including my friend and myself, got GA tix. They were unavailable less than a minute after going on sale. We truly lucked out regardless of all the forces working against us.

 

[U2Kitten]

As for the original topic, most ticket brokers don't actually do anything underhanded and illegal to obtain their tickets.

Then how do you explain the second person in line not getting GA, and the employee handing the guy the bag of tickets? I honestly believe that by the second US leg of the Elevation tour there was a crooked scam going on with Ticketbastard and the brokers.

They simply have greater resources than you and I, including a bank of computers with top of the line internet access, a crew of people willing to stand at box office lines (I've seen this in action, back in the pre-internet days, I used to see a guy bus in homeless people and pay them $20 to stand in line for tix).
Its unfortunate, but when demand is high (as it will be for U2),

Oh yes, that happens, it even happened with Beanie Babies in their heyday. But it has to be more than that when the above mentioned incident occurs, and I couldn't score despite having several people online and on the phone at the same time. If I have 5 people trying and once and get nothing, how come each one of theirs score? Something is not right. But even if it wasn't crooked and under the table, it's still wrong. They're taking advantage of fans and bands!

I hope all this will be looked out for before the next tickets go on sale, please, Paul McGuiness?

 

[u2valleygirl]

Even if they do get the poor homeless people to line up on the streets, is'nt their a six ticket limit? How many homeless pp.do they use 1000?'s And a lot of places do give out tickets w/a number on it and call numbers to prevent that.

 

[Guinness Stout]

I also tried to get GA tickets and had to pay a scalper for them both in Boston and in Providence- but i think the problem with the GA believe it or not, was propaganda- there are only so many GA seats, and everyone in the heart seemed to have gotten them through propaganda-once they gave out their seats to the members, there were very few actually sold on the release day.