Anyone else surprised by the amount of tickets needing new owners?

[U2zoobaby]

In listing my extra tickets for Boston 1 & 2 in several locations, I am amazed to see the amount of tickets out there still trying to be sold. The market seems inundated with them. Am I crazy or do I foresee several empty seats at these shows? (Of course not drastic enough to be noticable probably, but still... the demand is nothing like when they toured the smaller arenas!)

 

[Rob33]

well we're talking about arenas vs. stadiums...I think the demand is actually greater this time than say, Vertigo Tour, but it just doesn't seem like it because U2 are filling 60,000+ this time vs. 20-25,000

 

[U2zoobaby]

well we're talking about arenas vs. stadiums...I think the demand is actually greater this time than say, Vertigo Tour, but it just doesn't seem like it because U2 are filling 60,000+ this time vs. 20-25,000

Well, that is true, that the demand is much more than an arena tour, since they are technically filling double the seating. What I meant is it seems that stadium touring is slightly overshooting the actual demand...there are tons of available tickets listed. Of course, who knows if they are legitimate in some cases. I dont know, next time around, Im going to be alot more careful about being stuck with extras on a stadium tour.

 

[Birdlover]

Six months

It's been about six months since the tickets first went on sale. We've got a volatile economy, with many people in worse financial shape than they were. I think that goes a long way to explain the large number of tickets available. Folks expected things to get better faster, or they didn't expect to need the cash that badly. A lot changes in life in seven months.

The other thing to consider is that 'face value' tickets are selling very well, it's the ones people try to scalp that fill the online stores. I sold a FV GA in moments.

I just checked and there are no tickets available at Soldier Field for the first night, despite a recent ticket drop. It will be interesting to see what RedZone brings.

Birdlover

 

[U2zoobaby]

Please dont take the observation I made as some negative commentary on the band. Its not. I know tons of people love 'em, (including me).

I agree, there are many factors impacting this tours ticket resells. GA's always go easier than seated tickets. Im certainly selling my seated tickets at FV & have decided to even eat some of the fees. In my personal experience, it just seems more challenging this time around. During the other tours, my extras flew out of my hands by way of both fan sites and ebay. For this tour, Ive already posted 2x on ebay at face value with no takers-not even watchers. Though perhaps ebay has also changed over the past few years. My only point I suppose is that I personally have noticed a difference. Or I just have been really lucky previously.

 

[Birdlover]

I don't know

It seems to me that ebay might be the wrong place to try and sell FV tickets. I found my buyer through the forums. If I were to be looking for tickets, that's where I'd look, too. It might take a bit longer, but I'd prefer to sort of 'know' the seller rather than go the ebay route.

Just my opinion.
Good luck on selling them.

Birdlover

 

[U2zoobaby]

Thanks! Im not keen on ebay either;definitely not my first choice. Hopefully someone locally will show up in the meantime. Ive got friends spreading the word as well.

 

[BVS]

I think in this economy people are waiting till the last minute, it's a whole new environment of ticket buying these days...

 

[vjacqb]

Stadium capacity is obviously much higher than arena. This also means there are PLENTY of crappy seats in a stadium tour. For the price they're selling these tickets for, I can understand why there will be empty seats.

I still don't understand their decision to sell the Cat 1 seats at $250 and above. In a stadium, these seats are further away from the stage than the Cat 1 seats in the arena. I think in the last tour I paid $160 for first row seat. Vertigo's Cat 2 seats sold for $95 as well. Have you seen the seat locations charged for $250 and $95?? Most of them suck! Especially in popular venues like NJ and Chicago. And then even if you paid $250 for a seat, there's a possibility that your view is obstructed by one of the claws. I paid top seat in Dublin, and had the bad luck of having one of these seats. I couldn't see Larry at all during the entire concert. And The Edge spent most of his time behind the claw too.

That's why I like the arena shows 1000x more...

 

[beegee]

I listed a pair of Phoenix GAs on ebay twice before I was actually able to sell them.

They sold for less than what I originally paid for them on ebay myself.

 

[ntalwar]

Boston 2 has nosebleeds for as little as $14 on stubhub. The price varies drastically by city and date. A lot of these sellers are professional scalpers. I think the tickets will be sold eventually (at reduced prices), unless there are still lots of tickets available on TM.

I still don't understand their decision to sell the Cat 1 seats at $250 and above.

That's fairly standard in stadium shows for big acts. A lot of those $250 seats remain unsold in the smaller cities, so they probably overestimated the demand for them.

 

[Pero]

in croatia the situation was that lots of people bought tickets and then tried to sell them at much higher price,so that may be the case also

 

[vjacqb]

That's fairly standard in stadium shows for big acts. A lot of those $250 seats remain unsold in the smaller cities, so they probably overestimated the demand for them.

Really??? Man, that's highway robbery...

The price varies drastically by city and date.

I know you're referring to the "market" price at stubhub for that comment. But what I also noticed is that for popular venues, more sections are being sold by TM at the highest price ($250 range) rather than $95. For example, seats in sections close to the middle line of the Giants stadium (what's this called in football? the 50-yard line?) are $250. In Raleigh, these are $95.

I don't know where they put the $95 people in the Giants stadium... the other end zone?

I think demand will pick up again once TM releases those brokers tickets back to the public.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

In listing my extra tickets for Boston 1 & 2 in several locations, I am amazed to see the amount of tickets out there still trying to be sold. The market seems inundated with them. Am I crazy or do I foresee several empty seats at these shows? (Of course not drastic enough to be noticable probably, but still... the demand is nothing like when they toured the smaller arenas!)

Boston 1 soldout with 72,000 tickets.
If Boston 2 sellsout thats another 72,000 tickets.
Total: 144,000 tickets.

This is definitely the upper limit for a market the size of Boston, even for a band like U2. On Vertigo, you had 112,000 tickets sold over 7 shows, with a lot of people going multiple times. Plus, shows were spread out over a year. Here, you have just two shows, back to back, and a lot more people with a much smaller number of repeaters because of multiple shows.

Every show always has tickets that need to be resold because someone discovers they can't go to the show at the last minute. The more people involved in going to the show to begin with, the larger the number of people there will be needing to resell tickets.

Finally, since the 2nd show is not soldout, people who still want to go to the show but have yet to buy a ticket do not need to resort to ticket scalpers or ticket resellers.

 

[vjacqb]

Finally, since the 2nd show is not soldout, people who still want to go to the show but have yet to buy a ticket do not need to resort to ticket scalpers or ticket resellers.

Amen.

 

[RedRocksU2]

A lot of these sellers are professional scalpers.

I would agree with this.

 

[Maoilbheannacht]

Well, that is true, that the demand is much more than an arena tour, since they are technically filling double the seating. What I meant is it seems that stadium touring is slightly overshooting the actual demand...there are tons of available tickets listed. Of course, who knows if they are legitimate in some cases. I dont know, next time around, Im going to be alot more careful about being stuck with extras on a stadium tour.

The capacity of the arena's in Boston on the Vertigo Tour was 16,000 to 17,000. The capacity for each stadium show is 72,000. So were not talking filling double the seating, were talking 4 times the seating in the arena on the Vertigo Tour.

Also remember, for the band, DEMAND equals what has actually been sold from the Boxoffice, NOT what has been resold on some website, by and individual, or reseller etc.

When the band does well, as in they completely meet the demand in the market, it should be very difficult for someone like you to resell your ticket. U2 don't make any money when you resell your ticket. They only make money from the boxoffice purchase. Ideally, if the 2nd show does sell out, it won't sellout until the day of the show. This will insure that most potential buyers still out there go to the boxoffice for their tickets rather than a reseller.

Unfortunately, this will make it much more difficult for you to resell your ticket, but it will be good for U2.

The ideal market for people to resell their tickets in, is when U2 are underplaying the market, and there are thousands of people other there who can't get tickets because the shows are soldout. Then people have it easier in reselling their tickets if they want, or scalping them for money.

Thats not an ideal situation for U2, because they miss making money from thousands of potential customers, while other people get the opportunity to make money off of the tickets with none of it going to U2.

 

[ramblin rose]

The capacity of the arena's in Boston on the Vertigo Tour was 16,000 to 17,000. The capacity for each stadium show is 72,000. So were not talking filling double the seating, were talking 4 times the seating in the arena on the Vertigo Tour.

I guess depends how you look at it, they played 7 shows in Boston during Vertigo so that's a capacity of about 119,000 vs. 144,000 for U2 360 so looking at it that way it's not even double but only about 1/5th more capacity than Vertigo.

 

[ntalwar]

Every show always has tickets that need to be resold because someone discovers they can't go to the show at the last minute. The more people involved in going to the show to begin with, the larger the number of people there will be needing to resell tickets.

Finally, since the 2nd show is not soldout, people who still want to go to the show but have yet to buy a ticket do not need to resort to ticket scalpers or ticket resellers.

Boston 2 has 5400+ tickets for sale on stubhub alone - a much higher proportion than other big cities. Many are below face value, so those buyers would be better off using a reseller.

 

[mcaito]

I just unloaded a couple of Chicago I tickets. There's no buzz for this tour outside the world of U2 fandom. I mean the new album has no appeal to anyone NOT already a fan, there's no radio interest (like there has usually been for U2), the economy doesn't help; I think that with the exception of the new fans that got on board for HTDAAB and ATYCLB, this will generate about the same amount of excitement (and attendance) as Popmart did in the U.S. Large stage or not. The band has chosen to do a massive tour on a weak album. Shoulda stuck with arenas. They need to shift gears and either start making the kind of albums they're capable of, or just start doing jukebox tours... like the Stones.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I just unloaded a couple of Chicago I tickets. There's no buzz for this tour outside the world of U2 fandom. I mean the new album has no appeal to anyone NOT already a fan, there's no radio interest (like there has usually been for U2), the economy doesn't help; I think that with the exception of the new fans that got on board for HTDAAB and ATYCLB, this will generate about the same amount of excitement (and attendance) as Popmart did in the U.S. Large stage or not. The band has chosen to do a massive tour on a weak album. Shoulda stuck with arenas. They need to shift gears and either start making the kind of albums they're capable of, or just start doing jukebox tours... like the Stones.

So you basically used your 4th post in 4 years to say how much you dont like the album, and how much you dont think there is a buzz about U2? well i can tell you when the tour finally arrived here in the UK, there was a huge buzz, radio stations dedicating 5 hours of none stop broadcast to the band and the sheffield show, the album rebounded right back into the top 20, and i predict the same will happen with the tour in the US, also whats wrong with the only people liking the album or going the shows are U2 fans? that was a strange comment IMO

 

[trinx]

Back in Zagreb, the stadium was half-empty when Snow Patrol and The Hours were playing and I was a bit scared that it won't be full. I was thinking - if the stadium wasn't full, I'd be sad. Then, if I'm sad, many other similar (too emotional ) people will be a bit sad because there's not a lot of us. And then the band will be a bit sad. That was my logic. It was full half an hour later, we always wait for the last minute call.

Scalpers were selling tickets half their price in the end... I bought $200 tickets and a colleague of mine bought one of those for $50 (!) 10 minutes before the concert and he had other plans for the evening.

It's all about economy, other plans, scalpers etc.

 

[mcaito]

So you basically used your 4th post in 4 years to say how much you dont like the album, and how much you dont think there is a buzz about U2?

Yeah, I guess so... 4 posts in 4 years. Is there a minimum number of posts around here to be taken seriously as a U2 fan? What's the minimum number, like 4,000 or something?

When Kings of Leon and The Fray are kicking U2's butt on charts worldwide, yeah, there's a problem.

Not that charts are the measure of greatness, but we're not talking about greatness here, we're talking about ticket sales. And a 5-hour mini marathon promotion of U2 music by the local radio stations may spike record/ticket sales temporarily, but their long-term mass appeal, and relevance is fading (have you actually listened to "Get On Your Boots?"). It ain't 1987 any more (or 1992), but that's just my opinion.

 

[XBL_AchtungBaby]

I agree, no buzz about U2 anywhere. The only mention of U2 in the New York area recently was simply because of the concert date change, etc. I never hear any of the new stuff on the radio...

Now Kings Of Leon on the other hand... They're are all over the place, even Top-40 radio is playing them now... They are not selling out stadiums, but they sell out arenas (in the NY area at least) now....

 

[lauramullen]

I have been looking for a Vegas GA for a few weeks and no one has one to sell. Why is that

 

[Pamelakellett]

I would love to go to any USA show but its the price of plane tickets thats putting me off - I`m not paying £500 plus for tickets as I`ll still have at least 2 nights in a hotel to pay for

Roll on next summer and more UK shows...........

 

[lauramullen]

I agree, no buzz about U2 anywhere. The only mention of U2 in the New York area recently was simply because of the concert date change, etc. I never hear any of the new stuff on the radio...

Now Kings Of Leon on the other hand... They're are all over the place, even Top-40 radio is playing them now... They are not selling out stadiums, but they sell out arenas (in the NY area at least) now....

They play a lot of U2 on WMMR in Philly. They were one of the first four radio stations to ever play U2, but there is no Philly show. I have seen the Crazy Tonight video on VH1 a few times

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I have been looking for a Vegas GA for a few weeks and no one has one to sell. Why is that

Because there is no "buzz" about U2 these days? or so some people on this site claim, plenty of buzz at the show i went to, and pretty much during the whole of the UK tour here in the UK.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

I agree, no buzz about U2 anywhere. The only mention of U2 in the New York area recently was simply because of the concert date change, etc. I never hear any of the new stuff on the radio...

Now Kings Of Leon on the other hand... They're are all over the place, even Top-40 radio is playing them now... They are not selling out stadiums, but they sell out arenas (in the NY area at least) now....

Well its not really hard for the latest "big band" to be popular on radio is it? lets see if they maintain it into their next album, i mean their attitude is already crap and pretty much slagged off the reading and leeds festival "dont you know we are the kings of leon",

 

[U2zoobaby]

Yeah, I guess so... 4 posts in 4 years.

.

Well, you just hit 5 posts!!!

Sorry I couldnt resist!