How are the tickets selling?

[corianderstem]

Okay, I don't feel so crazy now!

 

[rennowba]

https://www.ticketnews.com/2017/11/market-heat-u2-football-112117/

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Okay, I don't feel so crazy now!

 

[Mac_Fly]

The stage itself never flipped. The sections that are behind the stage are always the sections behind the stage, with almost no exceptions. There are technical reasons and crowd flow reasons for this.

If you were aware of this, you didn't have an issue. If you weren't? Yea, I can see how you'd be confused. It was a shitily designed placeholder.

I actually misspoke this entire time, when I said the stage was "flipped" what I meant was that the TM layout was flipped of course. Though all the while it was a sleight-of-hand with the Red Zone placement (which had the same effect for all practical purposes).

But I'm not exactly sure how anyone could know that the Red Zone was inaccurately placed on the first map shown above. Well except for you maybe, as someone who works in arenas, you would know which end is which.

Buy hey, GA cures all. No worries this tour.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I actually misspoke this entire time, when I said the stage was "flipped" what I meant was that the TM layout was flipped of course. Though all the while it was a sleight-of-hand with the Red Zone placement (which had the same effect for all practical purposes).

But I'm not exactly sure how anyone could know that the Red Zone was inaccurately placed on the first map shown above. Well except for you maybe, as someone who works in arenas, you would know which end is which.

Buy hey, GA cures all. No worries this tour.

I mean... Not to hammer this into the ground, but red zone placement has absolutely nothing to do with main stage placement.

Red zone is simply a section of the floor and can be placed anywhere.

But yes... GA is the way to go.

 

[Mac_Fly]

I mean... Not to hammer this into the ground, but red zone placement has absolutely nothing to do with main stage placement.

Red zone is simply a section of the floor and can be placed anywhere.

But yes... GA is the way to go.

Yeah . . the Red Zone can be placed anywhere. I suppose it was my assumption that it was always near the main stage (which it typically is -- yes?)

But without the Red Zone as a marker (looking at the first map), how would someone know which end held the main stage?

Well, I guess one way is to research the arena in question before buying tickets. To know which end is used for concerts.

TM is such a pain in the arse.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Yeah . . the Red Zone can be placed anywhere. I suppose it was my assumption that it was always near the main stage (which it typically is -- yes?)

But without the Red Zone as a marker (looking at the first map), how would someone know which end held the main stage?

Well, I guess one way is to research the arena in question before buying tickets. To know which end is used for concerts.

TM is such a pain in the arse.

You answered it... if ever a doubt in the future, just go to another concert's seating chart at the arena.


Red Zone in 360, the only red zone before i/e, was the outer ramp, not the main stage.

 

[The_acrobat]

Just did a quick check. Seems that Tulsa and St. Louis are selling rather slowly. It's gonna be tough to find that many people to spend that much money on tickets in those cities especially.

San Jose still has a lot available, to the point where I'm not sure if they'll add a 2nd show. It might make more sense to add a show in maybe Portland or SLC between San Jose and Vegas.

LA will eventually get a 2nd show, but I doubt a 3rd one.

Newark will probably get another. I'm sure they want to also add another show in Uniondale, but demand is pretty low, even in the NYC area. They simply are charging too much and the demand is low due to the high level of touring they've done in the past 3 years.

 

[BWU2Buffs]

Just did a quick check. Seems that Tulsa and St. Louis are selling rather slowly. It's gonna be tough to find that many people to spend that much money on tickets in those cities especially.

The JT Tour was canceled in St. Louis due to safety concerns, kinda makes me wonder how well tickets will sell in that market.

Tulsa is indeed soft as well and not a huge metro area comparatively speaking.

Perhaps a bit selfish, but should they cut some prices in these two markets I might have a chance at a last second road trip for this tour.

 

[Alphorn]

I appreciate your insight and well thought-out response.

I'll offer two things and then let my side of this discussion rest.

On the drive home today, I reflected on the Phoenix show and how I got my ticket. It was a fan club presales ticket and I did not actually choose a seat on the lower level down by the b stage, that is simply where my seat was located when I looked it up. I located it repeatedly almost every day as I am obsessed with monitoring ticket sales for whatever reason. So when, a day or two before the event, I found the seat now located by the stage I was obviously surprised.

The Chicago situation pissed me off because I assumed TM did what they did to generate more sales. For that show I sweated repeatedly over which seats I would buy. Then I bought them. Then I (again) visited the site over and over up until the day of the flip.

It would appear problematic that this occurred for the reasons you mentioned. Perhaps there is another explanation available that is not apparent. But I know it was not a case of me simply misreading the map. But think what you like, I will take no offense.

The fact that others report the same thing should cause a doubter to pause I would think and at least consider that something was amiss, at least for some of the shows.

Regardless, I've decided that GA for these arena shows will prevent any similar occurrence (if there truly was one), so I'm going that route moving forward.

Which Chicago shows did you go to? I went two nights in a row and I guarantee you the stage was on the same side each time.

 

[Shawn Bonneau]

The JT Tour was canceled in St. Louis due to safety concerns, kinda makes me wonder how well tickets will sell in that market.



Tulsa is indeed soft as well and not a huge metro area comparatively speaking.



Perhaps a bit selfish, but should they cut some prices in these two markets I might have a chance at a last second road trip for this tour.

I think Tulsa is their rehearsal venue and they are just deciding to open there like Zoo TV in Lakeland

 

[The_acrobat]

Most of the shows do not have the map available to see how tickets are selling. Of the ones that do, I think Tulsa looks on track to slowly fill up over the next few months. St. Louis has a long way to go, but will get there. Nashville is pretty much sold out, which is kind of surprising. Chicago #2 looks pretty bad, though.
They'll have to do some fancy finagling to fill that show! 5 sold out arena shows in 2015, 2 sold out stadiums in 2017, aging fanbase + economic factors, it's no surprise U2 are struggling to sell out 2 shows in Chicago. All shows will be full by show day, but some prices will need to be lowered.

As for the rest of this leg, I think Newark will get a 2nd show to further milk the already tapped out NYC area. I was certain Atlanta would get a 2nd show, given the small size of the venue and the fact that they haven't been there since 2009, and maybe they will. The venue seems to be handling the sales themselves, so they might have a different way of going about it. I don't think Uniondale will get a 2nd show, maybe they'll go to a different city of June 11th between Uniondale and Philadelphia. Hartford perhaps?

At this point, I am not attending any of the 2018 shows. I would have to travel 6 hours to either Chicago or Nashville to make that happen, and May is a very busy time for me, work wise. If I hadn't just seen 2 shows in 2015 and 2 shows in 2017 I might feel differently. But I don't know. My "U2 friends" are all for staying home this tour, and hoping for a 2nd US leg with a date closer to home (we've gone together for Chicago shows in 2005, 09 and 15). I'm going to keep my eye on that 2nd Chicago show, though. My wife is always wanting me to take her to Chicago, and she has at least a passing interest in U2, so maybe I could combine these things. I hate the idea of missing a tour, and I love the new album, but my life doesn't really allow for much traveling for concerts currently, what with the young kids and all. ARGH!!!!

 

[boom boom]

I just looked at the tour page on U2.com and almost had to look a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things because of the 24 shows only one, the first show in Montreal is listed as soldout, so I'm guessing the band probably are wishing tickets would sell better. Usually it is the other way around with just maybe 3 or 4 show not soldout. Hard to imagine that not even as of yet that not one show in New York, Chicago, Boston or LA are a sellout. These used to be gimme sellouts. What was it 9 shows on the I&E tour in 2015 in New York MSG and now struggling to sellout 2 shows?

This may be due to the high price of tickets in combination that a lot of people just seen them this year on the JT tour and not willing to spend again for next year E&I tour.

 

[rennowba]

Most of the maps are up for ticketmaster

Check out San Jose 2 , floors sold out but I reckon only 1/4 of the seats are sold. These dates haven't done well at all.New York 2 plenty left. Opening night massive gaps in each corner.

 

[aviastar]

This may be due to the high price of tickets in combination that a lot of people just seen them this year on the JT tour and not willing to spend again for next year E&I tour.

I was curious if there would be u2 exhaustion in the market.

 

[hibricc]

I was curious if there would be u2 exhaustion in the market.

Maybe not "exhaustion", but certainly a lack of urgency on the part of the casual ticket buyer - who was frustrated by high prices and Verified Fan nonsense. Throw in the third US tour in four years, and there is definitely a lack of enthusiasm.

 

[The_acrobat]

Just looked through all of the maps. The only ones that might truly not fill up by show day are San Jose 2 and St. Louis. Tulsa and Chicago 2 don't look great either, but both will probably be full. The goal is not to sell out shows the first day anymore. The goal now is to milk every last dollar. If it takes 6 months for a show to sell out, so be it. As we get closer to showtime, they will start dropping prices to fill in the missing pieces. They did this at a lot of the JT shows. For a long time, my Indianapolis show looked like it was going to be a dud according to the blue maps. There ended up being 51,000+ in the audience, but they were still selling tickets right up until the band went onstage. That's the way the industry works now.

A fan club membership is virtually pointless now, because no shows sell out quickly anymore. Elevation and Vertigo tours got everybody freaked out because those shows would sell out in a couple hours, if not a couple of minutes.

 

[The_acrobat]

Because of the fact that the JT Tour soaked up a lot of the demand in the US, I assumed the SOE tour wouldn't come here until 2019, and leave 2018 to properly cover Europe, Australia, Asia, etc. But I suppose they wanted to use the US ticket sales to boost US album sales, to get their precious #1. But whatever, all these shows will be sold out or close enough that nobody will notice. I wonder if Atlanta or Newark will get 2nd shows, or if any additional cities will be announced?

Wrestling with the idea of going to that 2nd Chicago show. I'm gonna follow it closely over the next few months, and see if prices are lowered, and see what my life is going to be like in May. It's historically a very busy time for me with work. Also selfishly holding out hope some more US dates are announced.

 

[Hewson]

A fan club membership is virtually pointless now, because no shows sell out quickly anymore. Elevation and Vertigo tours got everybody freaked out because those shows would sell out in a couple hours, if not a couple of minutes.

Well there is still a benefit a fan club membership. Access to GA tix for arena shows.
I know for both Boston shows GA were close to impossible to get in the general sale. Basically only the presales (Fan club & Citi) had them aside from a very few. I got GA for Boston 1 in the experience presale, settled for side stage seats ($106 seats in Loge 20) in the general sale for Boston 2.

And no question the price structure has a lot to do with the amount of unsold tix currently. Its mostly the high priced seats that are unsold. $325 for balconies...I don't care how fabulous the screen looks, folks just won't pay that.

 

[Mac_Fly]

Well there is still a benefit a fan club membership. Access to GA tix for arena shows.

Huge benefit.

Let's face it, with the 2015 tour, then the 2017 tour, this tour just was never going to be a huge seller without a monster album to push things.

Someone mentioned St Louis on this thread. It's actually the perfect barometer for how the general public feel about this tour.

Pay to go see U2 perform the entire JT in a stadium like the good 'ole days? Yes!

Pay to see U2 perform an album that few care about? Meh.

 

[djparky]

I think they've over toured the US over the last few years, and with high ticket prices it's not surprising sales have been a bit slower.

From a fan perspective, I've seen them 18 times in the last 2 years, and the shows were great, but right now I've got limited enthusiasm for either the album or travelling around Europe to see them again next year- just a bit u2-ed out

 

[beershack]

The goal is not to sell out shows the first day anymore. .

The goal is still to sell out the first day despite the spin the LN flunkies are tweeting about "slow selling"

Promoters always want money in the bank asap to sit on it and make interest for 6-10 months.

 

[DeVaul]

Drop the 200 level to $115+ fees and MSG2 would be nearly sold out.

 

[ApolloAndy]

The goal is still to sell out the first day despite the spin the LN flunkies are tweeting about "slow selling"

Promoters always want money in the bank asap to sit on it and make interest for 6-10 months.

Not if doing so requires cutting prices. They'd much rather sell out a super expensive show on the day of than sell out a cheap show the minute it's available. The bank interest is negligible compared to the revenue increase from more expensive tickets.

 

[hibricc]

The goal is still to sell out the first day despite the spin the LN flunkies are tweeting about "slow selling"

Promoters always want money in the bank asap to sit on it and make interest for 6-10 months.

That's old school thinking, before variable pricing became a thing. Back when ticket prices never changed from initial offering, yes, they'd rather sell them out as early as possible to get the money in the bank - and the "sold out" label helped drive demand for additional shows. Now that promoters are adjusting the price of tickets according to demand (as we saw on JT30), they're going to continue to price them high for as long as they can - then reduce them closer to the show. Assuming the "true" value of the ticket is closer to the lower price, the promoter comes out way ahead even if they sell only a fraction of those tickets at the initial inflated price.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

The variable ticket pricing is an attempt to beat the scalpers at their own game. Selling out on day one is no longer as high a priority as it once was. Keeping the profits that were walking out the door via scalpers, on the other hand...

 

[Nick66]

Still haven't bought tickets, and I'm confident that I'll be able to go to any show I wish by buying last minute tickets, like I have for almost every other tour. The last time I actually bought tickets far in advance was for the Elevation tour opening in Miami.

And I'm a little surprised people still think the secondary ticket market is all about scalpers.

 

[CosmoKramer]

And I'm a little surprised people still think the secondary ticket market is all about scalpers.

It is, only the “scalpers” don’t hide in the dark anymore and are now called “Ticketmaster”.

 

[Mac_Fly]

I'm hoping that Duluth sells out soon so that a second show might be added.

For this show I want lower level seats -- ain't gonna pay scalper prices for that show #1.

 

[jphelmet]

I'm hoping that Duluth sells out soon so that a second show might be added.



For this show I want lower level seats -- ain't gonna pay scalper prices for that show #1.

Seems possible. Only singles left in a few sections when I checked yesterday.