Morgoth321
Acrobat
What's the likelihood of the official site offering priority ticketing allocation for subscribers for the next tour, which will probably be starting in 2009 or so? I know the whole thing was an almighty f**k up last time, but surely they could learn from the experience and be more careful in future? From memory, I think the problem was that U2.com actually stated that subscribers would be GUARANTEED tickets, didn't they? This led to disappointment when it just wasn't possible to satisfy the demand, as well as the attendant technical problems and generally disastrous customer service.
The thing is, virtually every major act operates some sort of advance ticket sale for paying subscribers / fan club members, so I find it hard to imagine that U2 would drop the idea completely. The principle seems to work best though if treated as an OPPORTUNITY to buy tickets before a general sale, rather than a cast-iron promise / guarantee. Checking the U2.com subscription FAQ reveals the following:
"Q) If I renew my U2.Com subscription, will I receive a ticket access code for pre-sale tickets?
A) At present, new subscribers do not receive pre-sale ticket codes."
I think the keywords here are 'at present' - I would hope that when U2 are ready to tour again, there will be a better organised and managed presale system in operation. Inevitably though, the scalpers will still manage to get their hands on the best tickets.
I'll mention two recent experiences I've had with big acts that worked very well for me: Bon Jovi and Robbie Williams. (People in the US and Canada probably won't know who Robbie is, but he's hugely popular in the rest of the world, with his 2006 world tour playing to 3.5 million people in stadiums in Europe, S Africa, S America and Australia. I think he holds a world record for selling 1.7 million tickets on a single day, so rest assured that he's popular.) I'm on Bon Jovi's mailing list - and don't pay a subscription fee for this - and was emailed a password that allowed me to purchase tickets for their Dublin show in May 2006, as part of a Ticketmaster presale. Since it gave me access to a special section of the regular TM site, I was able to select where I wanted my tickets to be, rather than having them allocated randomly.
The Robbie Williams experience was slightly more complicated. I'm a member of his official fan club - the Inner Sanctum - and was given the opportunity to buy tickets in advance of the general sale. This presale wasn't co-ordinated by TM, and so I had the choice of purchasing a range of standing or seated tickets in bands, separated according to price. In terms of the seated options, I didn't know where exactly I would be sitting there and then, although I selected the most expensive option on the basis that they were described as 'Best Front Seats'. It was only when the tickets arrived - about 5 months after I'd reserved them - that I discovered where they were. In truth they were good seats, well sited, but right at the back of a block, so it was a bit disengenuous to describe them as 'Best Front Seats'. However, I still felt justified in taking this approach, as the show - Croke Park, Dublin - sold out in 20 minutes. Based on my own bad experiences trying to buy tickets in the general sale for U2's Croke Park concerts, and drawing a blank, I knew that I'd be likely to be similarly unlucky where Robbie was concerned. It was great to be able to, as it were, 'beat the queue' and take the hassle out of the process.
My point is that U2 are bound to operate some sort of presale system again in future, which will hopefully work out OK if it's clear that the enterprise carries no guarantees of success. I only hope that they don't come up with the sort of increasingly elaborate and costly presale packages offered by the Stones or The Police.
(I don't think this topic has been directly addressed - well, maybe not recently anyway, and I didn't want to scroll through 492 pages of topics in this forum. If this post can be merged anywhere, the moderators should feel free to do so, and I apologise in advance if this is necessary.)
The thing is, virtually every major act operates some sort of advance ticket sale for paying subscribers / fan club members, so I find it hard to imagine that U2 would drop the idea completely. The principle seems to work best though if treated as an OPPORTUNITY to buy tickets before a general sale, rather than a cast-iron promise / guarantee. Checking the U2.com subscription FAQ reveals the following:
"Q) If I renew my U2.Com subscription, will I receive a ticket access code for pre-sale tickets?
A) At present, new subscribers do not receive pre-sale ticket codes."
I think the keywords here are 'at present' - I would hope that when U2 are ready to tour again, there will be a better organised and managed presale system in operation. Inevitably though, the scalpers will still manage to get their hands on the best tickets.
I'll mention two recent experiences I've had with big acts that worked very well for me: Bon Jovi and Robbie Williams. (People in the US and Canada probably won't know who Robbie is, but he's hugely popular in the rest of the world, with his 2006 world tour playing to 3.5 million people in stadiums in Europe, S Africa, S America and Australia. I think he holds a world record for selling 1.7 million tickets on a single day, so rest assured that he's popular.) I'm on Bon Jovi's mailing list - and don't pay a subscription fee for this - and was emailed a password that allowed me to purchase tickets for their Dublin show in May 2006, as part of a Ticketmaster presale. Since it gave me access to a special section of the regular TM site, I was able to select where I wanted my tickets to be, rather than having them allocated randomly.
The Robbie Williams experience was slightly more complicated. I'm a member of his official fan club - the Inner Sanctum - and was given the opportunity to buy tickets in advance of the general sale. This presale wasn't co-ordinated by TM, and so I had the choice of purchasing a range of standing or seated tickets in bands, separated according to price. In terms of the seated options, I didn't know where exactly I would be sitting there and then, although I selected the most expensive option on the basis that they were described as 'Best Front Seats'. It was only when the tickets arrived - about 5 months after I'd reserved them - that I discovered where they were. In truth they were good seats, well sited, but right at the back of a block, so it was a bit disengenuous to describe them as 'Best Front Seats'. However, I still felt justified in taking this approach, as the show - Croke Park, Dublin - sold out in 20 minutes. Based on my own bad experiences trying to buy tickets in the general sale for U2's Croke Park concerts, and drawing a blank, I knew that I'd be likely to be similarly unlucky where Robbie was concerned. It was great to be able to, as it were, 'beat the queue' and take the hassle out of the process.
My point is that U2 are bound to operate some sort of presale system again in future, which will hopefully work out OK if it's clear that the enterprise carries no guarantees of success. I only hope that they don't come up with the sort of increasingly elaborate and costly presale packages offered by the Stones or The Police.
(I don't think this topic has been directly addressed - well, maybe not recently anyway, and I didn't want to scroll through 492 pages of topics in this forum. If this post can be merged anywhere, the moderators should feel free to do so, and I apologise in advance if this is necessary.)
