Rock concerts

[Nparker]

Originally Posted by gumgum

What were the prices like?

$91.50 & $151.50 (including HST)

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Nparker

$91.50 & $151.50 (including HST)

Plus fees. My tix came to $167 each.

[Nparker]

Originally Posted by VicHockeyFan

Plus fees. My tix came to $167 each.

I'll give you $200 for each

[martini]

$201 each.
I hopelessly tried online too. The phone lines were down too.
2 tix under the tree. Was supposed to be three but my daughter will forgo under the circumstances.

[pikabu]

For our family of 3, we managed to get 1 ticket. The cost was $173, which includes the ticket being sent to us.

Now, which family member is going to get this ticket?

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by pikabu

For our family of 3, we managed to get 1 ticket. The cost was $173, which includes the ticket being sent to us.

Now, which family member is going to get this ticket?

Rock, paper, scissors contest!

I might have had a bit of an advantage in this "contest" as I know how the SYT ticketing system works, because of my work relationship with them. And I certainly knew about the demand for this show.

So I got all 6 of my allowed allotment, but only one pair, the rest singles.

I first dived in (having 10 browser tabs open and all in "queue", which isn't actually a queue* helps) and grabbed one single for Feb 15th (instinct told me most would be going for the 14th, first show and Valentines Day). One single was my best chance of getting closest. Got 5th row floor. Then with one available slot in my shopping cart, I grabbed a pair. 16th row of A2, which is actually about 40th row. That told me things were already getting very full, and I had to check out, pay and go back in (not back in the "queue" - at this point I'm already "in" for as long as I want). At that point, I knew singles would be far and above way closest, so I grabbed two, got the closest sections to the stage, actually very good seats, equivalent to about 20 rows from the stage on the floor. Check out, then back for one last try, and probably was lucky to get a last single, pretty must furthest section from stage, but only 3 rows back.

One of the keys was having those 10 browser tabs open going in, and already having an account set up, with my credit card pre-registered, that saves HUGE time.

* before 10am, the "queue" was simply a mass of all browsers pointing at the site - 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, whatever - and at 10am, they allow 1500 or 2000 in (or whatever number they know their system can handle without problems), completely random. So because I have 10 browser tabs open, I have 10x the chance of getting in as someone that only has only one open.

Ticketing companies have learned what "crashes" their system, it's allowing too many "in" behind that first wall. So now, they could have 100,000 "outside" and still not crash the "inside".

[dirtydeeds]

Best thing is to have a friend with club seats for the Salmon Kings. My buddy got me tix at the prebuy on Wednesday for season ticket holders.

[Lorenzo]

Didn't take long for the scumbags to emerge!

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classifi...H-OBO_13755333

I hope they get stuck with them.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Lorenzo

Didn't take long for the scumbags to emerge!

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classifi...H-OBO_13755333

I hope they get stuck with them.

Why are tickets the only thing in THE WORLD that people think it's shameful to sell for more than you paid for it?

Stocks and Bonds - check
Gold or other metals - check
Real Estate, like your own home - check (unless you are a greedy developer - scumbag!)
Collectibles like antiques or coins - check
Concert tickets - scumbag!

[Lorenzo]

Originally Posted by VicHockeyFan

Why are tickets the only thing in THE WORLD that people think it's shameful to sell for more than you paid for it?

Stocks and Bonds - check
Gold or other metals - check
Real Estate, like your own home - check (unless you are a greedy developer - scumbag!)
Collectibles like antiques or coins - check
Concert tickets - scumbag!

C'mon VHF. Even you must agree that there is a difference between these scalpers and the other categories you mentioned. Especially considering the way the others are bought and sold.

I stand by my comments.

I guess I should have asked first, are these your tickets?

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Lorenzo

C'mon VHF. Even you must agree that there is a difference between these scalpers and the other categories you mentioned. Especially considering the way the others are bought and sold.

I stand by my comments.

I guess I should have asked first, are these your tickets?

I don't agree. It's all supply and demand, and indeed some speculation. I can buy a stock this morning online, sell it this afternoon if I want, that's how these tickets are being bought and sold.

I don't know why EJ did not put the tickets on at an extra $30 each, then HE would make an extra $420,000 (he could give it to charity if that soothes you) and a LOT more people that wanted tickets would have got them. Same with the Canucks when they did their intra-squad game that sold out in 4 minutes, at $10 a ticket. They could have raised an extra $200,000 and given it to Canucks Place (House?) for Children.

I find it very strange. You could say that a concert TICKET is not very tangible like a home or gold, but neither is a stock certificate (and you don't really ever see that, everything is "on paper" or really just an electronic record). I suppose those that trade in stocks and bonds are more sophisticated than those that go on Craigslist just to call the resellers names.

The guys in the TC article today wondering how the resellers had tickets before they went on sale. Duh, all Salmon Kings King Club holders had them in hand Wednesday, and they can commit them to an online reseller weeks ago (after the concert was announced) if they wanted to.

I guess it's the same envy that surrounds anyone that makes money (other than oneself). They are greedy scum, while when you sell your home for $30k more than you bought it for 5 months ago, you are a wise investor.

And of the 12,000 tickets up for grabs here, I'm sure less than 200 or 300 were bought by resellers, not a significant number.

All my tickets are going to friends at face value, but indeed I have made money and lost money reselling, but I don't do it as a practice, but because of my work, it's always good to have extra tickets for when a client needs them.

[Lorenzo]

VHF, I guess what it comes down to is I can't help feeling sorry for the hundreds or thousands of regular / family folk who won't get to see this show because of the actions of others who had no intention of going.

Yep, scumbags!

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Lorenzo

VHF, I guess what it comes down to is I can't help feeling sorry for the hundreds or thousands of regular / family folk who won't get to see this show because of the actions of others who had no intention of going.

Yep, scumbags!

EJ prevented them from being able to go because he priced it too low.

Lots of people wanted to go at $167.
Less people, especially marginal fans, would go at $200, freeing up space for the ones that REALLY wanted to go.

Scalpers hardly prevented thousands from going, the low ticket price EJ set did. But I know this argument is lost on many, but those with a basic understanding of economics would agree with me.

[aastra]

Maybe we should feel sorry that the arena contains 2,000 fewer seats than it should for these sorts of events.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by aastra

Maybe we should feel sorry that the arena contains 2,000 fewer seats than it should for these sorts of events.

Most artists are not stupid. Sorry, I mean the promoters and agents etc. They will use sophisticated software and data to determine ticket prices, and it might be very different by venue. You should try to maximize revenue. There is no difference in cost doing a show in Kamloops, or Kelowna. And you want to get paid the same for each, or I should say you want to optomize your revenue for each.

Take METRIC. They already had a corporate gig to play here, so then they probably scrambled to see if they could get in the arena. Bang, they could, the next night. So they set ticket prices to maximize revenue, and got 4000 in the rink at $30-50 each. They were coming here anyway, so an extra $60k or $120k or whatever their cut is is not bad change, for staying an extra night.

[Lorenzo]

Originally Posted by VicHockeyFan

Scalpers hardly prevented thousands from going.........................

The guy with the tickets at $650.00 each is probably preventing a bunch!

[davek]

Originally Posted by VicHockeyFan

... those with a basic understanding of economics would agree with me.

I certainly do agree, but tickets are a funny thing. Say you couldn't get a ticket because the "scalpers" bought them all up. You look in the paper, see tickets being resold for $400 each, and decide not to buy them. Then, while out for a walk, you come across an envelope with two tickets and no owner anywhere in sight. So, are you going to the show, or are you selling the tickets? Remember, you've already indicated you'd rather have $400 than a ticket.

[Rob Randall]

You think Elton John tickets were tough to get, how about trying your luck with Ticketmaster when Paul McCartney plays London's famed 350 seat 100 Club ($105, incl. fees).

[Phil McAvity]

^Yeah there might be some demand for those tickets as long as he doesn't do any duets with an arctic seal.

I usually agree with VHF but this time I actually agree with Aastra. Had Save-On been built properly in the first place with around 9000 seats instead of a wimpy 7000 many of these problems wouldn't exist because I really don't think $170/ticket is undervaluing an Elton John show. It is easily the most expensive show to hit Victoria since the arena was built. I think most of the shows here are priced about right, the one show that was probably undervalued was Bryan Adams because I got an excellent floor seat to that for $50 a few years ago. While Reg is a bigger star I sure don't think he's worth three times what Bryan Adams is.

[aastra]

Just to clarify, Lorenzo said he was feeling sorry for people who might not be able to go because of the actions of scalpers, and I said maybe we should feel sorry that the arena doesn't contain more seats. More seats are going to translate into greater availability, one way or another. Unless we believe this particular market has an infinite capacity to absorb Elton John tickets.

[VicHockeyFan]

Does Lorenzo "feel sorry" for those that have to shell out $750,000 for a 5-bedroom Gordon Head home, when a similar one in Fanny Bay only costs $300,000?

It's all supply and demand.

Two ways to fix that in the case of EJ. Increase supply, by adding more dates or having a bigger arena. Or decrease demand by increasing price.

I say that in this case, demand could have been curbed somewhat by increasing the price across all tickets.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by davek

I certainly do agree, but tickets are a funny thing. Say you couldn't get a ticket because the "scalpers" bought them all up. You look in the paper, see tickets being resold for $400 each, and decide not to buy them. Then, while out for a walk, you come across an envelope with two tickets and no owner anywhere in sight. So, are you going to the show, or are you selling the tickets? Remember, you've already indicated you'd rather have $400 than a ticket.

I think you definitely sell, as your cost on the found tickets is zero, so your profit is so much higher than the tickets you are reselling. However, you have to take into account that maybe many scalpers are going to the show, and selling additional tickets.

[aastra]

Does Lorenzo "feel sorry" for those that have to shell out $750,000 for a 5-bedroom Gordon Head home, when a similar one in Fanny Bay only costs $300,000?

No idea. Myself, I never feel sorry for people who want concert tickets or iPads or $200 yoga pants or whatever else. Such people will always want what they don't have, regardless of their situations at any given moment

From where I'm sitting I'd say no fix is required because there's really no problem.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by aastra

From where I'm sitting I'd say no fix is required because there's really no problem.

I'd say you are right. I invariably have people contacting me and asking me if I can get them tickets for this and that at the arena. Ya, and very occasionally I can get access to better tickets or the better ones for the cheaper price. But most often not. But sometimes I'm alerted to a release of good tickets. So when someone asks me, and I say "go up to the rink now and buy them yourself, I'll get them put aside for two hours", they usually don't, because in fact they were really only looking for free tickets from me.

Lame.

[Jacques Cadé]

Can I make an "alternative" suggestion? Instead of spending $200 a pop to watch EJ through a telescope and help him pay off another castle in Switzerland, a few nights later you could go see California's Best Coast and Wavves at Sugar for just $20. Their albums are among the year's best, and you'll be able to drink beer out of a real glass.

Sorry for sounding like a self-righteous crank, but I've had it with ticket fiascos and prison-mentality door policies, and I've given up on arena-sized concerts. Seek out new artists. They need the money, and you'll be a lot happier for giving it to them.