Wow, May has been incredibly busy with a ton of family events and activities. But I'm not here to talk about happy parties and cute babies and delicious appey-tizers. I'm here to complain about the concert scene and how much it sucks compared to when I was a kid.
My friend T told me that Spock's Beard was coming to Poughkeepsie, and so D and R and I went to see them at The Chance. D bought the tickets from the box office so there was no fee. Each ticket was $25. The club was rather small, so we were very close to the stage, and although we stood (leaned) for the whole night, it didn't bother me one bit. There were two opening bands, and then SB came on. The music sounded excellent, SB seemed to have a lot of fun, and we had a really good time at a great show.
Yesterday I was home from work and I decided to try to order tickets for Roger Waters and Dark Side. I told myself 100 times that whatever tickets came up on the screen I just had to accept, no matter where they were in the arts center. But of course, when I got online right when they were put on sale, the crappiest seats came up, and Stupid Me did not heed my own advice. I rejected those seats and tried again. Needless to say, the only seats left after that were lawn, so I screwed myself out of the show unless I want to go and get tickets from someone at the parking lot or a broker. I stomped around for a bit, cursing myself, when I realized that I should actually be cursing Ticketmaster and the sick world that is concert-going.
First, Waters tickets were either about $130 or $90. I've only paid that much to sit in the front at a Rush show and to sit relatively close to Peter Gabriel. So to pay that for the back of an amphitheater was maddening even before I tried for tickets. Second, buying tickets is no longer (and hasn't been for a long time) for the fans. It's for brokers, radio stations, affiliated companies, gold card Amex people, and friends of those who are putting on the show. Decent regular people who try to get tickets when they ACTUALLY go on sale can't do it. So to announce a ticket sale date is bogus. I'd love to see that show, but for the principle and cost I can put on the CD.
Based on these two experiences I've basically decided to say screw you to the large concert scene and focus on clubs and less well known / more accessible bands. I used to be able to get decent seats at a large show for a good price, and now they rip you off with fees and charges and can't even offer a good seat. All I know is, I'm thankful that most of the bands that I like are small and/or unpopular. :)
On a side note, John Young finally came to the East Coast, but T and I didn't get to see him either, because he sold out the PA show before we got tickets and then only had a CT show too far away and at an odd location. We were disappointed about it, but we hope he'll be back someday again.
My friend T told me that Spock's Beard was coming to Poughkeepsie, and so D and R and I went to see them at The Chance. D bought the tickets from the box office so there was no fee. Each ticket was $25. The club was rather small, so we were very close to the stage, and although we stood (leaned) for the whole night, it didn't bother me one bit. There were two opening bands, and then SB came on. The music sounded excellent, SB seemed to have a lot of fun, and we had a really good time at a great show.
Yesterday I was home from work and I decided to try to order tickets for Roger Waters and Dark Side. I told myself 100 times that whatever tickets came up on the screen I just had to accept, no matter where they were in the arts center. But of course, when I got online right when they were put on sale, the crappiest seats came up, and Stupid Me did not heed my own advice. I rejected those seats and tried again. Needless to say, the only seats left after that were lawn, so I screwed myself out of the show unless I want to go and get tickets from someone at the parking lot or a broker. I stomped around for a bit, cursing myself, when I realized that I should actually be cursing Ticketmaster and the sick world that is concert-going.
First, Waters tickets were either about $130 or $90. I've only paid that much to sit in the front at a Rush show and to sit relatively close to Peter Gabriel. So to pay that for the back of an amphitheater was maddening even before I tried for tickets. Second, buying tickets is no longer (and hasn't been for a long time) for the fans. It's for brokers, radio stations, affiliated companies, gold card Amex people, and friends of those who are putting on the show. Decent regular people who try to get tickets when they ACTUALLY go on sale can't do it. So to announce a ticket sale date is bogus. I'd love to see that show, but for the principle and cost I can put on the CD.
Based on these two experiences I've basically decided to say screw you to the large concert scene and focus on clubs and less well known / more accessible bands. I used to be able to get decent seats at a large show for a good price, and now they rip you off with fees and charges and can't even offer a good seat. All I know is, I'm thankful that most of the bands that I like are small and/or unpopular. :)
On a side note, John Young finally came to the East Coast, but T and I didn't get to see him either, because he sold out the PA show before we got tickets and then only had a CT show too far away and at an odd location. We were disappointed about it, but we hope he'll be back someday again.
1 Comments:
At Tue May 23, 05:46:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
glad you got to see Spock's Beard, I was away in Texas that weekend and gave D the tip that you were also a fan so that at least someone I knew could enjoy the show. I wish I could have seen the show, but can't be everywhere at once. I have to totally agree with you on the whole ticket scene as you know, it's rough to try and get even decent seats as you noted without forking out hard earned, or yet to be earned cashola...
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