Since it seems that people can’t stop using their phones for even a few moments to enjoy a live concert, the members of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs are taking the proactive step of telling fans to put their stupid smartphones away so they can remember what it was like to have a good time in 2005. [More]
A bride-to-be got some bad news last week about a block of rooms she’d reserved at a Howard Johnson Inn in St. Augustine — they had all been given away to Mumford & Sons fans and there was nothing that could be done about it. [More]
Concerts usually start later than the time on the ticket, but apparently 2.5 hours later (with only a DJ as your opening act) is a bit too late for the people of Philadelphia. The CBS affiliate in Philly is reporting that the crowd turned on Madonna when she finally took the stage at 10:30 pm (for an 8 pm show) but the boos were probably quieter than they could have been… because some concert-goers had already given up and left. [More]
Back during our comments outage, reader Chris wrote to us about an incredibly disappointing concert that he attended. The show wasn’t terrible because the artists weren’t any good: even if you don’t like country music, you have to grant that Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw are hard-working, talented, and very attractive entertainers. No, Chris’s problem was that up in his seats on the upper level of the arena, the Angel Stadium of Anaheim, the sound quality was terrible, song lyrics impossible to decipher, and even spoken words in between songs impossible to understand. [More]
Back in 1979, a little band out of the UK called The Who was slated to play a show in Providence, Rhode Island. But after 11 people were killed during a stampede at a Who show in Ohio, the venue nixed the concert. In a few months, that same band will be playing that same venue, and folks who still have tickets to that cancelled performance are being allowed to exchange them for seats at the upcoming show. [More]
If no one’s buying tickets to events later this year, Ticketmaster will start to lower the price of admission as the date draws nearer. The concept, which it’s calling “dynamic pricing,” will punish early buyers and reward those who hold out until the days before a slow-selling event takes place. On the other hand, if ticket sales start speeding back up, Ticketmaster could raise the prices. [More]
If you bought a ticket from Ticketmaster between Oct ’99 and May ’10, get ready for some bucks/ticket discounts coming your way. Ticketmaster has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought against it in 2003 that alleged the ticket giant’s processing fees were just a “profit component” and didn’t recoup any actual costs of doing business. [More]
Joe ordered tickets to a John Mayer concert through Ticketmaster but was turned away at will call. His order didn’t go through because someone at the company input his credit card number incorrectly. He wants to run through the halls of his high school and scream at the top of his lungs: [More]
Jess took her ailing mom to see an American Idol concert in Massachusetts but was mistreated by employees who were less than willing to accommodate her mom’s special needs. The next day she took to Twitter, fired off a couple complaints and spurred Live Nation to make things right. [More]
Kevin is big enough of a man to admit he needs to get his Lilith Fair on. He was so pscyhed about getting his tickets as early as possible that he pre-ordered a Sarah McLachlan CD just to get a pre-sale concert code that gave him access to early tickets. [More]
Theoretically, companies charge you additional fees to offset costs of your more expensive choices. Or, to discourage or encourage certain behaviors. Ticketmaster, as usual, has a different idea. They charge you $2.50 for you to print your own ticket at home, and $0.00 to have them mail it to you. That’s a headscratcher, until you realize people printing their tickets at home are often last-minute people and if you’re in a rush you’re more likely to agree to additional fees if it gets the job done. [via Reddit] (Thanks to Bargaineering!) [More]
Ticketmaster has settled with the FTC over charges that it used “deceptive bait-and-switch” tactics when selling concert tickets, reports the Los Angeles Times. As usual for this kind of settlement, Ticketmaster admits no wrongdoing. For instance, the FTC noted that in one case “the same set of 38 tickets for the Springsteen concert in Washington were sold and resold 1,600 times,” and Ticketmaster waited as long as three months to let affected customers know, which is a clear example of not doing anything wrong. [More]
Yesterday a bunch of consumer advocates and anti-trust people held a press conference on Capitol Hill and asked the Department of Justice to block the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger. If you, too, feel that this spells nothing but trouble for consumers–that a Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly would ruin competition and increase ticket prices–then check out the website TicketDisaster.org. From there, you can contact the DOJ to voice your opinion about the proposed merger, read up on reasons why the merger sucks for consumers and for the concert industry, and sign up for updates. (Thanks to JammingEcono!)
Various people in the country of Australia are upset at Britney Spears for lip syncing — and feel that it is dishonest for the pop star not to disclose that sometimes she’s just mouthing along while she dances.
Ryan had a dream. Not an unreasonable dream for any fan: he wanted to see Pee-Wee Herman perform live. Many fans, including Ryan, were thrilled when a limited engagement of shows was announced in Los Angeles, and Ryan bought tickets and made plans to travel cross-country for the performance. Then the concert promoter and Ticketmaster stole his bike. Metaphorically. He says he attempted to call Ticketmaster over 225 times (the line was busy) and the Pee-Wee debacle still isn’t solved.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports a Minnesota music fan named Chris logged onto Ticketmaster hoping to buy tickets to a show for a band called the Teen Idols, but what he got were tickets to a show of actual former teen idols from way, way back in the day.
Ben wrote in a few weeks ago to share his successful chargeback after he and his girlfriend were rained out of one day of their three-day passes to the recent All Points West festival in New Jersey. His story raises questions about the definitions of the term “rain or shine.”
Ticket holders for the late Michael Jackson‘s planned 50-concert series in London will receive either full refunds or “souvenir tickets.” We’re not sure what the latter means. Maybe they’re bronzed? Laminated? Holograms? [New York Times]
