Getting tickets to see even niche musicians is getting more and more difficult (and expensive). I had to book tickets for Pat Metheny six months in advance, to have any hope of getting a ticket for his show in Bologna, for example. I had a conversation with sombody complained about the impossibility of getting tickets for Gilmore, as they had sold out in minutes.
Now I read this in a British tabloid:
"More than 50,000 Oasis fans are set to have the tickets they bought to the band’s reunion gigs cancelled.
The promoters of the upcoming concerts have announced they will begin cancelling tickets which have ‘broken the terms and conditions’ in the coming weeks."
So if in desperation you turn to a reseller, you risk getting your ticket cancelled. Ticketmaster get to sell the ticket twice. Cunning!
We have a local council run Jazz festival. They get some important names like Wynton Marsalis, or Bill Frisell. Up to now it has been easy, as you bought the tickets at the local library. Now you have to go through a ticket agency, with all those added on costs. I foresee getting tickets for this festival will become almost impossible as well, as the audience will be from a very much wider area than the mainly local audience we have at present.
Ticket agencies have made buying tickets seemingly easier, but they really are a curse, in that finding tickets for a concert is getting to be more and more difficult. As a consequence ticket prices are getting ridiculous.
I do agree, it’s getting all a bit mad…
Sitting anxiously on PC/phone etc as the timer counts down, click the purchase button and get stuck in a queue of 2000 people…!
And then of course, as you say, the ever rising costs….
Gigs being announced for sale, then you look and they’re the best part of 12 months away…nice interest earner sitting in the bank there for agency and promoter…!
Talking of which, I think it was after the Oasis ticket fiasco I read a piece on the BBC, breaking down how all these entities are interlinked and lots of spin-off companies: Ticketmaster is a subsidiary of Live Nation, a lot of the main UK gig venues are owned/part owned by a company related to LiveNation, supplied security companies are subsidiaries of LiveNation, a lot of the Merc on sale at gigs is owned by a company related to, you guessed it, LiveNation……It was quite an eye opening read.
It’s no wonder people are taking to resale sites, both from a buying and selling aspect…but then at the same time, due to all the scamming and touting, bands/promoters are (rightly?) putting in measures to make this more difficult……
It’s becoming something of a lose lose dynamic….
I remember 25+ years ago having to get on the phone to the venue box office and purchasing tickets that way, was the only option….And a human being helping with the transaction……!
I came up short trying to get Gilmour tickets for the recent gigs, both the pre-sale and general sales – I was on the site and clicked within seconds, yet just couldn’t get anything and thousands in front of me…panicked attempts at other nights etc just made the situation worse…
And the recent Cure sale for the Troxy album launch gig was an even bigger joke – admittedly a small venue and one evening, but I clicked that button the very second it went live, to be met with a notice saying the gig had sold out – how did 3000 people select tickets and checkout within 4 seconds…?!!
It does make you cynical.
Sign 0 the Times I guess….But not good…
Another joke situation I have now – I have front row balcony tickets in the Gold section for Thom Yorke in Singapore in 1-2 weeks, but can no longer make the gig….Yet, Ticketmaster SG do not offer refunds (unless gig cancelled) or official ticket transfers….WTF ?! So I’m stuck with two tickets I can’t legitimately sell or give back into the official system….You couldn’t make it up
I have always considered them to be a curse, adding a fee, and when there is an option (there often still is with theatre and opera tickets) I buy from the venue. As for music, many big names nowadays only play huge venues, which to my mind should dictate cheaper not more expensive tickets because unless you can get a close seat you end up watching the performance on a TV screen with the sound out of sync die to the distance. I decline to pay a high price sums for an inferior experience - hifi is better!
Yep… hence why I prefer to go and listen to smaller, more grass root bands… smaller more intimate venues, less middlemen, better listening experience, usually equally good music, sounds better, more local and cheaper… what is there not to like.
Yes, the grass roots scene is so much more enjoyable. For about four years I helped out with our local music, booking bands, venues and so on, basically running the whole show with my college. We used two local shops to sell tickets, paying them a commision, and sold online through wegottickets. That incurs a straight 10% fee, which nobody ever batted an eyelid over. We used two venues, a church that holds 300 and a village hall that holds about 100. All very intimate and you get to meet the bands. Anyone who likes folk and Americana will know these guys.
While all that’s been said here is pretty much fair and accurate, I haven’t found it hard to find live music to see. I do live in London so there is a bounty of live music on most of the time.
I have a number of live music watching friends and we will often just buy multiple tickets to something interesting we’ve spotted and then subsequently find someone to join.
Glasto tickets do require a military grade Internet campaign and luck to get, but Bearded Theory and other festival tickets remain easy to get.
The media and online frenzy does tend to concentrate the problem. I too missed out on Gilmour tix though a good number of my friends did go.
A final thought, the Oasis fuss baffles me. They were definitely a feature of my 90s life, but subsequently have recorded some impressively duff material and had a series of public spats that mean I don’t find either of them very likeable. Never even considered trying for those tickets.
Agree with several of you who recommend going to smaller gigs.
For Rock especially, often groups are at their best whilst climbing up the fame ladder. There are several young Jazz players I would like to catch now too.
I also agree that the sound at huge gigs is generally awful, and you get to see the concert on a cinema screen, unless you are happy with viewing some distant players. In this case a DVD at home is a nicer experience.
I was convinced last year to go to see Richard Ashcroft at Engelfield. We spent a whole day out in the rain. No further comment.
We stopped going to large concert venues a few years due to the ways that you had to get the tickets, then Covid came along and messed things up.
We only go to The Stables in Wavendon now, being local to us. Easy to get tickets from their website and they’re not too expensive.
The last big concert we went to was Gregory Porter at the Royal Albert Hall, middle seats in the front row. But then we did win them in a competition on JazzFM.
Re buying tickets for concerts. We wanted to see Chris de Burghs forthcoming tour in Harrogate. The link from his website showed all venues sold out.
However I went on the concert venue site and got tickets no problem. Also quite a small booking fee compared with the agencies. The
Venue, Ticketmaster,eventbrite etc must be allocated a batch each
Metheny, always sells out very quickly here in Italy. He tends to play in theatres here in Italy, so tickets are limited.
Seeing an artist live, is always a very different experience, compared to listening to a recording. Metheny is a very different beast live.
I also read somewhere that a lot of the more showbiz concerts like Madonna, are now done in playback. It is pretty rife even with middle ranking pop acts.
I have seen stadium kings of the Seventies, playing in small clubs. I was almost sat next to Carl Palmer at a gig he did in Bologna. I was expecting to see someone going through the motions. But it was a surprisingly good concert.
Another annoying habit that has fast become standard practice is the whole ‘Pre-sale’ malarkey….Here in WA it’s getting to the point there’s 3 or 4 pre-sales, staggered after each other….There’ll often be a ‘Fan’(club) presale, then a ‘Mellen Events’ sale, then a Ticketmaster/Ticketek ‘member’ sale…before the damn tickets then go on general sale!
I don’t mind maybe one, say for fan subscribers or special offers etc and I have purchased tickets this way at times, but it’s getting a bit silly…and the irony is, it’s not always the best seats that are available/guaranteed in some of the pre-sales….Over time I’ve figured out some of the patterns here and how they ‘block out’ certain sections/rows for the pre-sales…and with a bit of patience, you can often get better options when the general sale goes public, if you’re quick…!
It’s all based on FOMO and panic buying….
And ever increases the modern society disease that is exclusivity……
Even the way they now give very short notice for upcoming gigs and tickets going on sale – just this morning I received an email from the Sydney Opera House promoting New Order for March’25 and that tickets were going on ‘pre’-sale at 9am today…! Now I may have missed the Oz tour announcement (I don’t think I did) but I’ve become cynical the way promoters/venues/agencies suddenly announce these ticket sales now….
Those ‘booking fees’ are becoming all pervasive in my experience, adding typically over 10% to costs with near zero value added. Then they have the gall to offer up charity donations, ice creams and the like.
End result - I go to less major concerts these days.
And get this one – was just looking at some tix for New Order here next year…Ticket delivery options incl the now typical ‘Print at Home’….Cost, AU$8.95 (£4.50 or so)!! For ME to print at home at MY cost….You couldn’t make it up…!
Ok, there’s inherent server & infrastructure costs involved, emails aren’t free despite what everyone may think…but really, for an organisation and business mechanism of this size, does it really have to be passed on to the customer when they’re already paying £100 or whatever….and if really does need to be, what say a more reasonable 25p on every ticket or whatever….
If I tried to pull such tricks and blatant rip off charging in my line of work, I’d be chased down the street….