At least Dick Turpin wore a mask eh?

i don't complain much and things usually work out for me but i'm a bit dismayed this time around....

This thread should be a Sticky!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-28 00:23 by Harlem Shuffler.

Any day the Rolling Stones are releasing tickets for sale for an upcoming tour is a good day!

Can't really complain

5 hours after the pre-sale began I was able to get a Golden circle ticket. I guess if I had to complain it would be the fact that I signed up for the pre-sale on 3 email addresses and the only one they sent it to was my work email address which I didn't have access to until I got into the office this morning.

OK, my last 3 shows

- Hyde Park 2013, £95+ fees approx £107, general admission
- Circo Massimo 2014, 79 euro + international post and fees, approx £100, general admission
- Arnhem 2017, 125 euros = international post and fees, approx £130, 2nd tier seat, quarter of way back, 5th row

next two shows

- Old Trafford £60+ fees, rear corner top tier
- London Stadium £90+ fees, GA standing/rear seats

TBH unless you want the pit that doesn't seem bad to me. i'm paying more to take the kids to see Taylor Swift the week after

I've got to agree with yorkshirestone, my HP ticket was also £95 and I am content with £90 at London Stadium and same again at Twickenham

Not too bad. I have paid more when I was flush with cash including $450 at MSG 2006 and £250 at O2 in 2007, but this will be fine. I'm looking forward to those enormo-screens, even if I can't look Mick in the eyes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-28 19:43 by exhpart.

£89 at London Stadium. I'm happy with that. Can't see why that's so expensive. It's a fair price.

Can't wait! The day prior to that will be a blast as well

£89 isnt that bad for GA, in all honesty. Looking at the layout of the stadiums if youre in reasonably early, or have a bit of patience, you could still end up in the first quarter or third of the pitch with that ticket.

Some of the seated tickets are a bit overpriced but others are pretty reasonable indeed.

The real beef for me is the Pit/Gold Circle prices though. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and a bit idealistic (and if so, I'll make no apologies for it) but to me elitism is very un-rock n roll. You arrive early or book your tickets once theyre available - thats how you get the best seats or get down front. Not because you're lucky enough to be in a position where paying what is a week's salary to most people means little to you. And there have been tours in the past where the Stones did prioritise their fanbase at reasonable prices even when their tickets were still pretty expensive (ie, 2006 when they sold the first ten rows for £60 - mostly available on fan club presales - when most of the tickets behind them were £150). And dont get me started on tickets being siphoned off to secondary markets or premium travel sites.

The service charges by TM, AXS etc are an abomination though. To charge a percentage of the ticket price is a joke and something which needs to be regulated. The service theyre giving you is the same whether its a £20 ticket or a £2,000 ticket. Seriously, £52 charge to employ staff to process a pit ticket? Which could be electronic anyway?

But its swings and roundabouts I guess. I expected it to be worse this time. And whilst I dont really like the idea of going to a show and picking up tickets and hoping they WONT be horrible, the Lucky Dip system does give you a good chance, it seems, of taking advantage of the fact that many people will baulk at paying silly money to get down front.

-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-28 18:43 by Leonioid.

Quote
Gazza
£89 isnt that bad for GA, in all honesty. Looking at the layout of the stadiums if youre in reasonably early, or have a bit of patience, you could still end up in the first quarter or third of the pitch with that ticket.

Some of the seated tickets are a bit overpriced but others are pretty reasonable indeed.

The real beef for me is the Pit/Gold Circle prices though. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and a bit idealistic (and if so, I'll make no apologies for it) but to me elitism is very un-rock n roll. You arrive early or book your tickets once theyre available - thats how you get the best seats or get down front. Not because you're lucky enough to be in a position where paying what is a week's salary to most people means little to you. And there have been tours in the past where the Stones did prioritise their fanbase at reasonable prices even when their tickets were still pretty expensive (ie, 2006 when they sold the first ten rows for £60 - mostly available on fan club presales - when most of the tickets behind them were £150). And dont get me started on tickets being siphoned off to secondary markets or premium travel sites.

The service charges by TM, AXS etc are an abomination though. To charge a percentage of the ticket price is a joke and something which needs to be regulated. The service theyre giving you is the same whether its a £20 ticket or a £2,000 ticket. Seriously, £52 charge to employ staff to process a pit ticket? Which could be electronic anyway?

But its swings and roundabouts I guess. I expected it to be worse this time. And whilst I dont really like the idea of going to a show and picking up tickets and hoping they WONT be horrible, the Lucky Dip system does give you a good chance, it seems, of taking advantage of the fact that many people will baulk at paying silly money to get down front.

Couldn't agree more.

However, that's how the world has become, unfortunately. I will enjoy the show anyhow

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Harlem Shuffler
This thread should be a Sticky!

It always was: [iorr.org]

Quote
Gazza
£89 isnt that bad for GA, in all honesty. Looking at the layout of the stadiums if youre in reasonably early, or have a bit of patience, you could still end up in the first quarter or third of the pitch with that ticket.

Some of the seated tickets are a bit overpriced but others are pretty reasonable indeed.

The real beef for me is the Pit/Gold Circle prices though. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and a bit idealistic (and if so, I'll make no apologies for it) but to me elitism is very un-rock n roll. You arrive early or book your tickets once theyre available - thats how you get the best seats or get down front. Not because you're lucky enough to be in a position where paying what is a week's salary to most people means little to you. And there have been tours in the past where the Stones did prioritise their fanbase at reasonable prices even when their tickets were still pretty expensive (ie, 2006 when they sold the first ten rows for £60 - mostly available on fan club presales - when most of the tickets behind them were £150). And dont get me started on tickets being siphoned off to secondary markets or premium travel sites.

The service charges by TM, AXS etc are an abomination though. To charge a percentage of the ticket price is a joke and something which needs to be regulated. The service theyre giving you is the same whether its a £20 ticket or a £2,000 ticket. Seriously, £52 charge to employ staff to process a pit ticket? Which could be electronic anyway?

But its swings and roundabouts I guess. I expected it to be worse this time. And whilst I dont really like the idea of going to a show and picking up tickets and hoping they WONT be horrible, the Lucky Dip system does give you a good chance, it seems, of taking advantage of the fact that many people will baulk at paying silly money to get down front.

I guess everything is relevant to the times. Back in the late 70's when minimum wage was less than $3.00 and hour, a high school kid working a part-time job made less than $90 a week before taxes. A $15-20 ticket was a big expense and ticket sellers were starting to add service charges. Nowadays they ambush you nine months ahead of the show with less than a week notice to purchase a very expensive ticket especially if you purchase it online, then all the fees are automatically dumped in.

It feels like the internet has heavily contributed to killing the rock show with prices, fees, setlist, info...

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Gazza
The real beef for me is the Pit/Gold Circle prices though. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and a bit idealistic (and if so, I'll make no apologies for it) but to me elitism is very un-rock n roll. You arrive early or book your tickets once theyre available - thats how you get the best seats or get down front. Not because you're lucky enough to be in a position where paying what is a week's salary to most people means little to you.

I'm not picking on you specifically Gazza, but what I don't like is the assumption that just because someone is willing to pay those high prices they must be loaded. I will buy some pit tickets but that does not mean that spending that amount of money 'means nothing to me'. It's just that I prioritise buying tickets above pretty much everything else. I save money every month in order to have a ticket fund available when I need it, and I buy tickets and then financially work everything else out after. I've been like that ever since I was a student and I cut back on food to buy tickets. I had a summer job in 1990 that, full time, paid me £90 a week and it all went on tickets and travel to shows (well, and Tshirts, boy do I have a lot of Tshirts from that tour).

Ideally, I'd like the pit prices to be a bit cheaper (more like non-German Europe last year) but, for the ability to arrive at a show just before showtime, get near the front AND have a bit of space to dance, I am happy to pay a premium. I realise that I am in a somewhat privileged position to be able to do that, but not to the level that people assume, and I don't think that makes me elitist - it's just a question of what I prioritise.

syrel



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-03-01 10:16 by syrel.

Quote
Gazza
£89 isnt that bad for GA, in all honesty. Looking at the layout of the stadiums if youre in reasonably early, or have a bit of patience, you could still end up in the first quarter or third of the pitch with that ticket.

i think the size of the golden circle depens on how much tickets they sell. In 2017 some of the golden circles where more than half the field.

Quote
syrel

Quote
Gazza
The real beef for me is the Pit/Gold Circle prices though. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and a bit idealistic (and if so, I'll make no apologies for it) but to me elitism is very un-rock n roll. You arrive early or book your tickets once theyre available - thats how you get the best seats or get down front. Not because you're lucky enough to be in a position where paying what is a week's salary to most people means little to you.

I'm not picking on you specifically Gazza, but what I don't like is the assumption that just because someone is willing to pay those high prices they must be loaded. I will buy some pit tickets but that does not mean that spending that amount of money 'means nothing to me'. It's just that I prioritise buying tickets above pretty much everything else. I save money every month in order to have a ticket fund available when I need it, and I buy tickets and then financially work everything else out after. I've been like that ever since I was a student and I cut back on food to buy tickets. I had a summer job in 1990 that, full time, paid me £90 a week and it all went on tickets and travel to shows (well, and Tshirts, boy do I have a lot of Tshirts from that tour).

Ideally, I'd like the pit prices to be a bit cheaper (more like non-German Europe last year) but, for the ability to arrive at a show just before showtime, get near the front AND have a bit of space to dance, I am happy to pay a premium. I realise that I am in a somewhat privileged position to be able to do that, but not to the level that people assume, and I don't think that makes me elitist - it's just a question of what I prioritise.

syrel

Totally fair comment and I accept what youre saying 100%. And theres certainly no begrudgery on my part against anyone who's able to do that. I've some very good friends who are in that position and who are as big (or bigger) a fan of the Stones as I am. And I'm delighted for them that they're able to splash their money out on something they love doing.

What I would say to that though is that I dont think you SHOULD have to make those kind of financial sacrifices to get a bit of dancing space near the front in a stadium. Certainly not to the extent where youre having to pay 3-4 times more than someone who's standing 20 yards behind you. The Stones (and other acts) hardly struggled financially with the ticket selling model they employed until relatively recently. A concert is a night out - not something that should necessitate a significant financial lifestyle change.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-03-01 15:15 by Gazza.

Quote
Gazza
£89 isnt that bad for GA, in all honesty. Looking at the layout of the stadiums if youre in reasonably early, or have a bit of patience, you could still end up in the first quarter or third of the pitch with that ticket.

Some of the seated tickets are a bit overpriced but others are pretty reasonable indeed.

The real beef for me is the Pit/Gold Circle prices though. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and a bit idealistic (and if so, I'll make no apologies for it) but to me elitism is very un-rock n roll. You arrive early or book your tickets once theyre available - thats how you get the best seats or get down front. Not because you're lucky enough to be in a position where paying what is a week's salary to most people means little to you. And there have been tours in the past where the Stones did prioritise their fanbase at reasonable prices even when their tickets were still pretty expensive (ie, 2006 when they sold the first ten rows for £60 - mostly available on fan club presales - when most of the tickets behind them were £150). And dont get me started on tickets being siphoned off to secondary markets or premium travel sites.

The service charges by TM, AXS etc are an abomination though. To charge a percentage of the ticket price is a joke and something which needs to be regulated. The service theyre giving you is the same whether its a £20 ticket or a £2,000 ticket. Seriously, £52 charge to employ staff to process a pit ticket? Which could be electronic anyway?

But its swings and roundabouts I guess. I expected it to be worse this time. And whilst I dont really like the idea of going to a show and picking up tickets and hoping they WONT be horrible, the Lucky Dip system does give you a good chance, it seems, of taking advantage of the fact that many people will baulk at paying silly money to get down front.

Absolutely. Service charges should be no more than £10 per ticket.

I must admit i am blowed away with that £52 service charge.

I have paid golden for cardiff < around £275 > and just general admission for Edinburgh.

I must admit i have been saving and i might at a push go for the pit at the London stadium 25/5/18 or hopefully my own town Birmingham, but those two concerts will have taken most of the money and that is with free hotel rooms in cardiff.

Quote
Gazza

What I would say to that though is that I dont think you SHOULD have to make those kind of financial sacrifices to get a bit of dancing space near the front in a stadium. Certainly not to the extent where youre having to pay 3-4 times more than someone who's standing 20 yards behind you. The Stones (and other acts) hardly struggled financially with the ticket selling model they employed until relatively recently. A concert is a night out - not something that should necessitate a significant financial lifestyle change.

I agree with you, but I'll play devil's advocate a bit here - there are opportunities available if you know where to look. On the one hand, the Lucky Dip tickets are a good deal. If I was a student now, I would be LDing every show I went to. And GA tickets aren't too badly priced either. Plus you can get last minute steals on Stubhub/outside of the venue if you're patient enough to wait (I'm not). One of the purposes of this ticketing system is that touts lose money.

None of that is quite the same as a 'fair value ticket', but it's a different world now and some of those changes are for good as well. As a student in the late 80s/early 90s, it was virtually impossible for me to get good seats for shows, or it required a GA ticket and standing cramped, unable to pee for hours in a mass of humanity. I actually prefer the newer system - I know the system and how to play it. All I need to do is spend a million hours pressing f5 on my keyboard, and have some money. But I appreciate that I have to be wealthy enough to be able to make that choice.



Silver Dagger - on service charges - it needs reiterating that service charges are actually part of the ticket price. TM won't even get half of that money. It's just a way of making tickets seem cheaper than they actually are (hilarious in this case, but same for even lower level acts). TM is the fall guy for artists/promoters. The real service charge is probably only about £10, it's just that the tickets are £40 more expensive than they are telling you.

syrel

PS If anyone is interested in knowing more about the ticketing industry, this isn't a bad book:

[www.amazon.co.uk]

It's a bit dry, but has some good Stones info in it about how the Steel Wheels tour transformed the industry

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PaintMonkeyManBlack

Quote
Gazza
£89 isnt that bad for GA, in all honesty. Looking at the layout of the stadiums if youre in reasonably early, or have a bit of patience, you could still end up in the first quarter or third of the pitch with that ticket.

i think the size of the golden circle depens on how much tickets they sell. In 2017 some of the golden circles where more than half the field.

Correct. It was huge in Barcelona and small in Paris, meaning that the front of GA was close to the stage.

Quote
Harlem Shuffler
This thread should be a Sticky!

So that complaining, the main task for many elderly, might be one of the most important parts on IORR?

Bjornulf

They have been touring since 1962 so roughly 55 years on the road. If you pay 100 pounds or Euro for a ticket that is 2 euro or dollar or pounds per year. You don't get a beer for that anywhere in the world. Also, if you can't afford a Stonews ticket per year, or per every 10 years, you probably have other priorities in life.

The fact that they just added the 2nd London Stadoium show is proving there are enough fans in London who do prioritize a Stones ticket even in 2018.

Bjornulf

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bv

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Harlem Shuffler
This thread should be a Sticky!

So that complaining, the main task for many elderly, might be one of the most important parts on IORR?

And it is sticky already - within the «Forum links of interest». There are even two "The ticket prices and other complaints"-threads there

This thread is reminding me about the Lemmus Lemmus. If you have ever met it, you will understand what I mean.



Bjornulf

Quote
bv
They have been touring since 1962 so roughly 55 years on the road. If you pay 100 pounds or Euro for a ticket that is 2 euro or dollar or pounds per year. You don't get a beer for that anywhere in the world. Also, if you can't afford a Stonews ticket per year, or per every 10 years, you probably have other priorities in life.

That's actually very similar to how I think about it. I decided in 2014 that I would follow this road as far as it was going. I thought at the time (and still do) that they had about 5 years left at most. If I spent, say, £2000 on tickets in each of those 5 years, and I live for another, say, 40 years, that works out to be about £250 a year on average for the rest of my life - which to me is a bargain. If I live longer it will be cheaper, and if I live shorter I won't care!

syrel

My beef with these ticket prices is simple. I don't understand, and never will understand the need for all these different packages and areas. Well apart from greed of course

AC/DC charged one price. You got in first, you got in the FOS area. Simple. You got in later you got where you got (on the field/pitch)

There really is no need for all the different price tiers to my mind.

That whole platinum thing on ticketmaster where prices are fluctuating at different times of the day is an absolute disgrace.

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scoreboardpaddock
That whole platinum thing on ticketmaster where prices are fluctuating at different times of the day is an absolute disgrace.

Why is that a disgrace but airlines charging different prices for seats at different times not? I don't mean to sound argumentative, I'm genuinely interested if you think they are different. People on the same plane, in the same class, pay different prices all of the time and we don't (I think) view that as outrageous.

syrel

Ronnie Wood: "We are expensive"

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syrel

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scoreboardpaddock
That whole platinum thing on ticketmaster where prices are fluctuating at different times of the day is an absolute disgrace.

Why is that a disgrace but airlines charging different prices for seats at different times not? I don't mean to sound argumentative, I'm genuinely interested if you think they are different. People on the same plane, in the same class, pay different prices all of the time and we don't (I think) view that as outrageous.

syrel

It is a bit, to be honest.

But surely a like for like comparison is another rock n roll show, not a flight.

Plus, its not quite the same anyway. The main reason why you're more likely to pay a significantly larger price for a flight in the same class as someone else did is more likely to be dependent on when you book it, not what seat youre sitting in.