Has anyone joined the Stones fan club recently? I am not looking forward to dealing with scalpers and Ticketmaster so I may just join if I hear from enough fans that they were able to get great tickets on the last tour.Please give me your honest opinions on this! Thanks.

it was only useful for the theatre shows. personally, I'd only join it for that, especially if they're looking $100 again like they did last year (a scandalous figure)

There were mixed opinions on the seats people got for arenas and stadiums. It didnt guarantee you the best seats by any means. Personally, I dont think its worth the money for the larger shows.

I wouldnt jump to conclusions just yet until we see what way it works this time. It could be run differently. Hopefully its run more efficiently and fairer.

last time the initial fan club membership was only open for residents of the US and Canada, therefore shutting the rest of the world out from ticket presales for the North American shows. However, when the worldwide fan club membership was launched at the end of 2002 to enable purchases for the shows outside North America it was open to fans from everywhere (including the US and Canada).

I seriously hope they dont pull that "North American members only" crap with the US shows this time as well.

I saw two stadium shows in the States and one of the Wembly Arena shows last tour. My club tickets got me in the standing room area by the B-stage in Houston, close to the band for only 2 or 3 songs. Since we could use our membership privileges for only one stateside show, I had to wait for the general public sale and got 30th row in Atlanta. I think my Atlanta tickets were better since I had a good seat for the entire show. I also joined the Euro club but when it came time to order tickets for London, my home computer went down and I had to wait until the next morning to order tickets from work. I think the club worked for me then, as I recieved excellent seats hours after they went on sale. Perhaps I could have been at the Astoria if I had been diligent enough.

should have mentioned also that they generally didnt give advance notice of when the pre-sales would begin, which makes it even more difficult to get tickets!

generally, you'd receive an e-mail telling you they were available but I got MY e-mail for Astoria about an HOUR after the tickets had gone on sale. Fortunately, someone who had noticed them on sale had posted the info on Rocks Off and I got my tickets half an hour or so before rs.com even told me they were available.

Can somebody else give some more info on the rs.com site?
Other people with good/bad experiences.
Especially info about europe or Japan would be very much appreciated.
The membership facility is still offline.

i just did! what more do you need to know

its worth remembering that it may be run very differently this tour than last time.

Also, last time you were only allowed one pre-sale per membership. That wasnt rigidly enforced as people got multiple memberships with different credit cards etc. However, I think when U2 did the same for this tour they were able to enforce the "1 pre sale per membership" rule more efficiently (so I believe)

personally, I think the u2.com model for this tour may bear closer relation to the rs.com one for 2005 than the Licks version did.

Except that (as usual) the Stones one will be far more expensive. I think the U2 membership cost me £20.

I joined te fanclub from belgium, europe

I had to select a State or Province or a Region,
very strange if you live in europe so a filled in Europe in the field Region.

Was this correct?
Your expierence?

THanks alot, and Gazza that was most helpful; I think I'll take my chances without joining, and see if I get lucky through TICKERMASTER and my ticket broker buddies. At least with thr brokers, you know what seat you're buying! Good luck all! I need single seats for all East Coast USA shows and will gladly split a pair of front and center tickets!

didnt re-join it in 2004, Fred. There was never going to be a tour in the time frame of the membership (June 2004 - May 2005) so I thought $100 for pretty much nothing was somewhat pointless and a rip off.

I hope they dont change the membership back to 'north america only' again once there's tickets to be sold!

I joined in pased week (28/04/05), gazza.