Interesting article, very well written. I still hate what ticketing has evolved into & the corporate mindset behind it. I don't blame the bands for it at all. I don't like it with things like plane tickets either. It's all about greed with the middlemen like a lot of other things. I'm getting old but I remember simpler times & everything seemed to function ok.

A lovely read! Thank you very much Roller99!!!!

Thanks a lot Roller99 for this great insight .

This is a really good read, well done

A fascinating read - thank you!

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roller99

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The Joker
Very interesting.

I finally get Matt Clifford's part.


TR: Matt sort of bridges the rhythm section because he's got two or three keyboards on his rack, and he can play piano sounds, he can make organ sounds, like a Fender Rhodes, he can make string sounds or make it sound like a low brass or a trumpet. So he kind of does a lot of different sounds. So there's times he's playing with Chuck and while Chuck's playing an organ sound, he'll play a piano sound or vice versa. Or if Karl and I are playing a horn part, he'll join us and play a horn part. What Matt does is an integral part of the band; it's a bridge between the horns and the rhythm section.

That's what I was hoping for, thanks!

It reminds me somehow the job of Melissa Reese, second keyboardist with the Guns N' Roses.

[en.wikipedia.org]
Reese joined Guns N' Roses in March 2016 as the band's second keyboardist, replacing Chris Pitman, while also playing synthesizer, sub-bass, background vocals, and programming for all electronic sounds during live performances. She first performed with the band on the Not in This Lifetime... Tour.[15] Upon joining the band, she had two weeks to learn and master 50 songs to prepare for the tour, working 15 hours a day to learn them.[5] Reese described how she joined the band, stating "They knew of me as a producer and heard about my poetry work. I knew a lot of people in their camp. It just came up as an idea: what about her? I thought it was a joke... But then, it wasn’t a joke. Axl called [Brain] and asked 'Do I have your blessing on this?, can she pull it off?'.[1]

As well as singing backing vocals, Reese's role in the band has been described as the "enhancer", using Akai samplers among other tools to produce sounds from Chinese Democracy songs, as well as playing the Moog synthesizer on "Paradise City".[5] Speaking of her role, she stated "I don't want to get in the way of these songs. On the keys, I add sonic layers to thicken our sound, without sticking out like a sore thumb. Anything from synths [to] organic patches and samples."[5]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, the interview was mostly done for the IORR community. If it weren't for IORR, I would never have become a writer for Goldmine, etc. Most of my questions were culled from topics I've seen discussed here.

Cheers!

A nice article - thanks!

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roller99
When this got published, it was trimmed to fit. Unfortunately, the meat was trimmed, leaving out the comments of The Stones' promoter, John Meglen out. What he had to say about Ticketmaster and the whole mechanism of choosing show locations, ticket dumping, etc was in some ways more relevant than the band.

What Goes Into A Stones Tour (Un-edited)

This bit...

IL: Why do so many people beat up on Ticketmaster especially? I don’t hear a lot of complaints about AXS, but Ticketmaster seems to draw the ire of the ticket buyers more than anyone.


JM: Ticketmaster is not the big bad enemy. The origin of that was Fred Rosen decided to make them the enemy on behalf of everybody else, and they've maintained that, but in North America, they're the best ticketing system out there by far, they really improved their ticketing system.

I suspected StubHub and the other one, I forget its name, Vivid?... the reason Ticketmaster is hated is the damn fees. As bad as they are, are they really that bad? It may end up all being the same eventually, just some places had shitwater flooding before others did.

At least with Ticketmaster you get your money back.

Anyone know what Darryl said to the press that pissed Mick off?

Superb article, Ivor. Many thanks for making it available.

A fascinating (and at times, a sadly sobering) read.

Like the insights into the Lucky Dips.
The overall number sold seemed like it would vary, but sounded like 1000 + at least. 100 Pit tix is generous, especially when even more are given out to fill space.
Seems that number may have risen over the years as the first few years they were much more rare and the last tour I was almost surprised when my tix weren't pit

"JM: Paul Gongaware came up with that idea. What we do is we take the last couple of rows up in the top of the building, maybe three or four rows, whatever it may be. Those are our really cheap seats. I forget how much we sell lucky dip for, but it's really cheap. We always know we're going to have production kills, things like the need for camera positions, sightlines, all that type of stuff. The fact is when you open up that many production holds, it can be a thousand seats or so when you get your production loaded in. You're not necessarily going to sell those at the last minute because everybody thinks the show is sold out.


So what we do is we take like a hundred seats from the pit, we take these other good seats that end up being from production kills, and we mix them all together, right? And then you put them in envelopes. So when people show up, they get an envelope. Most of them are going to end up in the nosebleeds, right? With the cheap seats. But some of them are going to end up in the pit and some of them are going to end up down there. So what it does, it allows us to make sure the house is completely full. It's a good way to clean up those seats at a cheap price. But it's really cool because a lot of people end up getting great seats. That's all it is. You know, it's nothing more than that. There’s no scam, nothing like that involved. It's just lucky dip. You may get lucky and end up in the pit. You may end up in a row in front of a mixer that we didn't think we could sell. It's really a cool program. I love it."

What a great artcle that was. Thank you!

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GasLightStreet
Anyone know what Darryl said to the press that pissed Mick off?

I know Darryl doesn't remember. He did tell me "not to believe %90 of what's written on the band".

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MisterDDDD
Like the insights into the Lucky Dips.
The overall number sold seemed like it would vary, but sounded like 1000 + at least. 100 Pit tix is generous, especially when even more are given out to fill space.
Seems that number may have risen over the years as the first few years they were much more rare and the last tour I was almost surprised when my tix weren't pit

"JM: Paul Gongaware came up with that idea. What we do is we take the last couple of rows up in the top of the building, maybe three or four rows, whatever it may be. Those are our really cheap seats. I forget how much we sell lucky dip for, but it's really cheap. We always know we're going to have production kills, things like the need for camera positions, sightlines, all that type of stuff. The fact is when you open up that many production holds, it can be a thousand seats or so when you get your production loaded in. You're not necessarily going to sell those at the last minute because everybody thinks the show is sold out.


So what we do is we take like a hundred seats from the pit, we take these other good seats that end up being from production kills, and we mix them all together, right? And then you put them in envelopes. So when people show up, they get an envelope. Most of them are going to end up in the nosebleeds, right? With the cheap seats. But some of them are going to end up in the pit and some of them are going to end up down there. So what it does, it allows us to make sure the house is completely full. It's a good way to clean up those seats at a cheap price. But it's really cool because a lot of people end up getting great seats. That's all it is. You know, it's nothing more than that. There’s no scam, nothing like that involved. It's just lucky dip. You may get lucky and end up in the pit. You may end up in a row in front of a mixer that we didn't think we could sell. It's really a cool program. I love it."

Yes, the article does explain how Lucky Dips are, essentially, just a way to fill up empty seats.

One minor correction though:

The article said:

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The Lucky Dip, a process that exists where fans that have bought “nosebleed” or otherwise obstructed seats can show up at the box office to pick up these tickets, and completely at random they’ve been upgraded to the front of the stage.

But actually, when you buy a Lucky Dip pair, you're obviously not manifestly buying a "nosebleed" or an "obstructed" seat, though.

Rather, you're just buying "Lucky Dips" without knowing where they are going to end up being. The relation to "nosebleeds", of course, is that a pair of LDs usually costs the equivalent of a single cheapest category ticket (a "nosebleed" would be just that).

So you're getting two tickets for the price of one "nosebleed" but with luck, you end up with a better seat, even pit. So there's no way to lose. This is why people buy multiple pairs if they are able to. It's a very expensive hedge at less than 50 bucks a ticket.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-05-27 11:51 by Topi.

roller99/IL, the piece is even greater in the unedited version!
It gave me a chance to read the other parts over again.

~"Love is Strong"~



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-05-27 18:23 by angee.

Brilliant, just brilliant insights. I especially loved the part where Mick drops the mic having started a tour in usual high-octane Mick fashion, just 6 weeks post heart surgery, and says 'F**k yeah" straight to the crowd !!! Gotta love it that HE loves it so much and that it MEANS so much to him. Keith's my man, but this little insight into Mick on stage is just wonderful. Thanks for the write-up!

Rod

What a great article, thanks for posting the unedited version.

Interesting that Chuck Leavell advocates for a longer set to include more lesser known songs.

Also great insight into the business aspect, especially for those like me who hate shit like that.

"@#$%&, yeah" What a great moment. I love that we can watch these guys give a big middle finger to death and redifne "old age." They are going to go out like this, enjoying playing music and putting on great shows. Corporate bullshit and cynicism aside, that is inspirational.

Excellent article. I got the link from another place and started reading expecting "just another rehash of the same thing" but started reading and it kept me reading until the end.