Difficult one this.

My current thinking is....

Membership is bound to cost an arm and a leg, right? And membership gets me the right to buy tickets before they go on sale to the public. However, it should still be possible to get the tickets I want if I try in the public sales. What is more, if I spend the money on membership, then I won't be able to afford to buy the good seats! So I'll take my chances and, if I don't get what I want, I can always rethink my strategy for when they announce later dates.

What are you guys doing?

My opinion is that if you want to buy MULTIPLE gigs, then membership is a decent option. If you just want a couple or 3 shows, why buy it ?

Another way of looking at it is just to do a ticketmaster search. If you can locate tickets you want, why pay for the membership ?

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

But can't you only use membership for one show? Am I wrong about this?

sjs12 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But can't you only use membership for one show?
> Am I wrong about this?


That's the "Free" membership that's included with the ticket purchase at each venue...

I mean, if you can figure all this Sh*t out, you're doing better than me...

And of course there's nobody to talk to, and just vague e-mail responses when you need to get some questions answerered about your "membership"...

I think this is a "Cohl enterprise" that just complicates the tour and doesn't help the band or the fans one bit.

"It's just that demon life has got me in it's sway..."

no it can only be used for one show anyway so waste of money

Don't buy the membership - we should not be encouraging this kind of practice...spending $100 just for the right to buy an overpriced ticket earlier then others!...people say scalpers are the scum of the earth - personally bands that rip their fans off in this pure extra cash generating exercise are not far behind in my mind....

have to agree with the above.. it's a complete con.. it's the sort of thing the EU is meant to be stopping and protecting consumers from.. wonder if we can complain to OFT or EU about this.. same thing with the amex card pre-sales

I paid for two memberships, and got decent but not great floor seats. I ended up selling both tickets (luckily I got my money back on both) and purchased much better seats for around face value right before the concert date. The pre-may 9 codes are great, but the post-may 10 codes aren't worth much.

Have to agree its a big rip off and it stinks and hopefully i can resist the temptation to sign up.

I have resisted so far! Lets face it, they will announce a second Wembley date at least so if this doesn't work there is always a second chance. I also believe there will be opportunities through genuine sellers on this forum and even e-bay for those who want tickets.

It may even be cheaper to go to mainland Europe (Stade de France?) and stay in a cheap hotel rather than fork out extortionate UK prices for what has become a rip off. Who wants to sit down at a stadium gig?

depends largely on what type of tickets you want.

i persoanlly found the best way to get my stones tix was on ebay just after the public sale and several months before the concert.

sellers load up listing them on ebay right away so they can get their money back quickly....but no one is really looking for tickets until about 2 weeks before the show....so early on at least it is a buyers market on ebay.

look for good seats with a no reserve auction and you can get them for less than face in many cases.

good luck.

I disagree. I think in depends on the show. For SF and Fresno, there were tons of great seats available, and they got cheaper and cheaper as the date approached. Other venues ---- nothing. You need to be able to gauge demand, I guess.

waste of money if its for stadium shows.

Id only consider it if they were playing theatres. You'll be able to get tickets for all the other shows one way or another without it

You know that for sure Gaz? I'm really hoping to get a few tix.

JumpingKentFlash

I dont see it being much of a problem, Kent

Going by the last tour (and the American leg on this one) theres always tickets being made available either on the fan sites or e-bay or people selling extras on the night for around face. Theres a couple of exceptions on the US leg this time but generally you'll get them OK if you're patient.

Thing is, theres a lot of very ordinary seats that are priced very high. To give you an example, I had a pair of category 1 tickets (£150 each) for Twickenham last time. The show sold out pretty fast and they were the best I could get. Block B, not that great for the price.

Later on, I got offered a pair of great tickets in the 10th row for face value from a Stones fan who couldnt attend. I bought them but couldnt get anywhere near face (which is all I wanted) for the two extras I had even though I placed ads on e-bay, IORR, Rocks Off. I think I got about £220 for the two in the end, selling them both as singles.

If youre talking about seats in the first few rows (Block A), then they're not going to go for less than face but there are a lot of very ordinary tickets available for inflated prices which are always going to be hard to sell on for face value.

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I dont see it being much of a problem, Kent
>
> Going by the last tour (and the American leg on
> this one) theres always tickets being made
> available either on the fan sites or e-bay or
> people selling extras on the night for around
> face. Theres a couple of exceptions on the US leg
> this time but generally you'll get them OK if
> you're patient.
>
> Thing is, theres a lot of very ordinary seats that
> are priced very high. To give you an example, I
> had a pair of category 1 tickets (£150 each) for
> Twickenham last time. The show sold out pretty
> fast and they were the best I could get. Block B,
> not that great for the price.
>
> Later on, I got offered a pair of great tickets in
> the 10th row for face value from a Stones fan who
> couldnt attend. I bought them but couldnt get
> anywhere near face (which is all I wanted) for the
> two extras I had even though I placed ads on
> e-bay, IORR, Rocks Off. I think I got about £220
> for the two in the end, selling them both as
> singles.
>
> If youre talking about seats in the first few rows
> (Block A), then they're not going to go for less
> than face but there are a lot of very ordinary
> tickets available for inflated prices which are
> always going to be hard to sell on for face value.


What you experienced must have been quite @#$%& up I guess.
My concern is just that I want tickets for a Holland show (Or something similar) and hopefully two shows in Denmark (BTW: What's your take on the Denmark dates? One or two)?

I'm just so afraid that I will get sucky tix. When the sale begins I will stand in front of the shop at 4 in the morning and hopefully be able to buy tix for at least one danish how. I will need four as I'm bringing my dad and my 2 brothers. You don't think there's some limitation to get the best seats do you? If I need 4 that is.


JumpingKentFlash

Kent,
In 2003 I bought two tickets face-value for the second Rotterdam Kuip concert one day before the show. Just look on ticket traders on the internet by the time the show is coming.

For the opening show in München (Olympiahalle) tickets were available for 10 Euro (!) at the venue.

This time I will not make a membership, I did it for the Licks Tour, but didn't manage to get tickets for a theatre show.

Sjouke

there is a so called fan club that you can sign up for that gives you pre-sale tickets.. it's $100 but if you want pre-sale for more than one show yuo have to sign up for it twice

a few years ago i joined the fan club as well to get tickets.. what did this fan club offer me apart from that.. a CD i already had anyway and nothing else.. i didn't get any newsletters or anything and the virtual ticket thing was open to everyone who had a ticket.. i didn't get any exclusive on-line content that wasn't on the virtual ticket site either

no letters either and once the tour was over the fan club didn't stay around for another year either and offer anything

some club for fans that and the same thing is happening this year

also they've taken a back hander from Amex so you can only get tickets if you have one of those cards which i'm sure is against EU rules

What is face-value? Maybe I seem dumb, but I don't buy a lot of tickets and I have NEVER bought anything on websites.

JumpingKentFlash

Oh, I payed 75 or 80 Euro for them... and I contacted someone via a ticket-trade website, close to where I was in Holland and picked up the tickets in person.

Sjouke

That's what I want too. I wanna get the tickets from the shop and hold them in my hand.

JumpingKentFlash

beginning to think buying a membership for Wembley, might not be a bad idea.
Ticketmaster is going to go into meltdown, on friday at 9am.
Also onsale at 9am, Friday:-
The Strokes Uk Tour,
and reformed Take-That Uk tour.

Ticketmaster's going to be veeeeeeeerrrrrry busy.

as i said in my earlier post i just wish they wouldn't call this a fan club it just a marketing con to make us spend more money.. all you get is one dvd and a poster the rest is just the virtual ticket stuff everyone gets.. will this fan club be here after the tour ends ?

But I bet you'll get tickets at or less than face value in the next month or so. However, all this worrying is all because they no longer have general admission to the pitch. That's why I'll get a cheap ticket to Wembley - just to be there - and then go to GA shows in mainland Europe. I'll get closer to the front for much less money.

Think about it - it is £150 for somewhere near the front at Wembley. I don't know how much GA pitch tickets will be for Stade de France, but I doubt they would be more than £50. That leaves £100 per person for travel (book cheap airline in advance or go by ferry / train) plus a hotel somewhere in Paris. I can then have a nice weekend away as well!

SjS:-

i think alot of us in the U.K, are thinking the same.
Barcelona is 100% for me, and Paris is a goer too.

very true.. prob i have is that if i go to mainland europe i will be going with someone else.. tan the wembley show.. does seem a real shame that their hometown gig is GA

does anyone know if the robbie gig in sept is GA for wembley

does seem another case of the UK fans being throught about last.. even worse what could be their last show ever is in Cardiff and not Wembley either

Some suggestions based on my experience in the US last spring:

• Save your money. Don't buy the Fan Club membership.

• If they have the American Express presale over there, do that.

• Try to buy your tickets on-line. It's easy and you can input all your info to TicketBastard before the on-sale. Then you just log in and go for it at the appointed time.

• Try to buy odd numbers of tickets on-line - or in line for that matter. There might be three great seats in a row which the system won't give up because they don't want to leave a single. It happened to me. Hence those seats will be bypassed if you're looking for two or four. Same w/ five great seats. If you need six try buying 3 + 3.

• Most shows will sell really well but some will be stiffs. Many a bargain can be had AFTER the on-sale via speculators who thought they might cash in.

> What you experienced must have been quite @#$%& up
> I guess.

well...to be honest, I;'m a bit of a masochist. I love the chaos and stress that every Stones tour causes. Lets face it, despite all the bitching, would we miss it? Its part of the madness that surrounds it all


> My concern is just that I want tickets for a
> Holland show (Or something similar) and hopefully
> two shows in Denmark (BTW: What's your take on the
> Denmark dates? One or two)?

one in denmark. I dont think Denmark is a big enough country to justify the Stones playing two shows there. There'll be at least five shows in Holland I guess. That initial show in Amsterdam will be the hottest selling ticket of the tour but they'll add plenty of others. Do you know anyone in Holland who could get one for you? Its a great idea to pool your resources with other people.

>
> I'm just so afraid that I will get sucky tix. When
> the sale begins I will stand in front of the shop
> at 4 in the morning and hopefully be able to buy
> tix for at least one danish how. I will need four
> as I'm bringing my dad and my 2 brothers. You
> don't think there's some limitation to get the
> best seats do you? If I need 4 that is.

youd be able to buy 4 for sure...if theyre standing tickets, it wont be a problem. Obviously 4 seats together is harder than 2 seats together..but if theres an Amex presale for your show, use that! Maybe one of you has an Amex card!

I paid for a memebership and got obstructed view at MSG, I was up at the top and paid way too much. I used my password once I realized we were tricked and there were going to be NO theater shows.

I understood that you could get a refund on your membership if you didn't use the passcode? Am I mistaken?