Why am I not seeing people in the on stage spots like here in the US?
Have I missed a post about this?
Fred Hardin
Pleased to meet you........

no onstage tix for this leg of the tour

Is there a reason why?
Fred

Yeah. I noticed that the boxes are actually gone now.

I think they had difficulties last year in Europe selling out those seats.

the stage does look strangely 'empty' and different,
compared to seeing them full, last year.

The stage now is much better, because there's more room for the light effects.

someone somewhere once said something about additional insurance costs when they have people up there -
i don't know if that's right, but it sounds like it might be; additional security too, no doubt.
so maybe they just felt it wasn't worth it, especially since the public didn't seem especially enthused about it.

with sssoul Wrote:
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> so maybe they just felt it wasn't worth it,
> especially since the public didn't seem especially
> enthused about it.

in which case, lowering prices to this area, to attract
the groups fanbase,( as opposed to corporate guests/celebrities/vip's)
may have been a solution?

i'm glad they're gone - appallingly vegas/cheesy as they were . . .

*and i'm just like that bird - singing just for you*

>> in which case, lowering prices to this area <<

they did give away onstage spaces for free, actually - to fans, i mean.
i know people who turned 'em down even at that price. so it doesn't surprise me
if they decided it's not worth it. that's the message they got from people just like us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-06-20 14:41 by with sssoul.

with sssoul Wrote:
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> >> in which case, lowering prices to this area <<
>
> they did give away onstage spaces for free,
> actually - to fans, i mean.
> i know people who turned 'em down even at that
> price. so it doesn't surprise me
> if they decided it's not worth it. that's the
> message they got from people just like us.


yeah, but in the US they had no problem attracting fans for it when the tickets were priced, what - $250 and $150 (Or was it $75?)?

When they got to Europe they started taking the piss by charging about £350 for them in the UK and then on the fall tour of the US they for some reason decided to inflate them to the level of 'hot seat prices' too.

If theyd priced them the way they were supposed to originally - and sold them in advance instead of doing so long AFTER the ordinary ticket sales when everyone had already bought their tickets (as was the case last year) theyd have had plenty of takers.

I'd guess that most fans who turned them down did so because they had already bought good tickets and it was too late to do anything with them.

Hopeless and half arsed marketing, yet again.

I paid $250 a ticket for the on-stage boxes in Moncton...worth every penny. At $500 a pop - that's a bit much. If you were lucky enough to see multiple shows, the on-stage boxes were great. Okay, not as great as Fred's 4th row, 4th row, seats for the Atlanta 2 show, but still very novel and nice.

>> $250 and $150 (Or was it $75?)? <<

i think the lower priced ones were indeed $75, at least on the first round of North America.
did they have them for sale in the US in the fall of 06 as well, or just for sponsors, contest winners etc?
if they were selling them, were the prices the same?
it was indeed extremely weird and off-putting that they were so expensive in Europe.

with sssoul Wrote:
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>
> i think the lower priced ones were indeed $75, at
> least on the first round of North America.
> did they have them for sale in the US in the fall
> of 06 as well, or just for sponsors, contest
> winners etc?
> if they were selling them, were the prices the
> same?
> it was indeed extremely weird and off-putting that
> they were so expensive in Europe.

yes, on the fall tour '06, the on stage box seating was $500/ticket. i'd say they were the best seats in the house for churchill downs, since the stage was so far from the front row (where i was).

People are willing to pay 250-500 for those in America but not in Europe. It takes a tour to understand that. Last year I believe many people up there were sponsors or people who got tickets for free. When you realize something do not sell in a market then why sell it? I don't miss the boxes, in fact I don't worry about them for a second.

Bjornulf

the onstage box i bought in europe has been 1000 euros and it was worth it
its not true that people in europe dont buy these tix

>> People are willing to pay 250-500 for those in America but not in Europe. <<

Bjornulf, do you know why they didn't offer them in Europe at a similar price to what they cost
on the first round of North America ($75 and $250)? i mean: was there some "objective reason"
like higher insurance costs or something? or were they simply curious to see if they could sell them for a lot more?

>> its not true that people in europe dont buy these tix <<

right, it's not literally true, but not many people in Europe seemed willing to spend that much.

I have no idea about what price they asked where and when but I do know this:

1. If I was in charge of security I would never build it. I mean it is probably safe but what happens in case of a heavy thunderstorm or a fire like the one that happened in Phoenix? How easy is it to get 250 people out of there in 60 seconds which is the requirements many other places? I would assume the insurance cost was real high for these boxes as compared to the average crowd insurance.

2. If it was so big interest in these boxes then why did they give away so many at all of the European shows last summer by sms-lottery on the field? I do know many people who got a box space for free. And that looked like big channce of win not like 1 in 100... The fact that some people do want to buy these boxes (space for one person in a box that takes 7 or so people) does not mean they can sell all 250.

3. In order to get up there you have to wait in a reserved area until after the warmup is finished and until may be half an hour before the band is on. You don't see the warmup.

4. If it is raining they pull out the plastic shelters and you will see mostly Mick only I think.

5. Some of the boxes were bloced by the two large cobra-spots that are hanging above the main stage. Then you might not see Ronnie or Keith for much of the show, or Charlie.

6. Most people I have been talking to have complained about the sound not being so god up there.

6. I think these boxes were great if you wanted to see the Stones from above or if you wanted to be seen by others in the crowd.

For me this is 5 reasons for getting rid of the boxes and 1 for keeping them. Simple desition really.

Bjornulf

the sound is perfect there

glimmer twin 81 Wrote:
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> the sound is perfect there


You may think thay, but Bjornulf said that most he's spoken to complained about the sound, so if more people dislike it then it's clearly the right move.

the sound is still perfect there

bv Wrote:

> 6. I think these boxes were great if you wanted to
> see the Stones from above or if you wanted to be
> seen by others in the crowd.

It's just as well we can't see the Stones from above on this leg of the tour; it would only lead to more 'Is *insert name* going bald?' threads

I have seen micks white briefs from there

They lost it because it saves them 2 days in the building proces

>> They lost it because it saves them 2 days in the building process <<

really?! they can dispense with that much extra construction if they don't let people up there?!
okay, that plus insurance etc seems like a pretty compelling reason to jettison the idea ...

Put any spin you like on it, but it's basically a money-making, so-called stage-enhancing gimmick that has backfired. The whole stage design is a white elephant...and guess who has to pay for it!

Please stop making excuses for them.

glimmer twin 81 Wrote:
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> the sound is still perfect there


It was not perfect in all of the boxes. I stood in the first box, lower level, Ronnie's side for a show and the sound was muffled. Ruined the whole experience for me.