Due to a phenomenal response from the public, The Rolling Stones have sold out all the London dates from the ‘A Bigger Bang’ 2007 European tour in approximately 30 minutes this morning.

Tickets for the London gigs on Tuesday 21st and Thursday 23rd August at The O2 went on-sale this morning at 9am to eager fans and sold out almost immediately.

this comes from the official o2 site in section news.

This is the best response to all moaners about This Band ability to sell out in UK.

That would be the same site that has tickets for thursday/sunday on sale !!!!!!!!!!!!!

no no no: stones sell out AT the 02

This is simply not true, there are still tickets available.

BOLL---S!!!!!!!!!!!! Went last night. Had nose bleed seats as couldn't afford decent seats as was taking whole family. Got approached by O2 staff on entry who asked if I would like to swap my 4 Upper Tier £70 seats for 4 lower level £150 seats opposite B stage. What a result!! Brilliant spec. Thought the band was excellent. Mick slightly off his very best. Thought Ron stole the show. My kids 13 and 16 had a brilliant time and danced their socks off. They couldn't understand why the whole of the arena wasn't doing the same. The folks around us just watched and stared. Some left before the encore! To me, it was one of the worst audiences that i been part of. Almost embarrassing at times. Back to the original point, the O2 guy said he was swapping tickets (he had a massive wad of them as well as his co-worker) because the gig was NOT sold out.

Yeah Right,All tickets have been sold,and Keith doesn't do drugs anymore.

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

ROPENI Wrote:
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> Yeah Right,All tickets have been sold,and Keith
> doesn't do drugs anymore.

Well it's rather confusing, that some people claims that everything is well and the shows are totally sold out. Then we get these stories about loads of tickets being awailable.
The same a few weeks ago. Some said Keith was drunk and couldn't play a note and others that he was on fire...never been better.
Just don't know what to believe.
I do think however, that some people in this forum isn't able to see clear concerning this band.
If the show I went to were half empty...I would have told you. If the playing was shitty, I would have told you. There's absolutely no reason to hide if things are not what they should be. That makes this forum unrealiable.

svendborg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ROPENI Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yeah Right,All tickets have been sold,and Keith
> > doesn't do drugs anymore.
>
> Well it's rather confusing, that some people
> claims that everything is well and the shows are
> totally sold out. Then we get these stories about
> loads of tickets being awailable.
> The same a few weeks ago. Some said Keith was
> drunk and couldn't play a note and others that he
> was on fire...never been better.
> Just don't know what to believe.
> I do think however, that some people in this forum
> isn't able to see clear concerning this band.
> If the show I went to were half empty...I would
> have told you. If the playing was shitty, I would
> have told you. There's absolutely no reason to
> hide if things are not what they should be. That
> makes this forum unrealiable.

svendborg,Thats a concept some of the people here find hard to understand,you don't have to kiss ass,in order to be a fan of the band,l have seen the stones over 50 times since 69, some nights they were great some other nights they sucked,last year here in Puerto Rico they rocked and were indeed great and l wrote and said so here,yet when some us point out that the band is getting stalled playing the same shit night after night,or that the ticket prices are a ripp off,then we become the enemy and some here would like us to leave the board,its crazy my friend.

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

As I stated yesterday, and got FRIED, there were thousands of unsold seats. If two ushers are carrying thick stacks of UNSOLD seats, than the gig was FAR from a sellout!.

slybri74 Wrote:
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> As I stated yesterday, and got FRIED, there were
> thousands of unsold seats. If two ushers are
> carrying thick stacks of UNSOLD seats, than the
> gig was FAR from a sellout!.


Well I didn't frie you. I'm just tired of these conflicting reports, but it seems like you were right :-)
There has been of shows not selling out, that's why thet put the stage on the long side of the stadiums.
The show I went to in Copenhagen seemed to be almost sold out, but there were others that weren't

Not this tired topic again!

I was there last night (21st) and it was easily 95%+ sold out!!!!!

As I reported yesterday, THOUSANDS of unsold seats. We now have MANY to confirm what I had already reported. A terribel way to end a tour in our homeland!

slybri74 Wrote:
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> As I reported yesterday, THOUSANDS of unsold
> seats. We now have MANY to confirm what I had
> already reported. A terribel way to end a tour in
> our homeland!

Well the most terrible is, that some people being there won't admit it!

I still question Stones Mgmnt on how they handle ticket dales. On the original onsale date, there probably would have been enough demand to move a majority of what turned out to be unsold, and free upgrade tickets. Why hold onto thousands of seats until the 11th hour, and get stuck papering the house?? Makes no sense.

I'm not sure any of this means the venue wasn't close to sold out. They bascially consolidated seats on the lower levels. Empty seats around the ground floor and lower tier were filled while upper level seats were more likely to be less filled. Seating in the nosebleed seats, there were definitely seats around me free, but not that many. However I was second row on level 4 so there could have been emptie behind me. That said, it was pretty full regardless of who got upgraded.

... apparently some people 'still' believe everything they read...

I was at the Tuesday O2 gig and I saw a few unoccupied seats not many BUT there were people standing at the back who were not using their seats, a couple in front of me got up and went to the back to watch so i thing if it was not sold out is was at the best 98% sold out.

The sell it out of course but some times private people or scalpers or VIP service package providers have a set or blocks of tickets and are able to get rid of them, which means there will be empty seats. Out of 20,000 people there will always be some who can't make it. There are always empty seats. Even at club shows. But they are still sold out.

Bjornulf

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but really ... this has to be the most ridiculous thread going ? If your primary focus appears to be NOT the four skinny gents at one end of the arena making all that wonderful noise, but rather conducting an attendance count and concerning yourself with some unquantified number of unnoccupied seats up in the stratospheric heights of the O2 ... then what the hell do you go for ? Most folk surely go to see/hear/celebrate the Rolling Stones, not count sodding seats. Whether they sold 99%, 89%, 79% ... surely the important thing is whether or not the band rocked the socks of those people. Get a grip, a few hundred/thousand unsold seats in one of shitloads of venues they've played in the last 24 months is hardly a strong indicator of the Rolling Stones' ignominious fall from grace, is it ? I can hardly imagine they worried about it ? Why should you ? I don't get it.

As I said in another thread on this subject, the one or two glances I cast from down on the floor up at the front on Tuesday, I didn't see any great swathes of unnoccupied seats anywhere in the venue, not during the show itself. I only took my seat about 5-10 minutes before they kicked off, so what it looked like before that - I can't comment. I wasn't aware of these free upgrades from the upper tiers to the lower or the floor. But hey ... brilliant !! Why not ? If there's better seats and no-one in them, why not offer them to people ? I wish you saw that being done at all venues. Personally, when I see better seats than the ones I've paid good money for sitting empty, I DON'T WAIT for an invitation from the venue, I jump into them at the first opportunity. On this leg of the tour I did it in San Sebastian and Copenhagen, and at other shows I've ended up moving to a better or different spot from the one I'd actually paid for. NONE of those shows were "technically" sold out ... BIG F***ING DEAL.

paulywaul Wrote:
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> hardly a strong indicator of the Rolling Stones'
> ignominious fall from grace, is it ?

I think the point is that the ticket prices are way too high, hence a bunch of empty seats. It's not whether the band is popular or not.

I can hardly
> imagine they worried about it ?

Well, of course the band don't worry about it since they get paid the same amount of cash no matter how many people attend the gigs. Simple as that.

paulywaul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but
> really ... this has to be the most ridiculous
> thread going ? If your primary focus appears to be
> NOT the four skinny gents at one end of the arena
> making all that wonderful noise, but rather
> conducting an attendance count and concerning
> yourself with some unquantified number of
> unnoccupied seats up in the stratospheric heights
> of the O2 ... then what the hell do you go for ?
> Most folk surely go to see/hear/celebrate the
> Rolling Stones, not count sodding seats. Whether
> they sold 99%, 89%, 79% ... surely the important
> thing is whether or not the band rocked the socks
> of those people. Get a grip, a few
> hundred/thousand unsold seats in one of shitloads
> of venues they've played in the last 24 months is
> hardly a strong indicator of the Rolling Stones'
> ignominious fall from grace, is it ? I can hardly
> imagine they worried about it ? Why should you ? I
> don't get it.

Very well spoken. I can´t understand why some people on this board are concerned with almost anything but the one thing of importance; the music.

it's funny to me how some fans keep defending the Stones all the time.
I don't think there is any famous band which has musically so much decreased in quality as the Stones, say for the last 15 yrs. And than I am clearly refering both to Ron and Keith. I have not seen them this tour for the first time because of this but a very clear sounding bootleg from Barcelona which I received recently confirmes it.
If you compare Ronne/keith with todays Clapton and Townshend for example the result hurts me.
Some fans realize it and report honestly about it. Some of them seems blind as keep describing the playing of Keith and Ronnie as 'supberb, outstanding' etc. Why? It is simply not. It is very average at best and often shamefully poor.
Same for the O2 ticket matter. I can still get tickets for both shows if I want. But still some fans call it a sold out.
The Stones are not hot anymore in the UK, that's reality when you cannot sell 60,000(?) tickets for 3 days in an indoor hall.

The Stones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> paulywaul Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > hardly a strong indicator of the Rolling
> Stones'
> > ignominious fall from grace, is it ?
>
> I think the point is that the ticket prices are
> way too high, hence a bunch of empty seats. It's
> not whether the band is popular or not.
>
> I can hardly
> > imagine they worried about it ?
>
> Well, of course the band don't worry about it
> since they get paid the same amount of cash no
> matter how many people attend the gigs. Simple as
> that.

<<< I think the point is that the ticket prices are way too high, hence a bunch of empty seats. It's not whether the band is popular or not >>>

Absolutely 1000 percent correct. I personally know at LEAST six people (friends from childhood or school/college) that would have LOVED to have seen them when I told them about these shows, but the MOMENT I mentioned ticket prices - they all flinched with horror and basically said "I'd love to go, but not at those prices". I suspect a LOT of us that are going to these shows have friends or acquaintances like that.

What a load of crap. You get can tickets at most agencies for the two remaining shows. And even though I had a pair of rubbish upper tier tickets for Tuesday I was offered an upgrade by the venue. It's not sold out so if you haven't got a ticket just go down and you'll probably get in for half price.

Silver Dagger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a load of crap. You get can tickets at most
> agencies for the two remaining shows. And even
> though I had a pair of rubbish upper tier tickets
> for Tuesday I was offered an upgrade by the venue.
> It's not sold out so if you haven't got a ticket
> just go down and you'll probably get in for half
> price.

<< most agencies >>>

MOST agencies are (a) Ticketmaster and (b) Seetickets. At least they are LEGIT outlets. EVERYONE else is a scalper disguised (badly) as a ticket agency, and there are shitloads of those out there. If those agencies have got lots of tickets left, that surely confirms what we mostly already all know: namely that £150 per ticket is bad enough and that people are having a hard enough time paying THAT, let alone a figure yet further inflated. It's the usual story, people being speculative and getting it WRONG. Look on the IORR "All Sold Out" board. There are people having genuine difficulty shifting spare tickets at the face value of £150. In my opinion that's the ONE possible benefit of a high ticket price, and that is that tickets bought speculatively for re-selling at "gain or profit" quite often end up unsold and having to be offered late in the day at face or below face - simply because the figure involved is so f***ing high in the first place. And OK, IF the Stones ever decide to price themselves say like Prince does, at £30 or so, you can bet your arse that the scalpers would employ every bloody trick in the book to stop you and I from getting good seats legitimately ... and all those prize floor seats and good lower tiers would end up for sale either on e-bay or on the sites of all these other joke "agencies" for stupid stupid money. I really don't which is the worse scenario, steep ticket prices set by the band/promoter, or lower prices - and a strong likelihood of having to battle with scalpers/rogue ticket agencies for the better seats at grossly inflated prices.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-08-23 13:36 by paulywaul.

i wonder if all these problems are going to make scalpers think twice about this sort of thing?...

im a beleiver in the fact that this method (putting our more concerts than ticket sales can justify) will see an end to greedy internet ticket touting...as touts will be left with unsold tickets..


OK - all three gigs may be sold out and full on the day - but, how many of the people in the arena actually got the tickets less than face value from "panicked offloading" ?
or upgraded to unsold better seats...

Its bad for the stones and fans but something needs to happen to give folk a fair chance of buying a ticket - and some being available due to not being sold out in blocks of 10 etc...


Dog