It's Only Rock'n Roll
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It's Only Rock'n Roll |
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The No Security Tour will be performed indoor only, at arena size venues - places normally used for ice hockey, basket ball or even music. Most of the venues can take approx. 20,000 people, i.e. less than half the number of people at a stadium. In a stadium you have normally approx. 10,000 people on the floor (seated in USA, vs. 25,000 people standing in Europe), and the remaining 30,000 - 40,000 people in the ordinary stadium seats. The seats behind the stadium stage are not used, because all the stuff on stage is blocking the view. With the arena concept, you have approx, 1,500 people seated on the floor, and the remaining 18,000 fans seated all around, but much closer than in a stadium.
The arena stage is smaller, all flat, and you can see the Stones from all angels
around the stage, even behind. This is from experiences with previous arena
shows during the Bridges to Babylon tour. For more information about these shows
see the arena concert reviews from these shows. PS. The MGM (Las Vegas) show was not done on
the new arena stage (not finished until the Quebec show), but the MGM show
was performed on a smaller stage as well, with a smaller sized crowd. Also, the
Waldb�hne was not using the arena stage, because it was an outdoor amphi theatre.
But the idea is the same - smaller crowd, greater excitement!
See the table at
the end of this page for a complete list of venues and reviews.
There seems to be one major difference between the previosly used
arena stage and the 1999 No Security stage. The walkway from the
man stage to the B-stage is much wider, and the B-self itself is
also much bigger, almost as big as the mains stage. This makes it
possible for the Stones to actually perform on the walkway,
and more or less perform on all parts of this stage setup.
Charlie would have to move from one place to another,
may be the same way as used for the acoustic set during the
summer 1995 European Tour, by a drum kit that can be pushed/moved.
Or may be they just move Charlie up front - this will be interesting!
The walkway from the main stage to the B-stage seems a bit shorter
than on the previous arena shows, mening the B-stage will not endv up
way out on the other side of the venue. It will be more towards the center,
and there may be more seats in front of it.
Having seats just in front of the B-stage gives you a perfect view during
the three (may be more) songs they do down there. but you are a bit
more distant from the main stage. The floor seats are all perfect.
They cost a lot, and are hard to get. But you are close to both
the main stage and the B-stage. And often the security is bad,
so you may have people sneaking in from cheaper seats in the venue.
The floor is usually numbered in sections like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
where 1 .. 3 is the front from left to right (as seen from the crowd),
then 4 ..6 is the next row, etc. some times they have two sections
per block, others three. If it's three then the middle section is
split half/half by the walkway from the main stage to the B-stage.
Lost of fans like to be there, because you can make hand contact with
the Stones, as they walk both to and from the B-stage (no bridge indoor).
The seats on the floor are bad if you are less than average height,
because everyone is standing up, and it's all flat.
Even if the seating charts are not yet ready for all the venues,
you may decidee by now how much money you want to spend,
and what seats you really want. I don't want to make any
specific advices here,
because then everybody would ask for those seats.
All I can say is, if you look at the Toronto chart at the right,
then these secions are my best bets:
The arena stage
It seems like the stage setup is similar to the arena stage
setup used
with the previous arena size venues in 1998 (see the list
of shows at the end of this page). You may see a drawing of the layout at
the right. This is the venue map of the Toronto show.
The stage is small, all flat, with a 360 degrees view.
The seats at the far left and right are just perfect, as you
actually sit on the edge of the stage. That's why they charge $150
for those seats many places.
Generally, in an arena, all seats are very good.
I hate to call a seat good or bad, but since so many people ask,
and so many people put all their effort into getting
the seart I will do my own personal ranking,
based on the fact that I have been seing the arena show from
a lot of different seats.
The main rule is the lower row number, the better, of course.
Some times the lowest section might start with row number 3 or 4,
because the first 2 - 3 rows (closest to the floor) are ok for sports,
but not for
music (the standing crowd on the floor is blocking the view for the first rows).
| 107-110 and 120-117 | : Perfect |
| 106-101 and 121-122 | : Very good |
| 110-117 | : Very good (you see them perfectly from behind) |
| 1 - 8 | : Excellent (but not if you are small/short) |
| 200's and 300's | : Good, but try getting as low as possible |
See the Ticketmaster web page on the Stones Tour, about when tickets go on sale etc.
The exact price of the tickets are not known now, one day before they announce the tour. But the information so far tells they will charge aroud $40-$50 for the seats behind the stage (if they go on sale), then $50-$90 for the general seats in the arena. The seats closest to the stage on the left and right side might be more expensive, like $125-$150. and in some venues, you might expect prices as high as $150-$300 for the floor seats and the first rows on each side, close to the main stage.
VIP tickets will be on sale through special business arrangement. You pay a lot for those tickets, like the VIP Babylon Bar tickets during the Bridges To Babylon Tour. Then you get a good seat worth may be $150 or so, plus free food and drinks, access to the VIP area, and some times a free special T-shirt or whatever they throw in. But these $300-$700 VIP tickets do NOT bring you backstage, if you see what I mean...
The 800 number will be broadcast during a half-hour special entitled Rolling Stones - No Security, hosted by the cable channel's Robin Dorian. The program, highlighting details of the upcoming tour and featuring interview and performance footage of the band, will air twice -- and 6:30 p.m. EST / PST and again at 11:30 p.m. EST / PST.
Once the number is announced, viewers will be able to place ticket orders. A limited number of tickets will be made available per venue during the advance sale, and information about the seat locations of the advance sale allotment was not available. Ticket sales through regular channels will take place from Friday through Sunday.
In another announcement Wednesday, VH1 and sister-channel MTV announced a pair of Internet events surrounding the announced weekend ticket sales for the tour. Joining with AOL, MTV will host an online chat with Mick Jagger at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday (11/19). VH1 will bookend the weekend with an AOL chat featuring Keith Richards on Tuesday (11/24) at 9 p.m. EST. The chats will be accessible only through AOL, and can be reached through the keywords MTV (Jagger) or VH1 (Richards).
PS. The VH1 advance sale will only apply to the US dates on the tour. The Toronto show will not be included.
Another thing is declined credit cards. In most cases, the bank responds within minutes after the sale. If the bank declines the credit card, usually a customer service rep gets a report and tries to contact the customer to get another card number. If the customer has no other card, the seats are released. In this case, the release happens several hours after the initial sale. This can make better seats available hours after your first check.
Yet another thing is that the box office may release sections or rows of seats later in the day. One variation of this happened on Bruce Springsteen's 1985 tour. A Springsteen representative had the box office place a large number of rows in various different holds before the show went on sale. As the seat selection in the venue reached the rear sections, he'd direct the box office to release the next batch of holds and available seats would jump down to the front of the stage again. They'd do this in about five waves per show. What it accomplished was that the first few people in line got great seats, then the 30th or so people got great seats again, then the 50th, then the 80th and so on.
Sometimes an artist or venue will also decide to just release extra seats after the main rush of sales is over. This is done mainly to trip up scalpers who concentrate on the first hour or so. The thinking is that by dumping seats later, more real fans will get them. This can make better seats available hours and even days after your first check.
With shows, there are almost always seat releases in the days and weeks before the show as well. The reason for this is that when they put the show on sale, they are working mostly with a drawing of how the stage will be set up and estimates of what seats will be blocked by staging and light towers and such. As the actual show hits the road, many questions are answered about what will actually be blocked. This can free up entire sections. Then, as the stage is actually being built in the venue, they can usually release even more seats once they know exactly how everything fits.
Dash Tours, Canada: Special packages to Toronto, Fargo etc. Call 1-306-352-2222 or 1-800-265-0000. Web-site: Dash Tours.
Front Row Center (LA area tickets): Phone: 310 478-0848. Web-site: Front Row Center.
Ticket Plus: Phone: (860) 875-0060. Fax: (860) 875-6238. Web-site: Tickets Plus.
Northern Ticket Service Inc - Vancouver/Seattle area - Tel: (604) 683-3515 - Fax: (604) 669-8422. Web-site: Northern Ticket Service.
WebTickets: Phone 404.815.1888. Web-site: WebTickets
Priemier Tickets: Phone (415) 346 7222 Web-site: Priemier Tickets
If you order tickets by credit card from outside USA, Ticketmaster USA will charge your card, and you can pick up the ticket outside the venue, on the day of the concert, at a box office there, no problem. If you order tickets from Ticketmaster Canada, and you live outside, they may send (by post) the tickets to you.
Please give your comments! Send your email today, if you have some feedback. I'm waiting on a friend...
Don’t you panic, don’t you panic, give it one more try! No reason to worry about tickets. Be patient! If you are a real Stones fan, and work hard on the subject, then I am sure you will get your tickets!
| Date | Venue | City/State/Country | Crowd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 22, 1997 | MGM Grand Garden | Las Vegas, NV, USA | 12,750 |
| Jan. 5, 1998 | Colisee de Quebec | Quebec, Canada | 11,993 |
| Jan. 14, 1998 | Madison Square Garden (1) | New York, NY | 17,875 |
| Jan. 16, 1998 | Madison Square Garden (2) | New York, NY, USA | 17,875 |
| Jan. 17, 1998 | Madison Square Garden (3) | New York, NY, USA | 17,875 |
| Jan. 30, 1998 | Rose Garden (1) | Portland, OR | 17,529 |
| Jan. 31, 1998 | Rose Garden (2) | Portland, OR, USA | 17,529 |
| Feb. 12, 1998 | The Compaq Center (1) | Houston, TX, USA | 11,806 |
| Feb. 13, 1998 | The Compaq Center (2) | Houston, TX, USA | 11,806 |
| April 19, 1998 | Centre Molson (1) | Montreal, Canada | 16,048 |
| April 20, 1998 | Centre Molson (2) | Montreal, Canada | 16,048 |
| April 23, 1998 | United Center | Chicago, IL, USA | 18.672 |
| Aug. 22, 1998 | Sport Hall | Prague, Czech Republic | 13,000 |
| Sept. 8, 1998 | Globen | Stockholm, Sweden | 15,600 |
| Sept. 10, 1998 | Waldb�hne | Berlin, Germany | 16,400 |