Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: willo on February 17, 2006, 10:14:18 AM
-
Today was the first day of ticket sales for the Chili Peppers UK tour. I was charged with trying to go online and get tickets for me and my mate.
So I'm up bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 8:57 with my computer all loaded up, on ticketmaster.co.uk hitting the 'refresh' button to try and get a slight headstart on everyone else, and at 9am, tickets go on sale. So I'm clicking on the buttons saying 'Manchester Evening News Arena - STANDING', cos that's what it's all about, the standing. I figured it would be busy, it was last time, although we did manage to get tickets (seated) 4 hours after the sale started, and of course, two hours after we got our tickets they announced a second date which another mate somehow fluked two standing tickets to by virtue of the fact he woke up later and more hungover than the rest of us! Anyhow, never trust technology! It kept telling me 'Tickets on sale', then you'd click the link and it would say 'Event Removed from site' or something, and it was only 1 minute past 9??! So by the time it eventually decided that it would search for my tickets, and that the event hadn't been removed from the site, it was 9:07, and I was placed in a queue while it searched for my tickets - this process put me on hold for 7 minutes. So, at quarter past 9, it says 'no tickets'. So I try the second date, on the 11th July, and I'm waiting for 6 minutes or so in my queue when the website develops a fault and apologises as it has to return me to the start of the queue again. Next queue comes up with the promising message 'Your request will take less than 15 minutes' (great...) By the time that's all gone through, guess what, no tickets!
So I check out the seating tickets, cos, God I want to see the chili peppers. They have a few tickets, but the order for my tickets was going to cost £91 - £91?!?!? To sit in a shitety plastic seat next to some steward dressed up in those banana suits the MEN has, and surrounded by hormonal 15 year olds???? $%&# that...it's funny cos the other night me and my mate were saying about how much we would pay, and I said '£40?', but we both agreed that that was a ludicrous price and never going to happen so why bother thinking about it?
Honestly, though. I wish it was 1989, when the chili peppers were actually as good as people think they are today, and you didnt have to hammer the shite out of your 'refresh' button to try and fluke some tickets. I know I should try not to be bitter, but really, this has to be a result of their increasingly pop-centred music and the subsequent fans it has brought, kids rinsing their dad's credit cards for tickets. I always hated the fans who would criticise bands and say 'oh, they sold out', but frankly, £40 a ticket is a $%&#ing joke anyway. The guys are absolutely minted - the Hyde Park gigs made like £19,000,000 in profit - PROFIT!! see the zeroes on that number...why do they need the money? It's not like they even have expensive smack habits anymore...
Or we could go to London and one of the 4 nights they are playing there...fingers crossed another date will be announced for Manchester, but I highly doubt it!
Bah humbug. So what's the lesson in all this? Don't support popular bands, they'll only disappoint you! So I'm going to go and find the worlds most hopeless band, a band full of cretins with stupid haircuts that no-ones ever heard of, and they'll be my new favourite band. And I'll keep them all to myself...
Incidentally, if you thought that was boring to read, you should try and experience it first hand :lol:
EDIT: and to top it all off, I just checked ebay. Already, some guys are selling tickets on 'Buy It Now' for £85...each :?
-
:D To be honest with `ya mate £40 a ticket is about standard these days. I`ve finally recieved tickets for the Gary Moore/ BB King gig at wembley in April & there £40 each so your paying no more than the rest of us.
Why didn`t you phone them up to get tickets ?
:D 8)
-
It was engaged...surprise!
And even if it is standard, I still think its a pisstake. I saw them like 2-3 years ago and it was £22 - that rise is more than inflation...
-
Try getting tickets for U2. Forget about Ticketmaster. You'll need to be at the post office in the middle of the night, maybe even some 12 hours before they open. Tickets are close to 100 euro's, maybe more.
DO NOT BUY TICKETS ON E-BAY OR SOMETHING SIMILAR! These guys buy hundreds of tickets via hired personel and charge double the going rate. These practices are making it almost impossible for normal fans to get a ticket for a normal price.
-
I missed the Dave Gilmour tickets the other week, to quote his website they sold out in under a minute :(
Rob...
-
LOL
Try getting Rolling Stones tickets, 100's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, got 2nd row Ozzfest tickets last year on Ebay, for ALOT less than stamped ticket price. Thing with ppl. buying so many to sell, they are gambling they WILL sell. They make profit at start so can take what they can for what they have left near concert time. Worth a look.
I have gotten alot of tickets from Evilbay this way, let someone else do the leg work lol.
Also, and maybe not Manchester (maybe not at all anymore) but years ago (when I used to live in UK and go to concerts in London) bands often did an un-announced warm-up gig in a club which was usually much better than the actual main gig :)
-
Cheers Dakine, I'll keep my eyes open. I might catch a train to Manchester on gig night anyway, last time I bought tickets from a tout outside the venue I got them at face value (which was handy for me cos I was drunk and left my previously-purchased tickets in the pub)!
I'll tell you though, what really makes me sick, is just checking some of these 'ticket-specialists' on the net that have plentiful supplies of the tickets, and charge £95 a go for them. Where do they get the tickets from?
It makes no sense to me - I've just found one that is selling at £140 with a £30 delivery charge! How does this happen?? I'm seriously fed up with the whole organisation of this ticket sale, I think it's completely bent. I hear what you say jt, but £40 is still a lot for a bunch of multi-millionaires to bounce around on stage for 90 minutes. They will be making an absolute killing. What, do you forget principles when you become famous?? What makes it even more ridiculous, is that these are the reasons that John Frusciante left the band in '93...a band supposedly all about the fans, but really, its a band that is rolling in money, charges $40 to join the fanclub, deals out a healthy dose of tickets to corporate sponsors and even had the nerve to entertain putting out the same album 13 times each with a different bonus track! Behind their facade, they are as greedy as the next lot, so $%&# em.
*rant over*
-
Willo, do'nt qoute me on this but ALOT of bands LOSE money on tours and only do them to promote their material and play live for the fans.
The money machine is the promoters and venues!!!!
I guess I am in for a rude awakening back in UK.
Tickets over here are better priced (for most part) but more over venues and dates are more plentiful!!!!!!!
Closer to the date, scalps and vendors become more twitchy about actually selling tickets.
Over here companies have actual accounts with the likes of Ticketmaster and buy blocks.
Also worth noting (here anyway) tickets (usually v.good ones) are held from sale for "band use" i.e. family/friends of the band and go onsale day before (ones not used that is as usually too many are held back).
Never say never, just keep ya eyes/ears open and "Do'nt Panic Mr.Mannering!" LOL
-
Willo, do'nt qoute me on this but ALOT of bands LOSE money on tours and only do them to promote their material and play live for the fans.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' summer shows at London's Hyde Park, which grossed $17.19 million, will be named Top Boxscore at this years Backstage Pass Awards, to be presented Tuesday (Nov. 9) at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. From Billboard.com
:?
That's gross profit, defined as:
Calculated as sales minus all costs directly related to those sales. These costs can include manufacturing expenses, raw materials, labor, selling, marketing and other expenses.
So, I'm sure the chili peppers love playing their songs for me...
I thought after Led Zeppelin & Peter Grant's handywork, almost all profit goes directly to the band now, and touring is where the money is made. Album sales, only typically $1 per album goes to the whole band. That's the impression I was under, but I may be wrong - feel free to correct me!
I'm aware this is coming over all whingy, and I apologise. I'm obviously a little disappointed I didn't get tickets, but I'm more offended really by the machinations of the online ticket industry. I've never bought tickets online before so I've never really seen how it actually is.
I just don't understand what it is in a person that lets them go along with these ideas. I'm sure the pricing plans come from management etc, but surely the band must be aware of it? It's like when you go to the FA Cup final or whatever and you find yourself surrounded by businessmen from Surrey or whatever and its Liverpool VS Man U. It makes no sense, other than financial, and it disappoints me deeply that people still let this practise go on, in music, in theatre, in football and in everything. People are so obsessed with money these days, even our so called 'artists', it makes me sad.
-
Unfortunately much is due to supply and demand (I reckon).
Hang in there and keep checking, esp. close to date. Ya might get lucky!
"Do ya feel lucky punk? well do ya?" :twisted:
-
Unfortunately much is due to supply and demand (I reckon).
Hang in there and keep checking, esp. close to date. Ya might get lucky!
"Do ya feel lucky punk? well do ya?" :twisted:
Nope :lol:
I completely understand supply and demand, thats what threw me really - the sheer demand! It was like I was trying to get tickets for a Justin Timberlake concert or something. And the fact that lots of bigger bands seem to know that they can charge whatever they like and it will still sell out.
And Ticketmaster's website was playing up something rotten. I just went on the official RHCP board to see if anyone had similar problems - and lots did, which is unfortunate. Incidentally, when I was on the board I found I couldn't view all the subforums without 'upgrading' to Silver Membership for the princely sum of $30. :lol: :lol:
I don't know, I'm still going to check ticketmaster, but I'm finding the whole thing pretty ridiculous now...I can still get seated tickets but I'm not fancying paying that much and spending the whole night wishing I was in the pit...Incidentally, the last time I saw the chili's they requested that everyone stopped moshing, they really don't seem to like it...bizarre.
But thanks for your kind words of encouragement! :)
-
:D The band will agree to play for a certain amount of money. The promoter will work out were the band will play,[country] he will then contact the Agent the agent will then book the venues. The promoter/Agent/Manager will then book P.A Lights Stage props etc. Light companys will charge a standard of 20% of gross P.A companys will charge 20% of gross, The Agent will charge 20% of gross, The promoter will charge 20% of gross, Then the band have to be payed as do the road crew and the bands managment oh yer & before i forget the promoter will charge the band for the actual adverts etc oh & don`t forget the publicity agents will also need to be payed.
£40. for a ticket is not that excessive, as for the bullshitee about millionaires not needing money or should be charging less B*ll*cks !!! Even if i was a millionaire i wouldn`t go through all that shite of touring for nothing just because some student thinks i should. I`d rather stay at home & enjoy spending my money !! If you`d want to see me play then you`d have to make it worth my while !!!
It doesn`t matter even if they only charged £5 for a ticket ypu`d stil be faced with some C**t on Ebay charging £140 + £30 delivery charge !! It`s not the bands fault. I agree the system is totally unaceptable but that`s not the bands fault. Get in contact with the trading standards office & lodge a complaint & let them dig around to find out what happend to all the tickets.
:D 8)
-
every time a big show goes on sale here in ireland (it seems to be the same in england) the tickets are virtually impossible to get anywhere. u2 played three nights at croke park in dublin, about 88,000 people a night, and each one sold out in minutes! i tried online for all three, was online before 9 o'clock each time, and was completely unable to get through each time.
i'm no coldplay fan, so i wasn't lookng for tickets, but i found out that the tickets for their dublin show were alost all "pre-sold" to english agencies before they went on sale, so only a tiny handful of irish fans were actually able to get any. the same has now happened with the robbie williams gig.
the whole system is crooked, and it almost puts me off wanting to go to shows, having to find new ways of finding tickets and being expected to always pay over the odds for them.
actual fans are being ripped off and pissed all over by crooked ticket agents.
-
Hey JT, I thought gross profit was the money made after expenses had gone out to promoters, agents etc...like I said before, that might be incorrect, I don't know.
Even if i was a millionaire i wouldn`t go through all that shitee of touring for nothing just because some student thinks i should.
Firstly, what does it matter if I'm just 'some student'? Does it make my opinion any less significant, any more worthless? Or are you attempting to go with the stereotype that as I'm a student I don't pay for anything and want eveything for free? Well, either way, you're very much misguided - I certainly do believe bands should make money and I definitely do not begrudge them that!
And whether £40 or not is fair in relation to other bands isn't really the point I'm getting at. What I'm trying to question is whether or not £40 is ever actually a fair sum to pay to see a band, if that makes sense. Or is the profit margin being pushed higher and higher? When I saw the Chili's 3 years ago at the same venue they are playing this year, tickets were £25 inc. booking fee. Now, that £20 increase (again, including booking fee), is surely an increase above the rate of inflation?
I don't begrudge bands making money, I'm happy for them to do that. I'm just sad and frustrated at what I perceive to be artists taking their fans for a ride. As I said before, the $30 needed to join the RHCP fanclub so you can get access to pre-sales; the ever-spiralling ticket prices; the constant reissue of albums with 'UK Bonus Track' and so on...I'm just finding it hard to stomach all that, what I see as blatant dollar-chasing. I think some companies aren't treating their punters with a fair amount of respect, basically. I expect to pay to see bands, I expect to pay to get a CD, I never said otherwise. But I am disheartened, like Blue, with the seemingly ceaseless corporatization of modern music.
It may be unrealistic; it may be naive; but I'm still allowed to have my principles.
(For what it's worth JT - I don't want this to come across in any way as a personal thing with you, cos its not mate, it's just my opinion about the music biz and it winds me up! :wink: :) )
-
:D Gross profit is the sum total of all moneys gathered before any deductions. You`ll notice that all the people involved are taking a minimum of 20% of the gross. Do you remember Bros the pop band ? They wrote a book i don`t no what its called were they explained how it was that they had sold out tours of football stadiums & not ended up with a single penny. It`s because everybody was taking there money out of the gross. Again mate you`ve missed the point. The bands don`t dictate the prices of the tickets or there availability it`s being done by promoters Venues & agencys. Again don`t hold the bands responsible complain to the Trading standards office in your area. Ask them to investigate, the more noise you make the more they will have to do something. As for the rise in ticket charges again you`ve missed the point. Name me anything that`s got cheaper in the last 5 years...........exactley you can`t. Nothing gets cheaper the increases are in line with everything & most other bands. The more people want to see the gig the bigger the venues the higher the overheads etc. And on top of it all the managment/promoters/agents etc all taking there % of the gross this is why bands don`t make any money touring.
:D 8)
-
:Do you remember Bros the pop band ? They wrote a book i don`t no what its called were they explained how it was that they had sold out tours of football stadiums & not ended up with a single penny.
Actually, Bros go down in the record books as the only band to play Wembley Stadium and NOT sell it out. They had to move the stage forward a lot just so it didn't look too empty. :lol:
Muttley
-
The only gig I've actually paid to see was dragonforce and mendeed - £9. Awesome gig, aswell.
The prices that are charged for mainstream bands though is ridiculous. The sad fact is, there are people who are willing to pay hundreds for their tickets. The industry (and ebay) can basically name their price, and people will pay it. Sucks for those of us who'd rather buy a pickup than spend one and a half hours listening to a band we like, but there's really no way round it anymore.
-
It's interesting you say that, jt, I stand corrected! :D So, how do bands make their money then? If its not through touring, and CD sales don't make a great deal, then how do they get their money? I have heard that thing about Bros, but I thought that was a pretty extreme example, I'm sure their managers shafted them royally!
As for the rise in ticket charges again you`ve missed the point. Name me anything that`s got cheaper in the last 5 years...........exactley you can`t. Nothing gets cheaper the increases are in line with everything & most other bands.
I could be a real smart arse and point something out (computer chips or something), but thats not really the point. I'm not saying that the chili peppers are charging a disproportionate amount compared to other bands, but rather that I think the pricing structure of all large scale gigs is over-inflated.
I do think many record companies take vast liberties with their fanbases these days; I think they exploit them simpy because they know someone somewhere will always buy it - be it a reissued album with new track, a single issued in 3 different formats, a greatest hits with complimentary new half-arsed song. I know that this is the standard these days, but I find it sad that these processes have become so ingrained into the culture of the music industry that we don't even question these things anymore. Is it fair? Is it exploitative? Just because all the other bands do it doesn't make it right, IMO.
For instance, I read on the RHCP forum about those Gold fanclub memberships you could buy for $40. They got you access to the Pre-sale tickets, of which there was a limit of 4 tickets per membership. However, early on the website incorrectly said you could get 6 tickets, and the ticketmaser website menu also allowed you to get 6. So some guys just bought the 6 tickets. Now they're being told that it should only have been 4 tickets so they're either going to have to buy another Gold Fanclub Membership for $40 or give back the extra 2 tickets. Even though this will free up a few tickets for fans like me, I still completely disagree with it. The mistake lies with the RHCP administration, so they are culpable in my eyes. But no! They must get their pound of flesh :(
I'm not meaning to rage specifically on the chili peppers. And I'm not against the music business - I understand that the minute you sign on the dotted line money is always going to be a concern; it's a business after all. But I'm sick and tired of being exploited and taken for a ride by multinational record labels just because they know they can. I will pay my money to see my favourite bands, and I will buy the new albums and singles and all that, but I don't appreciate being taken for a mug by the record companies. If I want to buy an album and it costs £15 - fine. I'm not happy with it, but unfortunately I'm going to have to pay that, aren't I? There's nothing else I can do. But I'm still allowed to retain the right to be unhappy with it.
Now fansites with lyrics and tabs on are being shut down and/or sued. I'm tired of this. If the record companies want to know why a large proportion of today's generation couldn't give a $%&# about profits dropping as a result of filesharing, why we don't believe them if they say they are concerned for the future of music, well they'd do well to have a look at themselves and their millionaire company CEO whose just taken a dedicated fan of a band to court simply because he published lyrics of the songs he loves on a website.
Simply, it stinks. :(
-
Corporate control is all gonna get a lot worse in the next couple of years when "Trusted Computing" is enabled on the new Microsoft Vista operating system.
If you don't know about it I suggest you do a bit of research. In a nutshell all the devices (PCs, Mobiles, PDAs) we purchase will have hardware security as well as software Digital Rights Management.
Legally purchased music / software will never really be under your control. You will be watched by the "Electric Eye"
True freedom is the freedom to do "wrong" and morallity is the personal choice to do "right".
I'm not writing this in support of file sharing and copyright violation, it's an artists work and they have a moral right to get paid.
But remember that "mixtape" or CD you made/recieved from a friend or girlfriend that may have changed your musical tastes and ultimatly led to hundreds of legal purchases. We were/are "breakin' the law" and that'll be a thing of the past.
Effectively this can lock you out of your own system and limit when and what files you access to and for how long.
AMD/Intel/Microsoft/Sony/Nokia/Phillips and many more are all signed up.
The ramifications of this for music distribution are huge and way too depressing to detail here but if you think we're being screwed now...
"YA GOTTA NUTHER THING COMMIN..."
(P.S. - I've been watching the new Judas Priest DVD - can ya tell)
-
woah that sounds scary dave...
like the judas priest stuff as well.... nice touch...
btw why 'afghan' dave?
-
Well the Afghan bit is easy, I was born there.
I'm proud to mess with cultural stereotypes and assumptions about what Afghans might be like. I think I was the only Afghan with permed long hair and into Megadeth & Faster Pussycat in 1990 though I could be wrong.
After spending a few hours in a bar kicking back shots and talkin’ chit, I kinda like to drop in my heritage.
I’m grateful for the freedoms which we enjoy in England. Others fought so hard to secure them.
It really bothers me that we are sleepwalking into a distopian future where I can’t have a cigarette and a drink with friends but must carry an ID card.
I’m half Afghan – I’m half Yorkshire-man and I’m proud to be British.
The value of liberty is only understood when it is lost.
-
wow that was quite inspirational...
i expected you to break out next with "i have a dream!.."
but no seriously... compelling stuff
-
Thanks.
I'm going out to a bar now to find some titties...mmmm
I love them lady lumps... :lol: :lol:
-
hahaha!
there was me thinking you were in deep thought about the cultural problems in our lives...
-
Well personally it really bothers me that there ever was a dystopian time in which I couldn't even walk down a street without having people breathing smoke into my face.
You can't have the right to fill a place with smoke without infringing upon everyone else's right to have the place not full of smoke. If you want to kill yourself then fine, but do it somewhere where it doesn't bother everyone else.
[/spam]
-
well said GT...
dunno what that spam thing means though lol ?!
-
well, since my post has nothing to do with the thread, it was spam, so I thought I'd mention that. I still had to post it though, people who complain about their rights being taken away without thinking about anyone else really get on my nerves.
-
good on ya
-
well, since my post has nothing to do with the thread, it was spam, so I thought I'd mention that. I still had to post it though, people who complain about their rights being taken away without thinking about anyone else really get on my nerves.
I am tired of the hypocrisy regarding smoking, personally. I think it should simply be legal and free to smoke wherever you want, or completely illegal. As the government needs the money from cigarette taxation too much, it has sought to demonise the smoker in order to score easy points with the public.
The idea that smokers breathe their smoke directly into your face is borne of this demonization - the way of phrasing it implies that the person smoking is deliberately and antagonistically breathing into your face...like its a personal 'us V them' situation??
I don't like smoking, and I don't like what the effects of smoking actively and passively have done to various members of my family. But I strongly disagree with the Government's stance on this. I think that people have a right to practise what is a completely legal activity as and when they want to. I mean, of course I can also understand why people would not wantsomeone smoking near them. But I think a lot of everyday people who in the past few years have become more vocal in their opposition of public smoking, are motivated not so much by the health concerns they frequently mention, but rather on a day-to-day basis of the more mundane aspects - i.e. the smell rubbing off onto your clothes. Which frankly is ridiculous, to demonize a whole group of society just because you don't like a minor pastime that they practise. That's of course, not all of the anti-smokers, and fair play to you if you truly are motivated by health concerns. I just think that our society nowadays exists on a basis of Good Vs Evil, and canonizing the 'good' and demonizing the 'bad', when really society is never going to be as simple as that.
That's just my opinion though...
-
I totally agree with anybody who objects to the harm my (passive) smoking inflicts upon those in close proximity.
I also support any effort to protect workers such as bar men and women.
I do feel that it is a direct infringement upon civil liberties to outlaw my hypothetical club venture “Afghan Dave’s Smoke Shack” A bar staffed by adult smokers serving drinks to members who also smoke. Smoking is still legal.
I would have more sympathy it you suggested totally outlawing it. If it’s so wrong let’s not be hypocritical and tax it.
Politicians should stop spending the tax revenue if they feel so strongly and the sanctimonious non-smokers should be prepared to fill the gap in the exchequers revenue will increased income tax.
-
:D As was pointed out earlier in the thread most bands don`t make money touring. Although it`s more acurate to say they don`t make profits from touring, they generally generate enough to pay band members wages as it were but not enough to make money on top of that.
The idea of touring was to help increase the sales of your albums the idea being that after you`d made your 3rd to 4th album the band would be selling lots of albums & at that point you`d renegotiate your contract with your record company. Genesis tell the story that they were bankrupt & pennyless when they played Knebworth in i think 76/77. But they had such a large fan base that there record deal was up so when they moved from Charisma they got offered a huge sum of money & a great points return on every sale they made. The Chilis have been going for years, believe me they`ve renegotiated there deal !!
As for CD sales i have no sympathy with the industry what so ever for the download issue. It`s there own fault for forcing people to pay £15 for 1 single cd. I like most if not all the people on this forum use a shareware file service. It`s a great way of listening to an album to hear if it`s any good or not before buying it !!! . I`ve found that far to many Albums get stunningly overated reviews, so downloading songs from the album is a great way of hearing before buying.
As for the survival of the industry as it currently stands it`s not going to survive :twisted: & as far as i`m personnaly concerned good ridance to bad, rip off, Cr@p. The trueth is no ones buying this F***ing S**t because its utter F***ing Cr@p not because there illegally downloading it. The internet is the future, Bands not being tied down to or even needing record companys [ Majors] & then able to tie up deals with touring inorder to make money is the way to go.
:D 8)
-
eBay isn't all rip off prices, a lot of the time touts buy tickets that end up losing money for them. we got to see The Darkness last night for £15 each. the guy who I went with is going to see the chili's at MEN, and he's got extra tickets that he's not sure whether to sell or not. if he sells them, I'll let you guys know as he won't charge extortionate prices on them.
-
Hey Willo, see this yet?
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/online_downloads/red_hot_chili_peppers_first_single_preview_posted_online.html
-
Hey Dakine, I have seen that actually yeah (but thanks! :D ), I got tipped off! :wink: I think the idea of having a trailer for an album is quite humorous!
I've got a full bootleg of the new song played live, although it's acoustic. I've got boots of about five or so of the new songs that I can upload if anyone wants me to? (they're all live versions)
-
check the new post
-
Hey, I've just had some better luck with tickets - not the Chili Peppers, but even better as far as I'm concerned! I just bought my tickets to see John McLaughlin and Shakti at the Gateshead Sage, very very very excited about this, a chance to see a living legend! :D :D