F*****G Ticketmaster

[KC native]

So today my friend and I try to buy Tool tickets for the show at Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie and it's the usual bs. My friend can't get in and then it took me 4 tries to get pit tickets. We needed 7 tickets but I could only cover 3 so my friend was going to grab the other 4. Luckily I got in when I did because at 10:07 the show was sold out (went on sale at 10) and then pit tickets were posted on stub hub for $542.

On top of all that there were an additional $17.25 in additional fees so an $80 ticket jumped to $97 and then there was another $5 service charge for the overall order. Goddamn 20% of face value fees and 17.7% of total purchase was fees. **** TICKETMASTER!

IIRC Didn't they get in trouble for exorbitant fees before?

[Demonpenz]

yeeeaaaaaaa i am going to say you missed the triple irony i was laying down

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

I remember when Pearl Jam cancelled the last half of a tour because ticketmaster was assraping their fans.

They're arent the first ones that have done this either. I think Korn did it once back in the day as well.

[morphius]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

yeeeaaaaaaa i am going to say you missed the triple irony i was laying down

Think of it as a lack of caring

[Demonpenz]

Originally Posted by morphius

Think of it as a lack of caring

have a good weekend

[morphius]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

They're arent the first ones that have done this either. I think Korn did it once back in the day as well.

The problem is that so many venues are locked into ticket master that there is almost no other way to get into a large venue. Of course they probably need to charge that much to pay off the venues to let them stay locked in.

[morphius]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

have a good weekend

You as well, lol.

[KC native]

Originally Posted by TrebMaxx

My policy is to never use Ticketmaster. My little form of protest. Too bad I can't get more people to protest with me but as the great P.T. Barnum is rumored to have once said ...

"There's a sucker born every minute"

Unfortunately you can't do that here. There are only a few venues that you can avoid ticketmaster on. One is the House of Blues and even with them you can't avoid it entirely. Some artists have contracts with Ticketmaster so you have to buy from them (you even get a fee if you walk up and buy them at the door on the day of the show). There's also a couple smaller venues that if you want to risk not being able to buy tickets at the door because of a sellout that will let you bypass ticketmaster.

There is another outfit here called frontgate tickets but they are just as bad as ticketmaster with their fees so all in all in Dallas Fort Worth you get ****ed either way.

[Skip Towne]

Originally Posted by TrebMaxx

My policy is to never use Ticketmaster. My little form of protest. Too bad I can't get more people to protest with me but as the great P.T. Barnum is rumored to have once said ...

"There's a sucker born every minute"

I'll bet your boycott brings Ticketmaster to its knees.

[Nixhex]

I try to buy my tickets from the box office of the venue the show is at if at all possible. I've hated TicketRaper for a long time. What a F@$&%$ racket that place is.

[Chiefnj2]

Canada has it right:

An additional $250 million class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of all persons in Canada who purchased tickets from Ticketmaster for an event anywhere in Canada (other than Ontario) and were charged a convenience fee, or additional service charges over and above the issued price of the ticket.

The initial $500 million class action lawsuit was filed on February 9, 2009 on behalf of all persons who purchased tickets for an event in Ontario via Ticketmaster or TicketsNow. This expansion of the lawsuit of February 9, 2009 alleges that any transaction for the purchase of tickets via Ticketmaster or Ticketmaster Canada is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario; which laws preclude the selling of tickets at a price higher than at which they were first issued.

The second class action lawsuit was brought by a Plaintiff in Edmonton, Alberta. On November 21, 2008, the Plaintiff visited www.ticketmaster.ca to purchase one ticket to see David Byrne perform in Edmonton, Alberta on February 22, 2009; and on December 13, 2008, visited www.ticketmaster.ca to purchase four tickets to see Jay Leno perform on February 26, 2009 in Edmonton, Alberta.

In the case of the David Byrne ticket, the website listed the ticket's price as being $55.50. As the Plaintiff completed the purchase, he was also charged and paid a building/facility charge of $1.65, a convenience charge of $10.25, and a $4.35 order processing fee, resulting in an actual cost of $71.75 for the ticket. In the case of the tickets to Jay Leno's performance; the website listed the face price of each ticket as being $79.00. As the Plaintiff completed the purchase, he was also charged and paid a convenience charge of $5.00 per ticket and a $2.50 order processing charge, resulting in an actual cost of $338.50 for the four tickets, or $84.60 per ticket. The suit alleges that Ticketmaster Canada sold the Plaintiff five tickets at a price higher than that at which they were first issued.

Class members who are currently included in the first class action lawsuit may not participate in the class action lawsuit filed February 12, 2009.

[Arsonist]

From what i can find out about a tool concert series

18th July Mile High Music Festival, CO
19th July Energy Solutions Centre, Salt Lake City, UT
25th July Nokia Centre, Dallas, TX
1st August All Points West Festival, Jersey City, NJ
8th August Lollapalooza Festival, Grant Park, Chicago, IL

I pray everynight they come to KC or close

[KC native]

Originally Posted by Arsonist

From what i can find out about a tool concert series

18th July Mile High Music Festival, CO
19th July Energy Solutions Centre, Salt Lake City, UT
25th July Nokia Centre, Dallas, TX
1st August All Points West Festival, Jersey City, NJ
8th August Lollapalooza Festival, Grant Park, Chicago, IL

I pray everynight they come to KC or close

They probably will. The Dallas show just sprang up out of no where.

[Arsonist]

Hope so, I'll be on the net checking periodically through the next weeks

[Buck]

I went to a Tool Concert back in 2006. It was in the Qualcomm Stadium Parking lot. There were so many people (it was standing only, no seats), probably about 20,000 or so.

As soon as they started playing, the whole crowd started moving. About 15 people were crushed and suffered pretty serious injuries. It was the craziest thing ever.

Maynard actually told the band to stop playing during The Pot because it was getting out of hand.

[Buck]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/f...1a13scene.html

Street Scene melee: 'It just happened'

Promoter, officials cite safety measures
By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC

August 13, 2006

'Look out for your brothers and sisters. No one has to die in rock 'n' roll.”

Those cautionary words at last weekend's Street Scene from Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of Tool, were as sobering as any of the lyrics he subsequently intoned during his band's simultaneously galvanizing and chilling performance.

Few rock acts create music that can be as rousing and aggressive, or as thoughtful and intricate, often all at once.

Fortunately, no one did die during Tool's nine-song set, which began with “Stinkfist,” a song that includes such lines as Constant over-stimulation numbs me / But I would not want you any other way.

However, 14 fans were injured and hospitalized – three in life-threatening condition – in the wake of Tool's performance. More than 100 others were treated and released on site during and after Tool's performance, according to authorities.

“We have always been very pro-safety conscious at Street Scene. We spent a year planning this event,” said festival founder Rob Hagey, breaking his media silence for the first time since the event concluded early last Sunday morning.

“I know how hard we worked with Staff Pro (which provided on-site security). And we worked very diligently with Tool's security personnel and with the San Diego Police and Fire departments. It's because we had additional security at the event that we were able to be very pro-active in responding during Tool's set. Some of my key staff people were with me in front of the stage during Tool, working to solve the whole situation.”

Led by the charismatic Keenan, who declined an appointment to West Point in order to pursue a career in music, Tool performed in front of a loudly enthusiastic, multi-generational audience, whose size was estimated by authorities at between 15,000 and 18,000. A majority of the fans who sought medical assistance were treated for dehydration, heat exhaustion and minor injuries such as twisted ankles, authorities said.

City officials, who praised Street Scene's layout and security measures, described the surging crush of fans as “a freak accident.”

But there are few quick or easy answers about why Tool's headlining performance at Street Scene went wrong, or why the same band's performance in April at the Coachella festival in Indio created a comparatively less volatile crowd response.

In both instances, Tool performed nearly identical sets. In both instances, the four-man band headlined on a Saturday night. In both instances, excited fans pushed and shoved to get close, at least during the first few songs, before being calmed down by Keenan.

The excitement level was intensified by the fact Tool was returning to the concert stage after a hiatus from touring of several years. The band's music is a potent mix of punk-rock fury, heavy-metal thunder and prog-rock complexity.

Keenan's lyrics can be dark and disquieting one moment, barbed or surreal the next. His band eschews spotlights in favor of moody backlighting and eye-popping videos of otherworldly creatures, which are projected on large screens at the rear of the stage.

Because Tool was one of the few Street Scene acts whose performance was not shown on the video screens on the sides of the stage, authorities said Thursday they believe fans may have pushed forward from the rear of the venue to better see the band.

And the Tool crowd at Street Scene may have been larger than anticipated, said Police Capt. Bill Edwards, because of Saturday's last-minute cancellation by pop-punk favorites My Chemical Romance.

“Because the stage My Chemical Romance was scheduled to play on went dark early, a lot of people who might have been watching them came over to watch Tool instead, and it caused the crowd at Tool to surge,” Edwards said.

“Plus, people are in a much different state at the beginning of the event than they are at the end. I think we thought everything was in place. But you can't predict everything. And, obviously, there were some exacerbating circumstances that led to this unfortunate situation. It just happened.”

A key to calming down the Street Scene audience was Keenan, who was praised by Hagey and city officials who were on the scene. Most of the injuries, according to fire department officials, occurred near the beginning of the concert, when the crowd moved forward.

During his band's second number, an anthem-like song of defiance called “The Pot,” Keenan repeatedly implored the audience to chill out.

“Step back so you don't get trampled. It's just rock,” Keenan said. Later, he told the crowd: “If you all take a couple of steps back, we can keep playing. That's two feet (back), instead of somebody's life. . . . ”

City officials met Thursday to begin their “after-action” analysis. It will be several weeks before they issue any formal suggestions for tweaking next year's festival in the massive Qualcomm Stadium parking lot.

One likely suggestion, several said, is to implement the use of multiple stage barriers. Sometimes called “T-barriers” because of their shape, such barriers were used for Tool's performance at Coachella. They provide added protection for fans by separating them into different areas, which can help prevent the scary surge of people that occurred near the front of the stage during Tool's performance here.

Even without this “stacked” barrier approach, the overall consensus among officials is that last weekend's Street Scene was well-planned and executed.

“The people at Street Scene did everything we asked them to do,” said Garrett Pryor, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department's fire prevention supervisor of special events. “And through many many years of experience in doing this, we thought we'd laid the event out to accommodate well over the number of people who attended.”

Inevitably, however, there will be changes to the plan, said Fire Marshall Sam Oates, who has helped oversee Street Scene since its inception in 1984.

“There's no question that all the entities involved will come up with some recommendations for next year that would prevent this from happening again.”