Fuck Ticketmaster. I know that I’m not the first person to ever say that. Hell, Pearl Jam spent most of 1995 doing its best to stick it to them only to get fucked in the ass. But my friends, this is because Ticketmaster’s greed cannot be stopped.
A few weeks ago, She & Him announced a small tour consisting of about 6 U.S. shows. The band does not tour often because it’s made up of actress, Zooey Deschanel and musician M. Ward who both have limited free time due to their other projects. 2 shows were scheduled for NYC’s Bowery Ball Room and I was hell bent on going. Not only do I greatly enjoy their music, but what self respecting male wouldn’t want to see Zooey Deschanel in person? I could finally cross it off my bucket list.
I knew I would have a hard time getting tickets but their website announced a pre-sale a week ahead of time. I figured this would be my best opportunity. So, I readied myself on the internet and the second they went on sale they sold out. I shrugged it off and hoped the actual sale would go better.
Minutes before the general public tickets went on sale weeks later, I pretended I got an emergency phone call in the middle of a meeting at work and excused myself. I went to my computer logged into Ticketmaster’s website and refreshed the page approximately 48 times. The exact moment they went on sale my fingers flew and I got fucked on the captcha. Instead of getting something like, “Dog Tree” I got “Colloquialism Rumination” or some other bull shit word that you’ve never seen before or just doesn’t look right. Nevertheless, when it was all said and done it took me about ten seconds and the shit sold out. How is it even possible that hundreds of other people were able to do it faster than 10 seconds? That is some fucked up shit.
Directly after, I went onto E-Bay and Stub Hub and all those kind of places to see if people were selling tickets. Now, the tickets (sans fees) were $25 all general admission. I was willing to pay $50 or $60 a piece for me and my lady. The cheapest I could find them was for $90 each and some going as high as $160. It makes me sick to think that some asshat buys up 7 tickets at a time just to turn a profit and could give a shit about the band, thereby fucking over real fans. Capitalistic bullshit.
To make matters worse, I recently bought 2 tickets to a see a slew of comedians performing together. It had been advertised as costing $25 in advance, $35 day of show. I figured I’d save $20 and order them online ahead of time. With all the bullshit fees it ended up costing $70 altogether. I could have paid the same amount at the door.
Fuck you Ticketmaster! Now I can put you on the list with Philadelphia and Captain Polish for things that have fucked me in the ass.
Thanks.
Turns out, I’m not the only one pissed off.
Dude,
I dont even want to get started on the rampage of ticketmaster and how they love to rape the fans. a 45$ ticket to TCV would turn out to be about 70 dollars after ticketmasters 12$ fee plus the venue fees and a whole other amount of bullshit. They have fucked us over and over again. Why does somebody not stand up to this company and get shit done? I never understood how they could charge a fee to sell a ticket? this makes no sense….. FUCK TICKETMASTER
Okay
Dr Ted Lanceford III
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I hate Ticketmiser.
For years I would gripe about paying the ridiculous, price-gouging fees they charge but last year I finally made good on my threat to stop paying them. Now, I am an avid Rock fan who has gone to hundreds of shows, but I’ve had it. The concertgoing experience has really gone down the toilet in most major venues, with fascist, overzealous security and searches as you go through the gates. It’s made me much less willing to fork over $80 or $100 to see a concert.
I haven’t bothered with the big venues like MSG or the Coliseum for years. Jones Beach used to be the best venue in the universe and now it sucks. For openers, since they built that upper deck that ruined all the acoustics. And the price gouging doesn’t stop there. They charge you EIGHT FREAKIN’ BUCKS for an Aquafina water. Then, just to add insult to injury, they won’t even let you take the bottle from the concession stand. “By request of the band,” they say. Yeah, right.
I’m mostly done with big shows now. I think of my younger self, who used to see top-shelf bands at the Commack Arena for $8. We’d bring in cases of beer because the doors opened two hours before showtime and security showed up one hour beforehand. If you had told him that one day you’d have to pay $100 and endure a body cavity search just to see a damn concert, he would say he’d stop going to concerts. And he would have meant it.
Here on Long Island there are still some cool venues that don’t rape you, like the Bolton Center and Patchogue Theater. (A moment of silence, please, for the late IMAC and its late impressario Michael Rothbard) The Vail-Leavitt in Riverhead has some good music, especially during the Riverhead Blues Festival. And there are any number of bands slogging it out in the local gin joints who would love to see ya!
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