Boycott U2 gigs

lukin

I read in today's Examiner that tickets for U2's June 25/26 gigs at Croke Park are going on sale in the second week of February.
I presume that these tickets will be distributed by those scumbags Ticketmaster. That means that they will probably cost around 100 yo-yo's thanks to their bulls*** "Service charge".
I call on all of those thinking of going to this gig to think again.
These guys have been getting away with robbing people for years for no other reason that they have a complete monopoly on distribution of tickets for entertainment events.
Bono is well known for his ability to influence world heads of state for charitable concerns but he doesn't seem to give a toss that his loyal fans are being screwed every time U2 go on tour.
Pearl Jam tried admirably to stand up to Ticketmaster a few years ago with the result that they no longer tour anymore. At least they showed they were prepared to put their principles before their bank balance and I admire them for it. Could it be that Bono will only attach himself to a cause as long as it doesn't cost him anything?
I've been to see U2 on their three previous tours in Ireland but not this time.
My plea is likely to fall on deaf ears as I'm sure everyone will be falling over each other to fling money at "Ticketbastard".
F**k 'em I say.

only thing to do really is to avoid as much fees as possible by bying from a shop such as soundcellar, who won't include "some" of the ridiculous fees. I don't think its fair to blame U2 for it either.

MrJoeSoap

Deleted User wrote:

I don't think its fair to blame U2 for it either.

I think its perfectly alright to blame U2.

Well when you consider that to sell the tickets for the gig (50,00 and upwards) they'll need the most capable seller who has a good rep and wont print too many or too few, can sell through the most methods (phone, shop, internet, fax, etc) who else can they use?

Ro: maaan!

First off it's the promoter who sets the price. I assume it's MCD in this case. They're the worst for it. Ticketmaster only ever have a service charge which is a percentage of the price that has nothing to do with them. It's rarely over 5 euro. If the tickets are 100 euro then it'll be higher. But it's nothing compared to how much you're being ripped off by MCD. They seem to get away blame free ever time while Ticketmaster get a terrible reputation for being, well... bastards. If you're going to boycott anything let it be MCD.

Also I'd be quite content to blame this on U2 aswell. They don't even need a promoter to sell out Croke Park. They could make just as much money out of it by not paying MCD and lowering the price. It's just easier to use them.

damien

Deleted User wrote:

Well when you consider that to sell the tickets for the gig (50,00 and upwards) they'll need the most capable seller... can sell through the most methods (phone, shop, internet, fax, etc) who else can they use?

It's U2 not some unsigned band.

so they're expected to set up about 100 ticket selling points around hte country for one gig? how much abuse would they get if they tried to sell them themselves? They'd have to set up in a heck of a lot of places and it just wouldn't be worth their time or effort, eventuallt costing more on teh ticket because of this!

PiE

Ro: maaan! wrote:

First off it's the promoter who sets the price. I assume it's MCD in this case. They're the worst for it.

Listen to this man... there's no point blaming TM. While their upper-management might be scum, they're still only 1/2 as scummy as MCD.

Badly Drunk Boy

But why are ticketmaster allowed to have a monopoly on ticket sales (for the most part)? I'm going to a gig next week whose tickets were sold through www.tickets.ie who I think have just started up recently enough. They've only got a handful of gigs on their site at the moment but it'd be nice to see someone other than ticketmaster getting a share of the gigs. A bit of competition is always good for the consumer.

One thing that always annoys me about ticketmaster is that you get your ticket, which says "€30 (inc. booking fee)" but you've had to pay €33 or €34 (if yer lucky....)

Ro: maaan!

There are a few other ticket companies. I only know a few. Ticketlord.ie Tickets.ie Centralticketbureau.com. There are promoters who always use these, but seeing as MCD do pretty much all of the gigs in the Republic that people know about it always goes to Ticketmaster.

That booking fee thing is actually included in the price. It's a service charge they add on after it that's not included. They used to call it handling fee afaik. It's a very small amount.

By the way you can buy tickets for gigs in venues (ie not feilds or stadiums) from the venue box office. They rarely charge anything extra on the ticket. And if they do it's very little. Olympia is the best for it. Central location and far cheaper.

billy the squid

U2 have gone to the dogs in recent times lately anyway. why would you like to spend 100 euros on a ticket to see them anyway.

lukin

By the way you can buy tickets for gigs in venues (ie not feilds or stadiums) from the venue box office. They rarely charge anything extra on the ticket. And if they do it's very little. Olympia is the best for it. Central location and far cheaper.

Yeah but that's hardly realistic for the Croker gigs is it?
Most of the tickets for it will be sold over the 'phone or on ticketmaster.ie.
Ticketmaster's monopoly is only ever a problem when they sell tickets for a major event like a U2 concert.
I also wouldn't agree that they are the most capable seller either.

Well when you consider that to sell the tickets for the gig (50,00 and upwards) they'll need the most capable seller who has a good rep and wont print too many or too few, can sell through the most methods (phone, shop, internet, fax, etc) who else can they use?

The sale of tickets for the first Slane gig in 2001 was a fiasco.
HMV outlets in Dublin,Cork,Galway etc. only had a few hundered tickets.
The vast majority were sold over the 'phone or online. yet still they were all sold in 45 mins.
There was war if I remember correctly. I'm sure they'll f**k it up again this time and there'll be a big hullabaloo and then everyone will forget about it after a while.

robbie1876

Ro: maaan! wrote:

First off it's the promoter who sets the price.

It's the artist who set the price, not the promoter. The promoter is told by the band (or their management) what price to sell the tickets for.

I had this confirmed to me by someone who books one of the bigger international venues in Dublin. Apparantly, the maths work out in this particular venue that the band can charge €28 euro a ticket on average, sell 75% of the tickets and cover all costs including venue hire, promoters fees, Ticketmaster, staff etc. Anything above €28 a ticket is band profit (which obviously may be split between the band, management and the promoters depending on what deal they have worked out for the gig).

comet

Yeah thats right MCD will be calculating their ticket price based on U2s demanded price. Remember Bono said not too long ago about caping the price of their Irish gig price so they do have control over what the ticket price will eventually be.

As for Lukin I suspect you are hoping other people will boycott so that you can sneakily go online that morning and secure some tickets for yourself Sure Ticketmaster is a rip-off but in effect its a monopoly so if you want to see U2 you have no other choice but to use them, a boycott is not a choice for me in this case, new legislation is, lobby your local politician. Either way these tickets will be gone in minutes. Last time out each person could buy 6 tickets each, now thats a ****1n joke, ticketmaster still got the same amount of service charge but with reduced transactions. In reality who is buying a ticket for themselves and 5 other people. Hopefully it will be limited to at most 4 this time and let the aspiring touts f off.

lomb

billy the squid wrote:

U2 have gone to the dogs in recent times lately anyway. why would you like to spend 100 euros on a ticket to see them anyway.

true, true and true.
total crap theyd have to pay me 100 to listen to them
i did a best of compilation the other day from 20+years of u2 and came up with 12 songs strugled to find any more to fill my cd. all these so called artists will go to the wall soon anyway. reason is you can buy a single tune for between 50cent and 1 euro 15 of the best is 15 euro. all there albums have one good tune and 10 **** ones. so soon when music sales online take off bands like u2 will be out in siberia.

lukin

As for Lukin I suspect you are hoping other people will boycott so that you can sneakily go online that morning and secure some tickets for yourself

Heh, heh, if only I could be that devious.

JoeSchmoe

its funny that you are calling for a boycott even before you know a) who is distributing the tickets b)how much they cost

they may be only a fiver and available only through your local Vincent De Paul shop (well its a long shot but you never know )

lukin

its funny that you are calling for a boycott even before you know a) who is distributing the tickets b)how much they cost

It was always going to be Ticketmaster that will distribute them.
Yesterdays's news reports on the tour announcement confirmed that

Jammer

they're 59.50 + service, 5.50 if online, 2 for agents

Keyzer

I almost fell for it but then I realised that this sounds like a ploy to get us to not buy tickets so the original poster can grab a few... Can't believe I didn't think of this already, you guys on boards are crafty pieces of work ...

sharkman

Boy cott ...Huh

I'm off to Brussels on the 10th June to see the boys first European concert ..

Have fun @ home

BrianD

lukin wrote:

I read in today's Examiner that tickets for U2's June 25/26 gigs at Croke Park are going on sale in the second week of February.
I presume that these tickets will be distributed by those scumbags Ticketmaster. That means that they will probably cost around 100 yo-yo's thanks to their bulls*** "Service charge".
I call on all of those thinking of going to this gig to think again.
These guys have been getting away with robbing people for years for no other reason that they have a complete monopoly on distribution of tickets for entertainment events.
Bono is well known for his ability to influence world heads of state for charitable concerns but he doesn't seem to give a toss that his loyal fans are being screwed every time U2 go on tour.
Pearl Jam tried admirably to stand up to Ticketmaster a few years ago with the result that they no longer tour anymore. At least they showed they were prepared to put their principles before their bank balance and I admire them for it. Could it be that Bono will only attach himself to a cause as long as it doesn't cost him anything?
I've been to see U2 on their three previous tours in Ireland but not this time.
My plea is likely to fall on deaf ears as I'm sure everyone will be falling over each other to fling money at "Ticketbastard".
F**k 'em I say.

Lukin you should try and establish the facts before posting! The tickets aren't going to be €100 as you say, they are actually priced from €59.50 which is pretty much the standard outdoor one day event price for the last 3 years.

Bottom line is, Ticketmaster do a pretty good job not withstanding the odd f**k up. Having said that, monopolies aren't good for consumers and there is a variety of small operations popping up biting at their heels - ticketlord, centraltickets and even the WAV box office.

Finally, do not believe for one second that even the coolest most "right on" indie band does not know EXACTLY what everybody in the food chain is making.