Deserve those seats? Beat the Bots

Cahoots

Recently the Foo Fighters had a "beat the bots" ticket presale that was a throw back to the days of old where fans lined up at the stadium to buy tickets, then they had a fan club presale and then ticket sales were open to the public.

I think Pearl Jam should consider this kind of distribution model. It worked really well, and I've got great seats for the Foo's in September because I invested a Saturday morning to line up.

While no one likes to line up, I think the local fans that are willing to wait for hours in line deserve the best seats, and while I appreciate that keep an updated Fan Club membership is also an investment, I think the simple line up is the best way to distribute the best seats.

MayDay10

I dont want to invest a Saturday morning to line up. Its asinine. Its 2015

Cahoots

MayDay10 said:

I dont want to invest a Saturday morning to line up. Its asinine. Its 2015

Come on , you could use the fresh air

CopperTom

No. I don't want to travel to buy tickets. This alienates fans that don't live near a major market. Horrible idea.

PP193448

So basically you have to be local, not work Saturdays, and not have young kids to tote around with you... Yeah, seems like fabulous idea...

pjsteelerfan

Only works for bands that do full tours. Since PJ only plays a handful of shows a year, won't work for them. Going ticketless entry on the other hand could work

Ryan

Scalpers just stand in line, or pay people to stand in line for them. This solves nothing and just inconveniences people, especially those who want to travel to shows.

Zod

I always struggled with lining up for tickets. I grew up in a small town and now I live in a small city. It generally means I have to travel to go to NHL/NBA sized arena shows (our local arena only holds 7000 people so the really big stuff doesn't come here too often). It's hard enough ducking out of work to get to a show.

I ended up with mediorce Foo Fighters tickets because I couldn't spend the 7 hours round trip time to travel to Vancouver.

I guess scalping is way more rampant with online sales (due to bots) but scalping was rampant in the 90s too. Many of the people in the line were paid by scalpers to buy tickets. Concerts in the 90s still sold out minutes, even before ticketmaster went online.

Pearl Jam hasn't played Victoria since 91 or early 92 when they were still small enough to be touring clubs. It would be almost impossible for me to see them in Vancouver or Seattle (the closest big cities to me) if I had to go in person to get tickets :(

Cahoots

PP193448 said:

So basically you have to be local, not work Saturdays, and not have young kids to tote around with you... Yeah, seems like fabulous idea...

Worked well for about 2000 people that Saturday morning (lots of kids having fun in the line)

CopperTom

Not to mention getting tickets takes HOURS. Foo fans did not speak highly of this.

kasedoug

There was also a lottery involved in Beat the Bots, as a random number wristband was drawn as the first to buy tickets and not necessarily the people who had been lined up the longest.

It seemed to work well if you were willing to wait a few hours to avoid the service fees on the tickets. In terms of the "best seats," I know that a huge quantity of prime side stage seats were withheld from Beat the Bots and online sales for band/production/etc. holds (as much as 1/3-2/3 of the lower bowl in LA).

GratefulJam

I used to wait outside the old Spectrum in Philly for Dead tickets in the late 80's. One particular time about 400 people were there 3am in the morning some clown drive his pickup right next to the line and starts blasting Guns and Roses. Forgot the song but the memory is still very vivid!!

HughFreakingDillon

I still think local fans should have first crack at all shows. and do all shows ticketless. no scalping.

CopperTom

HughFreakingDillon said:

I still think local fans should have first crack at all shows. and do all shows ticketless. no scalping.

What about fans who don't get a local show?

Daron Oshay

No thanks

HesCalledDyer

I live 2 hours from the closest arena where any concerts take place. No thank you.

Sarava

HughFreakingDillon said:

I still think local fans should have first crack at all shows. and do all shows ticketless. no scalping.

I agree with this. A ridiculous amount of PJ fans in Chicago got shut out of the Wrigley show. Stuff like that shouldn't happen....or at least should be lessened.

I also like the ticketless idea. Garth Brooks has done that with his tour the past 6 months for all floor seats and it's worked out as intended.

keeponrisin

I don't hate the concept.

Those with GA tickets line up all day for their spot, but clearly different criteria.

I recall going to the local shopping mall at 4am back in the day to wait for the local music store to open as they were a TM retailer. After counting mall walker laps for 5 hours, the doors opened and we all had to draw numbers. I was the earliest by hours, and got pretty much the last number. By the time the store opened, there were about 20 people there. Now that was a waste of time. That was back when I could count shows on one hand. I have sense ran out of digits to count with by leaps and bounds.

pjsteelerfan

Sarava said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I still think local fans should have first crack at all shows. and do all shows ticketless. no scalping.

I agree with this. A ridiculous amount of PJ fans in Chicago got shut out of the Wrigley show. Stuff like that shouldn't happen....or at least should be lessened.

I also like the ticketless idea. Garth Brooks has done that with his tour the past 6 months for all floor seats and it's worked out as intended.

So only people in Chicago should have had a chance to go to Wrigley? Or should have had all the best seats?

CD1083

I'm fine with the 10C tickets that are non-transferable. It keeps scalping minimized and gives everybody a shot at some good seats. If you're a PJ fan, you're likely a 10C member so to me it's the best way.

Not a fan of locals get first shot. Sounds good in premise, but with a limited number of shows, most are traveling and it doesn't remove the scalper element.

Streaming shows online should be an additional option. I can't imagine the amount of money lost by not having this available. Smaller bands like Umphrey's Mcgee do this, don't see why PJ can't.

Sarava

pjsteelerfan said:

Sarava said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I still think local fans should have first crack at all shows. and do all shows ticketless. no scalping.

I agree with this. A ridiculous amount of PJ fans in Chicago got shut out of the Wrigley show. Stuff like that shouldn't happen....or at least should be lessened.

I also like the ticketless idea. Garth Brooks has done that with his tour the past 6 months for all floor seats and it's worked out as intended.

So only people in Chicago should have had a chance to go to Wrigley? Or should have had all the best seats?

No. If the OP's idea was done, anyone could have come and stood in line for tickets. It would be a little more work for out of towners, but if you want to go to another city's show, then whatever. The big thing is it would give people a chance of beating the scalpers, which most systems currently don't allow you to do. And in the case of thew Wrigley show - we saw how bad the scalping was, both with the 10c seats and the non 10c seats.

mondoretro

White Stripes did that in '07. You had to wait out for tickets at the venue, period. Only way to get them. It was awesome and I got front row for their show in an opera house. They blew the roof off that joint.

MayDay10

Paperless and non transferable is the best way to go

Beat the bots wouldn't be good for us with the typical pj schedule. A large amount of people travel to shows as compared to ff.

FrankieG

MayDay10 said:

Paperless and non transferable is the best way to go

Beat the bots wouldn't be good for us with the typical pj schedule. A large amount of people travel to shows as compared to ff.

I agree with this. Tickets should be non-transferable/not re-sellable. If you can't go, then you forfeit your ticket.

I way rather prefer the online system to the in-person 'beat the bots' day. Albeit, if there was a beat the bots day for a venue I could be at then I would go... But you can't buy multiple tickets to multiple shows if you have to do it in person.

shecky

MayDay10 said:

Paperless and non transferable is the best way to go

It really is just that simple.

HughFreakingDillon

CopperTom said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I still think local fans should have first crack at all shows. and do all shows ticketless. no scalping.

What about fans who don't get a local show?

I don't think they should sell to ONLY local people. just first crack. like have limited amount of seats for locals, like a geographical presale. then open it up to everyone else.

MayDay10

I'm not even sure if I'd be able to wait in line all morning at a home show. Or want to. I can't just imagine the lines, the lists, cutting... homeless people in line for scalpers, etc.

DPrival78

having to earn something, rather than being entitled to get it? that's kooky talk

MayDay10

It has nothing to do with "entitlement". It's about creating an unnecessary hassle for no good reason. As far as "earning it". That is what I do when I maintain a job to obtain funds to buy things like tickets... and updating my fan club membership on time.

I don't see how ditching hours of my life and time with kids on a Saturday morning is "earning" anything., or what benefit for anyone it accomplishes. In fact, I could see how it would result in much more scalping than the current system.
We are an aging fan base. Most of us have grown up and have responsibilities. We aren't 20 anymore. A lot of us need to find a babysitter these days just to attend a show (unless you want to score a tambourine). So now we need to block off a quarter of a weekend to wait in line to get tickets,... if we have GA and want a good spot, wait in line all day there (I personally don't do GA), then 4+hours for the show? Personally I was fine with F5 and lottery for the 1st few rows, but the current system is fine (although it does needs a few tweaks).

Its 2015. There are more effective ways to eliminate/reduce scalpers.

HughFreakingDillon

MayDay10 said:

It has nothing to do with "entitlement". It's about creating an unnecessary hassle for no good reason. As far as "earning it". That is what I do when I maintain a job to obtain funds to buy things like tickets... and updating my fan club membership on time.

I don't see how ditching hours of my life and time with kids on a Saturday morning is "earning" anything., or what benefit for anyone it accomplishes. In fact, I could see how it would result in much more scalping than the current system.
We are an aging fan base. Most of us have grown up and have responsibilities. We aren't 20 anymore. A lot of us need to find a babysitter these days just to attend a show (unless you want to score a tambourine). So now we need to block off a quarter of a weekend to wait in line to get tickets,... if we have GA and want a good spot, wait in line all day there (I personally don't do GA), then 4+hours for the show? Personally I was fine with F5 and lottery for the 1st few rows, but the current system is fine (although it does needs a few tweaks).

Its 2015. There are more effective ways to eliminate/reduce scalpers.

still not sure why bands don't do ticketless for entire arenas. why only the "good" seats? that's pointless. especially for a band like PJ, where fans will pay an arm and a leg just to be in the building. maybe ticketbastard doesn't have that option, as they like to scalp their own fucking tickets.

assholes.

PJ_Soul

This seems pretty old fashioned and unnecessary to me. We should embrace the good things that technology can do for us now, including not having to spend our Saturday standing in a line up just for a concert ticket and then acting like we've somehow accomplished something amazing for doing it. There are better ways to beat the bots than that.