The tout laws make no sense whatsoever. I had a spare ticket for Blur a few weeks ago, so decided to go down and sell it to someone and beat the touts. The stupid thing is I brought a sign to advertise I was selling cheaper than the touts. Police came along and told me to rip it up. Touts can shout as much as they like about selling tickets at extortionate prices in the street, but having a sign saying you'll sell 1 ticket cheaply (and thus forcing the competition to lower their prices) isn't allowed?
The law is no way going to change to stop touts, if anything the laws act in their favour. There should really be a way of getting refunds on spare tickets, so people get their money back on the ticket and there's one centralised box office that can release the returned tickets. There are SO many ways of reducing or eliminating touting, but none of them have come into practise.
Rant over
Paul
'06 - London, Dublin, Reading
'07 - Katowice, Wembley, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
'09 - London, Manchester, London
'12 - Manchester, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen
Why can't they just stick who ever bought the tickets name on the ticket and that they have to bring proof of identity to match the ticket.
Surely that would stop them... :?:
This is something that Nine Inch Nails already do for their fan club issed tickets (another member of the Jamily kindly directed me to a link about this earlier) - I seriously think this is a good idea. Could a member of the Pearl Jam management or even 10c perhaps help us with this query? Could they give us an idea of if this kind of thing is possible? I will also put this in the letter I write to the ticket booking agency.
I think this is a fair system
London Brixton Academy 1993, Wembley Arena (Both Nights) 1996, Wembley Arena 2000, London Astoria 2006, Reading Festival 2006, Verona Italy 2006, London Wembley Arena 2007, Copenhagen Denmark 2007,
London Shepherds Bush Empire 2009, Manchester Evening News Arena 2009, London O2 Arena 2009
Dublin, Belfast, Hyde Park 2010
Manchester Arena 1 and 2, Stockholm, Oslo 2012
Amsterdam 1 and 2, Leeds, Milton Keynes Bowl 2014
Wrigley Field 1 and 2 2016 London 1 and 2 2018 Fenway Park 1 and 2 2018
The tout laws make no sense whatsoever. I had a spare ticket for Blur a few weeks ago, so decided to go down and sell it to someone and beat the touts. The stupid thing is I brought a sign to advertise I was selling cheaper than the touts. Police came along and told me to rip it up. Touts can shout as much as they like about selling tickets at extortionate prices in the street, but having a sign saying you'll sell 1 ticket cheaply (and thus forcing the competition to lower their prices) isn't allowed?
The law is no way going to change to stop touts, if anything the laws act in their favour. There should really be a way of getting refunds on spare tickets, so people get their money back on the ticket and there's one centralised box office that can release the returned tickets. There are SO many ways of reducing or eliminating touting, but none of them have come into practise.
Rant over
The thing is it's against the law to re-sell tickets to sports events, so it can be done.
I'll never understand why the UK laws say it's wrong to re-sell tickets to a football match but to a concert it's okay.
I've said it earlier in this thread but at the time it wasn't met with much enthusiasm. But when Bob Dylan did a small show a couple of months back, only the person whose credit card was used to purchase the tickets could pick them up (and you had to bring along identification) and they wrist-banded you and your guest the second you picked them up, so you couldn't go out and re-sell them on the street in front of the venue. It pretty much stopped the touting for that show altogether and that was in a similar size venue, and it all went very smoothly and was a very easy process.
When I saw The Who at a small venue last year they did something similar. Tom Waits for his shows last year also made it that only the person who bought the tickets could pick them up plus they had to name their guest weeks in advance of the show. There were no tickets on eBay for any of those shows despite all three having hardcore, really dedicated fans.
I realise Pearl Jam do this sort of thing with their fan club tickets but I don't understand why they can't do it for tickets bought elsewhere. Maybe it's impractical for a big arena show, but I can't imagine it would be a big problem for small shows like the Astoria and the Empire. If Bob Dylan, The Who and Tom Waits can do it (and Tom Waits did this for his entire European tour, not just one date!) then I'm genuinely confused why Pearl Jam can't or don't want to do this too.
Post edited by ML on
1992 - London ULU 1993 - London Finsbury Park - Brixton Academy x2 1995 - Reading Festival (with Neil Young) 1996 - London Wembley Arena x2 2000 - London Wembley Arena 2006 - Later With Jools Holland - Reading Festival 2007 - London Wembley Arena 2009 - London Shepherd's Bush Empire - O2 Arena 2010 - London Hyde Park 2012 - London Hammersmith Apollo x2 (EV solo)
Come on guys, doesn't all of this make you appreciate the ten club ticket purchase process more now?
Not when you don't get a ticket, no not really!!
It's great what they do, I am not taking anything away from 10c, I just wish more 10clubbers could have gone via the pre-sale. I found it bizarre that the 10c pre sale ended AFTER the HMV sale but hopefully I get another chance to be lucky if they play a small venue again.
Rock on!!!!
Seen Pearl Jam 4 times in London, once in Manchester, as well as an Eddie show at Hammersmith.
I just don't understand why the government controls the sale of sports tickets but not music.
I don't know for sure, but I assume that tickets for sporting events are more tightly controlled as a result of the Hillsborough disaster and the Lord Justice Taylor Report.
2000/05/29 Wembley Arena, London, UK 2006/04/20 The Astoria, London, UK 2006/08/29 Gelredome, Arnhem, Netherlands 2007/06/18 Wembley Arena, London, UK 2009/08/18 O2 Arena, London, UK 2010/06/25 Hyde Park, London, UK 2012/06/20 MEN Arena, Manchester, UK 2012/07/30 Hammersmith Odeon, UK (Eddie Vedder solo show) 2013/02/10 O2 Academy Islington, UK (Brad) 2013/09/19 O2 Academy Brixton, UK (Soundgarden) 2014/07/08 first direct Arena, Leeds, UK 2014/07/11 MK Bowl, Milton Keynes, UK 2017/06/06 Hammersmith Odeon, UK (Eddie Vedder solo show) 2018/07/17 O2 Arena, London, UK 2022/07/08 Hyde Park, London, UK 2022/07/09 Hyde Park, London, UK 2024/06/25 Co-op Live, Manchester, UK
I just don't understand why the government controls the sale of sports tickets but not music.
I don't know for sure, but I assume that tickets for sporting events are more tightly controlled as a result of the Hillsborough disaster and the Lord Justice Taylor Report.
Supposedly this is a 'safety' issue with football matches because crowds are segregated. The government has no issue with the principle of exploiting football supporters, they just don't want them kicking each others' heads in when they get there.
If this is a law that applies to all sporting events it doesn't seem to be one that is particularly stringently enforced anyway. I've been on seatwave and seen the number of Ashes tickets for sale.
They either make reselling tickets illegal, which they won't, or we curse out luck and move on.
I don't see them ever making it illegal because it is to all intents and purposes a victimless crime. You go into the transcation knowing exactly what you are buying and how much you are paying for it and if you get the goods in return then both parties are happy(well almost). Now unless the touts are some gun running, drug smuggling terrorist outfit and your money is going to finance some really dodgy activities then no one has been hurt or harmed in this process. Policing touting of tickets would be such a mammoth task and the touts would still find a way round it that I doubt any police force would see it as any kind of priority.
They either make reselling tickets illegal, which they won't, or we curse out luck and move on.
I don't see them ever making it illegal because it is to all intents and purposes a victimless crime. You go into the transcation knowing exactly what you are buying and how much you are paying for it and if you get the goods in return then both parties are happy(well almost). Now unless the touts are some gun running, drug smuggling terrorist outfit and your money is going to finance some really dodgy activities then no one has been hurt or harmed in this process. Policing touting of tickets would be such a mammoth task and the touts would still find a way round it that I doubt any police force would see it as any kind of priority.
This is true, but making it illegal would force Ebay touts out of business and drive 'real' touts back onto the streets. The internet has made scalping too easy, and the law needs to address that.
To be honest, I never really had a big issue with touts who went out of their way to source tickets then stand around in the rain on the night of the gig shifting them. I've bought from them in the past. These days there are just too many opportunistic fucks who can set up a computer programme to get them tickets from one website then put them up for sale from another minutes later. It has skewed the market because any moral-free-zone can set themselves up as a minor level tout, meaning there are undeniably less face value tickets making there way to people who intend to actually go to the gig/cricket match/whatever.
They avoided answering my complaint about the huge profits touts make reselling tickets and my suggestion that it should be made illegal to sell tickets over their face value, which would solve the problem of touts making huge profits from fans, and also making sure fans only pay the recommended price of the event.
Surely this is the answer, if they won't make the whole business of touting illegal then it should be controlled, say 10% of face value added on at the most, so everyone has a chance to buy tickets. Lets face it who can afford to pay £200.00+ per ticket plus beer money, poster, t-shirt, accommodation, travel, especially if like me you need 2 tickets (gotta keep throwing it out there just in case!! ) especially when the face value is 400% less?
I have bought tickets from ebay before and I was grateful at the time, but it gets worse and worse each year.
That ignores the laws of supply and demand, and on eBay, that is the the prevailing laws.
People sell them at those prices because people pay them.
If we saw two tickets on eBay, right now, for £60 each (over 10% of the face value), most would buy them in a heart beat. So then you are back to square 1 with more people willing to pay the price than are available, so then it goes to the people willing to pay the most, and then we have eBay.
They either make reselling tickets illegal, which they won't, or we curse out luck and move on.
I wonder how many "fans" would be willing to sell their tickets at a premium - say £200 a throw?
more action / effort need to be applied to ensuring hat the tickets make it into the hands of genuine fans in the first place.
This is true, but making it illegal would force Ebay touts out of business and drive 'real' touts back onto the streets. The internet has made scalping too easy, and the law needs to address that.
To be honest, I never really had a big issue with touts who went out of their way to source tickets then stand around in the rain on the night of the gig shifting them. I've bought from them in the past. These days there are just too many opportunistic fucks who can set up a computer programme to get them tickets from one website then put them up for sale from another minutes later. It has skewed the market because any moral-free-zone can set themselves up as a minor level tout, meaning there are undeniably less face value tickets making there way to people who intend to actually go to the gig/cricket match/whatever.
But by making it illegal then they would then have to police it. When you see how many tickets are on sale on ebay never mind the many websites that are around plus the legalised touting of getmein etc. then the scale of the 'problem' is so massive that the resources they would need to throw at it would be hard to justify. i think it is down to the bands, management, promoters and dare i say it the ticket companies to try and tackle this problem but as it costs money for little return then it's unlikely to happen. All those groups are happy that something they are involved in has sold out. They have made their money and they have little to gain by chasing a secondary market. You'll get the occasional attempt like NIN, Tom Waits etc that will make some move to block touts but this will be a just a token attempt by an industry that doesn't really care. The other issue is the market is so fluid new gigs are announced every day it would be impossible to keep up.
This is true, but making it illegal would force Ebay touts out of business and drive 'real' touts back onto the streets. The internet has made scalping too easy, and the law needs to address that.
To be honest, I never really had a big issue with touts who went out of their way to source tickets then stand around in the rain on the night of the gig shifting them. I've bought from them in the past. These days there are just too many opportunistic fucks who can set up a computer programme to get them tickets from one website then put them up for sale from another minutes later. It has skewed the market because any moral-free-zone can set themselves up as a minor level tout, meaning there are undeniably less face value tickets making there way to people who intend to actually go to the gig/cricket match/whatever.
But by making it illegal then they would then have to police it. When you see how many tickets are on sale on ebay never mind the many websites that are around plus the legalised touting of getmein etc. then the scale of the 'problem' is so massive that the resources they would need to throw at it would be hard to justify. i think it is down to the bands, management, promoters and dare i say it the ticket companies to try and tackle this problem but as it costs money for little return then it's unlikely to happen. All those groups are happy that something they are involved in has sold out. They have made their money and they have little to gain by chasing a secondary market. You'll get the occasional attempt like NIN, Tom Waits etc that will make some move to block touts but this will be a just a token attempt by an industry that doesn't really care. The other issue is the market is so fluid new gigs are announced every day it would be impossible to keep up.
But Ebay wouldn't be able to allow listings that were illegal. Nor would getmein etc. If you make the sites themselves responsible for what is listed on them (which is the case, I believe, since Ebay in the UK does not allow the resale of football tickets) then they would police themselves. People would probably set up illegal websites to get around the problem, but I think less people would be tempted in to make a quick buck without the legitimacy leant to the process by the likes of Ebay.
I agree it'll never happen though. The government doesn't give a fuck. It never has and it never will.
Its amazing that people still dont realise how fucking incredibly shite the current government is and has been for some time.
Incompetence is rife, and when bigger issues are being posed such as how can the countrys chancellor deny a recession when its blindingly obvious as late as last Oct, and how could the previous chancellor (our current Pm somehow), not see it on the horizon despite being in control of the countrys finances and purse strings....thats startling beyond belief.
They live in a cacoon, so sadly the issue of ticket touting/scalping is way down the agenda and much less pressing than collecting their fucking expenses.
This country is on the ropes, in a major way, the level of public debt and the fiscal deficit is now so alarming yet virtually brushed away like a mosquito.
We are talking numbers here that it is so difficult to comprehend, and on that basis does the giant tit brown really give two shits about a pearl jam ticket being sold on ebay for 5 times its worth or more'. sadly not.
The man is a moron, and we just have to start to accept that
Hey, don’t post often here but have been through the last few days trying to get tickets with you guys at every opportunity. What I don’t get is why there was such a huge circus and advertisement campaign around the gig before hand by the 10c and band. It makes no sense to me. For example, smashing pumpkins played a gig at that venue a couple of years ago, didn’t send out emails and only listed the gig ten minutes before they went on sale. In that case, if you miss out because you haven’t been keeping one eye on the band you support, tough luck, and that way the touts don’t get nearly as many tickets. But this HMV circus, stupid lottery, and pathetic ticketweb sale encourages people who have been so unlucky to just splash out big money. It has to, ultimately, come down to the band.
Likewise, just because we’re in the 10c doesn’t mean we have a right to get notification for an event like this, I mean surely the current fans (however long they are fans or whether they’re in 10c or not) that are passionate about this band are keeping an eye on the web site for any gigs, news, goods etc are more important than these fans who say im a member from 1992 blah blah.
Sorry for the one off rant, but im so pissed that I’ve spent 3 days doing no work and reading posts and convincing myself that I need to be at this gig at all costs whereas if I had found out retrospectively that all this went on, I would be less upset thinking I lost out because it was my fault. I know people will always be unlucky, but not as many if they just took 5 logical minutes to do things the right way.
i got tickets to that and it was cool how there wasn't this big fuss made about it, the crowd really felt like they were privleged to be in such a cool venue seeing such a great band. that was an awesome gig.
2006 - Astoria, Dublin, Leeds
2007 - London
2009 - London, Manchester, London
2010 - Dublin, Belfast, London
2011 - Alpine Valley x2
2012 - Isle of Wight, Manchester x2
For example, smashing pumpkins played a gig at that venue a couple of years ago, didn’t send out emails and only listed the gig ten minutes before they went on sale. In that case, if you miss out because you haven’t been keeping one eye on the band you support, tough luck, and that way the touts don’t get nearly as many tickets. But this HMV circus, stupid lottery, and pathetic ticketweb sale encourages people who have been so unlucky to just splash out big money. It has to, ultimately, come down to the band.
Agree 100% with that. Only people on the mailing list new about it and tickets were only announced a day or two before on their website. No fanfare or stupid hmv link and I got tickets, through ticketweb, very easily. It snuck under the tout radar and only the hardcore fans knew about it. And this was their first gig here in 7 years! (Albeit minus darcy and james).
Wembley 00 (Night 1)Cardiff 00 Astoria 06 Jools Holland Recording 06 (I met Ed!)Reading 06 Katowice 07 Wembley 07 Shepherds Bush 09 O2 London 09 Hard Rock Calling 10 Manchester 12 Night 1 and 2
For example, smashing pumpkins played a gig at that venue a couple of years ago, didn’t send out emails and only listed the gig ten minutes before they went on sale. In that case, if you miss out because you haven’t been keeping one eye on the band you support, tough luck, and that way the touts don’t get nearly as many tickets. But this HMV circus, stupid lottery, and pathetic ticketweb sale encourages people who have been so unlucky to just splash out big money. It has to, ultimately, come down to the band.
Agree 100% with that. Only people on the mailing list new about it and tickets were only announced a day or two before on their website. No fanfare or stupid hmv link and I got tickets, through ticketweb, very easily. It snuck under the tout radar and only the hardcore fans knew about it. And this was their first gig here in 7 years! (Albeit minus darcy and james).
Yeah, nevermind the fact that Pearl Jam is trying to promote their new album or that the HMV sale got people to pre-order the album (regardless of how many of us may have then cancelled the order).
Its amazing that people still dont realise how fucking incredibly shite the current government is and has been for some time.
Incompetence is rife, and when bigger issues are being posed such as how can the countrys chancellor deny a recession when its blindingly obvious as late as last Oct, and how could the previous chancellor (our current Pm somehow), not see it on the horizon despite being in control of the countrys finances and purse strings....thats startling beyond belief.
They live in a cacoon, so sadly the issue of ticket touting/scalping is way down the agenda and much less pressing than collecting their fucking expenses.
This country is on the ropes, in a major way, the level of public debt and the fiscal deficit is now so alarming yet virtually brushed away like a mosquito.
We are talking numbers here that it is so difficult to comprehend, and on that basis does the giant tit brown really give two shits about a pearl jam ticket being sold on ebay for 5 times its worth or more'. sadly not.
The man is a moron, and we just have to start to accept that
//Tangent Alert On//
Erm, I wasn't really trying to get party political with that statement about the government not giving a fuck. I don't think a Tory government would give a shit either. There is a political class in this country to which nearly all MPs belong, and that class would view ticket touting as the kind of 'enterprise' that 'creates wealth' and keeps this country on its feet.
//Tangent Alert Off//
Not everyone spends all ther waking mins on the net. it doesn't make you any more of fan because you sit and hit F5 in the vain hope a small club gig might be announced on your fav bands website.
I do however agree that maybe more of an effort could have been made to ensure more 10c members got tickets as you have shown a commitment to the band by becoming a fanclub member.
It's night on impossible to keep anything secret once it's on the net these days.
Its amazing that people still dont realise how fucking incredibly shite the current government is and has been for some time.
Incompetence is rife, and when bigger issues are being posed such as how can the countrys chancellor deny a recession when its blindingly obvious as late as last Oct, and how could the previous chancellor (our current Pm somehow), not see it on the horizon despite being in control of the countrys finances and purse strings....thats startling beyond belief.
They live in a cacoon, so sadly the issue of ticket touting/scalping is way down the agenda and much less pressing than collecting their fucking expenses.
This country is on the ropes, in a major way, the level of public debt and the fiscal deficit is now so alarming yet virtually brushed away like a mosquito.
We are talking numbers here that it is so difficult to comprehend, and on that basis does the giant tit brown really give two shits about a pearl jam ticket being sold on ebay for 5 times its worth or more'. sadly not.
The man is a moron, and we just have to start to accept that
//Tangent Alert On//
Erm, I wasn't really trying to get party political with that statement about the government not giving a fuck. I don't think a Tory government would give a shit either. There is a political class in this country to which nearly all MPs belong, and that class would view ticket touting as the kind of 'enterprise' that 'creates wealth' and keeps this country on its feet.
//Tangent Alert Off//
Back on track… anyone got a spare
Absolutely agreed. and I wasnt having a go at you or anyone else, more so at the shambolic mess this country finds itself in.
For example the labour party recently sold a house to itself to create some money? did it pay stamp duty? no it used a stamp duty saving scheme that is frowned upon by the revenue as a loophole, basically shafting itself of £50k. really that is incredible. Rules it seems are only there to be broken
At least two of us have reports from confirmed sources that NO industry types have been allocated tickets for Shep Bush. If there ARE any going around they will have been few and far between despite previous shows...
I think I might be one of those two people, but just to reiterate, someone I know at a record label informs me that there are no tickets for this floating around at all
LOL sorry Doc, you were one Say - could you use your time machine to go back and get us all ticket? ;-)
Not everyone spends all ther waking mins on the net. it doesn't make you any more of fan because you sit and hit F5 in the vain hope a small club gig might be announced on your fav bands website.
I do however agree that maybe more of an effort could have been made to ensure more 10c members got tickets as you have shown a commitment to the band by becoming a fanclub member.
It's night on impossible to keep anything secret once it's on the net these days.
Sorry, I didn't mean to call someone who isnt checking the net for events not real fans. I know fans are not necessarily on the net often checking, i just think that having the dedication to check the page for things like that would be worth the possibility of making a gig and not paying extortionate prices for tickets.
For example, smashing pumpkins played a gig at that venue a couple of years ago, didn’t send out emails and only listed the gig ten minutes before they went on sale. In that case, if you miss out because you haven’t been keeping one eye on the band you support, tough luck, and that way the touts don’t get nearly as many tickets. But this HMV circus, stupid lottery, and pathetic ticketweb sale encourages people who have been so unlucky to just splash out big money. It has to, ultimately, come down to the band.
Agree 100% with that. Only people on the mailing list new about it and tickets were only announced a day or two before on their website. No fanfare or stupid hmv link and I got tickets, through ticketweb, very easily. It snuck under the tout radar and only the hardcore fans knew about it. And this was their first gig here in 7 years! (Albeit minus darcy and james).
Yeah, nevermind the fact that Pearl Jam is trying to promote their new album or that the HMV sale got people to pre-order the album (regardless of how many of us may have then cancelled the order).
Ii doubt a single person who bought the album on pre-sale through HMV would not have went on to buy it anyway, in fact it couldn't be further than the audience they need to promote sales of the album to.
Not happy... lost out in the 10c lottery, got stitched up by HMV and then got held up on
I have now paid £200 on ebay for a ticket. The seller has SIX tickets!!
Fed up and skint!
One thing I have noticed, is that there are no LEVEL ONE tickets for sale. Who has those?
My guess is record industry plebs.
who's this seller? please!
He's sold out and the tickets are for LEVEL ONE, he made a mistake saying they were for stalls.
Putting my detective hat on, I would say he works in the music industry!!
Brixton Academy 30/06/92 (cancelled), London Astoria 01/07/92 (cancelled), London Finsbury Park 11/07/93, Brixton Academy 13/07/93,
Brixton Academy 14/07/93, Wembley Arena 18/06/97, Shepherds Bush Empire 11/08/09, London 02 Arena 18/08/09,
London Hyde Park 25/06/10, Manchester Arena 20/06/12, Manchester Arena 21/06/12, Hammersmith Apollo 30/07/12, Leeds Arena 08/07/14, Hammersmith Apollo 06/07/17, Hammersmith Apollo 07/07/17, London 02 Arena (18/06/18), London 02 Arena 19/06/18 (cancelled), London 02 Arena 17/07/18, London Hyde Park 08/07/22, London Hyde Park 09/07/22
He's sold out and the tickets are for LEVEL ONE, he made a mistake saying they were for stalls.
Putting my detective hat on, I would say he works in the music industry!!
I think so too, especially since all the ticket sales were limited to two per person.
1992 - London ULU 1993 - London Finsbury Park - Brixton Academy x2 1995 - Reading Festival (with Neil Young) 1996 - London Wembley Arena x2 2000 - London Wembley Arena 2006 - Later With Jools Holland - Reading Festival 2007 - London Wembley Arena 2009 - London Shepherd's Bush Empire - O2 Arena 2010 - London Hyde Park 2012 - London Hammersmith Apollo x2 (EV solo)
Comments
The law is no way going to change to stop touts, if anything the laws act in their favour. There should really be a way of getting refunds on spare tickets, so people get their money back on the ticket and there's one centralised box office that can release the returned tickets. There are SO many ways of reducing or eliminating touting, but none of them have come into practise.
Rant over
'06 - London, Dublin, Reading
'07 - Katowice, Wembley, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
'09 - London, Manchester, London
'12 - Manchester, Manchester, Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen
I think this is a fair system
London Shepherds Bush Empire 2009, Manchester Evening News Arena 2009, London O2 Arena 2009
Dublin, Belfast, Hyde Park 2010
Manchester Arena 1 and 2, Stockholm, Oslo 2012
Amsterdam 1 and 2, Leeds, Milton Keynes Bowl 2014
Wrigley Field 1 and 2 2016
London 1 and 2 2018
Fenway Park 1 and 2 2018
The thing is it's against the law to re-sell tickets to sports events, so it can be done.
I'll never understand why the UK laws say it's wrong to re-sell tickets to a football match but to a concert it's okay.
I've said it earlier in this thread but at the time it wasn't met with much enthusiasm. But when Bob Dylan did a small show a couple of months back, only the person whose credit card was used to purchase the tickets could pick them up (and you had to bring along identification) and they wrist-banded you and your guest the second you picked them up, so you couldn't go out and re-sell them on the street in front of the venue. It pretty much stopped the touting for that show altogether and that was in a similar size venue, and it all went very smoothly and was a very easy process.
When I saw The Who at a small venue last year they did something similar. Tom Waits for his shows last year also made it that only the person who bought the tickets could pick them up plus they had to name their guest weeks in advance of the show. There were no tickets on eBay for any of those shows despite all three having hardcore, really dedicated fans.
I realise Pearl Jam do this sort of thing with their fan club tickets but I don't understand why they can't do it for tickets bought elsewhere. Maybe it's impractical for a big arena show, but I can't imagine it would be a big problem for small shows like the Astoria and the Empire. If Bob Dylan, The Who and Tom Waits can do it (and Tom Waits did this for his entire European tour, not just one date!) then I'm genuinely confused why Pearl Jam can't or don't want to do this too.
1993 - London Finsbury Park - Brixton Academy x2
1995 - Reading Festival (with Neil Young)
1996 - London Wembley Arena x2
2000 - London Wembley Arena
2006 - Later With Jools Holland - Reading Festival
2007 - London Wembley Arena
2009 - London Shepherd's Bush Empire - O2 Arena
2010 - London Hyde Park
2012 - London Hammersmith Apollo x2 (EV solo)
Not when you don't get a ticket, no not really!!
It's great what they do, I am not taking anything away from 10c, I just wish more 10clubbers could have gone via the pre-sale. I found it bizarre that the 10c pre sale ended AFTER the HMV sale but hopefully I get another chance to be lucky if they play a small venue again.
Seen Pearl Jam 4 times in London, once in Manchester, as well as an Eddie show at Hammersmith.
2000/05/29 Wembley Arena, London, UK
2006/04/20 The Astoria, London, UK
2006/08/29 Gelredome, Arnhem, Netherlands
2007/06/18 Wembley Arena, London, UK
2009/08/18 O2 Arena, London, UK
2010/06/25 Hyde Park, London, UK
2012/06/20 MEN Arena, Manchester, UK
2012/07/30 Hammersmith Odeon, UK (Eddie Vedder solo show)
2013/02/10 O2 Academy Islington, UK (Brad)
2013/09/19 O2 Academy Brixton, UK (Soundgarden)
2014/07/08 first direct Arena, Leeds, UK
2014/07/11 MK Bowl, Milton Keynes, UK
2017/06/06 Hammersmith Odeon, UK (Eddie Vedder solo show)
2018/07/17 O2 Arena, London, UK
2022/07/08 Hyde Park, London, UK
2022/07/09 Hyde Park, London, UK
2024/06/25 Co-op Live, Manchester, UK
If so, that is gutting!
it has been reported that happened, HMV have denied it, but some people bought from them at 3.30pm yesterday
Supposedly this is a 'safety' issue with football matches because crowds are segregated. The government has no issue with the principle of exploiting football supporters, they just don't want them kicking each others' heads in when they get there.
If this is a law that applies to all sporting events it doesn't seem to be one that is particularly stringently enforced anyway. I've been on seatwave and seen the number of Ashes tickets for sale.
I don't see them ever making it illegal because it is to all intents and purposes a victimless crime. You go into the transcation knowing exactly what you are buying and how much you are paying for it and if you get the goods in return then both parties are happy(well almost). Now unless the touts are some gun running, drug smuggling terrorist outfit and your money is going to finance some really dodgy activities then no one has been hurt or harmed in this process. Policing touting of tickets would be such a mammoth task and the touts would still find a way round it that I doubt any police force would see it as any kind of priority.
Hmmm... Typical. I spend a week in front of my computer and as soon as I get away, they throw some more tickets out there. Wank.
This is true, but making it illegal would force Ebay touts out of business and drive 'real' touts back onto the streets. The internet has made scalping too easy, and the law needs to address that.
To be honest, I never really had a big issue with touts who went out of their way to source tickets then stand around in the rain on the night of the gig shifting them. I've bought from them in the past. These days there are just too many opportunistic fucks who can set up a computer programme to get them tickets from one website then put them up for sale from another minutes later. It has skewed the market because any moral-free-zone can set themselves up as a minor level tout, meaning there are undeniably less face value tickets making there way to people who intend to actually go to the gig/cricket match/whatever.
I wonder how many "fans" would be willing to sell their tickets at a premium - say £200 a throw?
more action / effort need to be applied to ensuring hat the tickets make it into the hands of genuine fans in the first place.
more action / effort need to be applied to ensuring hat the tickets make it into the hands of genuine fans in the first place.[/quote]
yeah i would
But by making it illegal then they would then have to police it. When you see how many tickets are on sale on ebay never mind the many websites that are around plus the legalised touting of getmein etc. then the scale of the 'problem' is so massive that the resources they would need to throw at it would be hard to justify. i think it is down to the bands, management, promoters and dare i say it the ticket companies to try and tackle this problem but as it costs money for little return then it's unlikely to happen. All those groups are happy that something they are involved in has sold out. They have made their money and they have little to gain by chasing a secondary market. You'll get the occasional attempt like NIN, Tom Waits etc that will make some move to block touts but this will be a just a token attempt by an industry that doesn't really care. The other issue is the market is so fluid new gigs are announced every day it would be impossible to keep up.
But Ebay wouldn't be able to allow listings that were illegal. Nor would getmein etc. If you make the sites themselves responsible for what is listed on them (which is the case, I believe, since Ebay in the UK does not allow the resale of football tickets) then they would police themselves. People would probably set up illegal websites to get around the problem, but I think less people would be tempted in to make a quick buck without the legitimacy leant to the process by the likes of Ebay.
I agree it'll never happen though. The government doesn't give a fuck. It never has and it never will.
Incompetence is rife, and when bigger issues are being posed such as how can the countrys chancellor deny a recession when its blindingly obvious as late as last Oct, and how could the previous chancellor (our current Pm somehow), not see it on the horizon despite being in control of the countrys finances and purse strings....thats startling beyond belief.
They live in a cacoon, so sadly the issue of ticket touting/scalping is way down the agenda and much less pressing than collecting their fucking expenses.
This country is on the ropes, in a major way, the level of public debt and the fiscal deficit is now so alarming yet virtually brushed away like a mosquito.
We are talking numbers here that it is so difficult to comprehend, and on that basis does the giant tit brown really give two shits about a pearl jam ticket being sold on ebay for 5 times its worth or more'. sadly not.
The man is a moron, and we just have to start to accept that
Likewise, just because we’re in the 10c doesn’t mean we have a right to get notification for an event like this, I mean surely the current fans (however long they are fans or whether they’re in 10c or not) that are passionate about this band are keeping an eye on the web site for any gigs, news, goods etc are more important than these fans who say im a member from 1992 blah blah.
Sorry for the one off rant, but im so pissed that I’ve spent 3 days doing no work and reading posts and convincing myself that I need to be at this gig at all costs whereas if I had found out retrospectively that all this went on, I would be less upset thinking I lost out because it was my fault. I know people will always be unlucky, but not as many if they just took 5 logical minutes to do things the right way.
There I said it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unclench,
haha
i got tickets to that and it was cool how there wasn't this big fuss made about it, the crowd really felt like they were privleged to be in such a cool venue seeing such a great band. that was an awesome gig.
2007 - London
2009 - London, Manchester, London
2010 - Dublin, Belfast, London
2011 - Alpine Valley x2
2012 - Isle of Wight, Manchester x2
Agree 100% with that. Only people on the mailing list new about it and tickets were only announced a day or two before on their website. No fanfare or stupid hmv link and I got tickets, through ticketweb, very easily. It snuck under the tout radar and only the hardcore fans knew about it. And this was their first gig here in 7 years! (Albeit minus darcy and james).
Yeah, nevermind the fact that Pearl Jam is trying to promote their new album or that the HMV sale got people to pre-order the album (regardless of how many of us may have then cancelled the order).
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmgphotos/4731512142/" title="PJ Banner2 by Mister J Photography, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1135/4731512142_258f2d6ab4_b.jpg" width="630" height="112" alt="PJ Banner2" /></a>
//Tangent Alert On//
Erm, I wasn't really trying to get party political with that statement about the government not giving a fuck. I don't think a Tory government would give a shit either. There is a political class in this country to which nearly all MPs belong, and that class would view ticket touting as the kind of 'enterprise' that 'creates wealth' and keeps this country on its feet.
//Tangent Alert Off//
Back on track… anyone got a spare
I do however agree that maybe more of an effort could have been made to ensure more 10c members got tickets as you have shown a commitment to the band by becoming a fanclub member.
It's night on impossible to keep anything secret once it's on the net these days.
Absolutely agreed. and I wasnt having a go at you or anyone else, more so at the shambolic mess this country finds itself in.
For example the labour party recently sold a house to itself to create some money? did it pay stamp duty? no it used a stamp duty saving scheme that is frowned upon by the revenue as a loophole, basically shafting itself of £50k. really that is incredible. Rules it seems are only there to be broken
I would, but the flux capacitor is broken...
Sorry, I didn't mean to call someone who isnt checking the net for events not real fans. I know fans are not necessarily on the net often checking, i just think that having the dedication to check the page for things like that would be worth the possibility of making a gig and not paying extortionate prices for tickets.
Ii doubt a single person who bought the album on pre-sale through HMV would not have went on to buy it anyway, in fact it couldn't be further than the audience they need to promote sales of the album to.
He's sold out and the tickets are for LEVEL ONE, he made a mistake saying they were for stalls.
Putting my detective hat on, I would say he works in the music industry!!
Brixton Academy 14/07/93, Wembley Arena 18/06/97, Shepherds Bush Empire 11/08/09, London 02 Arena 18/08/09,
London Hyde Park 25/06/10, Manchester Arena 20/06/12, Manchester Arena 21/06/12, Hammersmith Apollo 30/07/12, Leeds Arena 08/07/14,
Hammersmith Apollo 06/07/17, Hammersmith Apollo 07/07/17, London 02 Arena (18/06/18), London 02 Arena 19/06/18 (cancelled),
London 02 Arena 17/07/18, London Hyde Park 08/07/22, London Hyde Park 09/07/22
I think so too, especially since all the ticket sales were limited to two per person.
1993 - London Finsbury Park - Brixton Academy x2
1995 - Reading Festival (with Neil Young)
1996 - London Wembley Arena x2
2000 - London Wembley Arena
2006 - Later With Jools Holland - Reading Festival
2007 - London Wembley Arena
2009 - London Shepherd's Bush Empire - O2 Arena
2010 - London Hyde Park
2012 - London Hammersmith Apollo x2 (EV solo)
who's this?