Don't Buy PJ Premium/Platinum Seating. We'll Help Each Other Find Good Seats.

arwooten7

nicknyr15 said:

The guy is my hero. How he’s handled this is incredible. To see bands like PJ and Bruce participate in this shit is disgusting. I’m way more offended by this than the fact that they’re playing Texas. I know. Weird. 

What a weird thing to say.. you’re offended they’re playing Texas?? Smh

JBob87

Hoagie Breath said:

tim131 said:

Great post!

@Go Animal are there typically ticket drops (at face value) day of or even week of the show?

For Springsteen there were drops at face value. I saw tickets for $1,000's of dollars due to dynamic pricing, but for every show, was able to get face value tickets through drops (MSG Included)

This right here has worked for me trying to score tickets online for years now.

 And if you find yourself striking out with this method, go old school. Head on over to the box office of the venue the day of the show around lunchtime and wait patiently and see if anything becomes available. Usually by three or four p.m. the stage crew is done erecting the stage and seats almost always become available, and they're some of the best seats in the house on either side of the stage at face value minus all the service fees to boot. Been doing this since high school in the late 80's after learning this trick from a much older and wiser hippie in the parking lot of The Spectrum before a Dead show in 1988.

I have very rarely been shut out of a show that I wanted into using these day-of-show methods. And if I couldn't score tickets, or was broke, there still are ways. Some less legal than others, but they exist lol. Sneaking in, paying a security guard a few bucks to open a door and look the other way (note: I have not used this method post 9/11 and all the security camera's everywhere as a result. But you never know, you may find a guard who decided this was their last day on the job and wants to secure some extra seperation $ lol), smoking pens outside the building with a 38 inch high fence and a guard whose head is buried in their phone lol, fan 2 fan, etc. Use your imagination. You want in bad enough, you'll find a way. I always have.

How do you think I've seen every PJ show in Philly/Camden besides the first show at Dobb's?

I don't get great seats anymore thru Ten Club either. I joined the Ten Club after PJ played The Troc in '92 (yes my number was insanely low) but let it lapse, not once, but twice. With a little help from the ex-wife the first time (cancelled the credit card without my knowledge and deleted all emails from TC warning about impending doom) and an unscheduled vacation the second time (if you know what I mean) lol.

These days I use the TC as a way into the building. Now with the lottery, people travelling, shorter tours, and option to buy multiple shows, there is no guarantee. Even back the day you only got TC tickets to one show of the tour. So if you wanted in, you found a way. Same applies today.

Now all of this only applies if its a local show for you. And I'll admit I'm just lucky that my favorite band seems to love my city and plays here way more than most other cities.

But the one thing I never did was pay scalper. Never, not even once. And that's all this premium crap is. I enjoy great seats as much as the next person, but at the end of the day, I'm just happy that I'm in the building rocking out. Its about the music man. Get your ass in the building but don't spend your savings account trying too.

I hope this helps someone out. Enjoy the shows!

Just wanna say I love you man this was epic. Great read and good tidbits.

JH6056

HailHailVitalogy said:

StephanieL19 said:

GREAT POST!

I find it hard to understand why the band would allow Premium Seating at $4000 in the first place!

They’ve stated in their ticketing info sent out a few times, that 10% of the venue goes to Ticketmaster’s premium pricing, so they can secure the other 90% of tickets for 10c tickets.

But they have a choice to not allow ANY premium pricing. I've looked at tickets for Madison Sq. Garden a few times in the last 5 months and there were some shows with NO premium pricing.  The Cure did NO premium pricing at their shows.

It's a choice the artist can make, and when they DO do premium pricing, the artist gets a cut of that too.  So unless PJ states clearly that they have no choice in the matter, even the 10% premium is a choice they're making or going along with.

JH6056

Eddieredder said:

Go Animal said:

pjhawks said:

you know the less people buy the premium the more the 10C tickets will be in future tours right? they specifically said the premium tix were used to off set higher tickets for the 10 Club.  Not saying I don't agree in principle with the OP but until Ticketbastard is broken up Premium Tix are here to stay.

I would disagree. I think by refusing to buy Premium or Platinum forces the band (and its LLC) to have a more cost efficient option for its regular fans.

The newsletter did indeed state that, but that doesn't mean having Premium/Platinum is the ONLY solution.

That's just the solution they chose.

But not buying Premium, we are telling them that it was the wrong solution.

Good point. There are definitely alternatives. Raise the prices across the board. $200+ tixs vs $165. Tier pricing? Pit Tix are now $400-500. $100 posters? Higher 10c fees? Higher priced verified fans tix? Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Thats for sure.  

Or... don't do any of that.  These are CHOICES and I'm not being naive, PJ doesn't have outrageous staging, super high-tech sets and lights and videos... They could CHOOSE lower ticket prices and no premium.  Unless they make a clear statement that their production costs REQUIRE those prices, (including of course making money to pay everyone), then there is a level of "We will charge this much here, because we can. And people will still buy it."  It's getting so expensive and ridiculous, I fully agree that it's important to vote with our dollars... fewer of those dollars, or no dollars if the prices stay premium/dynamic/surge level.

nicknyr15

arwooten7 said:

nicknyr15 said:

The guy is my hero. How he’s handled this is incredible. To see bands like PJ and Bruce participate in this shit is disgusting. I’m way more offended by this than the fact that they’re playing Texas. I know. Weird. 

What a weird thing to say.. you’re offended they’re playing Texas?? Smh

I was being sarcastic and referencing another thread about people being angry about them playing Texas. Sorry for the confusion. 

scootiep7

I'm a bit confused on how people are even getting the option to buy these platinum tickets.  When I try to see what's available it says it's for verified presale only.  I was waitlisted for Indy but never got a code to get in.  When does the F2F start and how do you get in?  

Go Animal

scootiep7 said:

I'm a bit confused on how people are even getting the option to buy these platinum tickets.  When I try to see what's available it says it's for verified presale only.  I was waitlisted for Indy but never got a code to get in.  When does the F2F start and how do you get in?  

2nd or 3rd week of May, and everyone can participate

apirk72

JH6056 said:

HailHailVitalogy said:

StephanieL19 said:

GREAT POST!

I find it hard to understand why the band would allow Premium Seating at $4000 in the first place!

They’ve stated in their ticketing info sent out a few times, that 10% of the venue goes to Ticketmaster’s premium pricing, so they can secure the other 90% of tickets for 10c tickets.

But they have a choice to not allow ANY premium pricing. I've looked at tickets for Madison Sq. Garden a few times in the last 5 months and there were some shows with NO premium pricing.  The Cure did NO premium pricing at their shows.

It's a choice the artist can make, and when they DO do premium pricing, the artist gets a cut of that too.  So unless PJ states clearly that they have no choice in the matter, even the 10% premium is a choice they're making or going along with.

Did those bands have fan club tickets?  Because that is the difference if they dont.  Maybe I am wrong but what I understand is that Pearl Jam got more tickets at face value to give to their fan club and in return they agreed to let ticketmaster do premium seating on some remaining tickets.  They had to give something to get something and they seemed to value getting more tickets that they could get directly into their fan club hands. 

Adi T

I don't care about Premium Tickets - if someone's willing to pay a million for a seat let them charge a million. The fundamental problem is TM/10C can lower prices for the premium tickets if demand is low, but Premium ticket holders cannot. Guess who ends up holding the bag? 

demetrios

Go Animal said:

 do NOT buy PJ Premium tickets. 

Go Animal

Adi T said:

I don't care about Premium Tickets - if someone's willing to pay a million for a seat let them charge a million. The fundamental problem is TM/10C can lower prices for the premium tickets if demand is low, but Premium ticket holders cannot. Guess who ends up holding the bag? 

Ooh, I know! I know!🙋‍♂️

SHZA

JH6056 said:

Eddieredder said:

Go Animal said:

pjhawks said:

you know the less people buy the premium the more the 10C tickets will be in future tours right? they specifically said the premium tix were used to off set higher tickets for the 10 Club.  Not saying I don't agree in principle with the OP but until Ticketbastard is broken up Premium Tix are here to stay.

I would disagree. I think by refusing to buy Premium or Platinum forces the band (and its LLC) to have a more cost efficient option for its regular fans.

The newsletter did indeed state that, but that doesn't mean having Premium/Platinum is the ONLY solution.

That's just the solution they chose.

But not buying Premium, we are telling them that it was the wrong solution.

Good point. There are definitely alternatives. Raise the prices across the board. $200+ tixs vs $165. Tier pricing? Pit Tix are now $400-500. $100 posters? Higher 10c fees? Higher priced verified fans tix? Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Thats for sure.  

Or... don't do any of that.  These are CHOICES and I'm not being naive, PJ doesn't have outrageous staging, super high-tech sets and lights and videos... They could CHOOSE lower ticket prices and no premium.  Unless they make a clear statement that their production costs REQUIRE those prices, (including of course making money to pay everyone), then there is a level of "We will charge this much here, because we can. And people will still buy it."  It's getting so expensive and ridiculous, I fully agree that it's important to vote with our dollars... fewer of those dollars, or no dollars if the prices stay premium/dynamic/surge level.

Of course it's a choice. They could choose to make tickets free and fund the shows from their personal fortunes, but why would they? The reality is that they decide how much they want to make on the tour, and set prices accordingly. Selling x number of tickets at a premium price allows them to reduce the price of the remaining tickets and still hit the target. Take away platinum and that money needs to come from somewhere else to reach the goal. It's simple math. If you think it's too expensive, by all means vote with your dollars and don't go. But as long as there are 20,000 people for each show who think it's not too expensive, prices aren't going to drop. Plenty of Springsteen fans thought it was ridiculous and expensive and chose not to attend, yet they still sold out the entire run. 

As for the original topic, I completely agree with Animal. Be patient and we'll all get good F2F face value options. But there's a small niche of the fan base that can afford to drop stupid money and would rather just pay for the convenience of having premium tickets in hand. That's OK and it's fine to have an option that caters to that demographic. But the point is that there's no need to panic buy if you're not that person because better options will become available. 

bchambers05

I have a single ticket available for night 1 in St Paul, currently its section 111 but I'm awaiting another reassignment as that might change. Do they open us up to sell these in May sometime?

Eddieredder

JH6056 said:

Eddieredder said:

Go Animal said:

pjhawks said:

you know the less people buy the premium the more the 10C tickets will be in future tours right? they specifically said the premium tix were used to off set higher tickets for the 10 Club.  Not saying I don't agree in principle with the OP but until Ticketbastard is broken up Premium Tix are here to stay.

I would disagree. I think by refusing to buy Premium or Platinum forces the band (and its LLC) to have a more cost efficient option for its regular fans.

The newsletter did indeed state that, but that doesn't mean having Premium/Platinum is the ONLY solution.

That's just the solution they chose.

But not buying Premium, we are telling them that it was the wrong solution.

Good point. There are definitely alternatives. Raise the prices across the board. $200+ tixs vs $165. Tier pricing? Pit Tix are now $400-500. $100 posters? Higher 10c fees? Higher priced verified fans tix? Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Thats for sure.  

Or... don't do any of that.  These are CHOICES and I'm not being naive, PJ doesn't have outrageous staging, super high-tech sets and lights and videos... They could CHOOSE lower ticket prices and no premium.  Unless they make a clear statement that their production costs REQUIRE those prices, (including of course making money to pay everyone), then there is a level of "We will charge this much here, because we can. And people will still buy it."  It's getting so expensive and ridiculous, I fully agree that it's important to vote with our dollars... fewer of those dollars, or no dollars if the prices stay premium/dynamic/surge level.

But with choices come effects and consequences. Thats just life. So is your recommendation, and many others think this way, that the band should just eat it and take less? Considering current standard pricing for most shows, it looks like they already do that.  

Its really easy to make suggestions about other peoples $, especially when you don't have any idea about how things break down. 

Go Animal

Thanks, @SHZA. And another board member made a valid point about anxiety from uncertainty.

There are people out there that like to have their entire trips planned to a T, and don't want to take any chances (or have the time over the summer).

So if somebody just wants to get good tickets (and can afford it) out of the way and book their hotel & their flight and just not think about it till September, that's totally understandable.

Thankfully, I'm flexible & like to roll the dice😉and we've been around long enough on here to know that amazing tickets can appear any day & at any time. The hunt is part of the fun!

Go Animal

bchambers05 said:

I have a single ticket available for night 1 in St Paul, currently its section 111 but I'm awaiting another reassignment as that might change. Do they open us up to sell these in May sometime?

2nd or 3rd week of May is what I heard

RatherStarved

Go Animal said:

Thanks, @SHZA. And another board member made a valid point about anxiety from uncertainty.

There are people out there that like to have their entire trips planned to a T, and don't want to take any chances (or have the time over the summer).

So if somebody just wants to get good tickets (and can afford it) out of the way and book their hotel & their flight and just not think about it till September, that's totally understandable.

Thankfully, I'm flexible & like to roll the dice😉and we've been around long enough on here to know that amazing tickets can appear any day & at any time. The hunt is part of the fun!

The other thing to keep in mind, is that, every once in a while, tickets get hot at the end.  Like, the Leads game the other night, the closer it got to puck drop the more expensive the remaining tickets were.  That’s definitely the exception, not the rule, but I think what happens is someone sees a price they can live with, and they avoid the risk of waiting and then the only prices are ones they can’t live with.  100% agree this is the dynamic that platinum exploits.  And 9 times out of 10 if you can hold off you will prevail in the end.  But once in a while the strategy could backfire.  If you go to lots of shows it’s just collateral damage if you miss one.  But if someone is only going to one or two I can see them making the purchase.  

RatherStarved

Leafs 

josevolution

There’s not a band going that I would pay over 200$ to see! 

static111

josevolution said:

There’s not a band going that I would pay over 200$ to see! 

same