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Deserve those seats? Beat the Bots
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.
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.
Cahoots
1992 VAN
1993 VAN
1998 Missoula
2000 Barcelona & Boise
2002 SEA 2x
2003 VAN
2005 VAN, Calgary, Edmonton & Saskatoon
2006 The Gorge
2009 SEA & VAN
2011 VAN
2013 Portland & VAN
2015 Mexico City
2018 Missoula
1992 VAN
1993 VAN
1998 Missoula
2000 Barcelona & Boise
2002 SEA 2x
2003 VAN
2005 VAN, Calgary, Edmonton & Saskatoon
2006 The Gorge
2009 SEA & VAN
2011 VAN
2013 Portland & VAN
2015 Mexico City
2018 Missoula
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1992 VAN
1993 VAN
1998 Missoula
2000 Barcelona & Boise
2002 SEA 2x
2003 VAN
2005 VAN, Calgary, Edmonton & Saskatoon
2006 The Gorge
2009 SEA & VAN
2011 VAN
2013 Portland & VAN
2015 Mexico City
2018 Missoula
2005 - Sept 1 George, Sept 8 Winnipeg
2006 - May 9/10 Toronto, June 26/27 St. Paul, July 22/23 George, Oct 21/22 Mountain View
2007 - Aug 2/5 Chicago
2008 - June 22 Washington, June 24/25 New York
2009 - Aug 21 Toronto, Aug 23/24 Chicago, Sept 21/22 Seattle, Oct 27/28/30/31 Philadelphia
2010 - May 15 Hartford, May 17 Boston, Oct 23/24 Mountain View
2011 - Sept 3/4 Alpine Valley, Sept 11/12 Toronto, Sept 17 Winnipeg, Sept 19 Saskatoon
2012 - Sept 30 Missoula
2013 - July 16 London, July 19 Chicago, Oct 12 Buffalo, Dec 2 Calgary, Dec 4 Vancouver, Dec 6 Seattle
2014 - Oct 16 Detroit, Oct 19 St. Paul, Oct 20 Milwaukee
2015 - Sept 23 (Colbert)/Sept 26, New York
2016 - Apr 28/29 Philadelphia, May 10/12 Toronto, Aug 20/22 Chicago
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 :(
1992 VAN
1993 VAN
1998 Missoula
2000 Barcelona & Boise
2002 SEA 2x
2003 VAN
2005 VAN, Calgary, Edmonton & Saskatoon
2006 The Gorge
2009 SEA & VAN
2011 VAN
2013 Portland & VAN
2015 Mexico City
2018 Missoula
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).
LA II 06, SB 06, SF III 06, Kokua 07 Ed and Jack, Grant Park 07, EV Berk1 & LA 1 (nice job 10c), 08 DC, MSG1 &2, VH1 rocks, EV Bos II, EV NYC I & II, Milwaukee, EV Maui, EV Hono I & II, Chicago 09 I & II, LA 09 I & II & IV, SD 09 (my girlfriend hit the lottery, best concert of my life 10C rocks)KC 2010, STL 2010, Hartford. Boston, and MSG I & II "who goes around skinning cats anyway", PJ 20 2011 , Portland, Spokane, Seattle LA 2013, Home Shows + Missoula (fatal 👌)
www.headstonesband.com
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
2010: 5/20 NY, 5/21 NY ... 2011: 6/21 EV NY, 9/3 WI, 9/4 WI ... 2012: 9/2 PA, 9/22 GA ... 2013: 10/18 NY, 10/19 NY, 10/21 PA, 10/22 PA, 10/27 MD
2015: 9/23 NY, 9/26 NY ... 2016: 4/28 PA, 4/29 PA, 5/1 NY, 5/2 NY, 6/11 TN, 8/7 MA, 11/4 TOTD PA, 11/5 TOTD PA ... 2018: 8/10 WA
2022: 9/14 NJ ... 2024: 5/28 WA, 9/7 PA, 9/9 PA ---- http://imgur.com/a/nk0s7
www.headstonesband.com
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.
assholes.
www.headstonesband.com