Platinum Tickets: Yet Another Way Ticketmaster Can Screw You Over

This week, the opportunity to purchase tickets for upcoming Dave Matthews Band concerts via the Citi Card members presale happened. I’ve known this was coming for a while as my senses have been in hyperdrive from the moment the band announced that they would be touring this summer and releasing a new album. Happy days indeed!

So, on the morning of the Citi Presale I was sitting in front of my computer at 10:00 AM, with my presale code in hand, ready to go. At 9:58 AM I got to the site and navigated my way to the page I needed (Hartford presale) and at precisely 10:00 AM I jumped in. I entered my presale code and waited to see which seats would come up for me.

And then magically --- nothing! There were no seats available. The only “seats” I could purchase through the presale were lawn seats. What the hell? Lawn shouldn’t even be considered in the presale as far as I’m concerned, but that’s a post for a different day. What I really wanted to know was what had happened to all the presale tickets. Where were the great seats that I should have been able to get because I was a card-carrying member of Citi?

I refreshed and tried again and still got nothing. I refreshed and tried again and still only lawn would come up for purchase. What was going on? This terrible method of lather, rinse, repeat went on for about seven more minutes before I finally stopped myself. It looked like I was not going to get any presale tickets so I marked my calendar for the general on sale date/time and hoped for the best.

Yet something was gnawing at me and wouldn’t let go. Thus, I decided to give it one more shot. I logged back into the Ticketmaster site and searched for presale tickets again and something extremely odd happened. Tickets appeared! But they weren’t priced at the $85 - $115 dollars I had expected. They were priced at $220. What? And they weren’t even good seats for $220, they were in one of the last rows of the venue. How on Earth did my $115 tickets become $220. Welcome to Ticketmaster’s latest scam --- Platinum Tickets.  

When did section 600 become one of the best seats in the house?

If you aren’t familiar with what platinum tickets are I say, first and foremost, good for you. You haven’t had to deal with the pain and aggravation of learning how a huge corporation is looking to stick it to the people that it does business with once again. Regardless of whether you are familiar with this process, or you’re curious and want to learn more, please read on.

What The Heck Are Platinum Seats?

Yes, this was my introduction to platinum seats, and although they’ve been around for over a year, I’ve never had an encounter with them until now. According to Ticketmaster’s site (https://www.ticketmaster.com/h/platinum/buyerfaq.html): Official Platinum seats are premium tickets to concerts and other events, made available by artists and event providers through Ticketmaster. They give fans fair and safe access to some of the best seats in the house.  

Look at how misleading that statement is! Fair and safe access to some of the best seats in the house? What constitutes fair and safe access? Because the tickets are being sold through Ticketmaster and not Stub Hub or some other online third-party reseller? I’ve never had any safety issues with any ticket site that I’ve purchased tickets from. Frustration maybe (and that’s mostly from Ticketmaster themselves) but never safety issues. Is my computer going to shut down in the middle of a purchase and my credit card information will be stolen from a non-Ticketmaster site?

The statement also proclaims that fans will have access to some of the best seats in the house. This statement is partially true yet very misguided. First, it’s not only the best seats in the house. As I mentioned, for the Dave Matthews Band concert in Hartford, there were only seats available in the last row for a hefty fee (more than twice the announced price of the ticket). My curiosity led me to check other shows for that tour and there were seats available in the first sections of the venue. Not in the first few rows, but still what I would call exceptional seats. The price tag on those? Between $550 - $1,500 dollars. So, while fans may get access to some of the best seats in the house, they will pay a week’s salary for those seats. No different than if they purchased them through an online scalper site.

Why Do Platinum Seats Exist?

Platinum seats are just another combative measure by Ticketmaster against the online scalpers. For years fans have been going to sites like Stub Hub and paying a premium price for some of the best tickets. None of that money went back to Ticketmaster or the artists, so Ticketmaster is coming up with different ways to combat scalpers and pocket the profit. And rather than work hard with a think tank team of how to beat the scalpers (sorry, but verified fan is just a bust) this corporation figured the best way to beat the scalpers is to become scalpers themselves.

Platinum seats do not come with any extra rewards. There are no meet and greets involved. There are no invites to soundcheck with these seats. They are just regular seats at an extremely ridiculous price. Essentially what happens is Ticketmaster picks random seats throughout the venue, holds them back from general on sale and offers them to fans at a substantial increase. I am not even sure how this practice is legal, but that’s a question for another day and another post.

Ticketmaster saw an opportunity to make more money and ran with it. You can’t totally blame them for this (that is capitalism after all) but with their history of being a putrid company, this latest move is not sitting well with fans. People just want a fair opportunity to purchase tickets at the price the artist lists them for and not see those tickets be sold for three, four, or even five times more than the price originally quoted. Scalpers take away that opportunity and now Ticketmaster has become their own scalper.

What Does This Mean For The Future Of Concert Tickets?

There was a lot of discussion about this tactic in the forums of a popular Dave Matthews Band fan site (AntsMarching.org). And there was mixed reception to the practice. Some fans thought this was a good thing as a portion of the extra money was going to the band. Others thought it was terrible and that Ticketmaster had just found a new way to rip off fans. I tend to lean toward the latter. I think a corporation holding back a product that only it has access to, creating a fake demand, and then selling it for an astronomical price is just disgusting. Again, if they would focus on a better way to not let scalpers manipulate their infrastructure, this problem would become more manageable.

As it is, once someone (or some corporation) gets a taste of what fans will pay (higher prices) the practice will only expand and not go away. I think that for larger acts (Pearl Jam, Taylor Swift, Elton John, etc.) this practice is going to become the norm. And that means that as a fan, there will be even less opportunity to purchase a ticket at the stated price set by the artist. And at some point, it may lead to a backlash or a drop in ticket sales.

This week, in addition to DMB, U2 presale tickets went on sale for Madison Square Garden. And while they weren’t “platinum” seats, U2 wanted between $175 - $250 for tickets (some in bad locations). I love me some U2, but I am NOT paying that much to see them. And thus, I have decided that U2 and I are done. Sure, I will miss their concerts, but I can’t justify the cost of seeing them live – especially when you add on the cost of getting to the event. And my point is that if platinum seats continue to happen I will be priced out of more and more shows. And it’s not just me. I know that I am not the only concert fan on a budget. If there are people out there who want to forego their groceries for the week to attend a concert they really want to see, I say God Bless Them. And I mean it. But I like to eat. And I have alternative plans.

As ticket costs continue to rise with ideas like platinum seats, the bigger band concerts that I attend are just going to be less and less. I didn’t do Springsteen on Broadway. I didn’t do Bon Jovi. I’m not doing U2. And given the way this Dave Matthews Band ticketing is going, this may be the last time I see them as well. This is great news for clubs like The Starland Ballroom, The Bergen PAC, and The Wellmont Theatre. Because I will start attending more shows there, seeing affordable acts. That is, until they decide they want to sell platinum seats too. Then I guess it’s video only for me!

Concert Review: U2 - June 28, 2017

It was a gorgeous late June evening when my wife, daughter, Uncle, and cousins took in a U2 concert at MetLife Stadium. U2 was playing the first of two nights at the Stadium and tapped The Lumineers to be the opening act. It was The Lumineers final two nights as openers for U2, who also used Mumford & Sons and One Republic on this US leg of the tour. Truth be told, The Lumineers were the reason my wife, daughter, and I were there in the first place. That’s not to say that I didn’t come to see U2 or that I chose them over U2. However, it was my daughter’s desire to see The Lumineers that made me think of attending the concert in the first place. When I heard that U2 was performing The Joshua Tree in its entirety, I was interested in seeing one of the shows, but it was far from a must see show for me. When I saw that The Lumineers were opening though, and I knew how badly my child wanted to see the band, then it became a must see. I knew that she was going to love U2 when the night came to an end, and I was probably going to love The Lumineers even more after their set, so the decision was made. Let’s go to the stadium and see a great show!

The Lumineers took the stage at 7:20 PM and began the night with a tight powerful set of hit songs punctuated by a terrific live performance. I had never seen the band in concert before and the opportunity to witness them prior to U2 was a welcomed one. The band was flat out incredible! Lead singer/guitarist Wesley Schultz proclaimed his love for New Jersey (he is a Jersey native, which I did not realize), told the crowd how he still refers to this stadium as Giants stadium, and announced how honored the band was to be opening for U2 especially here in New Jersey. And while he was most likely as excited as a teen boy on prom night, his professionalism kept him from being overly giddy.

Thank goodness for large video screens!

 Watching their performance, it was easy to tell that The Lumineers are a polished road act that can hold their own with the best live bands out there. Their setlist structure was unexpected and surprising all in a good way. I anticipated that their signature song “Ho Hey” was going to be the big closer of their set, but the band played it early on, the third song of the night. I was amazed and impressed. The Lumineers believe in the strength of all their songs and they don’t need their most known song to be the big closer. An excellent decision on their part. 

If you look closely you can tell that's The Lumineers on stage!

 

The band performed all their hits including the aforementioned “Ho Hey,” “Cleopatra,” “Angela,” and “Ophelia.” They ended their portion of the evening with an amazing live rendition of “Stubborn Love” which was drawn out with a nice little jam to wrap up the song. That performance left me wide eyed and grinning. I now know that I must see this band’s headlining performance. They were magnificent on stage!

More than an hour after The Lumineers ended their set U2 finally took the stage. Their opening number, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” was terrific and whipped the crowd into a frenzy right away. Their stage was massive and included a 200 foot LED screen and a smaller stage that sat in the middle of the general admission floor. The first four songs were performed on that small stage and the screen was not lit at all. U2 were performing as if it were their club days both in song selections and style of performance. Four men, one small stage, general admission crowd, and songs pre-1985. It was a clever way to start the night. 

After “Pride (in The Name of Love)” it was time for the reason of the tour. The Joshua Tree was about to be played in its entirety and I was about to witness U2 songs that I had never seen the band do live before. This was the treat of the evening for me and my excitement was high. The opening notes of “Where the Streets Have No Name” sang out from The Edge’s guitar and the giant LED screen lit up with an image of a two-lane road in the desert heading straight out into nowhere. I was instantly transported back to my pre-teen years where I played this cassette endlessly for more than 12 months straight. It was a wonderful moment of nostalgia and memories.

Hey look! It's Bono and a full moon!

 As a live rock band, time is catching up with U2. That’s not to say the show wasn’t fantastic, because it was. But as someone who has seen U2 several times in the past, there are small nuances I noticed and I realize they come with all bands as they age. First is the energy level of front man Bono. At past U2 concerts he was running around the stage like a madman for 2 hours straight, never ceasing to move, a bundle of nervous energy channeled into the performance he was giving. On this night, however, he was less energetic, walking instead of running, and not interacting with the crowd as often as he had at previous performances. I understand that he is in his late 50s and the energy level isn’t the same as it was 10 and 15 years ago, but it was still a bit of a surprise to me.

During “With or Without You,” one of my favorite The Joshua Tree songs, guitar feedback cut in ruining the sound and the song. As Edge played his signature guitar solo intro to the hit, massive feedback wailed throughout the speakers that was so loud and so forceful fans were covering their ears. I was disappointed as this was supposed to be one of the best moments of the night for me. The feedback made the song memorable, but not in the right way.

Bono’s voice is also not as strong as it used to be and I was left wondering if U2 was a bit too ambitious with their touring schedule. Our show was the second of 3 in a row and when you factor in travel, the band didn’t have many off days. I don’t think that was such a great idea at their age. They may have benefited from taking a day or two between shows to rest and recharge.

U2 decided to close the night with a brand-new song, “The Little Things That Give You Away.” I’m not against new songs being played, but to finish the night---to close out the evening for 60,000 fans with a new track that no one knows---is a risky decision at best. Had I gone alone, I may have started making my way to the parking lot (which would have been a wise decision on my part). The song was okay. Not great, but not terrible either. The traffic getting out of there that night on the other hand---well that was horrendous. New Jersey traffic sucks.

Lest you think this is a review filled with nothing but negativity, there were highlights throughout the evening as well. One of the finest came in the form of “Ultraviolet (Light My Way).” I’ve always felt that this gem is one of the most underrated songs in the entire U2 catalog. It was the first time I saw the band perform the song live and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Other highlights for me included “Bad,” which is always an amazing live moment at a U2 concert, the entire side two of The Joshua Tree especially “Mothers of the Disappeared” which is one of my favorite U2 songs. I was ecstatic to hear that song live and it was one of the finest memories in my U2 concert history.

As I mentioned, overall this was a great concert, but it was only a good U2 concert. And that’s their own fault as they have set the bar so high with their past performances. I came in with huge expectations. If I had never seen U2 in concert before I would have been amazed. But since I have seen them several times, I was only impressed. As far as U2 concerts go, this was my least favorite one. As far as concerts in general go, it was a stellar performance by a hall of fame band and a terrific way to spend a summer night.

SETLIST

Sunday Bloody Sunday

New Year’s Day

Bad

Pride (In the Name of Love)

Where the Streets Have No Name

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

With or Without You

Bullet the Blue Sky

Running to Stand Still

Red Hill Mining Town

In God’s Country

Trip Through Your Wires

One Tree Hill

Exit

Mothers of the Disappeared

ENCORE

Miss Sarajevo

Beautiful Day

Elevation

Vertigo

Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

One

The Little Things That Give You Away

What's The Guru Listening To? - June Edition

Welcome to the June Edition of What’s The Guru Listening To? I get asked this question a lot. What am I currently enjoying and what would I recommend? And since time is severely limited these days, it gets harder and harder to post a full review of the outstanding music that I am discovering (or re-discovering). Therefore, every month I will fill you in on the latest song, album, and/or band that I am obsessed with.  

Here’s what The Guru is listening to this month:

Badfinger – Baby Blue

Although I was late to the party, I recently made my way through all five seasons of Breaking Bad. What an amazing show! I now understand why everyone was obsessed with the program. At the end of the series finale, “Baby Blue” plays during the episode conclusion and then bleeds into the credits. Once I heard that song over the final scene, I started listening to it over and over and over again. It’s a great song that I haven’t paid attention to in years, but Breaking Bad brought it back and I was happy to rediscover this gem.

Son Volt – Notes of Blue

The latest record from Son Volt is another solid release of good music. Although it came out in February, I only started enjoying Notes of Blue recently. It wasn’t until this month that I listened to it to a few times and discovered all the great music contained within. Notes of Blue is another fantastic folk rock album from an extremely talented band that has a lot of great releases under their belt. And while it is no longer the original members, almost anything that involves Jay Farrar is worth paying attention to.

Undefeated – Incubus

Incubus recently released a new album, 8, and while the entire record is great, there is one song that stood above all others. “Undefeated” is a classic Incubus track filled with great hooks, fantastic rhythms, and powerful lyrics. It was the one song that rose above all others from the record and I found myself playing it several times over. I am sure that in the coming weeks I will go back and revisit the entire record, but for now I am content to just listen to “Undefeated” several times a week.

U2 – The Joshua Tree

I am fortunate enough to have good seats to see U2 at the end of the month. Since the band will be playing The Joshua Tree in its entirety, I thought it was appropriate to give the album a few spins. The Joshua Tree is probably my favorite U2 album, and could be one of my favorite albums ever. Every song on this record is a masterpiece. I am excited to see the band in concert, and I am more excited to hear The Joshua Tree in its entirety. To prepare myself for this magnificent show, I’ve been playing The Joshua Tree to re-familiarize myself with the lyrics to all the songs. After a couple of listens, I think I have all the words to every song down. Bring on the concert, my singing voice is ready!

The Clarks

There’s something to be said about the start of summer, a weekend drive, and The Clarks on the radio. The Clarks are a fantastic band from Pittsburgh that not enough people outside of that area know about. They’ve been around for over 30 years with all their original members, a very rare feat in music, and every album they release is a gem. And while I’ve been watching the NHL finals, I hear The Clarks being played in the Penguins arena. As most regular readers of The Rock And Roll Guru know, I am a huge Penguins fan. Thus, I’ve been listening to The Clarks a lot as I get ready to watch Penguins hockey and/or when I take a weekend drive. Their catalog is vast and wonderful and I encourage anyone who hasn’t heard of them to seek out their music and give them a try.

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.