Arcade Fire, Arcade Ire
Jim Carroll
Well, the tickets went on sale at 9am and sold out within nanoseconds.
Already, On the Record readers are fuming.
Here’s Sharon:
I’ve been trying to buy tickets since 9am online and each time – ever since 9am, I’ve been told there were none left. How could 10,000 tickets possibly have been sold within no time at all?
And Paul:
The service charge for these tickets is an absolute disgrace. I just paid €24.60 EUR Service charge on 4 tickets. I heard Micheal Martin recently on the radio saying some comission or other was set up to look at prrcing charged by agencis but they would not actually be querying the service charge. It is a disgrace, a complete rip-off and must end.
And Ben:
Gone in less than two minutes? Anyone know how many were available?
And Enda:
Why can’t I get them on ticketmaster????????
They’re sold out, dude.
Anyone else not feeling the love this morning? Don’t talk to Joe, type to Jim. We do hope Win Butler’s and MCD’s bean-counters are chuffed to bits this morning.
irony wins a prize
Is this what you meant by silly season Jim?
Arcade Fire put on a gig.
People buy tickets.
Some people don’t get tickets due to high demand.
So what?
Well I got mine in a shop. I was the only one there too and, thankfully it would appear, the guy at the ticket machine didn’t look like he was trying to programme the Cray-2.
What pissed me off about the Olympia gigs was that Ticketmaster appeared to let you buy 50 tix per transaction. I can’t really see how anyone can have complaints this time.
We really love to see, and be seen at, all the big events, don’t we?
I think we’ve began to prefer giving out about them dealga, even if we enjoyed them. That’s certainly the case with me and Oxegen anyway.
it’s all those touts, like needaticket.ie they’re selling all sold out tickets for double the price. i thought touting was illegal…obviously not on the internet
Funny that a post so many people seem to think is a non-story has gotten the most comments on it. Just goes to show how blogs work: give people something to complain about and they will come in droves.
Yet the real reasons to complain aren’t being talked about. Who’s to blame for the fact credit card owners hold all the aces when it comes to buying tickets, and that many end up buying more than they need knowing they can sell the rest on easily at a profit once the concerts sold out? Professional touts may not be buying up hundreds of tickets nymore, but more and more people are becoming casual hawkers. If a certain amount of tickets were only available in record stores, you’d get less of this crap.
My main gripe with Ticketmaster is that they charge a hefty surcharge per ticket, not transaction. How the fuck can they justify that – no extra service is provided if you’re buying 4 instead of 1 ticket in one go. And why should ticket buyers be charged extra for using the internet anyway? This reduces overheads for outlets like Ticketmaster – its more for their convenience than ours. If anything you should get a discount for using the net.
I wonder who has a large stake in ticketmaster…
Well cormac, if you go to http://www.cro.ie and are prepared to pay a small fee to get your hands on these details, you’ll easily find out.
Ticketmaster are a limited company and all their company records must, by law, be filed with the Companies Registration Office, including all details of shareholders and directors.
Believe me, it’s a great way to deal with urban myths, half-truths and allegations which have no basis in reality!
There is surely an easy way of avoiding touts hoovering up tickets and landing them on ebay.
As my work uses similar technology it should be easy for ticketmaster to issue something like a ticket credit card that has a personalised barcode.
Basically if you pay for the event the code on the card gets enabled for that event and you’re scanned in. If you sell off your card for a gig (or lose it) you pay to get it replaced, reducing the profitability of flogging it.
It’s not foolproof but we’re not talking chip and pin or anything too complex. They could easily do the same for the big sporting events too.
The card thing is a great idea in theory and they operate a similar system at Primavera and Arsenal do it for their home matches. The only drawback I can see is that it would very much suit those of us that regularly go to gigs so we don’t have to have a “ticket drawer” in our bedside lockers (I’m not the only one surely). The only thing is that it wouldn’t really suit those who don’t go to all that many gig.
I’ve written my own article on this – http://www.analoguemagazine.com/news/the-hunt-for-arcade-fire/ – but to summarize, I think Ticketmaster are being lazy and rather stupid about this. They’re getting a lot of bad press and, looking coldly at it, they (and MCD) are actually losing out on money if the fans are prepared to pay up to twice as much (which I myself, though I’m looking for tickets, absolutely refuse to do).
I think Ticketmaster should, for gigs which they know or suspect will sell out (and it doesn’t take a genius to work that out), print ID-specific tickets – be it a photograph or customer ID number or something. This completely scuppers touts, and is a service which would cost Ticketmaster precious little extra per ticket (indeed, they could probably absorb it thanks to the hefty surcharges) but it is a service for which they could easily charge extra and I think most people would accept it if it gave them a better chance of getting a ticket directly.
Problem of touts solved, a la Glastonbury.
Ticketmaster are a multinational company. I doubt they give the slightest shite what kind of press they’re getting in Ireland…
hello, im from spain, and im going to travel to dublin in october. i dont understand half you write in this blog, and i wanted to know why the tickets are not on sale yet?
the concerte is canceled?
when are they going to be on sale?
my journey depends on the concert, because if the concert is cancelled, i´ll buy the flight after 24th oct.
i wold be greatful if someone could answer me the questions.
thenkyou!
Hola Javier, que tal? El concierto Arcade Fire se vende totalmente hacia fuera. Los boletos vendieron hacia fuera para la demostración en un par de minutos. ¡Espero que este tenga sentido!
thank you Jim.
i understand your answer.
i think its a fucking thing to me that ther is no more tickets
is there another date in ireland for arcade fire?
thanks!
Javier – The band have NOT announced a second show and it seems highly unlikely at this time that they will.
Arcade Fire bear some responsibility for this. They are clever enough to know that the excess demand for their shows are good (free) publicity. The Grateful Dead instituted a lottery for their smaller shows. AF are content to let the touts profit at their fans expense, while they reap the benefit of the hysteria generated by performing too few shows at too small venues.
BTW, a person at Ticketmastet just told me they were only allotted a very small number of tix to sell. Anybody know anthing about this, and, if true, where the other tix went?
Good gig all the same
Ticketb*astard get away with absolute MURDER in ireland, they should wear balaclavas when selling tickets. there should be a nominal fee regardless of how many tickets are bought, ie 2.50 euro if you buy 1 or 4 tickets. Makes no sense to charge a booking fee on each seperate ticket if its one transaction. Nothing to do with bands or management companies! I for one am glad they are playing here as i got my tickets and going tonight!!
Jim Carroll, what’s with the relentless bigging-up of Ticketmaster? It seems you’re going out of your way to defend them and place the blame for ticket prices squarely at the feet of the bands who CHOOSE to piss on their fans because it’s convenient. I mean, really, do you want people to think you’re working for Ticketmaster? Or that you just play golf with them? The point you made about “convenience” is missing the point entirely – the problem is not simply Ticketmaster’s monopoly but the filthy charges they add on. I personally couldn’t care less what price a band wants to charge for a ticket – I’ll decide for myself if they’re worth the price – but I will not stand for those thieveing bastards at Ticketmaster demanding such exorbitant “handling fees” et cetera HAVING PROVIDED NO SERVICE WHATSOEVER. They might as well punch me to the ground and stamp on my face while they’re at it. Let me just reiterate: Ticketmaster are SCUM.
AstonishingSodApe – can you please point out instances of my “relentless bigging-up of Ticketmaster”? Please refer to the dictionary definition of “relentless” before doing so.
Can you point out why you believe the bands are not responsible for ticket prices charged for their gigs?
Can you explain why you say “the problem is not simply Ticketmaster’s monopoly but the filthy charges they add on”, when it’s obvious that one thing leads to the other?
And finally, can you forward proof that I have ever knowingly stepped onto a golf course?
What makes AC over-rated? Simply because you don’t like them? They are what they are. A lot of people like them. You don’t. Okay, great. But that does not mean they are over-rated. It’s funny. Everytime someone does not like a band, the band is said to be “over-rated.” Hey, you don’t like the band. Leave it at that.
Andrew – if your comment is aimed at me, can you please point out the relevant quote where I say that Arcade Fire are over-rated?
Indeed, please see point number 3 above (it’s the one after number 2 and before number 4, in case you can’t find it)