I am left empty handed.
Having been looking forward to the NIN/JA gig in London for so long and my first time to see NIN live in concert (with Robin Finck no less!) I did everything possible to get a decent seated ticket. Here is my story:

- I used my membership via nin.com at 5pm bst on April 14th to get access to pre-sale tickets. By 5:01 there were all gone.

- I registered with o2 (a telecommunications conglomerate in the UK, and sponsor of the o2 arena) to gain access to pre-sale tickets the next day. No text message/promotional code was texted to me and when I eventually did get through to an operator I was told they weren't selling priority tickets for this concert.

- Last chance, i was poised on the phone at 08:50 this morning ready to get in the queue for 09:00. I kid you not when i was transfered to an operator at 09:00 he tells me ALL lower tier seated and standing tickets are now GONE! Who's buying these tickets depriving a longtime fan like me the chance to see them live? I'm sure the majority are genuine fans who got luckier, and some undoubtedly are freebies and industry give-aways for people who mostly couldn't give a damn, but...

as i trawled the internet over the next few minutes i realized that so many of these tickets were already on sale on obscenely overpriced "fan-fan exchange" and sold-out event websites, some charging up to £180 per ticket. Isn't this how the whole world economy collapsed in the first place? As ticketmaster allows 6 tickets to be sold per transaction there is nothing stopping a tout who probably doesn't give a rat's arse about NIN from gaining access to someone who works at ticketmaster, getting 6 tickets with a single transaction and selling them on to (richer) people like me making a killing.

I have paid for 5 NIN CDs, bought Ghosts 1-4 and bought the beside you in time DVD and am more than willing to pay the cost price for a ticket, but why should i part with my hard earned cash to line the pockets of some oppurtunistic shark whose presence only serves to ruin or rip-off (depedning on whether you get a ticket from these guys or not) what could be a magical night?

Ticket touting should be made illegal. If you can't make a concert you have already booked for, tickets should be returned and refunded from the official vendor so they can sell them on to other fans. If you can't make it at too short notice then ethical websites like Scarletmist will help you find a genuine buyer at COST price.

Why is everyone so greedy? Do other people have the same opinion as me? I'm not even going to try and get a ticket anymore. My anger at the whole wrong situation has made me want to boycott this concert.
Not that it makes one shred of difference to Trent & co, its sold out.

jonahsrevenge posted:

Not that it makes one shred of difference to Trent & co, its sold out.

Bit harsh innit?

They go out of there way to make things good for fans. IE, reserving 10% of all tickets for sale on the website, which it is basically impossible for touts to get hold of. Giving away free music, iPhone apps, DVD footage etc. And stuff like allowing cameras into gigs and giving away the multi-tracks for remixing. I think for Trent & co it really does make a difference that their fans are treated well.

I know you're angry but NIN cannot control the ticket companies' policies. They really need to use conventional ticketing outlets; promoting every gig in every country would be impossible. As has been noted in The Brit Consulate, music tickets should be regulated in the same way that sporting tickets are. Then this whole mess would be cleared up in a jiffy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2009 05:58AM by paleenigma.

I do agree (how could I not?) that the touts need to be stopped or at the very least prevented from taking money from genuine fans who are possibly not going to be able to gain entry to the venue. That would fucking suck.

However, I don't understand why so many people are struggling to get tickets! There is more than enough information in the O2 thread if you look. I bought a first level seated ticket via the nin.com presale at about 5:10pm on Tuesday. A friend bought two tickets in the same block yesterday via See Tickets for virtually the same price I paid.

Already discussed....

TR thoughts on ticket re-sellers / scalping

jonahsrevenge posted:

"Not that it makes one shred of difference to Trent & co, its sold out."

I was only refering to the futility of my 'boycott' given that as long as there is a demand for tickets and people willing to pay extortionate prices for them, these touts will continue to exploit our love for music and our desire to witness it being played live regardless of the opinions of the fans or indeed Trent. I'm not suggesting for a second the blame lies with NIN but with the law and the regulation of the entertainment ticket market.

Trent probably values your boycott more than if you had paid to see him live I think it should be crimilized, but as TR pointed out, it's often the official ticket sellers themselves who give these tickets away to

i wont even comment on this original post. but as someone already mentioned Trent and NIN have tried to stop it all as much as possible...

^^^^ Interesting reading,
Yes, I thought some would be cancelations, I think it was 3 blocks give or take a few seats,
Still, I had no idea there were that many reserved.
At least that means some fans are likely to get good seats closer to the show date.

Seated tickets are still available according to seetickets at both venues.
[www.seetickets.com]

I got mine from here: www.ticketline.co.uk

I just had another look & they appear to have tickets for both UK shows. Good luck

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2009 06:47PM by mallory.