leonardcohenforum.com

This was posted in the "Radio City" forum. It expresses the thoughts of many of us. I am copying it here for more people to see. Thank you, ChristineR, for taking the time to write this.

Postby ChristineR on Fri Feb 27, 2009 5:38 am
It is a shame that purchasing tickets for a concert has turned into such a complicated ordeal. With secret codes and passwords, fan club presale, AmEx presale, ticket scalpers, ticket brokers, ticket resalers, box office pickup only, ticket limits, etc......... I am just a humble fan who would love to see my favorite artist in concert. The last time I saw LC was in Milwaukee in the 70's, where I was able to sneak backstage after the concert and briefly meet him. It was simple to buy tickets back then, before the age of the computer and the evil Ticketmaster empire. Why is it so hard now? Why do I have to plan and plot my purchase as if it were a chess game, and I am only a pawn trying to prevail against more powerful players?

I am confused. I see the concert will be May 16th. Then I see AmEx has it listed as May 26th. Now the Village Voice has it as May 16/17th. When can I buy my ticket? The fan club tells me March 7th. Ticketmaster says March 9th. American Express says March 2nd. I am redirected to a site from Village Voice and they have tickets on sale now at some ticket broker for sky high prices! How can they do this, how can they already have tickets when the presales have not even begun yet? Are these real tickets, or if I buy them will I be turned away at the door with counterfeits? How do I know anything is real? After all, these are the days of Photoshop.

How did we come to this? Why has greed taken over the ticket marketplace? Why can't true fans just simply purchase a ticket at a fair price? Why are the scalpers and resellers making more money on the tickets than LC? I am not a spy, secret agent or computer genius....I do not know all of the tricks and the games it requires to score concert tickets. With every safety and safeguard the artist tries to implement, the ticket sharks circumvent. I was froze out of the other NYC concert in February by ticket purchasers more savy than I, will I also get blocked from the RCMH concert? In this economy, I do not have an extra $2000 to pay the StubHub markup.

Is anyone else feeling as powerless and lost as I am? I long to hear "the music on Bleecker Street all through the evening".

I wish all of you good luck in the quest. Let the games begin.

ChristineR

Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:30 am

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Scalping is what it is. There are people out there willing to spend ludicrous amounts of money for show tickets and there are people who have figured out how to exploit them. However, for any given show checking StubHub, eBay, etc. will generally show that less than 5% of tickets are being moved in this manner.

Even ignoring the secondary market, the problem is supply and demand. The show you were "frozen out of" was at the Beacon which holds what, 2,500? How many "true" Leonard Cohen fans were trying to get tickets to that show? 20,000? 40,000? Who knows, but it was a heck of a lot more than the capacity of the Beacon. For his first US Show in 15 years LC could have sold out Madison Sq. Garden in a couple of hours and still fan number 18,501 would have gotten shut out.

The best thing you can do is find forums like this, find presales like the AmEx, talk to friends who buy a lot of concert tickets, do whatever you can to increase your odds.

Wow--Just checked tickets in Minneapolis. You can get 3rd row seats from Ticketmaster, only $545 (plus shipping). I think we used to call this a sell-out, Leonard. Or just a straight up rip-off.

Sorry, no Cohen concerts (or albums). I can pay tuition for a month for my son (who wanted to see this show).

sgswanson wrote:Wow--Just checked tickets in Minneapolis. You can get 3rd row seats from Ticketmaster, only $545 (plus shipping). I think we used to call this a sell-out, Leonard. Or just a straight up rip-off.

Sorry, no Cohen concerts (or albums). I can pay tuition for a month for my son (who wanted to see this show).

I don't think that $545 price is all Leonard, Chicago had 4th row center for $253.00. This could be the last oppotunity to see the great one in concert, I understand budget constraints, I'm just saying

I think our little secret is out - L Cohen one of the great masters of modern music. I am glad he is finally getting the attention he deserves, although it makes seeing him in concert a bit tough.