It’s been more than four years since Phish left the stage in Vermont in what was supposed to be their last show ever.
But the band is reuniting to the glee of its “phans,” planning a 25-show summer tour in 18 venues nationwide. The tour includes two shows at the Gorge Amphitheatre. Tickets for those Gorge shows went on sale last Friday at noon. But many eager phans were angry to learn tickets sold out in less than five minutes, only to re-appear immediately on Ticketmaster-owned web sites at prices inflated by scalpers.
Alan Shoaff says he waited patiently at his computer the morning the tickets went on sale. At noon he put in his order through Ticketmaster.com and waited. Within a few minutes the result came back; the show was completely sold out and he was directed to another website owned by Ticketmaster.
There, users are buying and selling tickets at prices that have skyrocketed from $49.95 to between $100 and $600.
“It is ridiculous because this is a form of scalping,” Shoaff says. “This is supposed to be a celebration this summer. We’ve waited for years, but instead we are all getting shut out.”
Even at Ticketmaster locations there are no guarantees. According to an online discussion on Craigslist, one Ticketmaster location only served eight people before the tickets were gone. Dozens more who had waited in line got nothing.
Phish, which has a notorious anti-scalper attitude, responded to earlier complaints when its tickets were released for a show in Colorado. “The high demand for the tickets on Phish’s return has overwhelmed the prevailing ticketing systems and revealed their flaws. We are putting pressure on the ticketing providers to improve their systems,” they stated via their website last week.
In the meantime, for those phans who were hoping to be swimming in tickets, it seems like the Phish pond has run dry.
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Another largely mediocre, irrelevant band hits the road in search of money.
and now, brace yourself for the "fan" response.
The eBay-ification of concert going is complete with the advent of reliable ticket reseller outlets sanctioned by Ticketmaster themselves. By removing the need for a physical meeting where cash and paper tickets are exchanged between two parties without any trust relationship, anyone can leverage these sites and become a scalper. And I do mean anyone:
http://tinyurl.com/c2unj8
An otherwise progressive band like Phish– who in the past have taken on the burden of democratizing ticket acquisition by a number of inventive means– are clearly behind the times here. This is both expected, since they’ve been out of the loop for five years, and a shame, since Phish is clearly *the* hot tour of the summer right now.
One suspects that the band might not have realized how the splash they made by releasing the MP3s from their incredibly tight Hampton shows would energize hibernating Phish fans across North America. You will probably see them do something to address this issue with future tours, assuming whatever album comes out of this reunion has the effect "In The Dark" did for The Grateful Dead circa 1987, and Phish return to full-fledged rock super-stardom.
"Another largely mediocre, irrelevant band . . . " This is a factually inaccurate statement. The facts clearly indicate otherwise: (1) Every show this tour, many in very large amphitheaters (ie. Shoreline & Gorge) sold-out in less than 15 min; (2) The band’s last shows shut down an entire interstate in Vermont, with over 60k people trying to get in; (3) Phish was among the first bands to start their own label, ticketing site, and market their own merchandise… this list goes on and on. Declaring the band mediocre is your subjective point-of-view, I won’t get into a pissing match about that. Suggesting Phish is an irrelevant band, is just plain wrong.
using your exact logic, Britney Spears is the greatest musical act ever.
"Another largely mediocre, irrelevant band hits the road in search of money."
I would love to hear the logic behind this statement. I will respond to each statement individually…
1.) "mediocre"—> poorly a subjective comment. I guess the ticket sales say otherwise.
2.) "irrelevant"—> The band playing in front of audiences for over 20 years, selling out large venues across the country in minutes (yet again this tour), people traveling coast-to-coast to see this ‘irrelevant’ band, spending a large amount of money to do so…I would say that would make them relevant, especially when you factor in that the economy these days.
Actually, having just been in Hampton, VA for the ‘comeback’ shows, I can tell you that the people of the city of Hampton loved having us there. They welcomed the economic ’stimulus’ that the guests provided. The hotel I stayed at actually stated "this is the busiest we’ll be all year" after saying they booked all 100 rooms of their hotel for the entire weekend.
But the general public will only read what the police reports say, and not look into the grossly overstated and overestimated numbers (and how those were calculated).
3.) "in search of money"—> If you actually read the article above, you’d see that tickets were on sale at Ticketbastard for $49.95. That sale price is the same that was charged 7 years ago. The ticket price is less than 1/2 the price of other bands who have done a ‘reunion’ tour (see: The Police, The Dead, Cream, ‘potentially’ Zeppelin, New Kids on the Block, The Spice Girls, Britney Spears…the list goes on and on over all types of music).
The fact is this band could be selling out stadiums for a $100+ ticket cost…but they’re not. They continue to choose to play smaller venues at a lower cost (for better or for worse).
To comment on the actual article…until there’s some change of how the entire ticketing system operates, this is the future of all concerts, sporting events, shows, entertainment in general…from Les Miserables to Bon Jovi. Scalpers will have the ‘inside track’ to "guaranteed" tickets. Ebay will provide hosting for the transaction. TicketsNow and other similar sites will continue to make a lot more money from people.
Not saying I have the solution, but there is certainly a problem here that needs to be addressed.
using your exact logic, point for point, Madonna is the greatest and best musical act ever.
"Another largely mediocre, irrelevant band hits the road in search of money."
Another jobless internet troll, searching for his next mark.
Another snarky Web asshole, looking for his next opportunity to appear superior.
I was logged in & ready to roll the second tickets went on sale, and I’m a ticketmaster member so my credit card & info is already loaded… I got into the queue within seconds of the sale beginning & after watching the stupid progress indicator got the sold out message. I then was able to get tickets (instantly mind you) from one of the ticketbastard subsidiary sites, for an inflated price – paid $115 & $130 for each night of the Gorge vs. the actual price of $50… Now I’m more than willing to pay a hundred bucks to see Phish, but I don’t like getting f#*ked by an obvious scam – the only way these tickets could have been available so quickly is if they were never really offered by Ticketmaster at all – just farmed out to their other sites as a quick profit boost.
This practice is illegal for sure… any lawyers out there who want to start up a class action on behalf of the entire Phish nation I say GO FOR IT! Ticketmaster is basically an organized corporate criminal organization – all they do is facilitate the distribution of tickets, and reap profits from the fees they charge – how did they get so much control over ticketing in the first place? Bands & Venues should have this business returned to them, eliminating the middleman altogether…
DOWN WITH THE TICKET OVERLORDS!