Me & Grim just got back from MEN Arena...

[The Goat]

Arrived about 7.30am, probably 50 people in front of us. we were then joined by Fagan and his Artful Dodgers who jumped to the front - the two security blokes were not interested! There was about 20 - 25 of them aged 13 -16.
When the windows opened at 9.30am there was probably 200 there in the queue, maybe a few more.
Fagan and his street urchins all bought 6 standing tickets each and were rewarded with a trip to the McDonalds next to the booking office for breakfast. so that is at least 120 tickets in the hnds of the parasitic touts.
Me and the Grimster got our allocation and departed home!
The Goat

 

[Bluenose]

Oh no! The cheeky bleeders.

I'm so glad I ordered mine form the safe warmth of the library!

I feel so sorry for those who could not take of advantage of the the pre-sale and then to have a load of greedy scroats (touts and those buying deliberately to sell on Ebay) take up so many tickets.

> Arrived about 7.30am, probably 50 people in front of us. we were then
> joined by Fagan and his Artful Dodgers who jumped to the front - the two
> security blokes were not interested! There was about 20 - 25 of them aged
> 13 -16.
> When the windows opened at 9.30am there was probably 200 there in the
> queue, maybe a few more.
> Fagan and his street urchins all bought 6 standing tickets each and were
> rewarded with a trip to the McDonalds next to the booking office for
> breakfast. so that is at least 120 tickets in the hnds of the parasitic
> touts.
> Me and the Grimster got our allocation and departed home!
> The Goat

 

[Patrick McCann]

> Arrived about 7.30am, probably 50 people in front of us. we were then
> joined by Fagan and his Artful Dodgers who jumped to the front - the two
> security blokes were not interested! There was about 20 - 25 of them aged
> 13 -16.
> When the windows opened at 9.30am there was probably 200 there in the
> queue, maybe a few more.
> Fagan and his street urchins all bought 6 standing tickets each and were
> rewarded with a trip to the McDonalds next to the booking office for
> breakfast. so that is at least 120 tickets in the hnds of the parasitic
> touts.
> Me and the Grimster got our allocation and departed home!
> The Goat

That's happened at just about every 'in-demand' concert by all kinds of artists all over the world since day one.
The last time I bought a ticket in advance for a gig was about 4 or 5 years ago. Moz at the Forum in 99 probably. I just go on the night, pay the touts , and end up in a great position i.e. standing, stage front.
It's only money.
You normally find that pre-gig panic among die-hards turns out to have been unnecessary.
Calm doon and go with it. You'll all be fine.

 

[Bluenose]

Touts

I don't really like the idea of paying them my hard-earned cash though.
How much do they ask? Surely you must have to pay them a lot more than if you were to get it legitimately at a ticket outlet.

> That's happened at just about every 'in-demand' concert by all kinds of
> artists all over the world since day one.
> The last time I bought a ticket in advance for a gig was about 4 or 5
> years ago. Moz at the Forum in 99 probably. I just go on the night, pay
> the touts , and end up in a great position i.e. standing, stage front.
> It's only money.
> You normally find that pre-gig panic among die-hards turns out to have
> been unnecessary.
> Calm doon and go with it. You'll all be fine.

 

[Patrick McCann]

Re: Touts

> I don't really like the idea of paying them my hard-earned cash though.
> How much do they ask? Surely you must have to pay them a lot more than if
> you were to get it legitimately at a ticket outlet.

I do indeed pay them a lot more that I would get it at an agency, Bluebles. As often as not though, I end up getting the ticket I want at face value. Let's take the two RAH gigs in 2002 as an example.
For the first gig, I paid a tout £45, having haggled down from £50.
For the second gig, a bunch of guys and birds had a spare because one of their mates couldn't make it. I got that at face value.
You'd be amazed at just how often that happens.
When The Hives were being mega mega MEGA!! hyped a couple of years ago, and mass panic among pesky inexperienced kids ensued, your Old Grumpy Punk Grandpa spotted three guys and two birds hovering hesitantly outside. I pounced!! Sure enough, the third guy's bird couldn't make it. Face value for that one as well.
I don't mind abiding by laws (well, apart from that 'pay your taxes' one) but I resent being told to use computers and phones, or to be at a certain place at a certain time to get tickets for an event.
I let others do that...and I pay them. It isn't called 'greed'. It's called 'capitalism'. That's how it works.
If you're skint , you do the hard work yourself. If you aren't, you pay others to do it.

Oh by the way, what was that about 'hard-earned cash'?? The birds who work in my local library get paid for just standing there, undressing me with their eyes.
Nice work if you can get it.

Cheers Bluebles.