Looking for Ticket Justice in DC

[artnsole]

I tried to get tickets for the March 10 show and it sold out...then I get a list serve "just announced" from 9:30 club that another show has has been added for March 9 at 10pm.

So I go online first thing today to purchase tickets and am locked out of Tickets.com that says no seats available or that the show is already sold out or there is a problem with the show. I call Tickets.com immediately and they say they don't understand either. Sooo, I go to Google and get The Pogues web site to investigate only to find that a pre-sale is happening.

My husband is a devoted fan. I married him right after you stopped touring. We have four kids and I saved to buy tickets for his birthday which was yesterday 12/15...and made two different attempts to get them. But apparently because I did not have knowledge about how to beat all of the "other fans." Well I have news...they are already up for sale on 4 different Web sites at more than double the cost of a ticket to 9:30 Club or any other venue for that matter.

So, obviously the DEVOTED FANS who purchase from The Pogues website pre-sale aren't dying to see the show like my husband is...more like they're capitalist pigs looking to turn tickets into money.

[EdTheRed]

I tried to get tickets for the March 10 show and it sold out...then I get a list serve "just announced" from 9:30 club that another show has has been added for March 9 at 10pm.

So I go online first thing today to purchase tickets and am locked out of Tickets.com that says no seats available or that the show is already sold out or there is a problem with the show. I call Tickets.com immediately and they say they don't understand either. Sooo, I go to Google and get The Pogues web site to investigate only to find that a pre-sale is happening.

My husband is a devoted fan. I married him right after you stopped touring. We have four kids and I saved to buy tickets for his birthday which was yesterday 12/15...and made two different attempts to get them. But apparently because I did not have knowledge about how to beat all of the "other fans." Well I have news...they are already up for sale on 4 different Web sites at more than double the cost of a ticket to 9:30 Club or any other venue for that matter.

So, obviously the DEVOTED FANS who purchase from The Pogues website pre-sale aren't dying to see the show like my husband is...more like they're capitalist pigs looking to turn tickets into money.

I had the same issue, but just kept refreshing the page...at around 10:14, I was able to get through...apparently there was some glitch in the Tickets.com system that prevented the sale from starting right on time. Sorry you didn't have any luck...keep checking Craig's List over the next couple of months - they have a rule against selling tickets for more than face value, and as the date of the show approaches people often get sent away on business trips or stuck with family obligations, freeing up tickets.

[Eric V]

Yes, and people on this forum are also very helpful.

[Guest]

That's rough.
I think what happend this time is that the 9:30 club had a presale that lasted most of yesterday. All of the tickets are to be picked up at the will call window and the person that purchased the tickets from the presale must be the person that picks up the tickets. I'm not sure if the scalpers were aware of that fact.
All hope is not lost. I've seen the 9:30 club release more tickets after they have said that the show has been sold out. Keep checking or just show up at the club on the date of the show and hope that a kind soul will help you and your husband out.

[glonn]

artnsole,
If you can't find a better way to get tickets send me a message to the address below and we can figure something out.

Glenn
dan_gerboy@yahoo.com

[Eric V]

artnsole,
If you can't find a better way to get tickets send me a message to the address below and we can figure something out.

Glenn
dan_gerboy@yahoo.com

See.... ...and by the way. I agree -- There are a lot of greed heads out there, but probably not one of those posting tickets to ebay are reading these threads.

You should get a login here and that will permit Private Messaging (PM below) which would make things easier.

[DzM]

Looking for Ticket Justice in DC

I'm certain that people have been hoping for one type of Justice or another to poke its head in DC for over 200 years.

Ahh ... political humor. Never gets old. Nope, never does. Really. Honest.

Sorry the ticket situation is so bad, and especially that the scalpers fuck it up for everyone. I sincerely wish there was something I could do to help.

[Eric V]

Has anyone looked over at the 9:30 Club (hock... spit) forum today? I looked yesterday, but can't get there from where I am right now. From the looks of it yesterday, there was some bitterness at the Pogues fans on this site having access to their "exclusive" pre-presale (yesterday). Might be an interesting read today with the latest sell out show. There was also some references to us whining and bragging over here about tickets. In my opinion, I have not seen whining and bragging, just a bunch of fans sharing their excitement and venting a bit.

[glonn]

Looking for Ticket Justice in DC

I'm certain that people have been hoping for one type of Justice or another to poke its head in DC for over 200 years.

Ahh ... political humor. Never gets old. Nope, never does. Really. Honest.

Sorry the ticket situation is so bad, and especially that the scalpers fuck it up for everyone. I sincerely wish there was something I could do to help.

Yes, scalpers can complicate matters but I don't know if they account for all of the problems. Here's some reality: The complete edition of the Pogues hasn't been to the States in at least 15 years. The 2006 tour is small in scale and stops at smaller venues. Right off the bat anyone should see that an extremely limited supply is going to clash with an unusually high demand. Getting a ticket will be hard under the best of circumstances (unless you wanted to go to NY where ticket sales lagged for almost a week).

As for DC specifically, the March 10 sale was kind of blown since the 9:30 club started the sale early and it was unannounced. However, the March 9 show had 3 different times to buy over the course of 2 days. That meant that one didn't have to be glued to a computer at the one magic moment in order to get tickets. Finally, all of the information about all 3 sales was posted repeatedly on this forum days in advance. Status of the sales was posted. The 9:30 presale lasted something like 3 hours. There WAS opportunity to buy tickets for those that were motivated enough to seek out the correct information. The Medusa forum has been invaluble to me and certainly others in helping fans to find tickets. I think that this needs to be noted in order to balance out the complaining.

My advice for those still hoping to get tickets in the future is to spend a little time looking through the Live Shows threads with applicable titles. Read all of the posts and if you can't find what you are looking for please ask.

[DzM]

Sorry the ticket situation is so bad, and especially that the scalpers fuck it up for everyone. I sincerely wish there was something I could do to help.

Yes, scalpers can complicate matters but I don't know if they account for all of the problems. Here's some reality: [...]

Everything you say is true and makes for a very tight ticket market. My comments were aimed strictly at the fact that several auction sites have sales going on where a set of tickets sells for $500+, etc. Hell, there's been several people on the Medusa fora that have said "I should have bought more tickets to auction off," etc.

People that are intentionally circumventing the system in order to turn a buck (or a few hundred of them) are making a bad situation worse. Theyre basically turning the acquisition of tickets into a lottery, and the remainder of the tickets only go to people willing to spend many hundreds of dollars.

[Mr.Awesome]

I was over at that message board earlier. After the second dc show was announced I posted a message about how I felt bad for the people that bought tickets on ebay for $200 a piece and could have had a chance to buy tix at face value for the second show. The people that responded basically said that people who bought the ebay tix were idiots and it serves them right. I said that they were probably just die hard fans that have been dreaming about seeing the re-united pogues play in dc for a long time. The point I'm trying to make is that people over there are heartless and bitter and the people in this forum are kind and caring. So nuts to them and cheers to you all.

[dublinrambler]

wow! you're awesome....thanks. Also, if people on e-bay think thats what the tickets are worth isn't that their business? yeh e-bay prices are a joke, but if people are paying them is there really an arguement?

[glonn]

DzM,
I am certainly not trying to be combative with you but I still think that scalpers are not that big of a problem. No. 1) I don't think that they account for much of the ticket buying public, especially for the March 10 show. No. 2) I think that we are all incredibly lucky to have this forum to give us virtually exclusive information of the tour and ticket purchasing proceedures. However, if I didn't randomly decide to check this forum two weeks ago I would have been S.O.L. as far as affordable tickets are concerned. Since the Pogues are my all-time favorite band, I have never seen them with Shane, or Terry, or James, and this may be the only opportunity to see them as such, $300-$400 might have been worth it to me. Yes, that means that tickets go to wealthier fans which is unfair. However, there is an element to unfairness in buying them from sanctioned vendors too. What if you don't have a computer, or can't be sitting at it when tickets go on sale, or are not aware of the fantastic Medusa site?

The bottom line is that there are too few tickets for too many fans. That is a definite good thing for the Pogues and, somewhat perversely, a good thing for the fans attending the shows since how depressing would it be to go to a half full venue to see your favorite band?

[Eric V]

The bottom line is that there are too few tickets for too many fans. That is a definite good thing for the Pogues and, somewhat perversely, a good thing for the fans attending the shows since how depressing would it be to go to a half full venue to see your favorite band?

Ditto.

[DzM]

I am certainly not trying to be combative with you

Be combative. I can take it.

but I still think that scalpers are not that big of a problem.

Again, I don't disagree with any of the points you made. But I do disagree with your opinion on the effect scalpers have. Even if they only effect 5% or 10% of the total ticket pool, they're having an impact.

But much of my argument here is weak. I think that people that prey on fans like this are pretty contemptable, so I'm disinclined to give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the impact of their activites.