Again, a warning to all people are are not members of U2.com, if they do an arena tour next, you may not be able to get a ticket. The first Philadelphia show for the Vertigo tour soldout through U2.com before any tickets were released to the general public. Given the number of people who are members of U2.com today vs back in 2005, I would not be surprised to see even U2.com members get locked out of certain Arena shows.
If they play arena's on the next tour, anyone obtaining general admission tickets will be able to sell them for $300+ dollars, if they so desired. Again, scalpers would love a U2 arena tour. General admission on the arena floor is 2,000 max, compared to an average of 15,000 for the stadium.
You're talking complete nonsense. I've never been a member of any fan site and have always got tickets to both arenas and stadiums. All you need is broadband and be on the Internet when tickets go on sale. Scalpers can get tickets to any show anywhere - its not hard to outwit a scalper.
U2.com is a massive con that charges fans to get what most other big artists give away for free. It's also no deterrent to Scalpers. They'll happily pay for a subscription if the profit outweighs the outlay
I'm talking from personal experience of what happened to ME when attempting to get tickets to the first Philadelphia Arena show on the VERTIGO tour. I'm not a novice at getting tickets at all. I've been going to shows since 1991. I saw ZOO TV in Philadelphia multiple times, saw them in Philadelphia on POPMART, went to DC for Elevation but had friends that saw then in Philadelphia on Elevation. I also did eventually get to see them in Philadephia on Vetigo, but not the first show, and I saw them in Dublin Ireland on Vertigo as well. Saw them on 360 in DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
I understand perfectly the process of buying tickets and I'm here to tell you THERE WERE NO TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC SELL TO THE FIRST PHILADELPHIA SHOW. Multiple people attempted to get through online with no luck at all. A small number even waited in line at a ticketmaster location. About two minutes before 10:00 AM, the site manager came out and told everyone in line that there WERE NO TICKETS AVAILABLE. Everyone who went to the first Philadelphia show on Vertigo either got tickets in the pre-sell through U2.com or payed double face value on average to a scalper through one of the ticket resell sites or outside the venue before the show.
Paul McGuinness a few weeks later admitted that they let the fan club purchase all available tickets because the sales were going so quickly for the first Vertigo Philadelphia show. I think that may have been the only show they did that for because they always have the option to hold back tickets and release them in the public sale. But the fact is, when demand is high, and supply is low like they are with arena shows, shows could be sold out without tickets ever being released to the general public. I saw it happen first hand.
There was a 2nd, 3rd and 4th Philadelphia show, all of which rapidly soldout and while the number of shows did satisfy a lot of fans, there were still many others who got shut out or were unwilling to go to ticket resellers and scalpers and pay above list price for tickets.
Again, when supply is low and demand is high, its a ticket scalpers dream. Stadiums, especially stadiums in 360 pushes the scalpers to the side as the supply of tickets is enough to satisfy demand.
Then you're not trying hard enough - simples. I've gotten floor tickets to every arena show since I've been seeing U2. Both in Europe and the states. Of course I can't say this is typical as I haven't seen every show U2 have ever done - but neither have you.
When bands do a pre sale they allocate a certain number of tickets to that pre sale so it's impossible for concerts to be sold out using this method. Any band that doesn't do that (i.e. U2 in your example) is ripping people off. Imagine the glee on McGuinesses face when he discovers a way to get the ticket price AND the cost of a U2 subscription for tickets.
Either way, a U2.com membership is no deterrent at all to scalpers. They will simply buy a subscription like everyone else. U2 don't care - it's a 'revenue stream' like any other 'revenue stream'.
Yes, there are always scalpers available with any tickets you would like, but I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about getting the tickets you want through the normal public sale for an 18,500 capacity arena where there are only 2,000 tickets for the floor. Its far more difficult to get what you want in that situation than it is when the band is playing a 66,500 capacity venue. Any understanding of math, statistics and probability would let you know that, let alone personal experience.
As for Arena's, U2 rarely plays arena's in Europe. Since 1990, they have only played arena's briefly in Europe in the summer of 1992 and the summer of 2001. In the summer of 1992, the speed of internet sales was not a factor since there were no tickets on that tour that were sold through the internet which leaves only the 2001 arena tour where modern buying practices were in place for a U2 arena tour in Europe.
Yes, when artist do pre-sales, tickets are held back for the public, usually, but in Philadelphia for the first Vertigo show, this did not happen and all tickets were sold through the fan club.
Where did I say U2.com was a deterent to scalpers? I've mentioned U2.com as an important way to get tickets if the band is playing arena's. But if the band is in stadiums in a 360 configeration, U2.com and scalpers don't matter in terms of getting tickets. Both become relevant though if U2 go back into arena's.
But one advantage that long time members of U2.com have since the new fan club started in 2004/2005 is that the first group of people that have maintained their membership each year for the past 7 years are in the higher first group Horizon group. That allows them to purchase tickets before most U2.com members who have not been members of U2.com every year since 2004/2005. While there may be some scalpers that have maintained a membership like that, its a much smaller number vs. scalpers who simply become members before the start of a tour and don't maintain a membership year after year when the band is not touring.
These are all relevant things to consider and remember when thinking about the issue of U2 playing stadiums or arena's on the next tour.
The simple fact is your technique is wrong if you have trouble getting tickets. I've always managed to get floor tickets for arena dates. You're obviously doing it wrong.
As for the next tour if U2 don't pull their fingers out they will be forced back into arenas anyway so the demand for tickets simply won't be as high.
It goes without saying U2.coms cynical attempts to keep people buying a subscription are a disgrace.
Its like this, when 15,000 people to an arena show all want floor tickets, only 2,000 are going to get floor tickets. Understand? When 66,000 people want tickets to a U2 arena show, only 18,500 are going to get tickets. Understand? No technique is going to change those facts.
Also, no technique is going to get you tickets when tickets go on sell to the public, IF all tickets were already sold through the presale. Your technique can't get you tickets that have already been sold unless you go to a scalper.
Yes, I understand the maths, complex as it is.
We've already established only a limited number of tickets are available through all (or mostly all) pre sales so your point is invalid.
As a general rule, if a band plays arenas it's because that's all they can fill therefore demand goes down.
I've seen Springsteen in huge football stadiums and massive parks and festivals. Doesn't mean to say I couldn't get an arena ticket for the same tour relatively easily as that's exactly what I have done.
You're technique is all wrong.
Well, you don't get it. If you can sellout one show through U2.com, you could do it for multiple others. There would be no chance of U2 being able to do that playing in stadiums in a 360 configeration. But if their playing in arena's the chances are far greater that would be the case and thats something everyone needs to consider when thinking about this issue of Stadiums vs Arena's. Again, were talking stadium shows with 66,500 capacity on average vs arenas with 18,500 capacity. Overall, your talking 110 shows in stadiums to 7.3 million people vs 110 shows in arenas to 2 million people. Even on POPMART U2 played to 3.9 million people which is nearly double of what they would do on a 110 date arena tour.
Some artist who could fill or almost fill a stadium may choose to do arena's because you typically get fast sellouts and will play more than a single date allowing people more flexibility in attending the show as well as taking advantage of the people who go to multiple shows. When you play one giant show in a city like U2 often did on 360, you don't get to take advantage of people who go to multiple shows and those who can't attend shows on that single particular date. Those are the selling advantages of being in an arena and if your only able to sell 35,000 tickets to a single stadium show in a certain city, you'd be better off playing two arena shows to a combined 38,000 people. You'll be able to sell the extra 3,000 tickets thanks to multiple show attendees and people who naturally would be unable to attend a particular single date. In addition, the cost of two arena shows is typically less than the cost of one stadium show.
But I ask you, where is U2 currently barely able to sell 35,000 tickets for a single show of the cities they normally visit on a tour? This is an issue Coldplay is dealing with right now in the United States, but its not an issue for U2 given the level of demand for them.
There were huge problems and complaints the last time U2 played arena's in the United States on Vertigo. But the essential point was that thousands of U2 fans failed to get into a show, or had to use scalpers, didn't get the tickets they desired etc.
IF U2 contemplates doing arena's again for whatever the reason, they will have to consider the problems and complaints they experienced in the United States in 2005 and whether they want to go through that again.
Bottom line, you have 7.3 million people that payed an average of $100 dollars to see you the last time you were on tour. What do you think will happen when you reduce the number of available tickets on the next tour to just 2 million? If you don't think there would be problems, you don't understand how business works. If you think the demand for U2 is going to plummet from 7.3 million to 2 million I have a bridge I want to sell you.
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