Mika's ticket rant

[Mika]

I'm so frustrated this time around with buying Rush tickets, for Vancouver.

 

Last show, Edmonton in September, there were two ticket pre-sales that I was aware of: The Citi credit card one, and the LiveNation one. I readied myself for the LiveNation one, and accidently ended up making plans the morning of the pre-sale, and with getting my time zones wrong, I ended up being half an hour late for it and pressed for time as my friend was waitig for me. It took me only a few tries before I ended up finding tickets that looked really good - and four of them - the closest plaza section to Geddy, and second row. I figured, good enough, and merrily went on my way. Boom, ten minutes flat.

 

This time, I've discovered there have been five different pre-sales for the Vancouver show. I got up early after having to work late in order to be on board for the first pre-sale, the AmEx one. [Not that, I realize now, I have an AmEx card....] The tickets popping up were kind of not that great - middle-distance floor seats, middle-of-section by Alex's side, and absolutely nothing on Geddy's side of the stadium at all. After spending an hour rejecting tickets, I gave up and figured to try the next morning's pre-sale, the LiveNation one.

 

After quite a number of rejections, I finally decided on a floor seat, row 14 in the middle, which seemed pretty good. I was still wanting a seat like I had last time, though, and kept searching, but again, absolutely no options were coming up for Geddy's side, at all. After spending an hour and a half, I gave up again, and told myself, hey, I have a decent seat! Be happy! But I still felt I was missing out....

 

Yesterday was a Ticketmaster and Rock101 pre-sale, which required passwords, which I could not find anywhere after many frustrating minutes of searching (well, serves me right for not being a member of TicketMaster or Rock101, I guess), so I had to give up on that attempt, too.

 

This morning the tickets went on sale to the general public, so I hopped onto the good ol' internet right away, and finally found some tickets on Geddy's side of the stage - but too far away. Row 17. I noticed there was an option for 'Platinum Seating' and saw there were four front-row seats in Geddy's section (in the plaza) for $485 each.

 

What's a fangirl to do?! How did seats I easily got last time become such a nightmare to try to get this time? How could these seats have been gotten by anyone at all, if anyone's experience has been like mine (no Geddy options)? How am I going to be able to show off my air-bass skills if Geddy's not going to be able to see me in the sea of people on the floor?

 

I don't think the seat I have (centre 14th row) is anything to be dissapointed in, for sure, but I'm so frustrated that I haven't been able to get what I wanted. I'm so done with pre-sales and corporations holding off the best seats for their own interests. I think that fans should be able to get good seats, and it shouldn't be such an ordeal to try to do so.

 

I know I will have an awesome time where I will be sitting (who am I kidding - standing!), but I wanted the chance to make eye contact with Geddy again and have him point to me during 'Tom Sawyer' like last time. Ah well.

 

OK, rant over, and now time to build up my excitement! :)

[Jeffrey]

Everything except the band we are going to see is crappy about the ticket buying process.

[J2112YYZ]

I think there are just too many presales and that's why it becomes so hard to find something. You've got so many people trying to get tickets at one time that you don't end up with anything decent until you've tried many times. Personally, I think presales are scams and most of them i've been a part of don't give you anything you couldn't get when the tickets go on sale to the public.

 

The only band i've ever seen do these preseales right is Iron Maiden. They send fan club members a special presale code and the sale starts a couple days before the public on sale date and they always offer the fans the best seats with it. Rush needs to look into something like that because the way their presales have been done this tour has been very poor. If you can get the same tickets for the presale that you can when the regular sale starts then what's the point of having it?

Edited February 22, 2013 by J2112YYZ

[Khan]

Everything except the band we are going to see is crappy about the ticket buying process.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/KublaKhan/ThumbsUp.gif

[The Cat 3]

The only band i've ever seen do these preseales right is Iron Maiden.

 

:goodone: True!

[Lorraine]

How am I going to be able to show off my air-bass skills if Geddy's not going to be able to see me in the sea of people on the floor?

 

Poor Mika! Why don't you hold up a sign that says "Geddy, look this way! I'm female bass player!"? That will get his attention. ;) If not, hold up a sign that says "Geddy, look over here. I'm Lorraine's friend." That'll do it for sure!! :lol:

[drgrendel]

The only band i've ever seen do these preseales right is Iron Maiden.

 

:goodone: True!

I have been basted by folks on this forum for stating the same fact. Why can't Rush do the same???????? Iron Maiden does it right!!!!!!! I have never had an option (as a first option) other than pit tix for Iron Maiden shows via the fan pre-sale.

[calirush]

How am I going to be able to show off my air-bass skills if Geddy's not going to be able to see me in the sea of people on the floor?

 

Poor Mika! Why don't you hold up a sign that says "Geddy, look this way! I'm female bass player!"? That will get his attention. ;) If not, hold up a sign that says "Geddy, look over here. I'm Lorraine's friend." That'll do it for sure!! :lol:

 

I was going to add something but ah well, :eyeroll:

[Mika]

After working all day, I'm still grumbly over this.

 

It seems so simple: there's a Rush.com newsletter that fans can sign up for, and unless I'm mixing my pre-sales up (because goodness knows there's so many of 'em to keep track of), there's one pre-sale that the password thereof gets sent via newsletter to fans. Actual fans of the band could have first dibs on good seats. But no, we've got to fight amongst corporations and all that jazz.*

 

How cool would it be to be able to, via fan code, access a real-time seating chart and duke it out amongst other fans for the seats that we want? Well, actually, I don't know what the best solution is, but it certainly doesn't seem to beputting us through the paces of five pre-sales (know how many hours I'd spent ticket searching? Six, including the time taken to search out passwords) nor doing the $300 fan club thing that lands the buyer in a random spot in the first 15 rows.

 

There's got to be a happy medium, between the days of fans camping out overnight to be the first in line for when tickets went on sale, to now where we gamble with tickets at the click of a mouse.

 

Maybe I'm just bitter because I've been working hard to look really good for Geddy, which my boyfriend is confuzzled by, and Geddy's not going to be able to see me! :P

 

 

 

*speaking of jazz, did I tell anyone I just got my very first Fender jazz bass? Candy apple red, and maple fret board, to boot! Think Geddy's 2112 bass! :)

[Vive le Rush]

I think there are just too many presales and that's why it becomes so hard to find something. You've got so many people trying to get tickets at one time that you don't end up with anything decent until you've tried many times. Personally, I think presales are scams and most of them i've been a part of don't give you anything you couldn't get when the tickets go on sale to the public.

 

The only band i've ever seen do these preseales right is Iron Maiden. They send fan club members a special presale code and the sale starts a couple days before the public on sale date and they always offer the fans the best seats with it. Rush needs to look into something like that because the way their presales have been done this tour has been very poor. If you can get the same tickets for the presale that you can when the regular sale starts then what's the point of having it?

 

 

Exactly..........AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :|

[rush999]

I had the same experience for Vancouver.I tried presales but was not happy with the seats so i waited till the pubic onsale and we couldnt get 2 tickets in the first 10 rows on the floor.the last 3 tours to vancouver we got 5 row 4th row and last time 2 nd row ,so we didnt get tickets for this tour.We have a 5 hour drive to get to Vancouver and unless we are close enough for the best experience,it just wasnt worth it to us.We will wait for the DVD.I have seen them 9 times and my son has seen them twice. Those platinum tickets prices that Ticketbastard is selling close to the stage at 3 times the face value is beyond belief!

[Jaminbenb]

Forgive the rant....

 

A..the "pre-sale" thing is getting OLD! I've been stuck a few times with them, and found that some times if you wait, you can get BETTER tickets than when it first opens....But since everyone has "pre-sales" who KNOWS who has the better deal???

 

B. the ticket broker crap is getting to be a horrible thing! I really wish they would pass a national law against scalping!

 

C. we need to go back to the venue controlling the tickets! I remember waiting in line at the venue and getting good seats! (or calling the venue the first day the tickets went on sale and getting decent seats)

 

D. the whole "VIP" thing is ridiculous! Years back, you got what you got at the price you got them for!(and freaking liked it cuz you were in!) In fact...I remember that tickets NO MATTER WHERE you got them were the SAME PRICE! Front row and last row were $XX.XX!

 

Too many variables anymore, getting tickets really sucks these days!

 

 

(ok, that said, I DID get tickets where I like them for Hershey...but I that was the 3rd or 4th attempt at them)

Edited February 24, 2013 by Jaminbenb

[Todem]

So let me get this straight. You ended up with 14th row in the center on the floor.

 

Ok then.

Edited February 24, 2013 by Todem

[Mika]

So let me get this straight. You ended up with 14th row in the center on the floor.

 

Ok then.

 

Yes, and having never been on the floor before, I think this is nothing to be upset over. I think that this is a pretty decent seat, but I also think that as a girl, I might have a limited view if there are tall guys in front of me, ya know? And, quite honestly here, I like being able to see the band, especially my favourite bassist. My view from second-row plaza last time was the best I've ever had before, and would love to experience that again, because I could see everything going on onstage, and so close-up, and it was thrilling.

 

So, I'm not trying to whine about what I've got, but rather bemoan that the ticket system hasn't allowed me the option of getting what I really, really want. And that's after, as I said, about 6 hours of ticket searching. Maybe I've just been unlucky as far as ticket choices go, but this seems rather not the way that ticket-buying experiences should be.

 

Anyway, I'm gearing up for an amazing show. No matter where I'm sitting, I know I'm going to have a fantastic time, watching and listening to my favourite Canadian boys rock out!

[Todem]

So let me get this straight. You ended up with 14th row in the center on the floor.

 

Ok then.

 

Yes, and having never been on the floor before, I think this is nothing to be upset over. I think that this is a pretty decent seat, but I also think that as a girl, I might have a limited view if there are tall guys in front of me, ya know? And, quite honestly here, I like being able to see the band, especially my favourite bassist. My view from second-row plaza last time was the best I've ever had before, and would love to experience that again, because I could see everything going on onstage, and so close-up, and it was thrilling.

 

So, I'm not trying to whine about what I've got, but rather bemoan that the ticket system hasn't allowed me the option of getting what I really, really want. And that's after, as I said, about 6 hours of ticket searching. Maybe I've just been unlucky as far as ticket choices go, but this seems rather not the way that ticket-buying experiences should be.

 

Anyway, I'm gearing up for an amazing show. No matter where I'm sitting, I know I'm going to have a fantastic time, watching and listening to my favourite Canadian boys rock out!

 

Well.....that is how it works though in the grand scheme. There are thousands upon thousands of die hard Rush fans like yourself yearning, and wanting to have a second row seat, front row seat, third row seat etc etc. At at least face value or even at the VIP price level.

 

There are only so many of those seats available. A lot of fans have not had that kind of luck.

 

And that is what it takes to score those kind of seats at face value or even VIP price points.

 

Luck.

 

It has been this way since as long as I can remember. That includes sleeping out for tickets (which I did in the 80's growing up). I love buying tickets online. It is a godsend.

 

Enjoy the show as I am sure you will!!!

 

PM me for some ticket advice if you want.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Todem

[Mika]

Yes, I'm sure that it's hard with so many people wanting the 'good' seats. Maybe I was extremely lucky last time and was kind of expecting the same this time. And it'll be cool to experience the show from a vantage I haven't had before.

[Thunder Bay Rush]

Hey, Mika, way too cool to hear about your new bass! And, a Fender Jazz too... good choice!

 

So, here's the plan... get in your car with your bass and your amp, drive all the way to my place in goddam Ontario (only about a five day drive from BC), bring your boyfriend too, so he doesn't "get nervous," and we'll jam. I know some killer guitar players around here.

 

I'll provide the snacks... nachos, wings, veggie sticks and Twizzelators... (red ones).

[Thunder Bay Rush]

Yes, I'm sure that it's hard with so many people wanting the 'good' seats. Maybe I was extremely lucky last time and was kind of expecting the same this time. And it'll be cool to experience the show from a vantage I haven't had before.

 

 

Mika, do you ever sleep? Your post was up at 4:20 am, and that's ET. If you live in BC... (1:20 am) Y ou MUST be a real night owl. Or, you're still pissed off about your ticket experience!!

 

:D

[Apollo]

The ticket agency here (Smithstix in Idaho/Utah) isn't even pretending that this process is remotely fair anymore. When tickets went on sale half an hour ago, they started a premium seating listing that has lots of second row seats all starting at $375 each. They are set up in an auction type format too. This is outrageous, where did all these seats magically come from, I wonder? It has been almost half an hour now and there have been exactly zero lower 100 level seats offered. Edited February 25, 2013 by Apollo

[drgrendel]

I wanted to go see joe Walsh and Bob Segar but a buddy of mine convinced me to go see Rush again. Closest is Hershey, PA - so I spent about 1/2 hour going through tickets and was offered 8th row center. THIS MORNING!!!!!!

 

Good things come to those who wait indeed!

[Mika]

Yes, I'm sure that it's hard with so many people wanting the 'good' seats. Maybe I was extremely lucky last time and was kind of expecting the same this time. And it'll be cool to experience the show from a vantage I haven't had before.

 

 

Mika, do you ever sleep? Your post was up at 4:20 am, and that's ET. If you live in BC... (1:20 am) Y ou MUST be a real night owl. Or, you're still pissed off about your ticket experience!!

 

:D

 

Because of work, I have a very up-and-down sleeping schedule! Sometimes I don't get home from work until after 2am, which really rather sucks, because it means I can't be up at a decent time the next morning! *Sigh* The things we do for money!

[Mika]

I wanted to go see joe Walsh and Bob Segar but a buddy of mine convinced me to go see Rush again. Closest is Hershey, PA - so I spent about 1/2 hour going through tickets and was offered 8th row center. THIS MORNING!!!!!!

 

Good things come to those who wait indeed!

 

Wow! That's quite awesome! I guess sometimes things work out, and sometimes they just don't. Maybe I'll pop on and have a little looky-poo at some more tickets, just for fun, before I haul myself off to work again....

[drgrendel]

Mika - will keep fingers crossed for ya!

[Mika]

Mika - will keep fingers crossed for ya!

 

Thank you! :)