Arcade Fire, Arcade Ire
Well, the tickets went on sale at 9am and sold out within nanoseconds.
Already, On the Record readers are fuming.
Here’s Sharon:
I’ve been trying to buy tickets since 9am online and each time - ever since 9am, I’ve been told there were none left. How could 10,000 tickets possibly have been sold within no time at all?
And Paul:
The service charge for these tickets is an absolute disgrace. I just paid €24.60 EUR Service charge on 4 tickets. I heard Micheal Martin recently on the radio saying some comission or other was set up to look at prrcing charged by agencis but they would not actually be querying the service charge. It is a disgrace, a complete rip-off and must end.
And Ben:
Gone in less than two minutes? Anyone know how many were available?
And Enda:
Why can’t I get them on ticketmaster????????
They’re sold out, dude.
Anyone else not feeling the love this morning? Don’t talk to Joe, type to Jim. We do hope Win Butler’s and MCD’s bean-counters are chuffed to bits this morning.
Disgusted!!!! 9.02 and all gone!? WTF!?
Comment by Sara | August 10, 2007 at 10:08 amI couldnt get tickets either, and am also disgusted with Ticketmaster, buy why all the vitriol towards arcade fire Jim? I mean, theyre the same as any other band doin gigs in Ireland, there’s no gettin around Ticketmaster (ask Pearl Jam) in this country, and its hardly a bands fault if they’re so successful that they’re gigs sell out in minutes, that would be ticketmaster’s fault, as usual. Also, are arcade fire wrong to play 4 gigs in Ireland this year, are they ripping us off somehow just for cash, seriously? I wish they were playing a 100 gigs in ireland this year, i might get to see them then….
Comment by Enda | August 10, 2007 at 10:13 amEnda - i’ve nothing but love for Arcade Fire’s music.
BUT people must remember that it is the BAND who decide on the venues they play, the dates they tour, the services (like Ticketmaster) they use and the promoters (like MCD) they use.
I mean, you say “its hardly a bands fault if they’re so successful that they’re gigs sell out in minutes, that would be ticketmaster’s fault, as usual”. Think about it, Enda. Ticketmaster only sell the tickets - it is the BAND and their team who decide on the venue, venue capacity and ticket price. Its too easy to blame Ticketmaster - the real problem lies with the band.
If you have a problem with Ticketmaster, you should raise this with the band (www.arcadefire.com). They are the ones who have contracted, via the promoter, sale of their tickets to that company. They do have other choices when it comes to selling tickets (they could have set up a special ticket booth in Stoneybatter this morning) but, as such other choices involve hard work and are not as convenient as using the Ticketmaster system, they have decided not to do this.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 10:21 amI am so sick of Arcade Fire gigs being our generations Vietnam.
Comment by Ronan | August 10, 2007 at 10:25 amI was trying since 9 as well & no luck: my sister tried at the same time and managed to get them. The event is meant to take 10,000 people (Ive heard) so its weird they were gone within no time at all.
Comment by Sue | August 10, 2007 at 10:32 amI have seen them twice and they are the best live band ever!
I dont agree that the band are at fault: is setting up a booth in Stoneybatter realistic? Come on! Until there is competition to ticketmaster there is no real choice for bands.
www.needaticket.ie had Arcade fire tickets up for sale for ninety fucking euro already! I mean what the hell is going on there. And they’ll up the ticket price as it gets closer to the gig. I have to agree with Sharon above, how could 10,000 or even 6,000 tickets be sold out in 2 minutes? I was online at 9am and they didn’t become available til like 5 past and I still didn’t get one. I thought MCD would pull a KOL on this and flippantly announce a second date as soon as the first one sold out but no such luck.
Comment by Ed | August 10, 2007 at 10:34 amAnother reason why this gig sold out so fast is becasue of the likes of Ian Dempsey prattling on about them whenever tickets are about to go on sale.Its like a free advert whcih the band dont actually need but people realise they must be popular and so “I want to go”. I was luck enough to get a ticket for the olympia gig but not so this time.
Also, how do music shops manage to print out bundles of tickets and also in cases take pre orders. Its starting to turmn into more and more of a cartel and again, a shame to see tickets on e-bay within secondsof the gig being sold out.
Ok rant over, back to work!
Comment by Dave | August 10, 2007 at 10:36 amI see your point about the band Jim - seems to be a bit of a ruse to generat hype, not that they need it.
Comment by Anne-Marie | August 10, 2007 at 10:36 amTicketmaster didn’t put their tickets on sale online til 9.05am, (by my clock!) by which time I’m quite sure hundreds of orders had been processed over the phone. Neither myself nor four mates of mine managed to get any, very disappointing!
Maybe Arcade Fire will write a song about the injustice of an Arcade Fire gig….with pipe organs
Comment by Peter | August 10, 2007 at 10:36 amsue - 10,000 tickets is a Point and Point shows often sell out in minutes. Dont be surprised if a second show is added.
Of course, setting up a booth in Stoneybatter is not realistic (think of the poor people in Luvviebatter for a start), but I am pointing out that there are alternatives which a band can take to Ticketmaster. The reason why this doesnt happen is because the Ticketmaster service is CONVENIENT for the bands and the promoters.
If there was an alternative, yes, there would be competition but the big promoters are happy with Ticketmaster (one ticket manifest, one contact point, one bank draft or credit transfter). Bands CAN insist on an alternative if they really care that much but, to be honest, ticket sales and allocations are far, far, far down their list of concerns (the shape of the sandwiches on the rider, the heat in the dressingroom and the bottles of beer onstage are more important).
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 10:37 amE-Bay - there’s a bunch up there already.
Comment by Pedro | August 10, 2007 at 10:46 amJim, do you really think that a Canadian bands priority is the ticket prices in Ireland? How exactly does a band, thats a bunch of musicans now, not politicians, change the economic conditions in another country. You say that they could have picked a different promoter or a different venue, but who, or where exactly. As far as I’m aware practically every venue of any size in Ireland is contracted to either MCD or Aitken, both of which are contracted to Tickermaster, right? I have to bring up Pearl JAm again, I admired them greatly for what they tried to do when they took on ticketmaster, but they lost bigtime, and thats fairly crushing. I can definitly understand why other bands havn’t followed, and no other bands have. The only exception I can think of is Radiohead, and even they could only sell a very limited number of tickets on their website before it again went over to ticketmaster. If you blame Arcade Fire for this, then you have to blame practically every single other band that plays here under the same circumstances. Its funny, I dont remember anyone talking about how greedy U2 were for playing lots of shows in Ireland, with Ticketmaster, and with even more expensive tickets? They’re actually from this country (although of course they dont pay any tax here), theyre massively successful, and they have never tried to take on these kind of vested interests. Surely they would be in a much more better position to take on this monopoly than a Canadian band who have just released their second album? Or Bruce Springsteen, that also sold out in seconds. Or for a random example, The National, they’re upcoming gig is through MCD and ticketmaster, are they just greedy too? Or are they ok because they’re gig didnt sell out as quick? Its easy to blame the bands, and quiet a lot of the time its the right thing to do (Hello Ms. Streisand!), but I think you’re off in this case….
Comment by Enda | August 10, 2007 at 10:47 amI’m hearing that they didn’t put all of the tickets onsale, cos they aren’t sure how many they’re allowed to squash into the tent? I hope so. Or a 2nd date would make sense. I queued and missed out!
Comment by Bobby | August 10, 2007 at 10:48 am‘…the Ticketmaster service in CONVENIENT for the bands and promoters.’ So who chooses the ticketing agent - the band or the promoter? And in the end does it matter who choses who… Ii’s a fact that even if Arcade Fire did an REM and sold these tickets from their own website they would still have been sold out within seconds. It’s just become a fact of life with concert tickets in Ireland and the solution to htis problem is a long long way off…..
Comment by John | August 10, 2007 at 10:48 amTickets were up on ebay at 9.15 for €132.00, their location was the UK, tickets were marked as ‘in hand’. For such a small gig, I feel they should have been resctricted to the Irish Market only.
Comment by Sara | August 10, 2007 at 10:55 amWhat I’m getting at is that the source of people’s ire towards Ticketmaster is misplaced - they are a third party service provider and it is open to promoters and bands to use someone else. That they dont is why Ticketmaster are in the position they’re in. Sure, promoters and bands and fans can say Ticketmaster have a vitual monopoly in the market but if there was a viable, competitive alternative, bands and promoters would use it. As it is, because of how secure and reliable and convenient Ticketmaster is, bands and promoters use them exclusively.
Yes, BANDS can decide these things. they are the ones who contract themselves to play X shows for Y fees. They can - if they are bothered but they are usually not - stipulate how these tickets can be sold. Of course, they dont because theyre negotiating similar contracts for gigs worldwide. But if they wanted to, they could easily.
The solution? A bigger tent!
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 10:56 amNo matter how big the tent that show was always going to sell out in seconds… Even at 80000 capacity the U2 shows sould out almost as quickly. Much as I hate to admit it maybe it’s not ENTIRELY Ticketmasters fault that shows sell out so quickly but they sure do have a lot to answer for in other quarters.
Comment by John | August 10, 2007 at 11:07 amAs ever it’s all about the money.As jim is pointing out if a band or artist want to change the way the fans get tickets and the price they pay they could have done it years ago but they have much better things to do.
Comment by Cormac | August 10, 2007 at 11:10 amIf you wanted to set-up your own ticket agency you could but it’s a lot of work and you would be up against some very serious established competition
Ireland per head has one of the highest amount of concert going fans,the point depot is in the top 5 venues in the world which means people will buy tickets for almost anyhthing and ususally do so if tickets sell fast i don’t think in this case it’s really that surprising.
You can blame ticket agency’s/promoters for lots but maybe spread the blame a little with your artist of choice and greedy bands who can smell the money from across the atlantic and further away.
It’s all Ticketmasters fault. The bad summer, flooding in Britain, the sub-prime lending crisis, that traffic jam on Trinity St this morning where i saw two women crying in their cars. When is someone going to take these guys to task? It must end now.
Comment by Matt Vinyl | August 10, 2007 at 11:13 amI don’t have a problem with Ticketmaster really. They normally put tickets online bang on time but it was late by 5 minutes for some reason.
Comment by Anthony | August 10, 2007 at 11:18 amI’d the same thing this morning, had been refreshing the browser every 15 seconds. once they became available, I went through, selected the tickets only to be told “not available”, rinse, lather, repeat (up to 10 times), and still no joy.
It’s hard not to feel rancour towards ticketmaster, but to be honest, whichever vendor had been chosen would have had the same problems regards selling out so rapidly. My particular bugbear is the service charge on their tickets, the one that I didn’t even get to pay, damn their hide.
And hey, a Stoneybatter ticket booth would be great! Please make this happen.
Comment by Liam | August 10, 2007 at 11:18 amSeeing as how I live there.
what john, cormac (good point about the greed of bands which i have been making again and again on this blog) and matt said - lets have some levity, people.
Arcade fire are now a very big band in ireland and can sell out 10,000 tickets in nanoseconds. There may be a second show (or there may not), but anyone want to give me odds on an Arcade Fire show at Marlay Park summer 2008?
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 11:20 amdon’t worry kids, they’ll be on ebay for €150 in 10mins!
Comment by Billly Lyons | August 10, 2007 at 11:23 amThe solution? No tent at all!
Comment by Anne-Marie | August 10, 2007 at 11:25 amThe problem is with Arcade Fire’s popularity and that big gigs generally suck.
Half the country wanted to go. I went to Oxegen just to see them and was lucky to get a ticket for that.
Blame MCD for using Ticketmaster but blame Arcade Fire for not playing a 50,000 capacity venue, because that is what it would have taken to let everyone go. I don’t know if the band are ready to be a stadium act and so the choice of 8,000 capacity venue seemed OK to most as far as I can see - until it transpired to be not enough. If none of the bloggers knew that, what chance the band (who apparently didn’t realise the difference between Electric Picnic and Oxegen when booking their festival venues (God bless them) - even though they had one of their finest moments at EP)
Go see them in Holland because tickets there are dirt cheap.
You’ll see the same thing happen if Interpol come to the Olympia
Comment by Michael | August 10, 2007 at 11:28 amWhen I told a friend I was getting up early to skulk around Ticketmaster.ie to nab Arcade Fire tickets he said “But I thought you didn’t listen to mainstream bands”. And after getting up earlyish, still no tickets. Impressive I must say. Well done to a good band getting so much love. And yeah, I dn’t blame Ticketmaster, same way I don’t blame the Lotto organisation if I don’t win the jackpot.
Comment by Damien Mulley | August 10, 2007 at 11:30 amanne-marie - maybe an open-air tent?
michael - the band (and especially their Mister Ten Percent) knew only too well the difference between Oxegen and EP - more money. Agree with u on size of venues and band’s pulling power - thats why the Point is turning itself into a 14k venue.
Damien - it truly IS amazing to consider that Arcade Fire are now a mainstream band. I know when this gig was announced that some people thought they wouldnt fill it, but this morning has disproved that theory. Maybe they’ll now do a Def Leppard and move to Ireland to return the love (and avail of our loose tax laws).
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 11:36 amI am so. Freaking. Angry. With both Arcade Fire and Ticketmaster. Arcade Fire are clearly not meeting the demand in Ireland, and need to rethink their concert venues and the amount of gigs they schedule… my dog could have told you that one gig was not near enough to satisfy Irish fans. But this issue once again highlights Ticketmaster’s dominance over Irish ticket sales. Although the ridiculous cost of handling fees, booking fees, service fees and whatever else they can think of has been highlighted again and again, Ticketmaster still continues to get away with this, and will continue to until there is some real national competition. And it drives me mad!!! >:(
Comment by Sue | August 10, 2007 at 11:40 amI was inside in Merchants quay Cork this morning at 8.20, there was 10 people ahead of me in line,, you’d think how could i not get tickets…. WEL I didn’t. There was about 50 60 people in line by 9 o clock,,, . I swear to god it took at least 4 or 5 minutes per person for them to get tickets ,, it was disgraceful… there was only one person behind the desk and my granny who’s 84 could have used the computer faster then this guy!!!! There was 2 computers so why wasn’t there 2 people using them!!!!!
I didnt get tickets!!!!!
The person in front of me went up and he was told that they were sold out,, this was at 9.18,,, the box office started selling them at 9.02 and I think he only managed to get around 8 or 9 people tickets.
I got 2 Words For Ticketmaster!!!
A JOKE
Comment by Daniel | August 10, 2007 at 11:42 amjust checked ebay for curiousity’s sake and can’t find any tickets for this. am i a luddite or have ebay been warned off it?
not trying to go off message, but any word on interpol coming back this year? veiled reference to it in last ticket interview i think(?)
Comment by Michael | August 10, 2007 at 11:43 amMichael,
Comment by liam | August 10, 2007 at 11:44 amI dont buy it that AF didnt know what they were getting into booking oxegen, they knew well what MCD summer festival was about when the booked the MCD owned ambassador for the march gigs. That is how it works here, never mind breaking up ticketmaster, people need to support the smaller promoters, like Pod group who were the first to bring AF to Ireland. When you look at this years oxegen line up for this year, you can see how MCD booked them all ahead of Pod. MCD were condisering an EP type festival but just stuck them all on the Oxegen line up.
Re: the ticketmaster thing …
While yes there are alternatives in the form of ticketlord and tickets.ie (and fair play to U:Mack for giving them the business) ticketmaster have the technological infrastructure in place to handle these high demand events which I doubt the others currently have and I suspect that if another vendor was given the rights to sell them it’d cause their systems to keel over like what happened with Glastonbury in previous years. Perhaps a more equitable thing would be if multiple vendors were allowed to sell tickets as happens in the UK (even if a number of them are TM fronts). But really I think that call is down to the promoter rather than the touring band.
Re: Service charges, does it really matter if the price displayed includes service charges or not? The bigger issue for me has always been that you get charged a per ticket charge rather than a per transaction one.
Re: The second date, I’m not too sure about that. Usually don’t these second dates (I’m thinking Flaming Lips last November, Arcade Fire are in March, The upcoming Kings Of Leon gig) go on sale very quickly after the first one sells out? I’d imagine that if there were to be a second date MCD would have had it lined up already and it’d have gone on sale around 9:08 AM this morning. I’m interested in the 8,000 figure though. Wasn’t the planning permission MCD applied for for 10,000 people? Perhaps more tickets will be released in dribs and drabs between now and the gig.
Finally, it’s arcadefire.com, not arcadefire.net, the .net is a fan run site and the last thing that Kyle who runs it (in addition to the excellent viachicago and morecowbell sites) is to wake up to a ton of e-mails from irate Micks who he’s unable to help.
Comment by Ian | August 10, 2007 at 11:44 amian - url corrected, thanks.
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 11:47 amWhat exactly are people giving out about - Ticketmaster have a monopoly on ticket sales, where else would AF sell them? and MCD did limit the amount to four tickets per person, (fair enough) there’s not much else they can do to discourage touting. so they aren’t easy to get online, but if you’re on the phone by nine or queuing at an outlet you shouldn’t have trouble getting a ticket so Where is the problem??
Comment by Jamie | August 10, 2007 at 11:54 am“If none of the bloggers knew that, what chance the band (who apparently didn’t realise the difference between Electric Picnic and Oxegen when booking their festival venues (God bless them) - even though they had one of their finest moments at EP)”
I spoke to Jeremy Gera in March and asked him about EP and he said the reason that they weren’t doing it was due to the fact that they wanted to be at home at some stage this year and September was the time they were able to free up the most time. It’s not like bands make Ireland the cornerstone of their touring plans. The next leg of the tour ends at Leeds/Reading on August 26th and then they’ve got 3 weeks off befrore hitting the road in the states (and not Canada at all despite being from there) with LCD Soundsystem. They’ve played a lot of shows this year, they obviously take quite a bit of a toll on them considering that Win needed surgery earlier in the year because of how much they put into their performances.
Anyway, I got a ticket so I’m happy.
Comment by Ian | August 10, 2007 at 11:55 amI think the Pearl Jam argument re: Ticketmaster is a bit off to be honest. At around the same time as Pearl Jam were attending Congressional Hearings, Green Day mounted a tour with Ticketmaster and said that they were able to mount a tour for less cash because they took less of a cut than Pearl Jam did. Make of that what you will I suppose, but it could be down to how much money each member of the band is getting.
Comment by Neilo | August 10, 2007 at 11:57 amOf course, another reason for the price could be because of the tax that the government introduced last autumn on gig tickets.
Still doesn’t explain why Arcade Fire are so insanely popular though - the last album was rubbish.
For any disappointed AF fans out there.
My gaff is within earshot of where the gig will be in the Phoenix Park. In an effort to accomodate disappointed fans I will be hosting a select AF Club and will be charging only 10% of the actual ticket price. That’s a meagre €4.90 for anyone who can’t do the math. I will be treating all comers to cocktail sausages and fried ribs (better than Pieminster anyday). Limited availability. Terms & Conditions apply*.
*(Note: There is a handling charge of €40 euro per ticket for this event. Caveat Emptor. Sound quality is dependent on direction of the prevailing wind.)
Comment by Matt Vinyl | August 10, 2007 at 12:02 pmmangaed to get two, hurrah!
Comment by Jamie | August 10, 2007 at 12:03 pmThe reality is that Arcade Fire got an extraorinaryily stupid amount of money for this gig and for the Oxegen gig, so to compare them to the National or any other band apart from maybe U2 is ridiculous.
Comment by Dick Darlington | August 10, 2007 at 12:03 pmI’m bemused by AF’s huge popularity. When was the tipping point?!
Comment by JP | August 10, 2007 at 12:11 pmDon’t know if any of you use the Pollstar.com or get the free pollstar magazine but it’s well worth a look and might really bring it back to where it’s begining…the green backs and the cash.
Comment by Cormac | August 10, 2007 at 12:20 pmBands like Arcade fire,KOL etc are pulling in huge-perhaps obscene amounts of cash and whatever about touring costs-advertising etc and in this case the venue is actually owned by Dublin Corporation/Dublin City council who could have easily put a cap on ticket prices if they even thought about it for more thann a second.
Really it’s naive to blame any promoter for charging big money for prime beef who this year happen to Arcade fire.
If Arcade fire have pulled the wool over eyes and you really think they give a shit about how much you pay for a ticket i would be very surprised.
Please don’t be fooled….tickmaster make more the higher the ticket price so if AF or any other artist want to sell tickets below market average they would but they don’t for the simple reason as pointed out they would all like to buy a large farm and shoot small animals on sunday.
Popular band announce date. Tickets go on sale.
Gig sells out because loads of people go.
Other people buy tickets to sell on at a profit.
Um, where’s the story in all of this? I can’t seem to find it.
Comment by UnaRocks | August 10, 2007 at 12:22 pmI strolled into an internet cafe at 5 to 9 and got four tickets no probs. Although the window was open beside my pc it was a bit cold. Thats my main complaint
Comment by Ian | August 10, 2007 at 12:26 pm“Um, where’s the story in all of this? I can’t seem to find it.”
Never let the absence of a story get in the way of a good story.
Comment by Matt Vinyl | August 10, 2007 at 12:32 pmWell this time we had a 3-pronged approach, one person 20th in the queue at the kiosk in stephens green, 1 person at zhivago in galway, and me on broadband. And still no tickets!!! Only the first 10 people in stephens green got them. What’s going on, really, like who has them. After the Olympia tickets debacle earlier this year we went to see them in Stockholm, this time its Oslo. Nicer cities, cheaper tickets, and a new town to trash, sorry, i mean explore haha. Look elsewhere people, there’s no need to give ticketmaster Ireland and MCD your money…
Comment by kev | August 10, 2007 at 12:32 pm“Popular band announce date. Tickets go on sale.
Comment by Mike | August 10, 2007 at 12:35 pmGig sells out because loads of people go.
Other people buy tickets to sell on at a profit.
Um, where’s the story in all of this? I can’t seem to find it.”
If nothing constructive to add or dont know what youre talking about then move along dear.
How can radio stations and newspapers get their hands on tickets as competition prizes, obviously they have them pre-booked. And don’t get me started on the corporate brigade. A level playing field for everyone.
Comment by Tony | August 10, 2007 at 12:41 pmhmm. I might take up Matt on that offer!
In the meantime I’ll be going to see LCD Soundsystem the weekend before and am perfectly happy with that… sod the overrated canucks.
‘Ireland per head has one of the highest amount of concert going fans,the point depot is in the top 5 venues in the world’- is this true or just a made-up factoid?
Comment by Justin | August 10, 2007 at 12:42 pmnot made up,promise
Comment by Cormac | August 10, 2007 at 12:46 pmJustin. I’m having my birthday bash on the 18th in my back garden. You can size up the venue then if you want.
Comment by Matt Vinyl | August 10, 2007 at 12:50 pm“Popular band announce date. Tickets go on sale.
Gig sells out because loads of people go.
Other people buy tickets to sell on at a profit.
Um, where’s the story in all of this? I can’t seem to find it.”
If nothing constructive to add or dont know what youre talking about then move along dear.
Una has a totally rational point, what exactly are people complaining about? There’s noone to blame here, 8,000 tickets went on sale with a 4 per head limit and sold out. The four per head was the best thing to discourage them all selling to touts, the rest went to fans that were ready at 9am. WHERE IS THE PROBLEM? if you didn’t get tickets because you didn’t queue early enough or rang at 9.15 how is this ticketmaster/mcd/arcade fire’s fault? really?
Comment by Jamie | August 10, 2007 at 12:50 pmMyself and my friend tried, no tickets at all. Disappointed, especialyl ‘cos we were online waiting for Ticketmaster to go on sale, and still no joy.
Comment by Cait | August 10, 2007 at 12:50 pmEveryone get to Wexford, White’s still had tickets an hour ago.
Comment by Ian | August 10, 2007 at 12:54 pm“Una has a totally rational point, what exactly are people complaining about? There’s noone to blame here, 8,000 tickets went on sale with a 4 per head limit and sold out. The four per head was the best thing to discourage them all selling to touts, the rest went to fans that were ready at 9am. WHERE IS THE PROBLEM? if you didn’t get tickets because you didn’t queue early enough or rang at 9.15 how is this ticketmaster/mcd/arcade fire’s fault? really?”
Understandable, but one of the biggest gigs of the year and its not relevant to discuss it ?
Comment by Mike | August 10, 2007 at 12:58 pmI really don’t know what i’m on about.
Comment by Jamie | August 10, 2007 at 12:59 pmIts also worth exploring how the gig was planned , were there alternative promoters,venues etc for the band to use, in my opinion to just take it at face value and say, “gig sold out” and accept it is ridiculous, although to say its all a conspiracy is equally ridiculous.
Comment by Mike | August 10, 2007 at 1:03 pmmike - this blog has already explored that issue in great depth. see http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2007/07/02/fire/ and the various entries here http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/?s=arcade+fire
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 1:05 pmCalm down everyone.
There’s always Ian Brown.
Comment by Pedro | August 10, 2007 at 1:13 pmYeah i know, i just mean in response to the argument of,”gig is sold out and thats that, whats the problem?”
Comment by Mike | August 10, 2007 at 1:14 pmBut noone here can answer questions like “were there alternative promoters,venues etc for the band to use”
And accepting that the gig sold out fast? That happens, popular band, BUT- in this case the majority of tickets did NOT sell to touts or corporate boxes so for a rare change we can’t blame MCD.
Comment by Jamie | August 10, 2007 at 1:18 pmdoes anyone agree with this?
I’ve got to say I’m with Una and Jamie on this one. Did anyone really think this gig wouldn’t sell out in seconds?! Admittedly there seem to be some flaws in the process - and from these comments the only people I really sympathise with are those who queued in person for tickets because the transaction times are much slower and you only secure your ticket at the very end of the process. Surely this is something Ticketmaster need to look into?
Comment by Catherine | August 10, 2007 at 1:23 pm“Popular band announce date. Tickets go on sale. Gig sells out because loads of people go. Other people buy tickets to sell on at a profit.Um, where’s the story in all of this? I can’t seem to find it.”
nail on the head una! supply and demand…
Comment by Anthony | August 10, 2007 at 1:45 pmNo, in fairness, Una is right. There really is no story in this if you work in the media and can blag free tickets to the gig.
Comment by Ronan | August 10, 2007 at 1:59 pmYeah, you’re right Ronan, because MCD luv me 4eva.
Comment by UnaRocks | August 10, 2007 at 2:19 pmInteresting, this is the oldest showbiz trick in the book, put an act who is not yet able to sell out a big arena or outdoor gig but has still moved beyond clubs, put them in a venue where you know demand will outstrip supply, sit back and watch the sparks flys.
Comment by Rev Jules | August 10, 2007 at 2:25 pmI’m with Una on this one too.
Next thing we’ll have David McWilliams writing about this in the Indo. I can see the headline now - “The Arcade Fire Generation - the Irish people who thought they should have been there first.”
Comment by Brautigan | August 10, 2007 at 2:30 pmThis is the second time this has happened to me, when tickets went on sale in January for the March gigs I was set up at a pc ready to buy and took five minutes to get access to the ticket page and then was told that no tickets were available and the same today!
Comment by foighne | August 10, 2007 at 2:42 pmI don’t agree with Jim’s comment about “blame the Band not Ticketmaster” - there is no other alternative - short each venue setting up their own on-line ticket service - Ticketmaster are totally abusing their monopoly and letting the touts win.
Maybe if their website worked properly I wouldnt be quite so bitter about this!
blah
Comment by gavin wheatley | August 10, 2007 at 2:59 pmim just pissed off because the buy tickets page didnt come up till 9:04 so even though i was refreshing the page since 9;00 i didnt rele have a chance
Comment by mic | August 10, 2007 at 3:10 pmAlso didn’t get tickets- Arcade Fire are everywhere right now- the league of superstars! Just have to make do with listening to them on my iPod on the day in question!
Comment by Maria | August 10, 2007 at 3:30 pmWas on needticket.ie They had tickets online at around 11 this morning for 100 euros. I sent my first hate email this morning.
Comment by Amanda | August 10, 2007 at 4:19 pmI got four. Two for me and the wife and the other two to sell to cover the cost of my tickets and also a little drinking cash. I am the best
Comment by muiris | August 10, 2007 at 4:19 pmThere are still some reasonably priced tickets (£23-25 from memory)available to see them in London, Manchester, Nottingham, and Newcastle. No muck, nor cold, nor a venue miles away from decent boozers to worry about!
Going to Manchester myself, as its a long weekend that week.
Sat back then and relaxed as the mad scramble, then gnashing-of-teeth took place today!
P.S. The prices in the UK kind of bring into question some of the arguments here that this is all AF’s fault…!
Comment by Jim Dubh | August 10, 2007 at 4:21 pmi was at work at 8.50 on ticketmaster constantly refreshing and checking it (sometimes tickets go on sale just a little early..well they did for the interpol secret gig i was in london)
anway it wasnt until 9.07 that I finally got two tickets….but my friends didnt, wish now i’d bought 4.
anyway check out this website and check the bands forum too, im sure people will drop out and advertise if they are selling tickets…
www.scarletmist.com
people who cant attend gigs, sell their tickets here at face value (its an anti touting site) it might take a couple of weeks before the tickets become available but you might get lucky
Comment by caz | August 10, 2007 at 4:36 pmCalm down everyone!
‘Neon-Bible’ (apart from ‘No Cars Go’) is a big pile of pretentious, overblown, tune-free, self-important, pipe-organed crap. I bought the album and only listened to it twice.
They’re just a band.
Comment by Quint | August 10, 2007 at 4:37 pmSadly, i had to pay €90 per ticket i got on needaticket.ie. I know i really shouldn’t have given a online tout company my money, but i got really desperate. And it’s ony really €30 over the price, which i was willing to pay.
Comment by Dave | August 10, 2007 at 4:41 pmIt is a shame though that these circumstances has brought about negativity towards the concert and the band. I don’t think they are to blame. You can’t honestly believe for each concert that they set, they are thinking “Ok, so which of these agencies are the most morally correct?”. Come on.
I just wnat to say that i dont mind paying the 49 to see the arcade fire but the 6 euro charge per ticket for puttin the thing in an envelope is an absolute disgrace…ticketmaster are laughin all the way to the bank
Comment by Proinsias | August 10, 2007 at 5:00 pmJust because the Arcade Fire started off life as an indie band, that does not make them in any way more moral or better when it comes to these things that say, the rolling stones. It might suck to see a band you hold close to your heart turn into a touring cash hoover, but thats the reality of all this. Arcade Fire have chosen to rip their Irish fans off, quite simply because they can, and they want as much money as they can get.
Comment by darragh | August 10, 2007 at 5:02 pmJaysus. This will be the fourth time they’ve played here this year. If they weren’t playing in Ireland at all everyone would be saying ‘Arcade Fire don’t care about their Irish fans’.
If you really and truly want to lay blame with somebody, then blame those who create the demand - ie the people who want to go and see Arcade Fire - otherwise, there wouldn’t be a problem in securing tickets and they could play The Hub.
Alternatively, there is no one really to blame. It’s just a gig that people want to go to that sold out quickly.
Comment by UnaRocks | August 10, 2007 at 5:58 pm” Arcade Fire have chosen to rip their Irish fans off…”
How…?
Comment by Anthony | August 10, 2007 at 6:50 pmUna, just been over to your webshite to see there are a total of 7 comments about this. Could that be why you keep popping over here to post and re-post the same fecking thing, hmm?
Comment by Karen | August 10, 2007 at 9:00 pmOne thing I’d be interested to know is the breakdown of the distribution of tickets, as in % sold online, on phone, in shops, abroad and how many reserved for special friends. That might explain a bit about how they were offloaded so quickly
Comment by Michael | August 10, 2007 at 9:04 pmkaren - at least Una has the balls (metaphorically speaking, of course) to always use her real name and ID when posting and writing and expressing her opinion. Hiding behind a fake email address online to make sarky comments is really brave.
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 10, 2007 at 9:23 pmGo Jim!
kind regards,
Niall Stokes
Comment by unarocks | August 10, 2007 at 10:08 pmEr, hate to be one of those “I prefer their early stuff” types, but, um, Neon Bible’s not great. Anyone? Anyone?
Comment by Kieran | August 10, 2007 at 11:25 pmYes ‘Jim’
Comment by Michael | August 11, 2007 at 1:11 amI love REM (even more than I did before) for the way they handled their ticket sales for the gigs in the Olympia. There are alternatives to Ticketmaster. It’s a pity other bands don’t follow suit.
Message from voice at Ticketmaster when I rang… “…..Tickets for Arcade Fire go on sale at 9am. The time now is 8.59am. beeeeeeeeeeeep”. Argh! I think they took the phone off the hook after that and went off for a coffee break.
Comment by Liz | August 11, 2007 at 9:03 amYou wouldn’t get very many comments on any of these pages if you actually sat the people posting down in a room together,the side effect of blogs etc is that it does give people an anonymous face where they can say whatever they want and say things they would never say in public or face to face.
Sorry if i’m pointing out something quite obvious here but i very much doubt some of the more harsh posts would exsist if you actually had to say it face to face as you would no doubt get a punch in the face more often than not.
Thanks Arcade Fire
Comment by Cormac | August 11, 2007 at 10:59 amI have to agree with Ian — that comment from muiris was exceptional fuckbaggery.
Comment by Justin | August 11, 2007 at 12:49 pmOxegen and Croke Park sell out in 40 mins with 80,000 tix , Phoenix Park with 10,000 tix sells out in one eight that time , this is surprising ? Bands come to Ireland to get do show and accept the best offer where they can play to the most people and get paid the most money and this is also surprising ? You people seem to be able to comment on the music industry with incredible insight , how many of you actually work in the industry and know what you’re talking about ?
Comment by Marlon | August 11, 2007 at 1:53 pmcormac - agreed and I really appreciate the fact that all of you are using this blog to vent your spleen, but I think the comment I signalled out was personal more than anything else. Play the ball, not the (wo)man please.
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 11, 2007 at 2:01 pmmarlon-I can count myself as in the industry if that makes any odds but this is not an Industry fourm as far as i can see.
Jim-Fine but i’m still making the point don’t say anything on a blog your not willing to say in person as you pointed out it makes those willing to hide behind false names look like the losers and haters they are.
Comment by Cormac | August 11, 2007 at 4:06 pmMarlon - this is not or will never be a music industry forum. If you want one of those, go to http://www.recordoftheday.com/mb and tell them I sent you.
This is a blog written by someone with both music and media industry experience - the potted cv is here http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/about - which is read by and commented by some people who work in the Irish and interational music and media industries.
However, the vast majority of On the Record readers are, I would guess, mad-for-it music fans who consume records/CDs/downloads/concert tickets and come here for a good time or an excuse to stop them analysing financial spreadsheets, selling insurance, working in a bank or writing up briefing notes for various government ministers.
Cormac - you’re on the money - again!
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 11, 2007 at 4:29 pmerm…isn’t it good that people can say what they want without fear of a “punch in the face” here?
in what kind of decent real world conversation does someone smack someone in the face as a response to a comment, no matter how rude?
Comment by Ronan | August 11, 2007 at 9:26 pmim really glad people think the new album is rubbish. Especially whoever made up there mind after two listens. Hopefully this will ween out those that only listen to the singles and the real fans just might get tickets.
Comment by gary m | August 12, 2007 at 12:35 pmWhy do Irish people get so darn annoyed and worked up about this kind of thing? Band sell out shows worldwide yet theres no big deal made about it elsewhere to the same extent as in Ireland - whats the problem?
Comment by Peter Lambert | August 12, 2007 at 1:59 pmHave you lot lost all sense of perspective? Why are you blaming Ticketmaster and the promoters for the fact that a band are popular and you can’t get tickets? Why do you think you’re ENTITLED to a ticket for a show? Why are you so angry about this? Jesus christ, this country is enough to drive me to drink.
And jim, i think theres an element of shit-stirring to how you keep blaming the band. But I like the way you are doing it - keep up the good work!
Comment by Maeve | August 12, 2007 at 2:03 pmI think muiris’s comment sums up the kind of fans who’ve started listening to Arcade Fire since Neon Bible. I know I’m going to get loads of people attacking me for elitism, but once a band like Arcade Fire go mainstream, the idiots follow.
Comment by Donal Mc | August 12, 2007 at 3:44 pmYes, there are alternatives to Ticketmaster but JIm’s right when he points out the bands are too lazy and making too much easy money to bother with it. The first casualty of success? The fans.
Comment by jason | August 12, 2007 at 8:05 pmWow, I just had the 100th comment! Do i win a prize??
Comment by jason | August 12, 2007 at 8:05 pmirony wins a prize
Comment by Ronan | August 12, 2007 at 9:32 pmIs this what you meant by silly season Jim?
Arcade Fire put on a gig.
People buy tickets.
Some people don’t get tickets due to high demand.
So what?
Comment by Mark_g | August 13, 2007 at 11:30 amWell I got mine in a shop. I was the only one there too and, thankfully it would appear, the guy at the ticket machine didn’t look like he was trying to programme the Cray-2.
What pissed me off about the Olympia gigs was that Ticketmaster appeared to let you buy 50 tix per transaction. I can’t really see how anyone can have complaints this time.
We really love to see, and be seen at, all the big events, don’t we?
Comment by dealga | August 13, 2007 at 12:09 pmI think we’ve began to prefer giving out about them dealga, even if we enjoyed them. That’s certainly the case with me and Oxegen anyway.
Comment by Brautigan | August 13, 2007 at 12:39 pmit’s all those touts, like needaticket.ie they’re selling all sold out tickets for double the price. i thought touting was illegal…obviously not on the internet
Comment by heavenlyNarayan | August 13, 2007 at 1:16 pmFunny that a post so many people seem to think is a non-story has gotten the most comments on it. Just goes to show how blogs work: give people something to complain about and they will come in droves.
Yet the real reasons to complain aren’t being talked about. Who’s to blame for the fact credit card owners hold all the aces when it comes to buying tickets, and that many end up buying more than they need knowing they can sell the rest on easily at a profit once the concerts sold out? Professional touts may not be buying up hundreds of tickets nymore, but more and more people are becoming casual hawkers. If a certain amount of tickets were only available in record stores, you’d get less of this crap.
My main gripe with Ticketmaster is that they charge a hefty surcharge per ticket, not transaction. How the fuck can they justify that - no extra service is provided if you’re buying 4 instead of 1 ticket in one go. And why should ticket buyers be charged extra for using the internet anyway? This reduces overheads for outlets like Ticketmaster - its more for their convenience than ours. If anything you should get a discount for using the net.
Comment by David Bowie | August 13, 2007 at 3:51 pmI wonder who has a large stake in ticketmaster…
Comment by Cormac | August 13, 2007 at 5:58 pmWell cormac, if you go to www.cro.ie and are prepared to pay a small fee to get your hands on these details, you’ll easily find out.
Ticketmaster are a limited company and all their company records must, by law, be filed with the Companies Registration Office, including all details of shareholders and directors.
Believe me, it’s a great way to deal with urban myths, half-truths and allegations which have no basis in reality!
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 13, 2007 at 6:04 pmThere is surely an easy way of avoiding touts hoovering up tickets and landing them on ebay.
As my work uses similar technology it should be easy for ticketmaster to issue something like a ticket credit card that has a personalised barcode.
Basically if you pay for the event the code on the card gets enabled for that event and you’re scanned in. If you sell off your card for a gig (or lose it) you pay to get it replaced, reducing the profitability of flogging it.
It’s not foolproof but we’re not talking chip and pin or anything too complex. They could easily do the same for the big sporting events too.
Comment by dealga | August 14, 2007 at 9:41 amThe card thing is a great idea in theory and they operate a similar system at Primavera and Arsenal do it for their home matches. The only drawback I can see is that it would very much suit those of us that regularly go to gigs so we don’t have to have a “ticket drawer” in our bedside lockers (I’m not the only one surely). The only thing is that it wouldn’t really suit those who don’t go to all that many gig.
Comment by Ian | August 14, 2007 at 10:00 amI’ve written my own article on this - http://www.analoguemagazine.com/news/the-hunt-for-arcade-fire/ - but to summarize, I think Ticketmaster are being lazy and rather stupid about this. They’re getting a lot of bad press and, looking coldly at it, they (and MCD) are actually losing out on money if the fans are prepared to pay up to twice as much (which I myself, though I’m looking for tickets, absolutely refuse to do).
I think Ticketmaster should, for gigs which they know or suspect will sell out (and it doesn’t take a genius to work that out), print ID-specific tickets - be it a photograph or customer ID number or something. This completely scuppers touts, and is a service which would cost Ticketmaster precious little extra per ticket (indeed, they could probably absorb it thanks to the hefty surcharges) but it is a service for which they could easily charge extra and I think most people would accept it if it gave them a better chance of getting a ticket directly.
Problem of touts solved, a la Glastonbury.
Comment by Conor McQuillan | August 15, 2007 at 3:04 amTicketmaster are a multinational company. I doubt they give the slightest shite what kind of press they’re getting in Ireland…
Comment by Justin | August 17, 2007 at 12:31 amhello, im from spain, and im going to travel to dublin in october. i dont understand half you write in this blog, and i wanted to know why the tickets are not on sale yet?
the concerte is canceled?
when are they going to be on sale?
my journey depends on the concert, because if the concert is cancelled, i´ll buy the flight after 24th oct.
i wold be greatful if someone could answer me the questions.
thenkyou!
Comment by javier | August 17, 2007 at 9:04 amHola Javier, que tal? El concierto Arcade Fire se vende totalmente hacia fuera. Los boletos vendieron hacia fuera para la demostración en un par de minutos. ¡Espero que este tenga sentido!
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 17, 2007 at 9:09 amthank you Jim.
Comment by javier | August 17, 2007 at 10:15 ami understand your answer.
i think its a fucking thing to me that ther is no more tickets
is there another date in ireland for arcade fire?
thanks!
Javier - The band have NOT announced a second show and it seems highly unlikely at this time that they will.
Comment by Jim Carroll | August 17, 2007 at 10:20 amArcade Fire bear some responsibility for this. They are clever enough to know that the excess demand for their shows are good (free) publicity. The Grateful Dead instituted a lottery for their smaller shows. AF are content to let the touts profit at their fans expense, while they reap the benefit of the hysteria generated by performing too few shows at too small venues.
Comment by Bruce | August 22, 2007 at 3:42 pmBTW, a person at Ticketmastet just told me they were only allotted a very small number of tix to sell. Anybody know anthing about this, and, if true, where the other tix went?
Comment by Bruce | August 22, 2007 at 3:46 pmGood gig all the same
Comment by Michael | October 24, 2007 at 8:38 amTicketb*astard get away with absolute MURDER in ireland, they should wear balaclavas when selling tickets. there should be a nominal fee regardless of how many tickets are bought, ie 2.50 euro if you buy 1 or 4 tickets. Makes no sense to charge a booking fee on each seperate ticket if its one transaction. Nothing to do with bands or management companies! I for one am glad they are playing here as i got my tickets and going tonight!!
Comment by mofo2000 | October 24, 2007 at 9:09 amJim Carroll, what’s with the relentless bigging-up of Ticketmaster? It seems you’re going out of your way to defend them and place the blame for ticket prices squarely at the feet of the bands who CHOOSE to piss on their fans because it’s convenient. I mean, really, do you want people to think you’re working for Ticketmaster? Or that you just play golf with them? The point you made about “convenience” is missing the point entirely - the problem is not simply Ticketmaster’s monopoly but the filthy charges they add on. I personally couldn’t care less what price a band wants to charge for a ticket - I’ll decide for myself if they’re worth the price - but I will not stand for those thieveing bastards at Ticketmaster demanding such exorbitant “handling fees” et cetera HAVING PROVIDED NO SERVICE WHATSOEVER. They might as well punch me to the ground and stamp on my face while they’re at it. Let me just reiterate: Ticketmaster are SCUM.
Comment by AstonishingSodApe | October 24, 2007 at 10:30 pmAstonishingSodApe - can you please point out instances of my “relentless bigging-up of Ticketmaster”? Please refer to the dictionary definition of “relentless” before doing so.
Can you point out why you believe the bands are not responsible for ticket prices charged for their gigs?
Can you explain why you say “the problem is not simply Ticketmaster’s monopoly but the filthy charges they add on”, when it’s obvious that one thing leads to the other?
And finally, can you forward proof that I have ever knowingly stepped onto a golf course?
Comment by Jim Carroll | October 25, 2007 at 3:34 amWhat makes AC over-rated? Simply because you don’t like them? They are what they are. A lot of people like them. You don’t. Okay, great. But that does not mean they are over-rated. It’s funny. Everytime someone does not like a band, the band is said to be “over-rated.” Hey, you don’t like the band. Leave it at that.
Comment by Andrew | October 26, 2007 at 5:07 pmAndrew - if your comment is aimed at me, can you please point out the relevant quote where I say that Arcade Fire are over-rated?
Indeed, please see point number 3 above (it’s the one after number 2 and before number 4, in case you can’t find it)
Comment by Jim Carroll | October 26, 2007 at 5:09 pm