no available tickets!

[mjharris]

I wanted 2 tickets for the Calgary AB show. I was on line at 10:00 am local time when they became available through ticketmaster..only there were no tickets available!! How can this happen? There phone lines are busy as well. I did notice there were several available through Marketplace at prices I can not afford.

[zippy]

Same thing with the two Ottawa shows.

[Mabeanie1]

There were definitely some Ottawa tickets still available at 10.30 am as I had a look for a Tuesday ticket for my husband.

W

[mildandhazy]

I got the same error for the Mnpls show. I have been on hold for ticketmaster for awhile too. what is happening?

[blue_94_trooper]

what is happening?

little supply/big demand

[rmm]

Yup, TicketBastard screws people again. Tried to get tickets for Oakland and they were seemingly sold out 15 minutes after they went onsale. Oh really...

Honestly, 2009 and we're still dealing with this antiquated monopoly of a bullshit system?! I'm looking into alternatives (if there's anything other than ebay, craigslist and general scalpers, let me know) but honestly, this is ridiculous. I don't expect Leonard or his people to be able to do anything about TicketBastard, but it's beyond frustrating that fans end up getting screwed over and over by this time and time again.

Sigh... well, off to try and find tickets online somewhere - wish me luck...

[stillcanring]

same thing for me, I tried constantly from 10 to 11am and nothing. the weird thing is that my friends just tried once at around 10:45 and got a pair of $251 orch tickets. wtf?

[ascoli]

Ottawa went on sale today March2.
They were sold out yesterday when I tried to check it out.
I don't know what is going on with ticket availability before they even go on sale.
Disappointed.....needless to say.

[blue_94_trooper]

Yup, TicketBastard screws people again.

How do you reckon that one?

I'm no fan of TicketMaster but what most people here seem to be unable to grasp is that there are A LOT OF PEOPLE trying to get these tickets. 99% of them are not scalpers. There are only so many tickets to go around and theses shows are going to sell-out very quickly.

[denalynn2001]

In this case you are simply wrong. I am all for fan presales, but as of Friday there were 6 separate presales appearing on Ticketmaster queries for this show, including 2 separate ones for American Express cardholders. As of 10:05 today, the public sale date, there were 0 tickets available to me on Ticketmaster but hundreds from the ticket brokers, including TicketsNow, which is a subsidiary of Ticketmaster. It smells.

[blue_94_trooper]

In this case you are simply wrong. I am all for fan presales, but as of Friday there were 6 separate presales appearing on Ticketmaster queries for this show, including 2 separate ones for American Express cardholders. As of 10:05 today, the public sale date, there were 0 tickets available to me on Ticketmaster but hundreds from the ticket brokers, including TicketsNow, which is a subsidiary of Ticketmaster. It smells.

Add up the available tickets from the brokers (Note that many of the brokers on the internet besides eBay are front-ending the same inventory). It isn't going to amount to more than a few percent of the total tickets available.

Many of the US shows are at small-ish theaters. Even Radio City only holds 6,000. The AmEx presale probably had, at best, 300 - 600 tickets. Want to guess how many people were trying to buy them?

This is nothing new. Popular concerts sell out. People get disappointed.

[denalynn2001]

Sure, I've missed out and been disappointed before. But I've honestly never seen 6 presales for a show, and I guess what I'm saying is I think that's wrong. Particularly when the venues are smaller, I do think the public on-sale date should mean something. I've seen plenty of shows sell out, but very few so fast that there were zero tickets available 5 minutes after they went on sale. Can't think of even one right now.

[jonathon]

Yes... big demand, small supply especially for the theatre venues like Ottawa and Calagary. There were also tons of presales last week (Fan Club, Amex, Best Buy, Venue, Family & Friends, Radio Stations, etc. etc.) which ate up some of the inventories and...

Tons of seats have been designated as "Platinum Seats" and are selling via Ticketmaster's Marketplace facility (also known as TM TicketExchange) at outrageous prices! Ticketmaster only provides the facility or platform through which these seats are sold... Ticketmaster does not set the prices for them. It is the promoter with the full approval of Leonard Cohen Management that controls ALL ticket inventories and sets ALL of these obscene ticket prices in the TM Marketplace. Ticketmaster can and should be blamed for a number of its business practices (e.g. Relationship with Ticketsnow.com, service charges, etc.) but this isn't one of them. Leonard Cohen Management has to take FULL responsibility for the pricing and ticket inventory management associated with this tour.

At 2:30 pm today, the promoter/LC Management have listed 61 and 68 pairs of "Platinum" seats respectively on the Ticketmaster Marketplace for the May 25th and 26th Ottawa NAC shows. The top per ticket price for May 25th is $716.64 and for May 26th is $727.21!

Similarly for the Calgary show, there are 26 pairs of "Platinum" seats listed with the top price set at $800.16 per ticket!

And most of us thought the $689.00 VIP package was a cash grab!

It is highly likely that the Platinum ticket prices will go down as we get closer to the shows and many could well be quietly dropped into the general Ticketmaster public ticket inventory at the "regular" $250 ticket price.

Yes... I will be going to both Ottawa shows and I have spent $1,000+ in total so that I have a pair of prime seats for each night. But I have an incredibly bad taste in my mouth after seeing how the tickets for these shows are being priced and sold and I cannot blame it on Ticketmaster. Leonard... stand up, dip your hat and take a bow!

All the best.

[blue_94_trooper]

I've seen plenty of shows sell out, but very few so fast that there were zero tickets available 5 minutes after they went on sale. Can't think of even one right now.

Ever tried to buy Radiohead tickets? Wilco? White Stripes? Jimmy Buffet

[TheWalrus]

I've seen plenty of shows sell out, but very few so fast that there were zero tickets available 5 minutes after they went on sale. Can't think of even one right now.

Ever tried to buy Radiohead tickets? Wilco? White Stripes? Jimmy Buffet

I went to a show that Clapton put on here in Edmonton a couple years back. My understanding was that Rexall Place sold out in not a matter of minutes, but rather seconds. I was lucky to get in, and that's all there was to it. High demand, low supply (as has been said before) - getting tickets to big concerts is a case study in introductory economics.