Too Hip to ignore; A couple of policy changes would calm concert controversy
Editorial – Wednesday, November 01, 2006 @ 09:00

It was, it turns out, a sure-fire recipe for rock and roll fireworks:

Announce the first-ever local appearance by one of Canada’s iconic bands, the Tragically Hip;

Combine with thousands of hard-core fans;

Pour into Memorial Centre, but sell 2,200 of 3,500 seats in advance; Open ticket office. Step back and wait for explosion.

The wait was short. Angry fans who lined up outside the Memorial Centre box office for hours in the early-morning cold last Friday but went away Hip-less let loose after they discovered how few tickets were available.

Most of their anger was directed at the city-owned arena and concert venue for selling 700 advance tickets to Peterborough Petes club seat holders. As an incentive to pay a premium for season tickets to Petes games, those fans get first choice of tickets to other events.

That’s a common strategy. Use the carrot of year-round access to help sell your priciest season ticket packages. Music fans may not see the connection between hockey and concerts, but they don’t have to pay the bills to operate expensive arenas that are empty most nights of the year.

The $175 club-seat premium and an additional surcharge per ticket generate $150,000 a year toward the cost of paying off the $13-million Memorial Centre renovation.

It’s as much about marketing as music.

Which is also why Hip fans who belong to the band’s official fan club and register on its Web site got access to advance tickets. And why some were sent to The Wolf radio station as a promotional giveaway.

The entire 3,500 tickets could have been sold twice over at the door without any special offers, but that’s not the way the music business works.

The city does deserve some criticism for the way it handled ticket sales, and has said it will consider one change in policy. For future concerts, the number of tickets available would be posted at the box office so people could decide whether to take a chance and wait.

Another necessary change concerns the number of tickets Petes club seat holders can buy. It should be one-for-one, concert seat for hockey seat. One club seat holder bought six concert tickets and was told that was the maximum. Another reported buying eight. That takes too many tickets out of the hands of everyone else, and promotes ticket scalping.

At the same time, give Memorial Centre staff credit for bringing in one of the country’s most popular acts. Had interest not been so high there wouldn’t have been any ticket controversy. Willie Nelson and Bryan Adams both drew big crowds to the Memorial Centre in the past 12 months but no one was complaining they couldn’t get in. Stompin’ Tom Connors sold 2,000 tickets, Jann Arden just 1,600.

But we’d like to think there will be other blockbuster events that are so popular someone is going to be left out. For that reason, fans should be told how many tickets are available when they line up, and a $175 hockey seat fee should buy access to only one ticket. Save the fireworks for concert night.

Write to us: Please address your letters to The Editor, The Examiner, P.O. Box 3890, Peterborough, K9J 8L4. (Fax 743-4581) (letters@peterboroughexaminer.com).

Ticket fiasco could lead to changes Upset fans feeling tragically ripped off

ELIZABETH BOWER
Local News – Tuesday, October 31, 2006 @ 09:00

Pre-selling more than half the Tragically Hip concert tickets before opening sales to the general public is being called “a rip-off,” “a fiasco,” “ridiculous” and “tragic indeed.”

“I think if this type of thing happened anywhere else, there’d be a riot,” said Television Road resident Debbie Lawler.

Lawler’s husband, Gary, worked a midnight shift at GM and then got up early to stand in line for three hours before being told the Jan. 29 concert at the Memorial Centre was sold out.

The Examiner has been inundated with e-mails and phone calls since Saturday’s story stating the Memorial Centre pre-sold 2,200 of 3,500 tickets to Hip fan club members (the club is free to join), Peterborough Petes club seat ticket holders and during a Wolf 101 radio station promotional event before opening sales to the general public Friday morning.

The remaining 1,300 tickets left for sale were sold out within two hours.

Debbie Haigh said she doesn’t understand why 700 tickets were pre-sold to Petes club seat ticket holders – a comment made by virtually every reader who contacted The Examiner about this story. “This concert has nothing to do with hockey,” said the 53-year-old Fairmount Boulevard resident whose 20-year-old daughter also didn’t get tickets after a three-hour wait. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Dave Duggan, of Rideau Crescent, agrees.

“For the life of me, I cannot understand why they should get first dibs on anything except sporting events,” he said.

Ken Doherty, city community services director, defended the policy. Doherty, who spoke on behalf of Memorial Centre interim manager Harold Sheldon who wasn’t available, said club seat ticket holders are regular clients.

Adding the perk that they get advance sales of all events at the Lansdowne Street arena helps the Memorial Centre sell those tickets, he said.

“And it’s our job to sell those tickets,” Doherty said.

The policy has been in place since renovations were completed in 2003 because the Memorial Centre didn’t have club seats prior to that, he explained.

This is the first he has heard anyone complain about it, he said.

Doherty said the city will consider Stoney Lake resident Dennis Jenkin’s suggestion the Memorial Centre advertise how many tickets will be available to the general public so people can gauge whether it’s worth their time to stand in line.

The city will also consider Debbie Lawler’s suggestion to have two concerts when there’s such a high demand, he said.

“We’ll take that into consideration,” Doherty said. “This is a learning experience for us.”

When tickets went on sale last week for the Winter Arena Tour tales started pouring in from London & Peterborough about issues getting tickets, presale limits and why they sold out so quickly.

A week later it looks like some of the mystery around the Peterborough sale is starting to be explained. The basic issue was that the presale was open to Peterborough Petes season ticket holders, who were allowed to buy up to 8 tickets in advance – leaving few tickets for Hip fans.

Hip fan Big A has just posted Fiddlers Green to YouTube from the show last night in Calgary.

Enjoy!