kohoutek

Interesting, I've never heard of anyone not liking California Stars. That's a first.

Agree. Most of my family are lukewarm on Wilco, but they all love CS. It's among my wife's favorite songs by anyone, and, again, she's not a big fan. Thing about music is it either connects w/ you or it doesn't, but, my gosh, that is a song that is tapped into the source!

Similarly, in Raleigh Nick was on about 7:05, maybe 7:10 (official start was 7:00). Wilco on at 8:16, off at 10:23. I think you can safely assume no Wilco before 9:00 w/ an 8:00 official show time for Nick. Enjoy!

 

Don't you mean time is "Sitting Still"??

Touché! Perhaps I was subconsciously making reference to a line from You Are The Everything (All you hear is time stand still in travel), but, as much as I am quite OK w/ their entire catalog (everyone's allowed some weak ones), Sitting Still is so much better!

Can someone update the title of the thread.......9-27-11, right? Not 9-21

Done. Sorry about that. Big R.E.M. fan, and time is standing still for me at 9/21 as I continue to mourn. Today is 9/21, too. So is tomorrow.

I was down in the pit, and I noticed that much, if not most, of the crowd in the pavilion was seated. It's weird. With the exception of One Sunday Morning, it was a pretty lively set list from top to bottom.

 

I might be getting too old for the pit, though. It pisses me off to get there relatively early, stand in one spot through Nick Lowe (who was quite enjoyable), and then when Wilco's about to come on, get some jerks push past me to stand up front, and/or right in what used to be my personal space. I don't know if concerts bring out the worst in people, or just the worst people come to concerts, but it gets old quick.

Since the dawn of time, once bands move beyond small clubs, general admission has always brotught out the worst in people. I have said those very words many times. It's sad, but true. I damn near came to fisticuffs at Guided By Voices' last show a couple of weeks ago because of people showing up extremely late and pushing, big time, with some bizarre sense of entitlement. Meanwhile, I quite enjoyed my reserved seat at Wilco tonight in Raleigh. Oh, and everyone stood (not that I think one can't enjoy the hell out of show by sitting - one has to kind of go with the flow on that).

I sat out the last two shows they were in town, one because I wasn't in town, and one because I am just not a fan of the venue (Koka Boothe - beautiful, but not a good set up, and the stage is too fuckin' low).

I am surprised to hear myself say this, but this was my favorite Wilco show ever. I don't have the setlist. Could probably piece together, but too tired.

Ticket is sold

just saw the e-mail address rule. preston.cleland@gmail.com

Please PM me if interested. Asking $40 which is face w/out fees, so a bargain.

I miss camping out for tickets. When U2 came to not-really-nearby Hampton VA in 1987, there was a limit of 2 tickets per person. TWO! My kind and generous neighbors camped out for tickets and gave me a pair; I was 14 and mom wouldn't let me camp (yet). As soon as I turned 16 I started camping out for my own tickets. Dad went to all the shows with me, so he was more than happy to write a sick-note for school (and my part-time jobs) for me. I made a lot of friends camping behind Visart News & Video in Chapel Hill. Ah, the good ole days...

I grew up in Tidewater, so most of my camping was on the concrete outside of the Hampton Coliseum. I did not camp for that U2 show as I had to work early the day the tickets went on sale, but my mom must love me, because she managed the patience to keep trying on the phone (the other, very unreliable, way to get tickets back then), and she scored 2 nice seats to the 2nd night they added. One of the best shows I have ever seen, by the way.

As for your other post re: the Ticketron machine spitting out tickets before they waited on the first person, that could have been advanced reservations (not supposed to be done), or, there were times when the person running the machine would be smart enough to take orders for the first 5 or 20 people in line, which allowed them to start churning them out quicker.

I made out pretty well with the Pixies presale, too.

LOL!! I can neither confirm, nor deny. Anyway, my long winded point is, Wilco's presale through Frontgate is about as legit as it can get, but demand still outstrips supply, there's no single fair way to do this (though, I'd like to try to dream one up), and, most of all, venue presales are generally something to be avoided. So are AMEX presales. I almost fell for one last summer for Paul McCartney. Ended up waiting and doing his official presale, which again was surprisingly low key/under the covers (if I recall, they didn't really announce it; it just sort of happened so vigilance paid off), and did sooo much better than what the AMEX sale had to offer.

I don't think I have a point. Must be the beer.

really frustrated.

 

good news first, i got tickets to both nights at the ryman. the bad news is that they are singles (i preferred two together), and saturday's are obstructed. damn. sunday's are also way back at row x, although they are together.

 

they are still selling singles, if you want to get in, although they are obstructed view. if you put in a search for a single ticket at a time, you can buy them. at least you'll get in the door that way.

 

but this is fishy...i was on right at 12pm cdt, and it would not allow me to purchase tickets in pairs. how can that be? i am really struggling with understanding this. i ended up, after being busy for two hours after that and not being able to get back on to try again, buying tickets singly. did anybody else have difficulty getting tickets together?

 

argh!!

I'll explain it. Back when I was growing up when a big show came through town, there was no internet. If you wanted to get ANY tickets to see Springsteen or the Stones or U2, you had to wait in a really long line. Generally you had to camp out overnight, regardless of the weather. Obviously, this was unfair for some people who's situation may not have permitted them to do that (school/work responsibilities; too young; not in good enough healthy to sleep outdoors in unbearable weather conditions; etc.). Outside of those obvious limitations, the system was fair. For those with the means (primarily time, as ticket prices didn't start going up to stratospheric levels until the very late 80s/early 90s), the most dedicated fans got the best tickets, or at least got tickets. Were there scalpers camping out? Sure. But not on the scale we see now with scalpers camping online.

I'm not comparing Wilco, commercially, to those artists, but there is a parallel in terms of the level of demand vs. the size of the venues they are playing. With the "democratization" of the ticket selling process on the internet, you are left to a degree of luck. There is not much you can do as a devoted fan to improve your chances. About all you can do is get information, such as knowing about presales, knowing when they are and how they will be carried out, whether you need to sign up in advance, etc. Perhaps the only other thing you can do as a dedicated fan is be careful with that information. It may seem rude or elitist, but not broadcasting the means of getting tickets, much less early, to more casual fans helps. If someone wants to go see Wilco, they'll pay attention and figure out how to go.

Beyond this, luck rules. And, worse, it is much, much easier now for scalpers to get tickets to shows. It used to be that it would not be worth a scalper's time to invest in a mid-level band like Wilco. Now it's really easy, so it's worth the time. Hence, you have 100s, perhaps thousands of hands on the keyboards at the same time. Tickets can and do go quickly.

The very notion of presales doesn't help. Presales have become big business. Frankly, they're a joke, and that's not Wilco's fault. Bands like Wilco and R.E.M. do their best to reserve the best seats they can for their fans, but scalpers can still participate. Some bands charge a nominal fee to be in a fan club. That helps slightly. Others charge exorbitant fees to join their "fan clubs" (I use quotes, because these are often more of a front - not saying they're not affiliated w/ the artists, just that they're part of the money making machine - e.g. U2, and, don't get me wrong, I still like U2, but it is what it is). Scalpers will pay those fees for access. The real scandal are the other presales. So called "venue" presales, for example. The bar for admission to these presales is really low, and they are designed to create hype around ticket sales and scare fans into buying often pretty shitty seats while better ones are held for the general onsale (get some fans to buy the 2nd balcony now while they think tickets are going fast, then it will be easier to sell "mid level" or average tickets later), or, worse yet, for random ticket drops, a big drop the day of the show, or for other sleazier purposes.

You youngsters like the internet? It's like anything else: good and bad. It has in many respects soured the experience of getting tickets to a good show. Don't get me wrong: I've done quite well in some presales. I've also been goat screwed. There's a lot of luck involved. Supply, demand, and, most of all, to quote PJ Harvey, "the whores hustle, and the hustlers whore."

I think a lot of this is out of the artists' control. Some do what they can (I believe that Wilco, R.E.M., and Radiohead are among those who do). Others play along (it's no surprise that the manufactured artists do). There are so many games. How about things like "VIP seats" for performers like Lady Gaga? Great technique: ALL good seats are held for "VIP" sales at highly inflated prices (e.g. $500 for a $100 seat). The "fan" gets a t-shirt and access to a "private (cash) bar" or some such crap. Plenty of people have money to fall for this crap. So average people think "Well, I can't afford that, so I'll just buy regular tickets," but the regular tickets are crappy seats. A few days before the show, the promoter knows they've milked as much as they can from the "VIP" scam, so they will generally release left over seats and sell them at face value. Not saying it applies to Wilco, but it does, really. The key point is that there are a lot of hands in the till, they all gotta get paid, and it's a filthy business.

I'm very lucky, as I did well with this presale. Pure luck. Another artist who's at the same level (both in terms of venues and quality) had a presale this week, but it was very interesting. This particular artist, who's name I will not mention for the very reasons I cite above (i.e. keep the presale on a low profile; don't break their good system), was pretty sneaky. NO mention of a presale on their official website. No fanclub. But deep in the recesses of the information superhighway, sure enough these guys were doing a presale. It was a lower stress situation. I found out a few hours after it started through word of mouth. I got great seats. I told a friend, and he did, too.

Row E center (section 2) in Raleigh.

Good show. I went up to the porta potties shortly before the encore, and you could barely hear that high up on the lawn. Definitely a "museum" crowd as much or more so than a specific Tweedy fan crowd. The talking was awful. Some dude behind me kept saying "oh, this is a great fucking song", and then he'd gab right through it. Fuck all, man, just stay home with the albums if you're going to flap your choppers all night. I could have done with an extra 3 or 5 songs, and one does wonder if Jeff just got tired of competing. He more than earned his money either way.

I'm not a huge fan of Spiders (blasphemer!), but I loved it last night. The strength of the song came out by not being overwhelmed by the percussiveness and jams.