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TWEEDY SOLO SHOWS


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Now I guess I need to work on finding a place to stay, is there a VC favorite hotel/motel for a gathering of out of towners?

 

I'll be coming in from out of town too and just thought I would pass along a tip for those of you who might not have heard of this service: www.airbnb.com. I have used it once before and had a great experience, and it is a really good option for anyone willing to consider non-traditional accommodations. Basically, it's people renting out anything from an air mattress in their living room to a full luxury house. Just sign up (I think you have to link to Facebook, so you and your host can find out about each other) and there are numerous search options. Bottom line: I just reserved a private room with shared bath in an apt. directly across from the Vic for $50/night.

 

Ironically, the last time I used this service was also for Wilco--at the Ryman in Nashville. My host family was incredibly cool and they served an amazing breakfast, all for $35/night.

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City Suites is literally right around the corner from The Vic, and I've stayed there once. It is old but fairly nice, a little pricey IMO ($150+), and you are literally RIGHT next to the El, so you'll hear the trains rolling. But I don't think you can get closer to The Vic unless you do what Wilco Me just explained above.

 

The Vic is right on the Brown Line, so you don't have to stay close by.

 

Here's a link to LouieB's informative "Visiting Chicago" thread here at VC. http://viachicago.org/topic/35877-going-to-chicagowhat-to-do-see-stay-etc/

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Went to the Vic at 10:00 to pick up a pair. (I live right by it) The guy at the box office told me it was sold out. I was still in the neighborhood when my friend texted to say more tickets were available. After telling me they were sold out, the guy checked the computer again and was only able to pull up a Friday. :\

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City Suites is literally right around the corner from The Vic, and I've stayed there once. It is old but fairly nice, a little pricey IMO ($150+), and you are literally RIGHT next to the El, so you'll hear the trains rolling. But I don't think you can get closer to The Vic unless you do what Wilco Me just explained above.

 

The Vic is right on the Brown Line, so you don't have to stay close by.

 

Here's a link to LouieB's informative "Visiting Chicago" thread here at VC. http://viachicago.or...o-see-stay-etc/

 

as well as the red and purple line

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Yeah, it's unbelievably shitty. And eTix is kind of a scalper's paradise if there aren't "credit card only for admission" measures in place like there were for the December shows. But there have never been problems in past years! What was different this time? The fact that they were mentioned in the Jam mail a couple days ago?

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Yeah, it's unbelievably shitty. And eTix is kind of a scalper's paradise if there aren't "credit card only for admission" measures in place like there were for the December shows. But there have never been problems in past years! What was different this time? The fact that they were mentioned in the Jam mail a couple days ago?

 

The shows did seem to get a little bit more publicity this year than previous years. Also the price point was much lower to start this year, so that probably had something to do with it as well.

 

It is a little weird, though, that the scalper issue had never seemed to rear its ugly head with these shows too much before. You almost wish they could somehow keep it under the radar a little bit, but of course they want to sell as many tickets as possible to raise as much money as possible. Just sucks that there are so many opportunists looking to make a quick buck off shows that are BENEFITS! :angry

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Yeah, it's unbelievably shitty. And eTix is kind of a scalper's paradise if there aren't "credit card only for admission" measures in place like there were for the December shows. But there have never been problems in past years! What was different this time? The fact that they were mentioned in the Jam mail a couple days ago?

 

That probably had a lot to do with it. I was really surprised to see the Jam email - it made me extremely nervous about this morning.

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I was a little baffled by the sell out this morning. Possible contributers could be the mention in the newsletter, the new album, and or just general growing popularity. One thing that caught my eye immediately though was the limit of 8. Its GA so I cant see one scenario where an individual would have to buy tickets for 7 other people that are not available to get online on a late Saturday morning. The last two years these shows have been no more than 3/4 the way full.

 

I'd say if your standing outside the Vic at 7:45 your still pulling a ticket for maybe $75 at the most.

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I haven't been able to make it to these shows for the last few years because of teaching commitments and won't be able to again this year, but it's really disappointing to find out so many tickets are already up on StubHub. There really ought to be a special circle of hell for people who try to make a profit on a show that's for charity! I hope the organizers are able to find a way to thwart the scalpers.

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On the brighter side, there are several under $75 already. Nobody's making any money on those. Except Stubhub, of course. Helluva business model there. The whole thing really is getting out of hand.

 

I'd vote for $100 gold circle next year, or even $150. Surprised it was only $75 this year. I haven't been for a couple years, but I don't think they overpriced / undersold any of these.

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Even though I was lucky enough to get in for both nights, I got to thinking about the assholes who buy up all the tickets and resell at a premium. With apparently too much time on my hands last night, I went onto eBay and found tons of sellers with these tickets at, usually, double face value. So I decided to pick on one of them--someone who had two gold circle tickets for Saturday at $299. I submitted a question on the item, as follows: "Just a question, which you can ignore if you want, but this is a charity event that Jeff Tweedy puts on every year on behalf of Montessori schools. How can you justify buying tickets at $75--tickets that would have gone to true fans of the band, who were unable to purchase because of scalpers--and keeping the profits for yourself? The Montessori schools just get $75 per ticket, or $150 for the two. And you have the NERVE to jump in ahead of real fans by using automated systems and charge double the face value. Shame on you and the rest of you scumbags!" To my surprise, the seller responded: "Are you emailing every seller for these two shows? No automatic equipment was used FYI." I then shot back: "No, obviously I don't have time to do that, and I don't need to have my blood pressure skyrocket, so I'll just leave it to karma. It's just a filthy, disreputable practice, and even moreso when it's taking advantage of a charity. All I can say is I hope that some awareness of this will make you think twice about doing what you're doing. But it probably won't." Just thought I'd share. Big SIGH.

 

Edit: Hope I don't get booted off eBay for harrassing emails!

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Good for you. If there were no scalpers, there would not be the need for scalpers. I justcan't belives that site like Stubhub -- which had tickets for anywhere from $65 to $1000, does not put some kind of increase limit? I saw tickets for the Central park shows -- which were $45 for GA -- up to $500. Why is this legal? If I sold them on the sidewalk, I'd get arrested. Sigh.

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Even though I was lucky enough to get in for both nights, I got to thinking about the assholes who buy up all the tickets and resell at a premium. With apparently too much time on my hands last night, I went onto eBay and found tons of sellers with these tickets at, usually, double face value. So I decided to pick on one of them--someone who had two gold circle tickets for Saturday at $299. I submitted a question on the item, as follows: "Just a question, which you can ignore if you want, but this is a charity event that Jeff Tweedy puts on every year on behalf of Montessori schools. How can you justify buying tickets at $75--tickets that would have gone to true fans of the band, who were unable to purchase because of scalpers--and keeping the profits for yourself? The Montessori schools just get $75 per ticket, or $150 for the two. And you have the NERVE to jump in ahead of real fans by using automated systems and charge double the face value. Shame on you and the rest of you scumbags!" To my surprise, the seller responded: "Are you emailing every seller for these two shows? No automatic equipment was used FYI." I then shot back: "No, obviously I don't have time to do that, and I don't need to have my blood pressure skyrocket, so I'll just leave it to karma. It's just a filthy, disreputable practice, and even moreso when it's taking advantage of a charity. All I can say is I hope that some awareness of this will make you think twice about doing what you're doing. But it probably won't." Just thought I'd share. Big SIGH.

 

Edit: Hope I don't get booted off eBay for harrassing emails!

Update: Now I feel kind of bad. (No, that isn't true. . . ) Just got a response to my most recent correspondence with the scalper. He/she said: "I didn't realize it was a benefit. I am not in the area. If you want a pair you may have for $250 which covers my costs Ebay Paypal and FedEx. Offer $250 and I will accept."

 

I'm posting this just to close the circle on my little story above. I'm going to refrain from continuing any kind of dialogue with this person, and of course I am declining their very generous :barf offer.

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I saw tickets for the Central park shows -- which were $45 for GA -- up to $500.

 

Hm, there were people in line before those shows who couldn't give away their extra tickets. Maybe it was due to the threat of rain, but I've always seen people trying to unload tix at face value before the shows, even in the NYC area.

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Hm, there were people in line before those shows who couldn't give away their extra tickets. Maybe it was due to the threat of rain, but I've always seen people trying to unload tix at face value before the shows, even in the NYC area.

 

That was my experience with the Central Park shows, I had extras for both nights, I sold one to a VCer, sold a couple below face on the street, and ate the rest, couldn't even give them away.

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Damn, had the flu for the last few days and missed the tickets going on sale on the 18th. Just picked up 1 ticket for friday night. Hopefully I can pick up a Sat tix before the date. So looking forward to seeing Chicago again-haven't been in about 15 years, yikes that's a long time. Looking forward to roaming around with my camera and having the architecture overwhelm me. Will probably post a ticket request closer to the date but if anyone has an extra for Sat I'd love to buy-especially the amazing-hard-to-come-by golden ticket.

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I have gone to these shows for the past 4 or 5 years. I always start to look on this site in January for when Sue announces the dates. I just happened to stumble across Jam's website tonight and was blown away at the fact that Saturday's show was sold out, and even more so upon learning that scalpers had gobbled up a majority of the tickets. A real F-U to them would be if none of the fans bought them. That way the school gets their scholarship money and the scalpers are left with hundreds of useless tickets. I agree that the paperless route is (unfortunately) the only way to go.

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