Ticketgate/Next year

Submitted by garethmeirion on

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General Discussion

Now the dust has almost settled on the September ticketgate fiasco,there MUST be a better way! Now it’s a painful luck of the draw.

Just speaking for myself the last few years ticket day has been the most stressful day of the year, nothing else comes close, to what is the only annual holiday we have as a family.

Like many we have come for many years and have seen our three kids grown up from babies in pushchairs in the mud to adults leaving home. (And we still come as a family)

We love GM but times change, and popularity of the festival is a problem for regulars!

Now next year how about

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith             Andy Partridge/XTC (if you don’t ask…)

Johnny Dowd                          Ani Di Franco

Tegan and Sara                       Jeffrey Lewis (he’s up for it)

Devo                                         Euros Childs

Barry Adamson                      The Unthanks

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

John Fullbright                        John Cale

Aimee Mann                           Dan Bern       Bill Callahan

Slugger's picture Slugger replied on

Great post Gareth. I'm in an identical situation (except for 2 rather than 3 kids who have grown up with the festival as our annual holiday). 

I would have no tickets this year only for the kindness of a poster on here who in the panic managed to secure extra tickets accidentally which she then was able to sell to me. 

There has to be a better way. 

I wholeheartedly second the Ani DiFranco suggestion. She'd be perfect for GM. 

jimbo g replied on

Unfortunately I think the better way is probably to go to a different festival that's less in demand... I mean, if there are simply more people wanting to go than there are tickets available, then some are going to be disappointed... Maybe a draw would be less stressful but it would mean more work so presumably more costs. And you'd still be relying on the "luck of the draw".

Elizabeth McEvoy's picture Elizabeth McEvoy replied on

20 ticket limit is excessive and not geared up to fairly supply most ordinary festival goers.

It does trouble me that Ticketline have a resale arm to their operation and I wonder whether the 20 ticket thing is designed to feed into that part of their business.

I mean, what normal festival goer can afford to buy 20 tickets? 

That said, I am fortunate to have a ticket and would love to see these artists next year please...

Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan 

Big Thief 

Bonny Light Horseman 

Hiss/Phil Cook

Bill Callahan 

Bill Ryder Jones 

Scout Niblett

Jason Lytle 

James Yorkston 

Bonobo

Kurt Vile 

Cory Hanson 

LCD Soundsystem (I can dream)

Ta x

Mikey's picture Mikey replied on

who needs to buy 20, apart from ticket touts (I wonder if GM are Given any stats advising how many tickets are purchased per sale?).  This is from 2015

Culture secretary Sajid Javid has said that ticket touts are “classic entrepreneurs” and their detractors are the “chattering middle classes and champagne socialists, who have no interest in helping the common working man earn a decent living by acting as a middleman”

what we need is legislation to ban secondary ticket sites that encourage resales at inflated prices.  At least GM promotes Twickets, to allow sales at face value but they could do much more, starting with a maximum of 10 tickets per sale (which is still very generous).

 

Mikey's picture Mikey replied on

Just got my early bird ticket to Womad.  Good website, no system crashing, kept informed on length of queue with max five minutes waiting and just a £12 booking fee.  I know the demands are different (Womad, although bigger, is probably unlikely to sell out) but this was much less stressful (and less hidden costs) than buying a ticket for GM

jimbo g replied on

I don't really see what Javid said in 2011 as being very relevant here, but in terms of things to legislate about I'd put inflated prices on ticket resales pretty far down the list!
At the moment in the FAQs on the GM website, Fanticks (i.e. Ticketline) is mentioned as the only place to buy/sell resale tickets. There is no mention of Twickets.
I do find it hard to believe that, despite all the complaints, Ticketline is still used by GM.  Maybe there's some kind of arrangement we don't know about....

garethmeirion replied on

This is worth a read,allthough mostly not relevant to GM Tickets it shows the difficulty today in securing access to live events.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64372274

Maybe GM can work on a model to find ways to enable tickets to be available for genuine festival go-ers. Good Luck !

On a lighter note how about

Mozart Estate

Ron Sexsmith

Weezer

Johnny Dowd

Wilco

Billy Childish

 

 

blackcatista's picture blackcatista replied on

Yeah, a "first dibs" for people who went last year would be good, as a way of relieving pressure on that one day and would make sense as a way of keeping a loyal attendance (presumably you're more likely to come back if you've been to a festival 5 times in a row than if you've just been once?). 

I had something else to do the morning tickets were on sale. Was assuming some would still be available later that day, but no.

Have used Twickets before and tbh it was easy, I set it up to send me an alert when a ticket came up, and after a couple of days I was lucky. Fanticks doesn't even have a mobile app, so it looks like I need to be on email all the time, which I try not to do. But on the other hand, it seems to be a fairly easy system once you find a ticket. We'll see.

garethmeirion replied on

Have always managed to get tickets on twickets closer to the date. But as you say for regulars it would be good to have a loyalty system.

I always look at it as being my last GM the more difficult/stressful it gets each year. It shouldn't be this way.

Chrissied's picture Chrissied replied on

I've always bought mine by ringing up. Every time over the last 13 festivals. Sometimes had to wait on hold for 10 mins. But that's about it.

simmo 2's picture simmo 2 replied on

Thank for sharing that interesting BBC article on Tout bots. Is there any evidence that GM has been targeted by touts? As other folks have mentioned the 20 ticket allowance is rather high. I seem to remember back in 75 sending a postal order through the post for my Reading tickets possibly with a SAE. Couldn't you buy Reading tickets for a time at Record shops? Most town have a record shop now GM need to think of a better and fairer solution.

blackcatista's picture blackcatista replied on

You used (judging by a google, at least as recently as 2017) to be able to get GM tickets from Spillers in Cardiff, and I think in one year that was the last place to have any left on sale. Would be nice to have some methods like that still available.

For what it's worth, as somebody watching resale sites, there've been a lot fewer than I'd have expected on Fanticks and Twickets- guess that'll speed up closer to the time, but looking at non-face-value sites (which I would never ever use) the current cheapest ticket is £499. Really hoping we don't see the market flooded with £500 tickets when we hit summer.

Nathan replied on

It is reasonable to do so, but not entriely safe. It has sometimes been a week later, and clashed with a conference I like to go to! The dates will, eventually, need to move forward a week, but I doubt that will be until 2025 / 2026 at a guess. Can Mrs W book an either / or TBC? 

Wakestock replied on

Hmmm... possibl, depending on how many people have already booked the following week. That would take it right up to the Bank Holiday though, which means more people likely to have booked that week already. I can't recall it ever being in week immediately prior to Nank Holiday mind. 

Wakestock replied on

I put wrong dates anyway! My thinking is it will be Aug 15-18 rather than Aug 22-25 as August 26 is the Bank Holiday, but that would be a little earlier than usual. With it being a leap year there's that two day jump. The latter would make it easier for people travelling home but I don't recall it ever being immediately before the August Bank Holiday.  As you say, always been a full week before.