January 29, 2007
Sufjan Fans Left Out in the Cold
Earlier this week, DCist reminded you that the Kennedy Center would be handing out free tickets to its 10th anniversary shows — including a performance by indie heartthrob Sufjan Stevens — on Saturday morning. At the time, 2300 tickets seemed like a lot and we reassured you that "there should be plenty of opportunity for those interested to grab a ticket." As it turns out, we here at DCist (along with just about everyone else) seem to have underestimated Mr. Stevens's appeal just a wee bit.
Despite the cold temperatures, determined fans started lining up outside of the Kennedy Center as early as Friday morning. By the time we arrived on the scene, less than an hour before the tickets were handed out at 9 a.m., a line of thousands had already formed, running along two of the Center's walls and leading into a snaking mass of hipsters in the courtyard. At about 9:25 a.m., Kennedy Center security started telling the folks in the courtyard that they weren't going to get tickets and a mere five minutes later, all of the tickets were gone, leaving a number of fans — some still clutching their camping gear — out in the bitter cold. One security guard told us, "if you didn't get here before the sun rose, you didn't get a ticket." Did you manage to somehow snag a pair? Camp out all night in vain? Willing to subsidize some jerk's next beer tab by shelling out $300 for free tickets? Let us know in the comments.
|
Allow me to repeat my comment from the morning roundup:
People pay $300 for Sufjan Stevens tickets?!? Are they really getting the point of the concert or the music itself?
Have some pride, people. Reminds me of this throwaway line on the Wilco Live from Chicago disc when someone screams out "Kansas City!" and Tweedy responds "How dignified is it to come all the way from Kansas City for a Wilco show?" Tweedy's an ass, but he has a point.
P.T. Barnum was right--there is indeed a sucker born every minute. More power to the scalpers.
While I understand getting something for standing out in the cold to get these tickets, I think $300 amounts to price gouging. It is especially ironic in that Sufjan as well as others attempt to maintain a fair price for his tickets and CD (see the Christmas box set which contained 5 cds and was under $20). I for one, made the trip to Philly to see Sufjan a couple of months ago and will keep my $300 for now and just wait for his next performance in the area where I can get a ticket for a reasonable price.
someone should have hosed all those hipsters down and left them frozen as a permanent exterior art installation.
someone should have hosed all those hipsters down and left them frozen as a temporary exterior art exhibit. call it save us, sufjan. $300? What's next, $40 decemberists tickets?
Arrived in the dark at 5:30 a.m. and got tickets in the upper upper upper upper tier. Not sure how many people after us got tickets, probably only a few hundred more. Crazy.
Holy fong! I guess I was wrong about SoupJam's limited appeal.
It's perfectly acceptable to flag scalped tickets on Craigslist so the postings get banned. I encourage everyone to go there and flag every ticket selling for more than $100.
7:30 wasn't early enough for tickets. Not by far.
It's perfectly acceptable to flag scalped tickets on Craigslist so the postings get banned. I encourage everyone to go there and flag every ticket selling for more than $100.
Why? If someone has more money than good sense and wants to pay $300 for FREE tickets you should let them.
7:30 a.m. wasn't early enough to get tickets. Not by a long shot. Boo.
Scalping (selling for more than face value) is evil. There are people on Craigslist right now who obviously had no intention of going to the show but were just getting tickets to sell. Every one of those people represents two fans that could have gone to the show for free (as was intended) and now have to shell out $300 to go. That's bad and in violation of the entire spirit of the giveaway.
If you take away the major venue for scalping these tickets (Craigslist), it will no longer be as worth it to scalp tickets, leaving more for fans that actually want to see a show but not pay outrageous prices.
Obviously this particular case is a little complicated since people waited all night for tickets and if there are fans who got tickets but now can't go then perhaps they should be compensated--which is why I say in this case selling them for more than "face value" ($0) may be acceptable.
I got to the kennedy center around 2am after going out (btw, good show wash social club and others). I was surrounded by college kids that drove hours to get tix. got the feeling there were a bunch of those in the tents. I also noticed more people in front of me as 8:00am came around; friends cutting, which is lame but inevitable. (they should have handed out numbers to trade in for tix) It was kinda fun sleeping out there, i wasn't too cold as I was prepared and a bit drunk (plus I like camping), however i noticed many weren't and they looked miserable.
Thanks for what should be an amazing show Kennedy Center.
those asking for $300 a ticket are assholes profiting from the kennedy center's generosity. Sadly, these guys are inevitable as well.
I arrived at 7:30, and spent about 10 minutes on line before I admitted to myself that there was just no way I was going to get tickets. Later I saw that the crush was not unexpected by everyone, google 'washingtonpost sufjan kennedy' for their lame going out blog, which pwned DCist on this in mid december.
anyway it isn'tlike the guy won't tour again soon enough. re: $300 tickets, if you don't like it, don't buy them. flagging CL items over it, that't couldn't be more lame or petty.
I waited in line in vain but wouldn't pay for tickets being as the show is only scheduled to go for an hour... Here's hoping that Sufjan plays some surprise shows at local clubs that weekend.
My roommate and I got there at 6:30, and there were people counting--we supposedly had 650 people in front of us in line....which means we should have had tickets easily. I think there were roughly 200 people in front of us when they ran out. Someone else was counting when everyone stood up to move and we were just over the 1000 mark...so I don't know what happened, unless no one there knew how to count.
So I went too.
Got there at 8:30.
Parked in the parking lot underground... it was empty, so I was feeling pretty good about my chances.
Got in the elevator with one other person. I remember her saying to me "Well, hopefully all the hipsters are hung over right now"
Once we got out of the elevator and saw the line,
That never-ending line,
I got dizzy... slightly nauseous.
We waited in line for five minutes.
I turned to her (the elevator buddy) and mentioned "God, I didn't know there were this many hipsters in DC."
She replied, "Umm... you do know that this is a college town, right?"
Me: "..."
I hung my head in shame.
I love Sufjan... but god damn, that was ridiculous.
As the guy who commented first on that reminder post that you guys were optimistic about tickets, lemme say "I told you so." And then let me express my sympathies that you didn't get tickets.
I met up with my friend from UVA around midnight and hung out with some kids from UMD's WMUC, playing hackysack, having singalongs, and avoiding the cold as best we could. The safeway at the watergate was pretty clutch for supplies late in the evening. That was the most delicious box of milanos I've ever had.
I'm just amazed it was so civil. The kennedy center smartly let people in to use the restrooms all night and most people were just happy to have company for the night.
Lastly, I have to give props to whatever group brought the stove and the 30 pack of cup o noodles.
"If you take away the major venue for scalping these tickets (Craigslist), it will no longer be as worth it to scalp tickets, leaving more for fans that actually want to see a show but not pay outrageous prices."
There is obviously way more demand for the tickets than supply. That's what creates the $300 price. Blaming the mechanism of the secondary market (i.e. Craigslist) for the price ignores basic economics.
If anything, having a more competitive secondary market LOWERS the price in the secondary market. I know I look to Craigslist and Ebay way before I'd rely on ticket agents. Eliminating or suppressing the market on Craigslist or Ebay will only push it more into the shady world of ticket agents.
"My roommate and I got there at 6:30, and there were people counting--we supposedly had 650 people in front of us in line....which means we should have had tickets easily. I think there were roughly 200 people in front of us when they ran out. Someone else was counting when everyone stood up to move and we were just over the 1000 mark...so I don't know what happened, unless no one there knew how to count."
Did they hand out two ticets per person?
Not mentioned here was the announcement that the Kennedy Center will simulcast the concert presumably on a large video screen in the grand foyer. All Millenium shows are also simulcast and made available afterwards. The quality is good to decent by today's standards.
I'm not blaming Craigslist at all. Craigslist is a community forum and the community has decided that scalping is undesirable on the site. Flagging scalpers is simply engaging in community policing in the way the site was designed.
Laws of supply and demand depend on the perfect distribution of market information, which did not exist before eBay and craigslist. Before you had to deal with the "shady world of ticket agents" or people in front of the venue, which limited distribution and the market. With online resources it is much easier to sell scalped tickets, which, based on my (admittedly anecdotal) experience, has increased the volume of tickets being quickly scooped up for scalping. Because the demand is MUCH greater than supply for popular shows, scalped prices have also increased.
Online ticket scalping= higher prices and fewer tickets available at the box office.
If you're a music fan this is bad.
Removing the most popular venue for scalping tickets reduces distribution, which MAY end up increasing prices of scalped tickets (though the increase of friction in the market may actually reduce prices) but it will also reduce the volume of scalped tickets, resulting in more tickets for music fans who don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on concerts. People who do have the money to spend can always go back to what they used before Craigslist.
I know the person who was first in line. He got there 26 hours before tickets were given out. Twenty-Six. When I dragged myself out of bed at 7am I had no idea what I was in for. Pretty much killed any productivity for the rest of the day too. Yes they were handed out in pairs. I wish they had done one per person because there were probably at least three thousand people lined up. Interesting morning though.
If people were willing to sleep outside in sub 20 degree weather, why shouldn't they be allowed to sell the tickets?
It just sounds like you're bitter because you did not get tickets because you didn't get there early enough. Tough. If you really wanted the tickets, you should have stayed over night like the "hipsters" that it sounds like you hate (but that you probably are yourself).
People who are willing to pay for the tickets are lesser fans because they are willing to pay? I think not. Just because someone has the money to buy 300 dollar tickets does NOT mean that they do not get the music.
Your claim that selling these tickets is one thing, but you come off as sounding like a complete music elitist.
Oh come on, just let the market work and keep your hipster commie economics to yourself! >:-P
It's most economically efficient for some people (though probably not hipster students) to buy tickets from scalpers rather than camp overnight for free tickets. 9+ hours of my time is worth a helluva lot more than $300.
So please don't try to flag the scalper CL posts. Just let the market work - I'm negotiating with scalpers at the moment and I'm sure plenty of other people are too. If you get them kicked of CL you'll just push them to eBay anyway.
the comment above me is spot on. if the tickets were NOT free, you can bet that they would not be going for so much money.
people were willing to camp out. they did. should they not be able to exchange that time spent in freezing temperatures with someone who would like to go to the concert but was not able to stand in line (or did not want)?
theoretically, it IS a free show. if you wanted free tickets, you should have camped out, as advised. if you really want to go, you must now deal with the people who WERE willing to sit out there for hours on end while you stayed in.
Interestingly enough, a lot of ticket companies now have policies that state that if they see your tickets on Craiglist or ebay at ANY price, they will not honor the ticket. And they're defs looking.
Re: Decemberists tickets- I was soooooo pissed that I actually emailed their PR person, who got back to me within an hour and had this to say:
"The band, their agent & I debated on the best venue for the DC market for quite a while. Our only real choices were the Strathmore, multiple nights at the 9:30 (which we couldn't fit into the time alloted to this tour) or making the leap to a much larger venue (which we were concerned about selling enough tickets to fill). After much debate, we decided to go to the Strathmore, a venue which requires higher ticket prices due to room rental fees. The only other option was to skip DC altogether which we didn't want to do since the city has, as you point out, been so supportive of the Decemberists."
"Craigslist is a community forum and the community has decided that scalping is undesirable on the site."
That's a misquote. That FAQ doesn't say the community "decided" that scalping is undesireable, it says that "many" users don't like scalping. The fact is that many other people actually like scalping because the ticket goes to the highest bidder, rather than the fastest bidder.
What you're arguing is that there are more people buying tickets for the purpose of scalping because of Craigslist, etc. Personally I don't think that's true. You could argue that Craigslist depresses the number of people slamming a ticket offering, because plenty of people are willing to pay a premium for tickets to avoid the hassle of buying in the primary market (i.e. camping out in January).
The professional scalpers don't need craigslist and they probably resent the downward effect is has on prices in the secondary market.
what is the dc law on scalping? not that it matters because no one recognizes it but this whole, just let the market decide stuff is, one might be able to argue, not only morally, but, more importantly (in this mental exercise) legally, wrong.
this is predicated on the law being, from what i remember, that it is illegal to sell tickets above their "face value."
is this incorrect?
I just wish that the people who will make $300 would donate it back to the Kennedy Center. It's just totally not in the spirit of the free concert series for all of this hate and angst. ugh
"God. I didn't know there were this many hipsters in DC."
That's the same thing I said to myself when I smugly arrived at the Kennedy Center at 8:30am, thinking that getting tickets would be no problem. My bad. The good news was that everyone (even us poor slobs in the back of the line) was in a pretty good mood. The impromptu chorus of "we shall overcome" a few minutes before tickets sold out, was a highlight.
"what is the dc law on scalping? not that it matters because no one recognizes it but this whole, just let the market decide stuff is, one might be able to argue, not only morally, but, more importantly (in this mental exercise) legally, wrong."
Nope, this form of scalping is not illegal in DC. DC only regulates scalping on the streets.
For all of you people out there touting the "let the market work" argument in favor of scalping, I'd just like to point out that the people flagging CL scalpers are doing exactly that- you can't deny that the flagging is part of the CL market. D'oh!
P.P.S. The Decemberists are defs one of those bands who are adhereing to the policy of not honoring CL or eBay tix, so before you give up your Sufjan tix or Decemberists tix, caveat emptor...
The impromptu chorus of "we shall overcome" a few minutes before tickets sold out, was a highlight.
Great, I'm glad the mantle of civil rights has been picked up by twee fucktards who couldn't get tickets to a free concert.
"you can't deny that the flagging is part of the CL market. D'oh!"
Yes, I can. But down the bong and take an econ class. Flagging is regulation interfering with the market, not actual market forces.
Ah, but you're talking about a specific market (Craiglist) and you have to take into account its regulations. Or did Martha Stewart go to jail for nothing? Quel horreur!
I think the utility of the word 'hipster' just ended in this comments thread. I'll tell metafilter.com...everyone else please do your part and share the news.
Will everyone please stop with what all this "what the market will bear" nonsense? This is not about business. This is about greed and gouging. It totally violates the spirit of the event and the mission of The Millennium Stage series of the Kennedy Center.
This is not so much a concert as it is a celebration of the anniversary of a very successful arts program. Millennium Stage was designed to provide free and accessible exposure to arts programs to those who otherwise could not afford it, or at least to stimulate an interest in the variety of the arts in our area. Each FREE ticket to this special event is more an invitation to participate in that celebration, not an opportunity for commerce. The efforts put forth by sitting in line for many, many, hours entitled you to an invitation for you and a guest. It is not an opportunity to bill out for services rendered!
Simply put, If you received an invitation to a friend's anniversary and Sufjan Stevens happened to be providing the entertainment, would you be greasy enough to sell it?
Yes, yes I would. Under one condition: if my friend owned and operated a large public concert hall. Don't work yourself up into a lather about this; the Kennedy Center is not your neighbor's living room.
It looks like people have started flagging Craigslist postings for Sufjan tickets now, which I guess means that they'll all be shifted over to Ebay. Too bad. I mean, what is the objection here? The Kennedy Center made good on its mission - it offered anyone willing to wait in line under adverse conditions the chance to see this show. Those people got tickets. Now, those of us who weren't willing or able to do have an opportunity to get tickets, albeit an outrageously expensive one. So what you have is a concert attended by either:
1) People who want to be there so badly they waited all night in the freezing cold; or
2) People who want to be there so badly they paid huge amounts of money.
So either way you have a crowd of people in attendance who really, really want to be there and who care a lot about "participating in the celebration." Hooray! Everyone wins except the broke people who slept in.
For the record, I got there at 7am, which at the time seemed really early, but in retrospect turned out to be preposterously late. And I won't be buying scalped tickets because I bought Decemberists tickets so my concert budget is now shot.
I think the utility of the word 'hipster' just ended in this comments thread. I'll tell metafilter.com...everyone else please do your part and share the news.
Your late to the party homie!
www.dcist.com/archives/2006/12/11/go_home_already_20.php
^^^^I meant "you're" not "your"
"Ah, but you're talking about a specific market (Craiglist) and you have to take into account its regulations. Or did Martha Stewart go to jail for nothing? Quel horreur!"
If you're suggesting that Martha Stewart went to jail for violating market regulations, you'd be wrong. She went to jail for lying to prosecutors. (Quel erreur?)
No one is suggesting that Craigslist is the perfect marketplace (Ebay is much closer) but rather that it's existence adds to the overall free marketplace. You can praise CL and still consider certain feature's of its self-regulation to be detrimental to the free marketplace.
I'm hardly anti-regulation generally, but I think in this circumstance, there is not enough of a public interest to step in. I'd rather let the market allocate a scarce resource then get into some stupid argument over who "deserves" the tickets more and for what price.
Uh, there is nothing hip about listening to Sufjan Stevens. That's like saying someone's hip because they listen to Jenny Lewis.
Unless the word hip has changed to having milk toast tastes.
"Millennium Stage was designed to provide free and accessible exposure to arts programs to those who otherwise could not afford it"
Well by that logic, you must be pissed at all those bastards that waited in line for tickets who could afford it. Shouldn't they give up their tickets to someone more "deserving"?
The fact is that this was a lottery. Some people won it. Everyone that got a ticket got a $300 windfall. Some will keep that windfall in the form of an experience worth $300, others will convert it into cash. If the Kennedy Center viewed it as anything but a lottery, they're kidding themselves.
The exclusive nature of the event is what violated the "spirit" of the event. If they really wanted to celebrate free music for all, they should have done the concert on the Mall. They knew full well that there'd be more demand than supply and that some people would end up winners and most people would end up losers. How's that in the spirit of Millenium Stage?
Following up on Reid's point, why isn't this show webcast?
well, it's milquetoast, but yes, your point is correct.
My only point is that flagging the posts on CL is just as legit as selling the tickets. It's the way the whole thing works, so don't whine about the way the system is set up. People definitely have a right to try and sell their tickets for over the market value(when posting in tickets, CL explicitily requests that you don't do this), just as the kids over in casual encounters can try and sell their bodies for money, and others certainly have a right to flag them.
I DO get worried that all the scalpery and whatnot will lead to a giNORmous crackdown of ostensibly morally outraged bands getting on the bandwagon of the "if we see your tickets on CL/eBay/whateve at all, we won't honor them" policy, which kinda screws over the people who are trading tickets legitimately.
And as for a webcast or whatnot, it's not a celebration of free music, it's a celebration of the Kennedy Center's program. To that extent, JimH already posted this:
Not mentioned here was the announcement that the Kennedy Center will simulcast the concert presumably on a large video screen in the grand foyer. All Millenium shows are also simulcast and made available afterwards. The quality is good to decent by today's standards.
Sure, I'll go to the Suckjan Stevens show if you pay me $300.
Gosh, think of all the lemmings in ironic ringer t-shirts, horn-rimmed glasses, and converse high tops. Lemmings. They're such renegades and independent thinkers that they all look the same. A line full of insecure people name-dropping bands in hope that you've never heard of them - so they can feel cool. That must've been some serious people-watching!!
Never a group of more homogeneous people have I seen.
It was sort of like a socialist party gathering, full of people who will tell you that joanna newsom is awesome (even though they can't stand listening to it cuz it sucks) and afraid to admit they like Journey's "Open Arms" (because they're afraid of what you'll think of them). Weird people.
How about we scalp some of these tickets and then buy 2300 copies of Comets on Fire "Blue Cathedral" to hand out to everyone that goes to see this show.
Just another data point: I arrived shortly after 6 am, well before sunrise, was one of the first cars in the parking garage (from what I could tell), and still didn't manage to get a ticket. My guesstimation of the number of people in front of me must've truly sucked because I figured I was in the top 800 or so (and I had nearly 3 hours to refine my estimate). Turned out I was about 200 people too late. When the guy with the clicker came by, I was one of the folks handed the dreaded blue paper.
Oh well. I do hope the performance shows up on the web or in some other format because I sure as hell am not paying the $300+ asking prices for tickets. I like Stevens, but, well, come on.
"Millennium Stage was designed to provide free and accessible exposure to arts programs to those who otherwise could not afford it"
Comment:
"If they really wanted to celebrate free music for all, they should have done the concert on the Mall."
Beauty! Yes, by all means, book an outdoor concert on the Mall in February! Given everyone's tolerance for the cold, why not pray for snow as well? Not to mention that the KC has no actual claim to the mall, nor the fact that other great acts were booked as part of the celebration.
My point is that this was a gift. A corporate gift, but a gift none the less. An invitation to be a part of something special. And no, I don't believe that the KC knew what they were getting into whan they booked an indie darling. They probably figured that it would be a nice, safe act that would appeal to young folks and the arts needs young participants.
My suspicion is that if they had any idea that so many people would be so ill mannered and greedy, they would have thought better of it. Next time out, they will book Peter, Paul and Mary and save you the sniffles.
"Beauty! Yes, by all means, book an outdoor concert on the Mall in February! Given everyone's tolerance for the cold, why not pray for snow as well? Not to mention that the KC has no actual claim to the mall, nor the fact that other great acts were booked as part of the celebration."
Well they throw outdoor concerts on the mall for the inauguration, and those are normally well attended. And I don't think the Kennedy Center would have trouble getting access to the mall for the occassion, seeing as plenty of organizations like the Kennedy Center take over the mall all year round. But that's all beside the point. I was merely making the point that the tickets have so much value because of the structure of the event. The Kennedy Center could have done a lot of things to avoid that if they really wanted to.
My argument all along is that we should let the market reflect the reality of the situation. There is going to be a secondary market, that's an inevitable result of a contest like this. We might as well encourage as many marketplaces as possible to push down the price. Trying to stamp out scalping on CLs will only drive the prices up higher somewhere else. The faster a few idiots with an unhealthy obsession with Sufjan get their tickets, the sooner the market rate will go down.
Personally I don't have a stake in this argument. I have no desire to go. I just don't like the "lets bash the scalpers" arguments.
"Beauty! Yes, by all means, book an outdoor concert on the Mall in February! Given everyone's tolerance for the cold, why not pray for snow as well? Not to mention that the KC has no actual claim to the mall, nor the fact that other great acts were booked as part of the celebration."
Well they throw outdoor concerts on the mall for the inauguration, and those are normally well attended. And I don't think the Kennedy Center would have trouble getting access to the mall for the occassion, seeing as plenty of organizations like the Kennedy Center take over the mall all year round. But that's all beside the point. I was merely making the point that the tickets have so much value because of the structure of the event. The Kennedy Center could have done a lot of things to avoid that if they really wanted to.
My argument all along is that we should let the market reflect the reality of the situation. There is going to be a secondary market, that's an inevitable result of a contest like this. We might as well encourage as many marketplaces as possible to push down the price. Trying to stamp out scalping on CLs will only drive the prices up higher somewhere else. The faster a few idiots with an unhealthy obsession with Sufjan get their tickets, the sooner the market rate will go down.
Personally I don't have a stake in this argument. I have no desire to go. I just don't like the "lets bash the scalpers" arguments.
Oh Anon, such animosity towards the "twee fucktards". It was just an anecdote I thought was amusing. I didn't think it would invoke such an angry, vile response. Don't be so mean.
oh, i took the photo btw. :)
I look at the time spent in that line as a pretty novel and fun way to spend my Saturday morning. I came, I waited for four hours... and I went home empty-handed. Given the ratio of hipsters to security, the disorganized swirling of the lines, and the deperation of the frozen masses, I expected a little chaos and confusion. Really, there wasn't any issue -- 2,000+ people trudging along in the weird twisty lines, hoping to beat the odds and get a pair of tickets.
The CL scalping is really disheartening, but it's completely predictable. If people want to pay that much for the tickets, it's not illegal in DC... but I flag every post because I think it's shamelessly greedy. I especially enjoy the things people put in their ads -- "I froze out in the cold for five hours, I deserve $200." I froze out in the cold for four hours, can I get 80% off? :P
I did write the Kennedy Center a bit of feedback about the way they handled things -- most notably, the fact that security let tons of people come in at the last minute and join their friends near the front of the line. The website said "first come, first served," but it turned into, "come late, find a friend, get served." I figure if they had done more to prevent people from line-jumping to get in with their friends, and greedily grabbing up extra tickets to scalp, more of the frostbitten masses would have gone home happy.
hillrat - I stand corrected.
to the observer that thought the crowd in the plaza all looked the same: wtf? you must have merely seen what you wanted to see or expected. I saw a huge age range, varying wardrobes, etc.
I was seriously considering paying $200 or so for these tickets...but then I remember that he's not even playing a full set but a mini-set of only one hour. With no opening band - not worth it. I'll see him on his next full tour after his "Nebraska" album that he's making with the Saddle Creekers.
The hating on people who like Sufjan is pretty lame. I mean, my mom likes Sufjan. It doesn't necessarily make you a hipster, it just means you like good folk music.
Oh and Jenny Lewis is awesome, to whoever made that comment.
hillrat - I stand corrected.
No worries mate, just so long as you're on board.
mp - FWIW, I agree with "Anon". I'm all for iconoclastic humor, smashing your idols, and nothing being sacred; but c'mon, a bunch of college students and NYT subscribers feeling aggrieved 'cause they didn't get concert tickets singing "We shall overcome"? I'm sure it was all done with a wink and a nod and lots of wry ironic smirks, but that kind of cluelessness tells me white people still just don't get it.
after looking at that photo more closely... wow, oops, its very similar to one i took and submitted to the DCist pool! crap! i did not take that picture. :) sorry!
$300 for a ticket for a free concert? When I tell Sujfan about this, he's going to insult you!
We arrived at 10pm the night before and camped out. People were really friendly around the tents.
Hell, we even started a soccer game at 2am in the courtyard pictured above.
It was definitely cold, but manageable if you had a decent number of people in your tent.
Has anyone checked out Craigslist since yesterday? There are some hilarious ads there for/about Sufjan tickets. My favorite:
I got there 17 hours early
I got tickets...
haha
Sujfan Stvns? I think I was in a band with him or something.
Also,
Are the tickets general admission or were the actual seats sold? I have a ticket, via the Washington Post (I slept in, indeed) and have no idea where my seat is.
the tickets given out were for reserved seats. all other performances in the millennium stage 10th anniversary celebration are general admission, if i'm not mistaken.
It's last minute I know but I have so much work to do this week that I didn't want to go get Sufjan tickets until I could be absolutely sure that I could go. I posted on craigslist just now with my cellphone no. in hopes someone would get back to me. Someone calls with "Restricted" on the ID and starts berating me for flagging posts on Craigslist and hangs up! the nerve. I'm more amused than hurt but still this show has gotten folks up in arms. no show is worth this hostility! sheesh.
Well? HOW WAS IT???
it was very very very good. only an hour long, but totally worth the wait.
The show was quite good...it was a great sounding performance being in the Opera House, the dynamics were heightened between the hushed portions of just Sufjan singing and playing piano vs. the onslaught of the full orchestra. The Opera House orchestra seemed to be having fun with the arrangements and letting loose at points. Highlights included "Casimir Pulaski Day", an interesting version of "Chicago" with a lot of flutes and strings, and "Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie" - which Sufjan said was the first time performing live. He ended with "Majesty, Snowbird"...unfortunately no encore.
I felt sorry for the older ushers in my section, who seemed intimidated by the young crowd. A lot of unheeded requests to get to your seats, stop leaning on the railing, stop taking pictures, etc.
The show was quite good...it was a great sounding performance being in the Opera House, the dynamics were heightened between the hushed portions of just Sufjan singing and playing piano vs. the onslaught of the full orchestra. The Opera House orchestra seemed to be having fun with the arrangements and letting loose at points. Highlights included "Casimir Pulaski Day", an interesting version of "Chicago" with a lot of flutes and strings, and "Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie" - which Sufjan said was the first time performing live. He ended with "Majesty, Snowbird"...unfortunately no encore.
I felt sorry for the older ushers in my section, who seemed intimidated by the young crowd. A lot of unheeded requests to get to your seats, stop leaning on the railing, stop taking pictures, etc.
are there any pictures posted anywhere and or the complete set list?
i was really distraught about not scoring tickets (did the 7:30 a.m. thing trying not to believe the hype). i spoke to a few college kids trying to sell tickets for about $100 but i just couldn't bring myself to pay that. amazingly, on that monday, i scored a ticket off of craigslist for $25 plus a homemade pecan bar (thanks erin, where ever you are!) the seat was a dream--2nd tier, first row, aisle. here is the set list to the best of my memory. it was really amazing. having seen sufjan twice before, this was a definite change and a really beautiful show.
sufjan came out in a full beard a la abe lincoln, i could have died. he looked very fantastic in a suit and tie. there were about 20 memebers of the ken cen orchestra--cellos, flutes, violins, french horns, etc--and 4 members from sufjan's troupe, all playing drums, bass, guitar and cellesta. sufjan mainly played a baby grand. the waterworks were pretty much flowing from song one. here is the set list, to the best of my memory:
1. concerning the UFO sighting...
2. detroit, lift up your weary head!
3. casimir pulaski day (thank the lord, i was praying for this one)
4. counting song
5. sleeping bear, sault st marie (never done live before!)
6. chicago
7. the predatory wasp of the pallisades
8. seven swans
9. majesty snow bird (unreleased)