July 6, 2007
Melancholy and the Virtual Waiting Room
The excitement generated by the Smashing Pumpkins' surprise show announcement at the 9:30 Club has expired, just like the tiny gray countdown clock that has been taunting us for past hour. We didn't get tickets. Unlike Ticketmaster, Tickets.com sends the user into a virtual waiting room that refreshes every 30 seconds automatically. This eliminates the need for incessant clicking of the refresh button, but with it goes any seemingly active role the user has in succeeding.
A mere 20 minutes after the sale officially started at 10 a.m., resale posts began to appear on Craigslist. While starting bids tease you in with amount closer to the original cost of the tickets (or in some cases, a preposterous $1 offer), don't expect to pay what you see on the screen. We have heard stories of offers of at least $125 per ticket and as much as $530.
Did you manage to get tickets to the show? How did you do it? And more importantly, how much do you want for them?
|
(^#!@*%*!@^_(&#)+#
no luck here. i seriously dont understand how anyone was able to get out of the virtual waiting room. sucks.
yeah, that was frustrating. i'm going to see them at virgin fest, but the solo set would have been nice to see too. i hope the scalpers get a really filthy disease and have to spend their ill-gotten gains on expensive medications. damn their black hearts!
Meh. Just ain't the same without the crackhead telling Pumpkinhead where to get off.
No luck, that was an awful experience.
From a source at the 930 club, apparently they only sold 200 tickets. The rest are giveaways, promotions, etc.
Ruined my morning. No one I know got tickets.
got very lucky this morning. any a ludicrous amount of money could part me from my pair.
I got a set. thankfully I was very lucky.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epmd/739370675/
I don't know what's worse: the virtual waiting room or all the people on craigslist offering to be ticketholders' dates. With baked goods included.
1999 called, they have plenty of tickets for the pumpkins' Machina/The Machines of God tour...
fortheshorties - is that for real or are you trying to make us feel better... and if so, which promotions?
i saw 1000 dollars on ebay...and that waitinglist is garbage. I got on the waitinglist at 953 AM and still couldnt get tickets...sooo lame.
guest @ 1:05. As far as I know it's real. I know someone who works at 930. I know DC 101 is doing promotions all day monday - ticket giveaways and CD giveaways.
random question: with the fancy new virtual waiting room, is there any benefit to opening multiple tabs to the waiting room at once? Does having 10 windows open increase the odds of getting through or is it worthless?
Wow. Is there really this much excitement over a Smashing Pumpkins show? Is this nostalgia or a statement on the sorry state of contemporary music?
It's nostalgia.
And maybe 14 year olds.
ksf4, i've had luck in the past not using multiple tabs but actually multiple browsers (firefox, safari, explorer, etc.). i think when you try to use multiple tabs the virtual waiting room outsmarts you and syncs them up.
It seems pretty crazy that they are going to give away over 1000 tickets in the next four days.
that was crap. apparently opening extra windows does help, which is completely retarded. what a poorly-scripted website. if they're gonna make it impossible to get tickets, fine. but they shouldn't tease you with this crap- at least make a queue that tracks your ip address and your log-on time- and tell you your actual status so you don't try in vain for 50 minutes.
anyway, i saw them at DAR constitution hall in '98... and they sucked. a lot. but that's not much consolation right now... oh well.
FYI - the scalpers are screwed as all ticket sales are will-call on the night of the show. i wouldn't trust anyone who says they have hard tix in hand.
Welcome to my hell:
Wilco, Arcade Fire, Sufjan, there's more.. I probably have blocked the rest out.
This happens all the time. In DC.
At DAR, at the 930, with ticketmaster, with tickets.com.
It sucks.. I hate DC's music scence.
And then there's the sebadoh show.. where NO ONE went to see lou barlow, the indie rock god that he is..
stupid dc indie hipsters.
agreed with guest #21 -- just saw this on craigslist as a warning:
Ticket Limit- 2 ticket limit for this event per household, customer, credit card number and email address. Patrons who exceed the ticket limit will have their order cancelled automatically. All tickets non-transferable. No name changes for will-call once order is complete. All sales will-call only. Tickets will be available for pick up night of show only. Photo ID required. All sales through Tickets.com web and phone only. No box office or outlet sales.
I talked to a guy trying to scalp 2 tickets and figured out how you could do it. He and a friend each got a pair and will take whoever pays the exorbitant asking price as their plus 1.
I talked to a guy trying to scalp 2 tickets and figured out how you could do it. He and a friend each got a pair and will take whoever pays the exorbitant asking price as their plus 1.
The thing about the people listing the tickets on CL and EBay, is that the tickets have to be picked up from willcall with the credit card and ID. How anyone can scalp tickets they don't yet have is beyond me.
I tried, like most to buy tickets and failed. You have to remember that the closest they're playing to here otherwise is North Carolina. So we're talking New York, Philly, and the entire metro area trying to buy tickets for tehe same show. Literally tens of thousands must've been on that site trying to get tickets. I respect their wish for this system to enable them to cut down on scalping, but this was a definite fail in terms of being clear on how this system works.
Smashing Pumpkins are up there with The Cult, Oasis, and Pearl Jam at the top of my "I have no idea why people think these are good bands" list. I've also never been able to get into Wilco, but I'm pretty sure that one's just me.
You "lucky" kids have fun at your concert.
I'm not a Smashing Pumkpkins fan, but i'm wondering: Why would a company sell tix in this manner? It seems so counterproductive.
This virtual waiting room is all bs. if i knew it was going to start 5 minutes BEFORE tickets go on sale, i would have been refreshing like mad to get in asap. but in stead, i just stumbled onto it. it's not really fair. I waited 40 minutes exactly until it told me they were sold out. If it had started at 10am and someone beat me to it, i'd say 'good game, time to win on dc101' but this tickets.com waiting thing is horrible.
I'm very disapointed. I woke up befoer noon (which is big, because I just graduated- and well, i sleep in the summer) and now I have to try on dc101.
does anyone know how much tickets ended up costing?
fedward - and we care about your musical likes and dislikes, because?
What's all this bitching about Wilco. I've never had a problem getting into their shows. You need to seriously make sure that your tubes are unclogged.
Guest 31--- Cheers to you, but for the majority of area fans the same disappointment occurred for the Wilco show @ 930 that was aired on NPR.... I'm just saying.... This happens all the time.
Here's a conspiracy theory for you: Who knew beforehand that the sale would start before 10am? And wouldn't it be even more controversial if they leaked word to their closest friends and highest bidders that tickets would be available early?
Probably the quick sell-out was just a matter of people getting lucky by just trying out the link (I made it in at 9:58), and not a plot among certain people to cheat and open tickets.com for themselves before 10am. But between the new waiting room system (the wait was certainly not just a "virtual" pain in the ass), the sale opening early, and so many tickets being held for promo giveaways...it seems like real fans are getting the short end of the stick.
The issue is that these are special events where only a certain (low) number of tickets are released for general sale.. the rest given to radio stations, and the like (dcist?). It is not a conspiracy or an issue of being smarter than the ticket sales system. It is marketing, radio play, promoter relationships, and etc. Just not so good for the lowly un-connected music fan.
Guys, nostalgia or otherwise - Smashing Pumpkins absolutely suck live. Sorry to break the news, saw them on two occasions. One as a fan, and the other so they could redeem themselves. Blecchhh. Not worth it.
@ guest 16
It's a little bit of both, but mostly the problem for me is that I can't stand going to music festivals anymore. HFStival was awesome back in the late 90's when I was in highschool and didn't have the option to party whenever I wanted. Now a huge crowd of sweaty drunkards, shitty acoustics and overpriced everything just isn't appealing.
All that said, I haven't been consistently impressed with any band in years. Except maybe Queens of the Stone Age.
there definitely WAS a benefit to opening up multiple tabs.... i had three open and the second one finally pushed me to the final screen. i had no idea the waiting room opened up before ten, which definitely is not cool, but i just happened to log on around 9.57 or so and finally got tickets around 10.07am. i honestly didn't think i'd get them, so i was shocked and very nearly missed the sale screen.
CC,
What's the importance of radio play, marketing, and promoters? To make music that people want to hear and off of which people can earn a living, we only need venues, artists, instruments and equipment, and ears on fans' heads...with the internet as a giant, inexpensive and widespread platform for distribution and publicity.
"Marketing" is in place strictly so people who aren't actually involved in creating music can make a buck. Ever since an audience turned into a target demographic, music has become more about corporate profits than human expression through sound.
And don't even get me started on ringtones...
OKAY indiecognition.. It's hard for me to even respond because you have 'indie' in your name, are you one of those dc indie hipster? HUH?
But I agree with you.. I even still buy CDs because I get large satisfaction from placing them on shelves all neat and organized by band... I am just saying that that is how the cookie crumbles.. it is not big deal. I didn't try to get tickets to see the slightly bruised zucchinis (get it, they are missing 2 crucial members so how could they be the SPs).. but that is how things are.. i didn't say i hate marketing. i am just saying it isn't a conspiracy.
Wait a second. You got into the waiting room at 9:57, and got tickets?!?! That does it- I have no faith that the waiting room actually queues people up in proper order. I was on at 9:55, opened multiple tabs, and still was shut out.
(guest @ 2.27pm here)
yes it definitely was at least 9.57/58 b/c i didn't know the waiting room would open before ten.
and yes i think you're absolutely right that the waiting room is not at all in order... my friend was on the phone with me, trying from his house and he logged on before me and i got tickets first.
(and like the good little fans we are, he promptly stopped trying b/c we only needed two tickets.)
9:52. Two tabs. Now reduced to begging on Craigslist.
CC, I was totally joking about a "conspiracy." At least, I didn't mean to implicate the music biz...it's obviously the Republicans' fault, just like it's their fault for the difficulty in scheduling Live Earth. Frowns and scowls are probably also just airborne viruses created by the GOP, with the antidote administered by the sigh of a crushed soul.
And no, I'm not a hipster...I'm too indie to subscribe totally into that or any other single scene. I'm a dabbler, a neo-humanist, and an admirer of Da Vinci, Franklin, Shawn Fanning, Stewart/Colbert, and other independent thinkers. So maybe I'm a wishful thinker...maybe I'm a black sheep...and maybe I'm even a tiny bit weird. But I'm nice, despite my big mouth on these comment rolls:P And no, I don't really know why I'm typing all this here.
Indiecognition- that was fun (sincerely), but I have to get back to work now ...I've got to get back to distributing free books to the public. It is my attempt to thwart those pesky marketers.. Penguin books watch out.
Crocodile tears for the college graduate who had to wake up before noon. Boo hoo. Wait till you have to move out of mom's basement and get up at seven every day. No more beer bong at 3 AM brah!
The waiting room isn't a waiting room. (Didn't anyone else look at the page source?) All it does is refresh the page and try to get into the db that actually sells the tickets. The more tabs you had open the better but the site probably was crashing every other minute.
The really stupid thing: I was able to buy a parking pass for the pumpkins, or tickets for any other show, but trying to get actual pumpkins tickets put me back in the waiting room. There seems to be a hard limit on the number of requests for any one show. Stupid at best.
P.S. No I didn't buy the parking pass. It was just a test to see what was up.
Crocodile tears for the college graduate who had to wake up before noon. Boo hoo. Wait till you have to move out of mom's basement and get up at seven every day. No more beer bong at 3 AM brah!
It's OK to be a little jealous of the slack lifestyle of the recently graduated, but don't be jealous and bitter. Congrats grad, enjoy your Summer of fun before you start serving your life sentence.
For everyone debating the whether the onsale began early...9:58 on your clock does not mean 9:58 on tickets.com sales clock. None of our clocks are programmed the same, all of our clocks are off a minute or two. and second, this "new" waiting room is not new, tickets.com has been using it for onsales for years. However, just about the only venues in the dc area using tickets.com are wolftrap and 930, so the chances are you've never had to use it. While it does suck, so does all the times ticketmaster times out during huge onsales. A few thousand people trying to access one site at one time is just not gonna work in everyones favor-ever. and while i dont know for sure, i can almost guarantee fortheshorties is right about the # of holds on tickets. so were all stuck going to virginfest...
i signed on at 10am and used 2 different browsers with about 5 tabs open on each one. The 5th tab I opened in Firefox was the magic one that got me through around 10:15am. I think it was just luck really.
Hey guys what did you think about that blizzard we had ealier this January? Who would have thought that the cowboys could win 3 super bowls in 4 seasons.
And how about that "new" Volkswagen beetle?
Who would have thought that some hermit from Montana could have been the Unibomber?
Are you guys as excited for the Nintendo 64 as i am?
I know everyone's gonna miss Tupac.
Its 2007, not 1996. 1/2 of a crappy 90's alt band should not generate enough buzz to be posted on this site.
Hey guys what did you think about that blizzard we had ealier this January? Who would have thought that the cowboys could win 3 super bowls in 4 seasons.
And how about that "new" Volkswagen beetle?
Who would have thought that some hermit from Montana could have been the Unibomber?
Are you guys as excited for the Nintendo 64 as i am?
I know everyone's gonna miss Tupac.
Its 2007, not 1996. 1/2 of a crappy 90's alt band should not generate enough buzz to be posted on this site.
Guest #30: (1) because I logged in, and my words are black and not grey, and thus given more weight than yours, and (2) because "your favorite band sucks" is a time-honored tradition on the Internet. I was just being part of that continuum.
The flip side of your comment is, "and I care about people whining about not getting tickets to a crappy band's concert, because?" But then I *am* reading DCist, so I know what to expect (and that's part of it).
hillrat- actually, it's high school. i'm 17. and aren't I allowed to JOKE about being up early? I've been getting up at 6 everyday (excluding summers) for the past 4 yrs- can't you take a joke?
And I got into the waiting room at 9:55. Other people getting in after me and getting tickets- tickets.com is really screwed up.
Guest #48,
Actually, most cell phones and computer systems do share fairly consistent time settings due to syncing with atomic clocks and other central time servers. Even TV networks seem to figure out when to end their shows very close to the half hour. So I have to believe that Tickets.com actually did open ticket sales before 10am, as opposed to their clock being set fast.
Indiecognition, hate to burst your bubble, but i used to work for the company...also, I've worked for ticketmaster, same thing, we may be a minute or two off from time to time. We dont synch our onsales to the atomic clock. So it wasn't they purposefully started the onsale early, it's that they used their own clock to start the sale.
Hey cyber geeks.. remember the telephone? I finished my phone transaction at about 10:15.
ugh... dont be so smug Guest 56. I called and called and called (with web browsers open at the same time) and got nothing but busy signals.
hillrat- actually, it's high school. i'm 17. and aren't I allowed to JOKE about being up early? I've been getting up at 6 everyday (excluding summers) for the past 4 yrs- can't you take a joke?
Maddie - Am I so utterly incomprehensible that you don't realize I'm on your side and was encouraging you to enjoy your Summer?