[Lerxst1991]

I'm glad they disclosed Gord's illness prior to tickets going on sale. I wouldn't be driving from NB to Ottawa otherwise as I've seen the band 30+ times and would have waited for a closer show.

Im driving nine hours myself to Ottawa. Its been something ive always wanted to do, see them in their home country, but probably needed big news to update passport and make the drive. Sucks that the news is so devastating.

As far as lack of tickets, this really looks like yer typical PJ MSG show

[paulster2626]

Given that these are arena shows, I would think a lot of season ticket subscribers to hockey teams who get first crack at tickets would have jumped on these. Everyone knows someone who's a big fan of the Tragically Hip, and as we've said before these are the hottest Canadian music tickets in history. I think it's simply a lot of people actually do want to show up to these things.

I'm not sure how most arenas operate, but everyone I know who's a Leafs or Raptors season ticket holder at Air Canada Centre said they didn't have the option to simply buy their seats for the Hip shows. I think, in most cases, being a season ticket holder simply gives you priority access (essentially another presale) to concert tickets.

Ahh, well the mystery continues.

I know my friend's wife's boss owns a construction company and has a box at the ACC (lowest row, right in the middle) and 4 platinum seats. You should see this guy's setup at work - seats from the Gardens, the Forum, etc. in the meeting room, memorabilia everywhere. Anyway I know for a fact he gets to buy his platinums for concerts if he wants - perhaps a holdover to those who've been subscribers since Day 1.

Who the hell knows, really. It's like everything - the average joe who wants in to these buildings will just have to scrape and claw and take what they can get.

[NWOntario]

At the risk of beating a dead h...wait. This is an internet forum. Flogging dead horses it's what these things were invented for! Earlier today I got tickets to Hamilton on Broadway, which is one of the hottest tickets in the entire world right now. I signed up for the show's mailing list a long time ago--and this afternoon I was emailed a unique, six-digit code that gave me access to the latest batch of tickets before the general sale starts Sunday. I bought two pairs for two performances--the shows are nine and ten months out; I have no idea what my work schedule's gonna look like--and then, just for fun, tried entering the code again to see what else I could find. Ticketmaster wouldn't even let me look: each code allowed you to buy up to four tickets, and as soon as you did that it became invalid.

I don't think I'd ever seen that done before--so the next time the Hip tours (and dammit I won't give up hope!) it'd be another option for beating the bots.

[Lerxst1991]

Unfortunately NWO, those bot owners may have access to hundreds of those codes.

It looks like all the new rear stage seats to be released soon will be cc entry/paperless tickets, at least according to the Ottawa website. Thats the best bot defense.

[RenewedRoots]

Commenting on the original post here my personal experience on all this doesn't really seem match most of the membership here. I am someone who diligently waited during the presales and snatched up tickets for two of the shows during the presales (thankfully!). While many of us here did this I differ in so far as I would likely not have done the same for a normal tour. The simple reason for this is that I live 4000 miles away from the venue that I bought tickets for.

Like the majority I was absolutely devastated to hear the news about Gord. I read that message to the fans as all of us did although at the time I recognised that a world tour was out of the question so as well as the sadness of the news I mourned the fact that I was never likely to see the band play live again. I have been fortunate to see them 6 times - 3 in Ontario where I was born and raised and 3 in the UK where I currently reside. I am 32 years old so the bad has been a constant in my life. They have literally ALWAYS been there. I grew up listening to them and as soon as I grew an appreciation for music they were there for me to attach that appreciation to. In recent years they have served as the anchor to my Canadian roots in many ways. Whenever I put on their music or had the chance to see them live it transported me home.

Once the news sank in and the tour was announced I decided that no matter what I had to be there. I managed to get tickets for two of the shows in Toronto and then promptly booked my flight home. This isn't something that was easily affordable for me and I suspect the financial repercussions of it will be felt for some time but I really didn't feel as if I had a choice... I had to be there.

I understand there are a lot of people who are upset with the way the tickets went and I think there is reason to be upset but I think this criticism of the band for the timing of the announcement is grossly unfair. From my perspective I very much thank them for being open with the fans and giving us the chance to share this moment with them. I tend to be quite good at expressing myself in written form yet I have no words to express how highly I think of these guys and (obviously) especially Gord for doing this tour at all. To this end I get very emotional. I shall wipe my eyes now...

Ultimately with the announcement they have given everyone the chance to come and share in a very special moment with them which is what I firmly believe they wanted. Ticket-master failed but it is not the fault of the band nor of the timing of the announcement.

[BIGVDOGG]

This was a terrible call by management.

[BIGVDOGG]

The folks in the hip organization are class act all the way top to bottom, I just don't think it was well thought out.

[stanslow12]

Does anyone think the band really had any sort of conversation about how they were going to price this tour? I sure don't, they left it up to management, and they greatly underestimated demand. Otherwise, there would have been 360 seating from the start and four shows wouldn't have been added, they would have just been scheduled from the start. It is impossible to determine price points before a tour goes on sale, only the secondary market can determine what someone will actually pay for a given seat. It is what it is.

By the way, still looking for two tickets to Winnipeg! Holding out hope for behind the stage, but if I can't land them when they go on sale at least the added seats will drive down prices of resale.

[Tk4211]

I'm a Winnipeg Jets season seat holder for 5 years now and I've never had first dibs on anything not related to the Jets.

same, but in the boxes you do

[NWOntario]

The folks in the hip organization are class act all the way top to bottom, I just don't think it was well thought out.

This--and like I've said in other threads, I'm willing to cut them some slack because of the circumstances. BUT...if the Hip do tour again, I hope they learn from their mistakes, because a lot of them weren't because of scalpers.