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So the horse has left the barn with regard to the tickets. I managed to get a couple honestly because my parents have Amex and that appears to have been the one presale that wasn't completely bot-fucked, but I could easily not have gotten any.
A lot of honest fans got screwed out of tickets. A lot of assholes (or a few really big assholes) are on the verge of making bank on the misfortune of Gord, the band, and us, the fans.
So the band should stream the shows. Not just Kingston airing on CBC (fingers crossed this happens), but all the shows on the tour. Every Stubhub-infested one. It's a win-win: the fans get to see the shows, albeit not in person; the band doesn't lose any money, and gets a shit-ton of goodwill; and the vultures' ticket prices will sink like stones, hopefully back down to close to face value so that people with actual souls might be able to buy them. What's the down side? If there's a stipulation in the venue contracts saying the shows can't be broadcast, shame them into allowing it to happen. There's literally no decent reason for them to prohibit this, and they'd look like dicks if they tried. Make this a matter of the public good, and they'll fall into line.
Anyone with me on this? Should we start a petition?
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I would love to see the band release these shows like the "Live from The Vault" series. They record all their shows anyway. What about it guys?
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The band doesn't have to do anything. If they want to stream it, I am sure they are already in talks about getting that done. The Hip has been one of the more friendly bands out there when it comes to video taping and photography at shows. Heck, even some of the VIP only shows where only 500 or so people smash into a small theatre in Peterborough or Belleville, they got Mav I believe or some others from the Hip Club access to video tape the whole thing. If they don't want to stream it, that's also their call and not ours to dispute. Maybe they want to release a commemorative tour dvd, maybe they just dont want to stream it and put extra pressure on Gord, maybe they just don't want to. If that's the case, so be it, the bands wishes.
The one thing that is starting to drive me nuts (not saying you are doing this), is that so many people are on the verge, or already crossing the line of making The Hip look like the bad guy in this. The band does not control the ticket brokers, and heck the band does not control who buys tickets and puts them on Stub Hub. I would be willing to bet there are some actual Hip Fans who have given into temptation and put their tickets up on Stub Hub or such. Whatever. It sucks big time, but for some that extra loot means more than seeing the best band in the world one more time. Might mean sending their kid to camp, might mean paying rent. They bought the ticket expecting to go only to see the help it could give them. Again, not saying its right, I have never sold a ticket for over face, usually under, but thats me, I am not to judge others situations.
The real monsters are the ones who probably couldnt name a Hip song, or know who Gord is, and saw an opportunity. Ones that somehow have multiple tickets to just sell. Those guys. How do we stop them, no idea. Maybe they aren't even that bad, maybe the demand was just that high? Doubt it, but possible. Heck its not even Stubhub I am mad at, they are just doing their service to give an opportunity to others to buy tickets, they dont go out and buy them themselves.
End of the day the band doesn't have to do anything that they don't want to do just to appease. This is THEIR grand finale. This is THEIR last hurrah. I consider us lucky they gave us this many shows, THEN added more. Heck if they didn't want to do another tour, so be it. If they wanted to just play a house party as their final show and only fam and friends saw it, so be it. We are lucky for the time we have left, and the chance to see them one last time, but even if their tour was 60 shows long there would still be some upset people.
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I agree that people shouldn't paint the band as the bad guys here; what they're doing already is generous and shows a love for those of us who've loved them back for the past 30 years. I do wish there were some way to do these ticket sales fairly, but with Ticketmaster's hegemony that's damn hard to pull off for shows of this size. There needs to be regulation, because the market is _not_ working in a fair or honest way. The onus is on us (not the band, not the venues) to put the screws to lawmakers to find a way to make things as fair as they were before the Internet and resellers wrecked the place.
My suggestion (and it was meant as that, though the header was phrased in the imperative -- I plead guilty to wanting to attract eyeballs) was simply meant as a way the band or their management could stave off the (erroneous! unfounded! don't hurt me!) perception that some, including some in the media which is problematic, are trying to establish of them being at fault. Because ultimately it's their name that ends up in the headlines, more than Ticketmaster or Stubhub. I don't want the parasites to darken their legacy, because they sure as hell don't deserve it.
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andrew sharpe Wrote:edgoffin Wrote:I get people are pissed. How many of them have bought an album or seen a show in the past decade? If a doctor says your time is limited, how many of us would say "OK, I think I'll keep working"? It sucks all around. Crappy for Gord, his family, band mates. Crappy for longtime fans who got shutout.
Yeah but this was unavoidable. They are playing 15 shows with about 20K capacity per show...that's only 300K tickets between millions of Hip fans. People were going to get left out. And everyone blaming Ticketmaster forgets that there were always scalpers. In the old days they'd pay homeless guys to sleep overnight in the ticket lineups. It's capitalism. The shows are in demand. By definition, lots of people are going to get left out.
Yes , its all about supply and demand. There is a reason second market sellers dont go to the local supermarket and buy up all the breakfast cereal and resell it for a profit. There is a big difference between commodity and boutique sales, and that is the nature of the economic system we choose to live in. The inclusion of middle sellers in a money market driven economy is inherent, and only governments (and in this case artists and consumers) have to be exclusively creative to break this problem.
"we've only got three hundred feet to go ..."
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Srb718 Wrote:If this truly is the last tour for The Hip, I hope these live recordings and other unreleased material see the light of day. It seems like a way to keep fans engaged and solid revenue stream for the post-touring days.
I am willing to offer myself up to do the task of sifting through all the material and start a series called 'Sean's Hip Trips'. :roll:
2004-12-03 - Saint John/2005-09-03 - Moncton/2006-06-30 - Charlottetown/2006-11-09/10 - Montreal/2007-09-11 - Fredericton/2007-09-13 - Halifax/2007-09-14 - Sydney/2007-09-15 - Charlottetown/2008-06-30 - Charlottetown/2009-05-01/02 - Montreal/2011-06-28 - Moncton/2011-06-30 - Charlottetown/2012-06-30 - Niagara-on-the-Lake/2013-02-01 - Moncton/2013-02-02 - Halifax/2015-01-10 - Toronto/2015-02-20 - Montreal/2015-07-17 - Ottawa/2016-08-18 - Ottawa/2016-08-20 - Kingston
