Having spent £700.00 on 3 x VIP tickets and been allocated in block 102 row C i must get this off my chest,


How the hell can they screw the fans like this?

I couldn't really afford these tickets but having been to so many prince concerts and had poor views i was determined the get the best possible seats this time.

For 7 x the standard ticket price would it have been too much to ask for a floor seat near the front?

Instead i have to try to convince myself that a finger buffet and free soft drinks make it all worth while and in the meantime ticketmaster have auctioned off better seats, screwed the proper fans and turned this into a absolute farce.

I'm looking forward so much to this concert (also got aftershow tickets for the opening night) but this has left a very, very bitter taste in my mouth.

People bought these tickets expecting VIP treatment and the best possible veiw, most of them would have been long time prince fans and ex members of the NPGMC hoping for something special (fee aftershow, sound check access etc, etc) and what happens these people are offered ground floor seats (using the NPGMC password) 2 months after the tickets went on sale!

What an absolute shambles and an insult to genuine/llifelong fans who have spent massive amounts of their hard earned money over the years watching and listening to him.

Loyalty????, god that word eans nothing these days.

What pisses me off is i'll be sat in my 235.00 seat having just eaten a bit of cheese and ham on a cocktail stick whilst someone is on ground floor who never bought one of his alblums, never seen him live and has just recently received his FREE copy of PE and paid 31.21.

i know what you mean. my current ticket allocation is fine, but i am now also waiting for other VIP tickets, lets see how they turn out, at the end of the day we will all have a great view and will be close to the main man, but i know what you mean.

chris0972 said:

Oh, don't be such a snob. Everyone in the audience has the right to enjoy the performance, it doesn't matter how many albums they've bought or how many concerts they've attended. Prince's music isn't just for the fanatics with money to burn you know - in fact it is quite nice to think of how some people will be seeing Prince do his thing live for the first time, and will be totally blown away Now, you chose to pay 700 quid for tickets, even though you say you couldn't really afford them - but somehow that's someone else's fault?

Ultimately, not everyone gets to be at the front. That said, out of 21 concerts I'd have thought you could find a ticket that better matched your expectations. To me, Row C sounds pretty good - enjoy the show. I'll be way back in row M in my cheapo £31.21 seat, but I still can't wait.

I wasn't willing to spend hundreds of pounds for concert tickets - to me it just doesn't seem worth it. I'm happy for the folk with the cool seats, I hope they have a great time. No one forced you to reach into your pocket and hand over 700 pounds for concert tickets, and I don't think you could claim that anyone mislead you about what your money was buying you. Instead of complaining, be glad that (a) you have a chance to see Prince live when lots of Orgers around the world won't and (b) you are wealthy enough to drop 700 quid on something as frivolous as a pop concert.

me myself think that not only him but others would feel like they have been ripped off paying that price for that location + 2 drinks on a boat wow. think i would rather trust someone on ebay or some tout for half that price and just take the risk. (like in 1 nite alone in manchester he said join the fan club and get the best seats in the house at the front)

take heart in the fact that 102C is quite likely going to be one of the best views available better than many floor seats. slightly raised to an ideal height above the symbol stage, no heads in front of you, side on rather than the possibility of watching most of the show from behind the drummer like many floor seats may do, and still very very close.

Check the viagogo seating chart which is an accurate chart of the VIP area and you'll see how close the lower tier block 102 is to the stage as it's just behind the very shallow block A3. The TM charts do not show it that well.


All tickets including yours have a face value of £31.21, we've paid for the only available way at the time of getting good seats and for a few drinks (enough for 1 hour for most people unless you plan to get wasted) a buffet and a bit of music. Though it's quite a premium I know. When did you buy your VIP ticket? - the description also stated floor seats + first 10 rows of middle tiers (by which I think they meant the lower tiers with central side on view and closest to the stage)

chris0972 said:

in a certain way i can understand what you mean, but all i can say is F... it, life is like that sometimes, i remember 2001, U2 in Vienna, I had naturally no tickets, then some tabloid newspaper where offering VIP tickets for about 200 euros a shot, i naturally thought ok, buffet free drink and get into the heart at the front of the stage, forget it, had one beer (for free)watched the concert from the side of the stage, had a great time though, and my then GF had never witnessed anything like it. I am also wondering what is better for this concert, up high or low, i always regret that i did not get balcony tickets for the U2 concert, as in an arena, you get to see everything, the higher up you are

ian said:

deadly, nice one

chris0972 said:

I totally agree with your frustration.

Without wanting to rub it in, I'm in Row A of block 102, and I only paid £239 for a pair of tickets and a 4 star hotel room.

ian said:

Nah mate you're wrong, I agree entirely with the first post in this thread. The tickets in better positions should have been released much earlier to give those hardcore fans who were obviously going to secure tickets earlier the chance to at least get a good view.

Instead they have managed to squeeze as much out of fans as possible which is completely wrong.

Especially feel sorry those who have subsequently bought tickets for better seating, and lose £ on the ones they originally bought.

I totally agree with the frustration - it absolutely stinks. I think the majority of people on this site would happily have paid more than £31.21 for the first x number of rows of seats....proof of this is that so many of us have VIP tickets.

So to find that you're not in the front section is pretty shitty, frankly!

If anyone wants to give us the email address and phone number of Mr AEG, we can all give him a piece of our mind. Won't change a thing, but will sure make me feel like I've said my piece!

to be honest, i simply dont care. it aint the first time it has happened, and wont be the last. I am just waiting for Prince to start cancelling shows, that is when the real fun will begin

Whitnail said:

now that'd be a blast

chris0972 said:

well you have better seats than i got...i am in the 112 in the corner in row f ...it is clearly NOT within the first 10 rows...we had better get a goodie bag which no-one seems to mention....

Hey, you're sat behind me No throwing popcorn or I'll be right pissed! I do understand your disapointment though. Not the best offer on the planet.

I agree that we might have been somewhat deceived as no details were explained at the time so we all took a bit of a gamble but don't forget what VIP means in reality.

VIP's do not get down and dirty in the mosh pit, they sip a glass of bubbly with an excellent view in relative comfort - this looks like what we will get.

I bought one set of VIP tickets and for me this night is going to be a blast, wherever we are sat, not just because of the guaranteed excellent view but because of all the people I know are going to be there with us and the man on stage. Yea, I got screwed on several O2 presale tickets and I'm stuck in the gods but I decided that I had spent all the money I was going to. I am still seeing Prince live on more occasions than any other tour I have been to, and that excites me!

We are really lucky to have 21 nights of Prince in the UK, look forward to your EXCELLENT seats at what will surely be an awesome few weeks for Prince and music fans alike. Be happy for those who were "lucky" this time, maybe their pockets are not as deep as yours, however much your credit card took a bashing.

If our paths cross at the gigs, I will gladly buy you a drink and you can tell me how your 3 VIP nights compared.

Enjoy!

chris0972 said:

I can understand people's frustration, I too was caught out on a pre-sale for U2 tickets, as members we were allowed to purchase tickets 5 days before they went on general sale, so I purchased for Twickeham for the Saturday night, then I purchased thro Ticketmaster(Bless Them) for the Sunday night, when the fan club pre-sale tixs arrived I discovered they were for upper tier, view was great but sound was lousy, the next nite without pre-sale tix we were in lower tier and both view and sound were amazing.....its just working out whether we are prepared to wait and see if you get better tix by holding on, but genuine fans be it Prince or whoever just want to kno they have got their tix to see their idols.

Well i am feeling much better today.

I also bought some tickets for the 3rd August through Keith Prowse travel/ticketswitch which included hotel accomodation for 140.00 per ticket.

I'm seated in block 111 row D

chris0972 said:

I'm in that row on the 18th! Through Keith Prowse too. They seemed to get good seats.

Have your tickets come through?

piss piss piss moan moan moan...

SquirrelMeat said:

nah, having to pick them up at the box office

SO BASICALLY THE 239 POUND DEAL FOR TWO TICKETS PLUS 4 STAR HOTEL ACCOMODATION ARE GETTING BETTER SEATS THAN THE VIP PACKAGE AT TWICE THE PRICE ????...MAKES NO SENSE TO ME....THATS WHY I THINK THERE MUST BE SOMETHING ELSE THE VIPS ARE GETTING OTHER THAN 3 DRINKS AND A FINGER BUFFET ????

.
.
A BIG GOODIE BAG !!!
[Edited 7/27/07 7:16am]

and the best thing is that now, apparently, we can use "ticketfast" to be 100% sure that we get our tickets in time. a shame that option was not there before.

Think we got nothing but a hefty credit card bill!!

ian said:

Snob, WTF are u on??

I'm no snob just a huge fan who was lured by the false hope that for once, just once i may be treated like a VIP (isn't what thats suppose to mean) and get the best seats possible to see my idol for what could possibly his last ever UK gig.

I broke the bank to do this, maybe i was stupid but i thought it would be woth paying this much if it got me the best seats in the house like originally promised.

I suggest you stop judging people, i'm no snob just an ordinary guy who has followed prince for many years and just ths once was willing to pay lots of money to see his idol.

No one forced you to reach into your pocket and hand over 700 pounds for concert tickets, and I don't think you could claim that anyone mislead you about what your money was buying you.

Get your facts right mate,

I was mislead.

When i ordered these tickets we were told that all VIP tickets were in the first 10 rows on the floor

SquirrelMeat said:

IndieLondon? Me too They've given me 112 Row B 57-59. Be better still when I have the tickets in my hand 'worried'

chris0972 said:

i think you will probably have the best seats in the house view wise..i would have been happy with a central view....i have vip tickets in the corner section ???...its just the fact that you know that people will have better seats than you and paid nothing like 235 a ticket...thats what the problem is...