Hannah Montana' concert tickets are hot


By Kristin M. Hall, Associated Press
NASHVILLE — Forget The Police, Justin Timberlake or Bruce Springsteen. The undisputed hottest concert ticket of the year is for 14-year-old pop star Miley Cyrus, star of the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana TV show.

Fans are so desperate for seats to her 54-date tour, kicking off later this month, that venues have sold out in as little as four minutes and sCalpers are getting four to five times the face value — creating a torrent of complaints from frustrated parents.

"We knew it was hot, but we had no idea it was this crazy," said Debra Rathwell, senior vice president of AEG Live, which is handling her tour. "It's like The Beatles."

About 12,000 seats for the Memphis show were gone in 8 minutes. It took 15 minutes in Columbus, Ohio, and swift sellouts have been reported across the country — Nashville, Miami, Lexington, Ky. The Kansas City Council is investigating the matter.

One ticket for the show in Charlotte sold for $2,565.

Miley, daughter of country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus, plays high school student Miley Stewart, who lives a secret double life as a famous pop star, Hannah Montana. Her show reaches 5 million viewers a week.

The sold-out Best of Both Worlds Tour, which begins Oct. 18, follows the release of her double album, Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus, which has already sold more than 1 million copies since its release in June. The first album, released late last year, sold more than 2 million copies.

Paige Nace, 35, hoped to take her daughter to see Miley at the Arena at Gwinnett Center outside of Atlanta. Nine-year-old Arianna had been begging to see her live ever since she started watching the show, Nace said.

"I think that's it's pretty cool she is coming here," Arianna said. "I want to get up on stage and sing with her. Most likely every girl I know likes Hannah."

But in 4 minutes, tickets to the November show were gone. Nace said tickets were being resold for inflated prices on Internet sites like Craigslist and eBay Inc.'s ticket-reselling subsidiary StubHub.

"All the ticket brokers and sCalpers are trying to sell them for $100-200 a piece," Nace said. "If they would have been face value, I would have gladly gotten them."

The tour promoter capped prices at $65 and put a four-ticket maximum on each transaction. However, the average ticket for the Hannah Montana tour was being resold for $214. That beats the average resale price for Timberlake ($182), Beyonce ($193), or The Police ($209).

The Police tour has been StubHub's best-selling tour in the company's history, but Hannah Montana has sold 35% more tickets in the same amount of time, and is outselling The Police by 25% based on dollar volume.

Understandably that's riling a lot of fans.

"It's always been a problem and it getting worse and worse," said Rathwell, who says her company is doing all it can to reduce scalping. But with every show selling out immediately, there are few options for parents.

"Hannah Montana has essentially exposed a lot of frustration the average, uninformed ticket buyer has," said Sean Pate, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based StubHub. "There is so much demand that ticket sellers are pricing on the high side. It's almost unreasonable."

As technology changes and more venues start selling tickets online, scalpers are no longer those shady-looking guys holding up tickets outside the arena. Most states have no restrictions on reselling tickets, even for a big profit.

Ray Waddell, Billboard's touring writer, says scalpers use automated computer programs that buy tickets quickly or tie up ticket phone lines with repeated calls. "It's really getting out of control," Waddell said. "The industry is kind of fed up."

Pate encourages Hannah Montana fans to sit tight and wait for prices to go down as the tour dates approach.

"The prices that you see now are not the prices that are going to hold," Pate said. "Parents need to set a price that they are comfortable with and watch the market on a daily basis."

Nace is refusing to deal with sCalpers at all, but the situation has left both her and her daughter disappointed. "My mom is trying to do everything she can to take me," Arianna said. "I'm still going to listen to the CDs."

"I feel like they are ripping off children," Nace said. "I'm sure there are parents out there would pay that much. But the rest of us shouldn't be penalized for that."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.usatoday.com/l...htm?csp=34

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No way in hell I'd pay that for anyone.....well maybe someone major....and if I was swimming in money.

i secertly watch Hannah Montana when my roommate isn't home

ehuffnsd said:

You mean you have cable and you watch it by choice...We might need to call someone!

Disney is running thangs these days!

Cinnamon234 said:

Yeah, they are....I never got the whole High School Musical appeal either.

VinnyM27 said:

PANDURITO said:

More people are paying for Hannah than they are for Prince and The Police.

AnckSuNamun said:

Decline and Fall of the American Empire

Let's invade the US! It's now or never!

It's not like we're talking about sane people here. It's crazy parents who can't say "no" to their daughters

I don't get this Hanna Montana craze. Not to mention she's fucking ugly!

VinnyM27 said:

admitting is the first step

AnckSuNamun said:

Neither do I, but I understand the appeal of them more than frickin Hannah Montana lol. That one I really don't get.
[Edited 10/2/07 16:57pm]

My nieces watch the Disney Channel all the time and know all about this crap.


Damn, my nieces are lame

Cinnamon234 said:

I LOVE Hannah. It was like when I was a kid and I pretend I was Popstar living a dual live as a elemantary school kid.

LOL... that's probably way too much to konw about me but hey.

"..except without all that talent and innovation" she must have went on to say.

Cinnie said:

the Beatles weren't that innovative in the begining.

ehuffnsd said:

^^^^^ is crossing his fingers for Miley Cyrus' Sgt. Pepper's

Cinnie said:

LOL.

Doubt it. I think Hilary Duff will be this generations varioation of Kylie Minogue.

I'm not certain about Miley or what her future holds.

AnckSuNamun said:

I know i wastched it and was like..

The naked Brothers Band too

I like Hannah Montana. I watch it with my children.

ehuffnsd said:

you were right

PurpleCharm said:

bboy87 said:

Those lips & teeth are scary-looking.

I hope my baby niece doesn't get into this sh!t when she gets older.
[Edited 10/2/07 19:00pm]

bboy87 said:

She's 14. I think the bulk of her fanbase are young girls, so I doubt that has much to do with it. But yeah, I still don't get why this is so huge.

CalhounSq said:

I wanna know wtf shelled out over $2000 for their child's ticket.....yeah pretty crazy, I think.

paisleypark4 said:

Oh my god.....what the hell is this? I'd see previews for it, but never watched it. Are they really playing their instruments? They look really young. If they are, then props to them, but I just can't take young kids singing.....Jackson 5 is about the only exception.

AnckSuNamun said:

Mylie is an outsider school loser in the show who happens to be super famouse Hannah Montana in her spare time.

i think alot of girls can relate to feeling like an outsider and dream about being someone more popular. Mylie/Hannah is both.

they are probably more fans of the characters than the music. which i'ver never heard. i just like the show

AnckSuNamun said:

Id pay for some Hannah!

god i hope shes of age after i said that:P