Seeger Sessions Concerts

neil.gader -- Fri, 07/28/2006 - 15:30

Has enyone attended a Seeger Sessions concerts? An interesting story; I was at the Greek theater in LA for the Springsteen. Bruce and his all star band of folkies put on a terrific three hour show no intermission, no breaks, just a steady, high energy stream of the traditional folk repertory. The audience was on its feet nearly the entire time-even the Hollywood-types in the front ten rows got up now and then (and not just to take a cell phone call either). Oddly enough some of the LA critics totally missed the vibe and wrote that the show was passable but not especially brilliant. An example of what happens when you don't take a seat with real paying customers and just rub elbows with all the corporate and agency types who arrive in limos with comps in hand.

In any case, a friend who attended the Greek Theater show later attended the New Jersy show and lent his perspective. He's a New Yorker and assumed the NJ crowd would be rabid to see Bruce return home. as it turned out, they not only were a disappointing crowd, they were positively irate that Bruce wouldn't be singing the old classic E-S treet material. New Jersey evidently has moved away from the progressive political leanings of the past and gone richly Republican. As a result the concert itself was lifeless and nothing that Springsteen attempted to do to get pissy crowd going seemed to work. Apparently music for the people, folk music that is, is not the kind of music these nouvelle conservatives are into- Go figure.

Anyone else catch this concert??

Neil Gader
TAS

BG -- Fri, 07/28/2006 - 16:02

Bruce's Seger Sessions shows, as well as the preceding solo acoustic concerts he performed while touring behind "Devils and Dust," are among the best-executed ideas he's had in years. Sure beats the E Street reuinion gigs, which were quickly starting to border on parody after the first two times.

Still, while I admire Bruce and his music, it's too bad that in Chicago he declined the opportunity to play at an 8500-seat outdoor lakefront pavilion that nonetheless manages a slight intimacy and is located in the heart of the city. He instead insisted upon playing the horrendous outdoor cement-ridden amphitheatre 30 miles south of town since it had a capacity of 30k--and hence, the chance to make more money. The decision backfired. The show didn't even draw 10k, and many assailed him for playing such an arena venue when the music called for small-scale atmosphere. He was also chastized for charging $100 a head, which many pointed out was quite hypocritical given the "folk" and "protest" elements of the music.

Bob Gendron
Music Editor, TAS and Playback

neil.gader -- Fri, 07/28/2006 - 16:22

Not to give Bruce too much of the benefit of the doubt but do you think he chose the larger venue to thwart the influence of scalpers? The Greek has a relatively small seating capacity at 6200 and was sold out instantly. My wife and I paid well over face value (I won't say how much except it's still hurting). We had no other choice.

At a larger venue and since demand was lighter for this brand of material scalpers could not control the marketplace to the same degree (unless they wanted to get stuck with a few thousnd x-tra seats) and some tix would still be avail at face value-Unlike at the Greek.

Neil/TAS

Neil Gader Associate Editor The Absolute Sound

BG -- Fri, 07/28/2006 - 16:45

Scalper-thwarting is a possible reason, but consider this: Bruce played at the Rosemont Theatre in 05, and it holds only 4000.

That, and Tom Petty---for whom scalpers are renowned for chasing after--is playing Northerly Island in September. He could've very easily played and sold-out Tinley Park.

Plus, Bruce could've just played two shows to offset any scalping demand. It's not like he doesn't like the stage.

llad -- Sat, 07/29/2006 - 13:35

Neil, I too was at the Greek Theater show in L.A. I have a long relationship with some members of the E Street Band, having played in two bands back in the mid and late '60s with them. I am fortunate enough to get band seats and back stage passes for ESB concerts.

However, I went to a Ticket Master outlet in L.A. hours before the tickets for the Greek went on sale. I was the 2nd person in line, and got O.K, but not great seats. I contacted Ticket Master and was told that the process is first come first serve, however it seemed odd to me that only seats in the rear part of Section C and the North and South Terraces were coming up. It became obvious that in a small venue like the Greek, the best seats were not sold to the public but saved for record company executives, friends, relatives, etc. Very un-Bruce like. There was a very small ticket drop of better seats the Saturday before the concert. There was a miniscule ticket drop for the drop line at the Greek the day of the show.

As I understand it, Springsteen fans know that there are usually hundreds of tickets that go on sale at the last minute, and that these are some of the best seats at his concerts. This is how Springsteen and his organization deal with scalpers, the ticket drop. The line outside the Greek was long. Many had waited for hours. Very few of those fans got in.

The music that The Seeger Sessions Band performs represents just about every American musical idiom there is. It's too bad that some ESB fans don't get it. A Seeger Sessions show is a great celebration of American music and a rocking, foot stomping, sing along good time. Springsteen is embarking soon on the 2nd European Seeger Sessions Band tour. No further U.S. concerts have been announced. Those of us who caught one of the 18 shows here were treated to a very unique musical experience.

neil.gader -- Mon, 07/31/2006 - 12:43

Broadway producers are following the same model to thwart scalpers. They are holding back blocks of prime orchestra seating as "house seats" and making them available as premium seating closer to the actual evening of the performance. The prices they are charging are not cheap but at least the revenue they are bringing in benefits the show's actual investors rather enriching the resellers.

BTW-I experienced the same thing you did when Tom Waits was scheduled at the Wiltern theater in LA a couple years ago. I call Ticketmaster at exactly 10AM on first morning tix were said to be available. I got through after a couple busy signals-perhaps 10:05AM. They told me they were sold out!!! I asked them how that was possible. Naturally they had no answer. Sheesh

Neil Gader/ TAS

BG -- Mon, 07/31/2006 - 14:41

The answer on how a small-to-medium theatre sells out in 5 minutes is quite simple. With the Internet, you have postentially millions of customers trying to get tickets at once. There is no need for a human to punch any info into a system, and hence, the process is lightning-fast. Nowadays, MSG in NY can sell out in under 10 minutes. The only way to prevent this is to limit ticket sales to the local Ticketmaster phone number and area outlets, and completely disallow Internet sales.

neil.gader -- Mon, 07/31/2006 - 15:15

So basicially, under the current model, I'd be a fool to even bother trying to phone in a ticket order? BTW-do you have any figures with the ratio of scalper purchase tix versus face value purchased tix. Seems to me the scalpers/resellers must be winning big time.

Thanks,
Neil

BG -- Mon, 07/31/2006 - 17:59

Yep, I think trying to use the phone in today's day and age is a waste. There will never be a ratio of scalper-legit for many reasons, chiefly because scalping proper is illegal in many states, so how many tix are sold and resold in secondary markets is unknown, especially since many are hawked outside the venue on day-of events, and then hawked again. Also, even liscensed "ticket brokers" don't keep numbers. Point is, as long as the public will pay obsene amounts--and concerts, particularly those of the Baby Boomer rock variety, are drawing richer and richer folk more interested in making a show of their appearance than in the music--scalping will thrive. That's why so many big-name rock shows have become a farce. They ceased to be for the true fans long ago and have long since priced out the average Joe. $250 face ticket to see McCartney? How many regular people can afford that? Ditto for the Eagles, Stones, and you name it.

llad -- Tue, 08/01/2006 - 10:43

The latest wrinkle is Tickmaster Ticket Auctions. Since some people are willing to pay high prices for tickets on ebay and elsewhere, Ticketmaster has started to auction off tickets to certain concerts rather than sell them outright. They say that this cuts down on scalping. What it really means is that the best seats are going to be priced way to high for the average fan.

As far as internet sales go, I've worked my fingers to the bone on two computers at 10:00AM the day tickets go on sale, and still come up with nose bleed seats. I understand that The Seeger Sessions Band at the Greek sold out in 6 minutes. Still, the general public didn't have much af a chance to get those Section A and B seats.

BG -- Tue, 08/01/2006 - 15:08

You are absolutely correct about the Ticketmaster auctions. All good seats are essentially gone and/or held for the highest bidder for most big shows nowadays. Between auctions, insider deals, industry comps, and radio contests, good luck getting a decent seat for what should be face value.

llad -- Thu, 08/03/2006 - 11:06

BG wrote:You are absolutely correct about the Ticketmaster auctions. All good seats are essentially gone and/or held for the highest bidder for most big shows nowadays. Between auctions, insider deals, industry comps, and radio contests, good luck getting a decent seat for what should be face value.

Like the bard said "The times, they are a'changin"...and not for the better.

MikeH22020 -- Tue, 08/15/2006 - 09:09

neil.gader wrote:Not to give Bruce too much of the benefit of the doubt but do you think he chose the larger venue to thwart the influence of scalpers? The Greek has a relatively small seating capacity at 6200 and was sold out instantly. My wife and I paid well over face value (I won't say how much except it's still hurting). We had no other choice.

I went to the show in Northern VA and I think it is a great time. I've also heard recordings of several shows in Europe where the audience seems to really love it.

In most venues they have general admission seating in the orchestra pit up front where the buyer has to pick them up at will call the day of the show with the credit card used. bruce has used this scheme for the last few tours and it does seem to stop some scalping.

MikeH

BG -- Tue, 08/15/2006 - 12:18

Day-of-show will call is becoming quite common. Everyone from Tom Waits to Tom Petty to Radiohead is using it, or a similar system.

llad -- Thu, 08/17/2006 - 00:34

L.A. is a tough ticket for Springsteen. So much of the music industry community lives here, plus many of the people in the ESB have close ties to people in L.A. My ties to the band reach back to 1967. Yikes!

Larger venues are certainly better in terms of getting good seats The last time that the ESB played in L.A. was at Dodger Stadium toward the end of The Rising tour. There were many more ordinary fans there then got in at The Greek.

MikeH22020 wrote:I went to the show in Northern VA and I think it is a great time. I've also heard recordings of several shows in Europe where the audience seems to really love it.