From The Editor: When The Lights Go Down
While most Phish fans are extremely thankful that the band will return on Friday, the five months since the quartet announced their return haven’t been all sunshine and lollipops. More hotel operators continue to move fans’ reservations, fans openly scalp tickets to other fans and a mysterious team of scammers seem to be rigging all of the ticket auctions on eBay.
There’s been lots of crazy shit going on for this batch of shows that I don’t remember happening at other times in the band’s history. Scalpers, shady hotel operators, fans selling hotel reservations to other fans, fans thinking it’s okay to sell tickets over face to each other is not exactly a good sign for the health of our community. Hopefully the madness dies down over time. I can’t wait till the lights go down and we can put “how we got here” behind us and focus on the music. Even former hater Weinish is getting excited.
Scott Bernstein
Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.
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I totally agree. These are sad times. Unless the band steps up and does something drastic/innovative, things will just get exponentially worse as the economy does as well. It looks like it might be time for stadiums unfortunately. I hope the scalpers rot in metaphorical hell.
Good article. Wish some weren’t true. I really can’t believe the amount of scalping and money-gouging. People seem to be really concerned with “me” these days.
Mark,
I agree with you.
There has to be away to change the paradigm. Phish has been changing the paradigm on music, the fan expierience, etc for their entire careers..Its time Capshaw figures out a way to do this right.
I sold my hamptons at face because I could not go and actually got shit from people for doing so.
I am quite nervous as to what will happen in the lots, gate crashing, etc etc
If crap hits the fan at Hampton you can bet your bottom dollar summer tour is going to be filled with cops and over bearing sec.
also
could you go a bit more indepth about the rigging of EBAY sales
I heard all about those who got Kreft’d
But what is the ebay thing all about?
I’m trying to prep for mayhem and some setbacks and hopefully be pleasantly surprised. There’s bound to be a lot of people going with just one or two tickets and of course a fair share with zero, so the place will be overcrowded by probably at least double the usual inflow for a big event. Hence, anything like hotels, tickets, parking, restaurants, etc. will probably be challenging and somewhat frustrating.
@ Clay – basically a handful of scalpers / scammers are bidding up all of the Hampton tickets, especially Fridays.
These people typically have zero feedback and are new accounts, and they seem to be strategically bidding on different auctions so they don’t compete with each other.
At one point yesterday there were three brand new bidders that cumulatively had over 70 high bids (over $50K) just for Phish tickets.
If you notice this activity you can contact eBay Trust and Safety or reach out to the seller and let them know.
Meanwhile, I was just lamenting how the scene is falling apart before it even starts. Wrote a bit about it here…
http://jamtopia.com/blog/1992-phish-mtv-interview/
That old interview will hopefully server as a reminder of what the band was supposed to be about — melting faces with great improvisational music!
See you in Hampton… unless the airlines start canceling reservations too :)
TL
Unreal…
Thanks for the info
Nothing can bring me down at this point! I know it seems ugly out there for a lot of people, but the folks I know got their tix relatively easily and have hotels squared away. I think the ugliness is a bit more visible than in prior tours, but it’s really not that bad.
As for the “scene” in Hampton… I really don’t think it’s gonna be a gate-crashing mess people seem to worry about. They are really pretty good at crowd control at this point in the game (even if their a bit out of practice).
Sure, turning away cars from the lot because the people in the car don’t have tickets is a bit like trying to heal a gunshot wound with gauze… there will be ticketless folks on lot… but really they know how to keep things under control. I am confident of that.
Meanwhile, I can’t focus at work at all today!!! FRIDAY IS ALMOST HERE!!!!!11!!!
Maybe I was being a bit dramatic, because the more I think about the situation the more optimistic I get, kinda. Just like the ’02 NYE comeback show at MSG, people were scalping up the ass (I remember being offered 1k for my ticket, no joke), this is how the hampton shows will be. However, after hampton, hopefully everything, for the most part, will cool down (other than the fox and asheville shows). It is a bit soon to say that they should switch to stadiums when they haven’t even played yet. I’m trying to be optimistic, but it’s hard with no tickets in hand.
lol it’s TOTALLY not good for the paranoid…