Let me just say that I can’t remember purchasing anything through Ticketmaster in at least five years, and trying to buy tickets to any kind of quick-selling concert is something I haven’t done in well-over 10, back during a time when I’m not sure if web purchases even existed yet. You had to hit the redial button, or wait in line at some ticket outlet, hoping you got a good bracelet number (or sleeping on the sidewalk overnight in those days pre-bracelets). I also hate going to big arena or stadium shows; it’s not worth it anymore unless you get great seats, so if it wasn’t for my friend with the hook-up, I probably wouldn’t have even gone to Radiohead at MSG a couple years ago, even if they’re one of my favorite bands.
But when another favorite band, The Pixies, finally announced their NYC dates, and the tickets were going on sale through suck-ass rip-you-off Ticketmaster, I knew I couldn’t miss that. By the time I left UCLA in 1992, I had two favorite bands: Nirvana and The Pixies. (And I was still a “Clapton is God” freak.) But I never had a chance to see either of them.
I totally forgot about the limited pre-sale yesterday, but I’m thinking that they actually sold more than the dinky dozen satirically predicted by Jason Productshop because I was all ready to go at Noon today when the official sales were supposed to start. I had bookmarked the Monday 12/13 event page yesterday (I wanted to see Mission of Burma too, if possible), and at 2 minutes to Noon, I was clicking and refreshing incessently. Finally the ordering process started, and … sold out! What the fuck? In less than a minute?
Thankfully, I did a quick Pixies search on Ticketmaster and noticed that shows on 12/11 and 12/14 had been added. I tried rushing over to the Hammerstein web site to see if it mentioned who would be playing on either of these shows without letting the “You have 2:00 minutes to finish this page” Ticketmaster time limit running out. Ultimately, I went for the Tuesday 12/14 show and …
Thank the heavens … I’m going to The Pixies.
I got curious, so at about 12:20 I checked the Ticketmaster site again. 12/11 … sold out. 12/14 … sold out. Hey, look at that, a 12/15 show? Within 20 minutes of the original sale date/time, they had sold out four shows. With sales like that, could this be the last time they play a venue even as “small” as Hammerstein? If they record a new album and tour again, will it be punched up to just arena and ampitheater shows? If so, I’m thankful to be going now.
Out of Focus 