PreferredSeat.com Blog

Eric Clapton has announced the return of the Crossroads Festival for 2010 at Toyota Park in Chicago on June 26th.  Clapton previously held the festival in 2004 and 2007 with some of the same artist returning this year.

The concert will once again benefit the Crossroads Centre, which is a addiction treatment facility located in the Caribbean and founded by Eric Clapton. Clapton will be performing with his band as well as jumping in on a number of sets by the other artists.

Some of those slated to perform include Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, BB King, Jimmie Vaughan, Sheryl Crow and Steve Winwood. New to the Crossroads Festival this year will be the Allman Brothers Band, John Mayer and Vince Gill.

All indications are this will probably be the last Crossroads Guitar Festival as Clapton indicated in Rolling Stone,  and you don’t want to miss your chance to see this kind of stellar line up on one stage. Tickets for the Crossroads Guitar Festival officially go on sale on February 20th through the usual outlets, and premium seats will be available from ticket brokers soon.

The current performers for the Crossroads Festival:

Albert Lee
Allman Brothers Band
BB King
Bert Jansch
Buddy Guy
David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos
Doyle Bramhall II
Earl Klugh
Eric Clapton
Gary Clark Jr.
Hubert Sumlin
James Burton
Jeff Beck
Jimmie Vaughan
Joao Gilberto
Joe Bonamassa
John Mayer
Keb Mo
Pino Daniele
Robert Cray
Robert Randolph
Sheryl Crow
Sonny Landreth
Steve Winwood
Vince Gill
ZZ Top

The Eagles along with Ticketmaster are testing the waters to find the best way to squeeze  every dollar than can get out of the concert experience. And the fans are paying the price. With vastly different face values for tickets in different markets, Platinum Seats, Auctions and Fan Packages, the fans are soon to learn what the new cost of attending a concert will be.

Several pricing structures are currently being tested with  concerts by the Eagles at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, US Airways Center in Phoenix, AZ, the Honda Center Anaheim, Ca, the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Ca and the Hp Pavilion in San Jose, CA.

The biggest difference is the price being charged by the different arenas. At the US Airways Center, Honda Center and Hp Pavilion the face value of the tickets is $180 – $190. In comparison, at the Hollywood Bowl and Arco Arena the face value of the tickets are $275 each. Someone must have forgotten to tell the Eagles that their fans in Sacramento face an unemployment rate well above the national average and there are 81,000 state workers that are furloughed three days a month. That’s the way to stick it to them. And I guarantee you, the women who work for the State of California, are some of the Eagles biggest fans.

For those venues with the lower face value tickets the other option is Platinum Seats that are overpriced and often of poor quality. Ticketmaster has a lot to learn about pricing tickets and the quality of the seats they choose to sell as Platinum seats. If your venue is lucky enough to be paying over 50% more per ticket, $275 as opposed to $180, then you have the choice of buying seats on an auction and compete for the best seats.

And that’s not all. If you want a seat on an aisle to see the Eagles at the Arco Arena, you will pay $25  more per seat. Just to sit on an aisle. And where do you think they came up with that idea. Maybe from the airlines charging for baggage?

They did make sure they set aside a number of seats, in the top rows of the arena at a cheap $32 per ticket. And those are the only tickets that are paperless tickets requiring an id at the door on the night of the show. They wouldn’t want a fan to take advantage of them and sell those on Ebay or Craigslist, so they made sure they could not be resold.

And you don’t have to worry about those hated Ticketmaster service charges everyone has been bitching about for years. They’ve included them into the price of the ticket, including the fee for you to print your own tickets. Now you cannot get a break at the box office on the ticket price. It’s the same at the box office as on Ticketmaster, now everyone pays. And you don’t have the slightest idea of how much the face value was, and how much the “convenience fee” is. Nice of them to do that for the fans.

What’s next? For years they blamed the ticket brokers for scalping their tickets, overcharging they would say. Well who’s scalping now? What will they do when they find the fans say screw you, I’m staying home. Sell them a cd?

Bonnarro Music & Arts Festival 2010 has been releasing the headlining names for this years concert through their website at bonnaroo.com. Headlining these years festival will be the Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, Stevie Wonder, Tenacious, Weezer and dozens of other supporting bands including the Zac Brown Band and Jeff Beck.

Since 2002 the Bonnaroo Festival has been held in Manchester, Tn and this year the 4 day show will be held on June 10-13. The Bonnaroo has grown into a world of it’s own with activities and attractions throughout the site and something for everyone to keep  busy during  the entire 4 days, including the music and fun.

The Bonnaroo is probably the largest festival of it’s kind in the US and has always attracted top talent and plenty of up and coming artist as well.  If you visit their website you’ll find they have thought of everything to keep the fans up to date and informed of transportation choices  as well as food and accommodations.