PreferredSeat.com Blog

Alan Jackson put tickets on sale last Friday for his Arco Arena concert in Sacramento on November 4th and ticket sales have been flat for the first few days of the on sale. After almost 5 days of ticket sales for Alan Jackson you can still find tickets in the 14th row from the stage on sale for face value.

Sacramento is a tough market with all the state employees furloughed and recent concerts by Carrie Underwood and Michael Buble have not sold out at the Arco Arena so it’s understandable that the Alan Jackson concert may get off to a slow start. But maybe the artists should start to think of the impact of $90 concert tickets in a very bad economy.

Some cities are doing great at this time and can sell out Alan Jackson or Michael Buble at their high ticket prices, but many cities are reeling from the economic downturn and maybe it’s time the artists strip down the road tour so they  can lower their concert ticket prices in economically depressed cities.

Michael Buble performed in Sacramento at the Arco Arena last night and you expect that he would have sold out the venue but that was not the case. For his Sacramento concert Michael Buble only sold out the lower level seating and the rear of the upper deck. Much of the upper level went unsold for one of the most popular artists on tour today.

And for the recent concerts by Carrie Underwood, Tool and the American Idols at the Arco Arena it was pretty much the same thing, fairly empty in the upper level. And Carrie Underwood usually has no problem selling tickets for her tour dates as the top country artist, but she only sold about 9,000 tickets for this show.

Even the Justin Bieber concert scheduled for Friday October 22nd at the Arco Arena has not sold very many upper level tickets though he has sold out concerts throughout his current tour. It doesn’t help that the kid is selling VIP packages at $391 per ticket for a cash starved city, but he wouldn’t understand what the parents buying his tickets are going through anyway.

A big part of the problem with the Sacramento area is not only the economy, but the fact that so many California state workers live in Sacramento and they have had so many furlough days resulting in a reduced pay of about 10%. Many Sacramentans have no extra income for entertainment any longer and concert tickets just don’t fit in the budget this year.

Sacramento is not the only city having problems selling tickets for concerts and other entertainment events. And some cities such as Pittsburgh do very well selling out multiple concerts and the Wells Fargo Center. But the lack of ticket sales will probably keep most of the major acts out of the Sacramento area for some time to come and those that do come to the Arco Arena may not sell out as they usually do.

I received an email from Ticketmaster today and it was titled “Great Seats for Michael Buble Still Available”.  Anybody that has ever bought a ticket from Ticketmaster online receives the same thing because your email address is automatically put on a list to send these offers to.

And it wouldn’t be so bad except that every time I rush and click like an idiot I find the same lousy seats. In this case they were seats far behind the stage, but at full price. Staring at Michael Buble’s ass all night may be fine for some, but for full price it is not a “Great Seat for Michael Buble”.

 To put out these emails to sell off the crap seats is bogus. At least they should tell the truth, “Michael Buble tickets with a lousy view with questionable sound and sightlines, behind the stage for the same price that everyone else paid to see and hear well, on sale now”

 In the old days, but only a year or two ago, those seats were referred to as “Side Stage – possible obstructed view”. But now they have cleaned up the stage so nothing gets in the way, but they cannot make up for the view from the side and back, and the sound quality from those seats.

 For a few dollars more, you can find some of the best seats for Michael Buble through a ticket broker. Preferred Seating has some great seats at above face value, but with great views of Michael Buble and you can hear him sing. This is why you go in the first place.