PreferredSeat.com Blog

The new Live Nation Ticketmaster merger is already screwing the fans as the Eagles and Irving Azoff set the Arco Arena up as a test for gouging Sacramento concert fans. The experiment as Azoff calls it was to jack up the prices at Arco Arena for the Eagles to $280 per ticket, $100 more per ticket than the HP Pavilion, a hundred or so miles down the freeway.

And as Azoff says, it’s been well received as Azoff puts it “The experiment has been “phenomenally well received” by everybody but brokers, Azoff said during the call. The 50% of tickets priced lower than normal have been offset by the 28% of priced higher. Buyers of the cheapest, $32 tickets were issued paperless tickets because Live Nation believes they were worth more, and doesn’t want the secondary market to sell them. ”

But do the Sacramento fans of the Eagles know that they are part of this jacked up ticket price experiment? And their wealthier bay area neighbors are paying $100 less per ticket?

I can’t see how fans who paid $125 per ticket the last time the Eagles came to Sacramento would say they are thrilled they are the test market for the $280 ticket. What does this say about the band? They don’t give a crap, that’s what it says.

And I’ll bet that this plan to gouge the fans of every dollar will backfire just as overpriced cd’s did. Azoff will shove tour after tour in front of your face, every one with overpriced tickets, until fans have had enough and tell the bands to shove the live experience up their ass.

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?

The Eagles tour has been extended with new concert tour dates for the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Hp Pavilion in San Jose,  the General Motors Place in Vancouver and the US Airways Center in Phoenix. The Eagles are currently lined up for 3 nights at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in mid April.

An Eagles and Fleetwood Mac tour rumor surfaced recently, but it appears that may have been premature speculation as  the Eagles tour schedule is extended to more arena shows. The Eagles last tour of the US ended in May 2009 and in Europe in July of 2009.

The Eagles will play many of their classic hits as well as some of the material from their last studio album “Long Road Out of Eden” and if you haven’t seen the Eagles live in a long time, you don’t want to miss this show. Many of the rock bands from the 70′s don’t sound anything like they did when the original tracks were recorded, but the Eagles still sound great live and they have dozens of hits to pick from.

Tickets for the Eagles concerts at the Arco Arena, Hp Pavilion, General Motors Place and the US Airways Center will go on sale within the week at the usual outlets. You can buy the best tickets for the Eagles live for all of their concerts online or charge by phone.