The Dead added on three shows to their upcoming Spring Tour Monday, May 4, 2009, All State Arena in Chicago, IL, Thursday, May 14, 2009, Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mt. View, CA, and Sunday, May 16, 2009, The Gorge in Quincy, WA. The Gorge show will be with special guests The Allman Brothers Band and The Doobie Brothers. Pretty interesting. I wish I could go to that, but I'll just be doing the New York area shows: MSG, Nassau Coliseum, East Rutherford.
I mail ordered for those venues and shortly after received an email from The Dead (GDTSTOO) saying that they could only fill one third of the Madison Square Garden requests. I got very edgy about getting shut out of possibly the last time the remaining members of the Grateful Dead would play MSG, so when tickets went on sale through Ticketscum(master) I went on their website and ordered a ticket. The only catch was that I THOUGHT I bought the ticket from TM, but in actuallity I was seamlessly taken to another website, I think owned by TMaster, and bought a previously purchased ticket for a higher price ($200.00) from someone reselling it. In other words I bought a scalped ticket from Ticketmaster! Unbeknownst to me. They even charged me $12.95 for shipping which must have been a prechecked box on the form I rushed through online because if you don't hurry up you lose those tickets in the que. When I got a FedEx notice a few days later I figured out that I paid extra for shipping. When I picked it up guess what was inside? A photocopy of a ticket to the show and a notice to the affect of "Do Not photocopy this ticket and resell. Once this ticket is scanned at the venue this barcode can not be rescanned for admittance". What's with that? I mean why not tell people that they're buying a ticket higher than face value? Why not also send the actual ticket rather than a photocopy? Who would I contact to find out why this happened to me? Big Brother? I heard about the whole Bruce Springsteen thing too. I think bands should make sure their ticket sales are not misshandled like that. If I could pay $200.00 for a ticket why shouldn't that money go to the band, not to an individual reselling it and Live Nation and Ticketscum, who by the way are looking to merge. It's like the greedy merging with the more greedy!
So if I get my MSG ticket for The Dead maybe someone wants to rebuy this ticket from me. Maybe I'll open it up to bid right here. Check back to see what happens if you want a ticket for this show. Hey, ya never know.
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Fortunately I have a few "Dead" feathers in my cap, having performed with them on a few occasions in concert and while sitting in. And touring with Phil's groups was, and forever will be, a major highlight of my career. In doing so, I was able to turn on more than a few folks in my circle to that music who hadn't been righteously converted. I'm quite proud of that. It was a blast to experience the music come together around me on a nightly basis and to immerse myself in that world of sound and love. I'm always looking forward to every next time. The tours this year with Jimmy (Herring) will be yet another long-awaited adventure. I met Jimmy on Phil's stage so it's all family, all connected. Film at eleven. - Greg Osby
Oh man, that sucks about buyin a photocopied ticket. I bought a ticket at a Phish show in 03 that was already scanned and I couldn't get in. I didn't spend anywhere near 200 dollars for it though. So maybe things will work out. I know I ended up going back to the parking lot with a finger in the air(the only time I have ever done that)and I ended up buying 2 tickets for 30 and gave one away.
Hey Dogstarz, That happened to me at a Grateful Dead show at Brendan Byrne Arena back in '84 or '85. I never got in to the show. Literally got thrown on my ass by a guard at the door. That was a bummer. This story ends nicer though. I wound up getting my MSG Mailorder ticket and traded the "copied" ticket for an Allman Brothers Beacon ticket for 3/23/09. Great show! Now they're trying to shut down "Tickets Now", or at least regulate it. TicketMaster should not be allowed to scalp their own tickets - plain and simple!
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