Can you imagine Jon agreeing to this??

And here in New York - paperless ticketing has been done away with - THE BASTARDS

Here is a recent quote from The Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Blog:

http://nysbar.com/blogs/EASL/2010/07..._new_york.html

The basic provision on paperless tickets in the enacted bill requires that an operator of a place of entertainment may not “employ a paperless ticketing system unless the consumer is given an option to purchase paperless tickets that the consumer can transfer at any price, and at any time, and without additional fees, independent of the operator or operator's agent.

What part is "yeah, right?"

Technically, Bob Dylan isn't as popular at least here in America as Bon Jovi as far as touring. A lot of people respect Bob Dylan as a great songwriter but aren't as inclined to go see him live as they would be with Bon Jovi.

I guess you have a different view of him being the "f'ing man" for basically having a European type cue system in America...it's great for cutting out scummy people but a logistical nightmare on so many other levels.

I guess so but his last record charted pretty highly stateside didn't it? Was number one here. I don't collect many of his bootlegs so I don't really know what venues he could play. I could imagine he could fill some decent sized places at least.

To be honest, I'm one of those who respect him as a songwriter and see what people like about him but he isn't my cup of tea so I can't say I've paid attention to his sales.

After doing some quick research, most of the dates listed on his tour page are small venues and ampitheatres. The Warfield in San Fran where he will be doing this gig is listed as a capacity of Capacity: 2,250. Most of them are a couple thousand people capacity venues. I'm not sure what you consider decent sized venues though...

Last summer, he AND Willie Nelson AND John Mellencamp probably came close to selling out a fair sized amphitheater here in Atlanta. I'm guessing 15,000 or so. If they'd done this pay at the door thing, it would have been a nightmare! He's doing this at a small venue, and I'm guessing there's a reason. If we have any Dylan diehards on here who frequent a Dylan message board, they could probably tell us all about it. Personally, I don't care enough to go try to find out, because I don't care if I ever see him in concert again. (Please . . . write all the songs you want to, Bob. Just let someone else sing them. Someone who actually gives a damn if there's an audience out there.) Furthermore, whatever you think of the music, there is NO WAY that Bob Dylan is anywhere near the draw that Bon Jovi is as a touring act here in the U.S. I don't think I've heard of him playing stadiums in Europe either, am I right?

It's one thing to queue up for a good spot if you already have a ticket. It's a whole different thing to have to queue up to HOPE that you get a ticket and get in the place.

Oh good grief. My first reaction is that it sounds like that totally kills the idea! Sheesh. I'll have to do some research on that act.

My post was just pretty reactionary, to be honest, but I do reckon it's a great move from him, going back to the old school way of thinking.

By the way, I reckon Bob must like having an audience to some extent considering he plays around 100 gigs a year. Haven't got a problem with how he sings his songs either, his music and he can do what he wants to with it. In my not particularly humble opinion, the only people who should be allowed to cover his songs are;

The Byrds
Hendrix
Neil Young
The Band
Rod Stewart (before he went shit)
George Harrison

So basically, nowadays only Neil can cover his songs Unless Tom Waits did some badass versions with the oompa band and shit. Go Bob!

The most difficult part (what Bon Jovi won't be willing to accept - and neither AEG Live) is not knowing how many tickets will be sold for the show and thus not having an idea of the revenue up front.

When selling the tix months in advance the promotor and band can take actions when ticket sales are slow and starting to advertise more. This is simply impossible this way.

Not suitable for large venues and thus not suitable for Jovi.
For clubs it's great.

First come, first serve, all tix at same price... no fortunes to pay to have good seats. That's a real positive point

See, I don't like this idea at all. Now, what I wouldn't mind is to ONLY make tickets available at a venue box office, but I wouldn't want to que up on the day of a show just to not get tickets.

That's because he has been touring almost constantly for the last 25 years.

Sometimes he will play stadiums. Sometimes arenas. Sometimes ballrooms. When he plays in the UK for example, he will sell out London's o2 and other mid sized arena's in Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham etc.

The demand for Bon Jovi live is higher though, you are right. This has a lot to do with them touring once every 2 or 3 years whereas Dylan tours every year.

While I'm at it, Dylan's setlists are interesting to compare.... the end and encore tend to be quite repetitive but as for the rest, you just don't know what's going to come up. Only plays 14 - 17 songs these days though.... (he is 69!)