North American Summer Tour

I feel your pain accofield! The fan club really needs to rework their system. The band concentrates more and more on a more limited area of the USA for tickets and their current system basically penalizes a person for where they live. If you're not in the Northeast or near those major markets they play, you're screwed. They're doing five shows in NJ this year and you can bet that the same fan club members are the ones getting tickets for all five shows. The system is totally flawed because the same people are benefitting over and over while there are thousands of members who see no ticketing benefit at all. At least in Europe, with GA shows the fan club gives everyone the same opportunity whether they travel 10 miles or 2000 miles. Excuse me, kilometers. I'm talking about Europe.

Becky

nah we're normal in britain it's miles over here too

yeah well, you're an isolated island though

in the rest of europe its kilometres
(the only right measure!)

With an MSN presale, AMEX presale, getAccess presale, fan club presale, radio station contests, *reserved* seats for friends & family, etc. - who can get good seats. I thought these shows were for all fans, not just those who get on the internet for presales, live close enough to a radio station dishing out tickets, or friends & family who can sit backstage and don't need to have front row seats. With all those people taking up seats, that leaves everybody else in crappy spots. I've gone to four shows & the closest I have gotten is 13 rows back in lower level & that was with E-Bay. It's kinda sad! I live a minimum of two to two & a half hours away from any venue so I will probably never use my membership for tickets. You are so right....it is EXTREMELY flawed! Even if I did drive for tickets, whose to say I would even get decent seats with my fan club membership? *Sometimes* it's a lottery and those who camped still can be pushed to the end of the line. I agree.....it should be GENERAL ADMISSION and all sales go on at the same time, no matter what!

I'm not really in favor of general admission shows because of the dangers involved, but there are other ticket methods out there. From what I understand about the U2 club, you can request a certain number of tickets per leg of a tour and it doesn't matter if you live in Wyoming and want to see the band in Florida. It's kind of silly to think that some Bon Jovi fans travel hundreds of miles just to camp out and buy tickets and then might not even get tickets. I have friends in the South who traveled and camped out in tornado spawning thunderstorms to get tickets for Atlanta. Even if a person does make an 800 mile trip just to BUY their tickets, they're not guaranteed seats! And people question why I use brokers? I save two days travel time and am guaranteed a selection of seats. Sure, I pay more than face value, but when you add up the cost of two days off work, gas, meals, and a hotel room, it balances out.

Becky

I totally agree. I have purchased tickets from E-Bay that were less than $40.00 over face value for four tickets (2 shows - 2 people) & that price included having them shipped to me. Those tickets were for North Carolina in March & I live in Ohio so I would have never driven there to buy them. I also wouldn't get presale info for tickets that far away. They typically send presale info to people within so many miles from their zip code & North Carolina is not close to me at all. A lot of people whine & cry about E-Bay & brokers & the prices they charge but hell, they take all of the leg work out of it for me so why not? I didn't have to drive, camp, etc., I just had to wait for the mail! And however those brokers get those tickets is beyond me, I don't really care. Those who complain are hipocrits though! They don't complain about the $35.00 membership fee or the fact that you have to go to the venue on a specified day at a specified time just to buy ONE ticket per card and incur a lot of other unnecesarry costs to get there. I don't even need to mention the money it cost to get in on the presales. I never see anybody coming down on Bon Jovi about that. It's always people who use brokers that are labeled the "bad guys" for supporting them.

P.S. I didn't mean general admission seating, I meant that all tickets should go on sale at the same time without all of the presales & such for the better seats. Just pick a date & put them on sale that date, not select certain seats ahead of time for select people in the fan club and those who use presales. Just start with the best & work your back to the sell-out for everybody. I bet scalping wouldn't be so easy then!

GO!! Damn, what I'd give to be in your situation!!!! I'm telling you to go because it'd be annoying to see people in this great position not take advantage of it...

Ah, the brokers/eBay no-no. I totally empathize. I bought my first pair of Bon Jovi tickets for a ridiculous price through a broker before I could sign up for FanClub tickets, and was afraid to tell anyone at the Backstage board about it! Now, after trying not once -- not twice -- but three times for Alpine Valley tickets and getting nothing but upper level pavilion seats, I broke down and cut a deal with an eBay seller, sniped some tickets for just about $50 over face value (not including shipping), and now I'm just praying that the view isn't "obstructed" like everything at Alpine is. There was just no way that I could have, erm, flown to WI to get FC tickets today. Plus, I'm seeing that even the people who did camp out got the same seats I got through eBay. So you're right -- it does all pan out. But don't tell anybody at Backstage that I committed a sin and bought 'em through eBay.

LOL I won't tell if you won't tell. Actually, I really don't care if people know I use Ebay and brokers. They provide legitimate tickets and are much less of a hassle than trying to adhere to Backstage's ridiculous "be at the venue" stipulations. People with lives, jobs, and responsibilities can't just drop everything and make a 800 mile trip to buy their freaking tickets to do it all again to attend the show. They can clone sheep, but members of Backstage with Jon Bon Jovi have to camp out in the snow, wind, rain, thunderstorms, tornados and hellfire and brimstone just to buy concert tickets. Then, even if you do make a trip and campout, you might not get the tickets you've put so much effort into getting. It's ridiculous and it penalizes people for living in areas the band doesn't play. Nevermind the fact that some people are willing to travel hundreds or thousands of miles for a concert... if you don't live in a major market, you're screwed.

Becky

F*ck Backstage!!!! Pardone the language but I don't have much love left for that place! Hipocrits & suck asses is all that place consists of! I have thanked God every day that krb102 came to backstage & turned me on to these boards. I just love it here as opposed to la-la-land! Who cares what they think??? They'll tell you one thing one day & somebody else something totally different the next. It's child's play over there! I'd rather see you come here. At least here you can admit to s h i t that just gets you attacked over there. Although I am sure you've already figured that out!