VAN HALEN To Tour In 2010?

[The Pagemeister]

VAN HALEN To Tour In 2010?

According to Pollstar.com, Ticketmaster Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff announced during the 2009 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference earlier today (Wednesday, September 9) that VAN HALEN will hit the road in 2010. No further details were made available.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that VAN HALEN made an extra one million dollars in the fall of 2007 when as many as 500 of the best seats at around 20 concerts on the band's reunion tour were pulled from Ticketmaster and sold through scalpers. The scalpers reportedly kept about 30 percent of the jacked-up ticket prices for themselves, while the remaining 70 percent was divided between the band, their representatives and Ticketmaster itself.

The scam was part of a Ticketmaster initiative, codenamed "Project Showtime," which was designed to get a piece of the action from the scalpers, who often re-sell tickets for hundreds or thousands of dollars more than their face value. The move was part of plan to compete with a new ticketing business started by Live Nation, by offering to share profits from the scalpers with the artists and promoters.

VAN HALEN's 2007-2008 tour, the first with David Lee Roth on the mic in nearly a quarter century, grossed more than $90 million.

At each of the 20 shows, the best seats were taken directly out of the Ticketmaster system and passed directly to private dealers and scalpers.

The project eventually fell apart, according to the Journal, because of distrust among the participants, although a number of VAN HALEN tickets were sold through the scalpers.

The scam was said to be the brainchild of VAN HALEN manager Irving Azoff, who also now serves as Ticketmaster's CEO. Azoff is also behind the scheme to merge Ticketmaster with Live Nation, which is under review by the Justice Department. Critics and members of Congress have said that the proposed merger would create a monopoly over almost all aspects of the music business.

Ticketmaster came under fire earlier this year from Bruce Springsteen, his manager, and Springsteen's fans when customers attempting to buy Springsteen tickets at the Ticketmaster web site were automatically rerouted to StubHub, a high-priced resale site owned by the company.

[SteveAJones]

I'll simply say no comment.

[bigzepfan]

What a bunch of bullshit that is!!! And now they want to merge. I'm sure they do. Let's hope there's Justice in the Justice Department.

Last year Ticketmaster started doing auctions for the best tickets. At least that's a decent way of increasing earnings while keeping available all tickets to fans who want to buy them through legitimate sources.

[Walter]

This IS b.s. The two companies have already merged and are most definitely a monopoly. Tickemaster sends you to Live Nation if the event is at a location that is controlled by Live Nation - like the Ford Ampitheatre in Tampa, FL. When I recently purchased two tickets for an upcoming show, the price was $45, but after all the charges - including $6 parking for each INDIVIDUAL - the ticket price was $70.75! Isn't that legalized scalping? Needless to say, I have downsized the number of shows I will be attending and limiting the venues which I will attend them at. Kudos to Them Crooked Vultures for selling tickets without extra charges being applied. At least they seem to have their fans best interest at heart and not the ticket brokers! Peace.

Oh yeah, unless VH has some new, amazing music to play on this tour - they might as well stay home. Been there, done that!

[jabe]

I dealt with Live Nation last October for tickets for STP at the Verizon Wireless amphitheater here in Birmingham. Tickets had been on sale 2-3 weeks before I even knew STP was coming to town. Willing to part with some bucks, I was able to get great fourth row seats. Also included was a fine catered buffet in an area adjacent to the main venue prior to the concert.

I guess the only perk I see with this is that if you're willing to shell out the cash, one can obtain prime seating without rolling the dice that you can obtain decent seats the day tickets go on sale.

I agree with you, Walter. It is legalized scalping.

[Jahfin]

Thanks to their fanclub I've had seats in the first 3-5 rows for every R.E.M. tour since 1999. I never have gone through a broker and never will. Maybe it's just me but I've never had that much trouble finding seats I'm happy with. That said, I'd love to see a boycott against Ticketmaster but no one seems to be interested, it seems to be much easier to remain apathetic, meanwhile they continue to pull shit like this.