Smile Like You Mean It
So. The Killers have announced a series of arena dates in 2007, one of which is in my home town. All good, one might say. But is it? This announcement leads me to reflect on two of my great irritations when it comes to live music. Stadium gigs and ticket touts.
First up, stadium gigs. Picture the scene. A vast, draughty hall with thousands upon thousands of people crammed in. Over-priced bars serving lukewarm beer. The band seemingly miles away from the crowd, mere dots on a stage. Thank goodness for monitors or you wouldn’t see them at all. Which begs the question, if you’re watching a band on a big TV screen, why not wait for the DVD? (And no doubt, it will be coming.) Arena gigs attract a peculiar crowd too. While there will certainly be a large amount of genuine fans, there will also be a fair proportion of people who simply fancy a big night out, as was in evidence at Razorlight’s gig a few weeks ago. Lads looking to get lairy on the beer, girls dressed to impress in skimpy tops and fake tan. Impress who? I’m not sure either.
Moving on. Ticket touts. It’s a cert that when the tickets go on sale (Friday at 12, in case you’re up for a bit of fastest finger first) they will be gone within mere minutes. And then appear on Ebay within the hour. Okay, so they’re limited to six per person, and some people will have five friends that they’re buying for. But for every person with five friends, there’s someone with no friends looking to make a huge profit. Touts are scum. Not only do they trade on other’s misfortune, lack of plastic or not being quick enough off the mark, they push the prices of tickets up in general. And who hasn’t physically queued outside a venue to spot a man in a dodgy car giving Primark-clad kids cash to line up, buy tickets and then hand him the spoils? It’s enough to make a girl’s blood boil.
Smile like you mean it? Grin and bear it, more like.
I’ll let you know if I get tickets on Friday….
Smile Like You Mean It – The Killers
First up, stadium gigs. Picture the scene. A vast, draughty hall with thousands upon thousands of people crammed in. Over-priced bars serving lukewarm beer. The band seemingly miles away from the crowd, mere dots on a stage. Thank goodness for monitors or you wouldn’t see them at all. Which begs the question, if you’re watching a band on a big TV screen, why not wait for the DVD? (And no doubt, it will be coming.) Arena gigs attract a peculiar crowd too. While there will certainly be a large amount of genuine fans, there will also be a fair proportion of people who simply fancy a big night out, as was in evidence at Razorlight’s gig a few weeks ago. Lads looking to get lairy on the beer, girls dressed to impress in skimpy tops and fake tan. Impress who? I’m not sure either.
Moving on. Ticket touts. It’s a cert that when the tickets go on sale (Friday at 12, in case you’re up for a bit of fastest finger first) they will be gone within mere minutes. And then appear on Ebay within the hour. Okay, so they’re limited to six per person, and some people will have five friends that they’re buying for. But for every person with five friends, there’s someone with no friends looking to make a huge profit. Touts are scum. Not only do they trade on other’s misfortune, lack of plastic or not being quick enough off the mark, they push the prices of tickets up in general. And who hasn’t physically queued outside a venue to spot a man in a dodgy car giving Primark-clad kids cash to line up, buy tickets and then hand him the spoils? It’s enough to make a girl’s blood boil.
Smile like you mean it? Grin and bear it, more like.
I’ll let you know if I get tickets on Friday….
Smile Like You Mean It – The Killers
delivered by Cat at 5:19 PM
8 Discussions:
more on touts when I have a little time, but meanwhile:
"Sam's Town" is more consistent an album than "Hot Fuss" but the peaks are nowhere near as high.
What do you prefer in an album (or indeed in a band) - great songs or consistently alright-ish? (that's a touch harsh on the Killers, but for me only "When You Were Young" is all that catchy on the new one)
whaddaya reck?
I'll take the highs.
ST
I'm also gonna be trying for Killers tickets again on Friday. I've heard that a lot have been pre-sold to certain favoured people again. So Friday morning will see me refreshing web pages and hitting redial all over again.
Arena gigs are never as good as the smaller places. The sheer size of them means the atmosphere is streched out too thin.
I generally only go to Arena gigs when I know there's no seating on the floor and it's a 'stand anywhere' policy. To me that's a green light to get as close to the stage as I can possibly can.
Don't get me started on ticket touts! Fucking tossers, they are!
Tickets for The Killers November gig at the Wolves civic are going for over £200 a pair. It pisses me off that I spent all that time and effort to get to see a band I really wanted to see, only to have 'my ticket' bought by a lazy wank-stain who profits by other people's appreciation.
The ticket touting issue will probably rear it's ugly head again on this blog, I no doubt.
swiss,
Not sure I'd agree with you on the consistancy of their latest album. I find it patchy in places and I don't know who picked the track order but they need demoting back to tea-boy.
Hot Fuss is a hugely listenable album for me. There are very few times I've reached for the skip button and at the end of the last track, it feels like I've listen to a 'complete works'.
I dunno, just my opinion.
I think an album of great songs, even with a few fillers is always the preferred formula for me.
Times have changed....
Years ago, an artist and record company would have been happy to release an album of great songs padded with a few fillers. This would produce strong radio play of the great songs and they were released as singles.
Nowadays, artists strive to make every song on the album at least 'good', This is in no way a band thing, but in doing that, I wonder if they don't hit as many peaks with the songs that should have been great and just end up as being as good as any other.
No doubt the falling sales of singles has been an affecting issue there.
ST, I completely agree with you about Sam's Town. I do like it, but I love Hot Fuss. After my "disappointing second album" experience with Razorlight, perhaps a gig is not such a good idea!
Bedshaped (aka Rumpelstiltskin) touts make me sick. I hope we both manage to get tickets tomorrow.
Ok, so that was surprisingly easy.
3 tickets gained, although I'm now almost £100 lighter.
Thank you mr credit card!
Me too! I got four, two for a colleague and two for me. I think it helped that Ticketmaster had sent me the link and I clicked it bang on 12pm...
I had it in my head that the tickets went on sale at 9am. Shortly after logging onto the page, I realized that I had another 3 hours to wait.
"I wonder what's happening on Ebay", I pondered.
Would you bloody believe it! Tickets that (presumably) had been bought by people with access to a pre-release were on sale already. 3 hours before the general release of tickets!!!
If that's not the biggest piss take of all....
*sigh*
I checked my diary - sadly I'll be in Ecuador when they play nottingham.
Oh well, eh?
tee hee!
ST
Bedshaped, the tickets are going for crazy prices on Ebay. If I didn't have morals about this sort of thing I'd wish I'd bought an extra pair.
ST, I'd far rather be standing around in a big hall with the great unwashed than in Equador anyway. Honest.
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