Marillion sold out Royal Albert Hall very quickly (5 minutes or so) - which I think is fantastic, what a Milestone! Congrats to the band and the fans, it will be an awesome night for those lucky enough to attend!
I know there are some issues (ticket agencies and 1,000 member seats not out to the public).
Eric
Wow...congrats to them, and best wishes for a great show
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
Wel... they sold it out but ... based on Marillion's post on the FB page it seems quite a lot of tickets were snagged up by ticket touts:
"Marillion were not expecting The Royal Albert Hall show to sell out in days, let alone minutes, so the demand for tickets has taken us totally by surprise.
Having said that, we are not sure we could have done anything to prevent your frustration. We have and will continue to do everything we can to support and serve our fans.
We are well aware that our music is only possible with your faith and we don't take even one of you for granted.
Lucy (our Manager) works tirelessly to address your concerns and where there is any unfairness, we'll bend over backwards to put it right. BUT there wasn't a system available to us which can prevent touts buying tickets and selling them on. For the record, any sky-high prices being charged by touts will not be coming OUR way as these tickets were purchased at normal face value.
It would appear we have become more successful this year. Obviously we are delighted about that but with it, comes a brand new set of problems. We are doing all we can. We can only apologise, but this situation is totally beyond our control.
However - Over 1000 of the tickets at RAH are debenture or member seats. When the member seats are sent out, members can choose to attend, leave their seat empty, or make it available to RAH box office for general sale. We have been clear that we would like as many returns as possible and although we don’t have any control over who returns what/when, we do hope to be able to give you a heads up on when the member tickets are going out.
Thanks again for your support and loyalty – we are all a bit overwhelmed."
They took the album title literally!Originally Posted by ChrisXymphonia
Oh, the irony....They took the album title literally!
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
My friends got tickets for 10 of us but getting them was a lot of messing about. On the ticketing website sites the gig was instantly "sold out".
We have managed to get tickets, but the vast majority of tickets sold today didn't go to fans.
True, but those agencies don't buy the tickets unless they believe they can sell them, so, I would assume that this gig would have been a sellout regardless. And, someone who is not a real fan will certainly not pay that kind of markup. Sad, but unfortunately, that's the way things are now
Last edited by eporter66; 12-05-2016 at 03:54 PM.
How big is this venue?
Big enough for Eric Clapton, ELP and Heart to record live albums.
And Cream to play their final gig. Such an iconic venue!!!Big enough for Eric Clapton, ELP and Heart to record live albums.
4000 holes.
With Yes opening.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
"Reginald, what IS this Marillion thing at the Albert Hall? Prog? What? What! Reginald, call them and tell them we'll cancel our membership if they keep this up. First that Opeth, now this! Where is the orchestral pops? Where is the Pantomime Goose?"
They deserve it, Marillian was great at the Keswick in Philly! What was amazing to me was that H told security to
Sit down, get some tea and take the night off, these are good people!
Wow, that is really cool.
It's scandalous that so many tickets are in the hands of touts via their bots. Something has to be done to stop this. Other artists insist on different security levels to ensure only fans attend. Marillion it seems did not expect their gig to be targeted this way. I was thinking of going to this, but I'll never pay to put profits in the hands of the touts and agencies.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't think they live that much under a rock but I do think there was no system in place through the online ticketing system (wasn't that run through the RAH?) to keep touts away. Best solution would have been to have tickets issued with the name of the purchaser printed on it and checking ID at the entrance together with the tickets.
^ Their recent tour didn't sell this quickly though, so it is a surprise to me that the RAH sold out in minutes. I think it caught them unawares to an extent too.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Tremendous. Good for them!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Ever since their 80s heydays their tours never were a quick seller, safe some gigs at some standout places. And RAH is such a standout place of course. What you get with gigs at RAH is that people treat as a special occasion, something worth travelling for and as such you have people coming from all over the world for this because they thought "Aah, that is a good opportunity to see both Marillion and stay a few days / a week / weeks in London / UK". I have never been to the RAH and it is high on my 'need-to-see-a-gig-at-this-venue' list, in fact it is probably the only venue that was still on that imaginary list. And I would have bought tickets for this, provided if I had gotten through, if it wasn't for the fact that I finally will be visiting the Royal Albert Hall in april next year to see Show Of Hands (no, not a Rush tribute but one of the finest folk acts from the UK).
BTW, I've only recently heard about Norwegian Air, which makes several relatively reasonably priced flight between the US and Europe and other places available, and they're adding more flights and locations. So getting to the RAH from the US can be done for less $$. I'm still not going, but I'm glad some cheaper flights exist now.
Wikipedia says 5200 seats
Enjoy your visit, it is a beautiful and historic venue, and I have been lucky enough to see so many performances there over the years. I am sure you will be enchanted. There are guided tours that you can add on to your visit if you have some time, I have never taken one, but would love to see behind the scenes.
I am sure that Marillion tickets will become available further down the line. The 1,000 debenture holders are mostly in the boxes, and I have often picked up excellent tickets at a very late stage just by phoning the box office for these releases / returns. I will be doing it again this time. I have no complaint with a band selling out to fans, but looking at the secondary market, there are hundreds of tickets being offered at crazy mark-up and so that sadly isn't the case here at all.
Very reluctantly the government will have to finally do something.
MPs urge government to take swift action to stop ticket touts using 'bots'
Part of the problem was the previous Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, viewed such touts as "entrepreneurs" and wouldn't tackle the problem...
Oooh, I am jealous. SoH are really great, and Steve Knightley may be the best vocalist going, regardless of genre. Hope you enjoy the show and the whole visit.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks