Blur?

[home to you]

Got Wembley Stadium tickets for Muse and Green Day for £10 each. XFM Winter Wonderland tickets for 99p a couple of times too.

Reduced aisles ain't what they used to be

[LondonTom]

Seems that booking T-Swizz was the ony smart move they've made all year.

Indeed, still has lots of fans who are not in the gig going loop as such yet and have no idea what a terrible venue it is.

Its the advertising they do in London for it to, posters on the underground/on the sides of buses! Must cost them a bomb to do all that! Very few other gigs in London do that unless its tied in with album promotion/on top of the venue itself.

[Hugh Jass]

Used to buy loads of tickets last minute from eBay. Got a pair for Oasis in Heaton Park for £9 a few years back.

I've seen a few things at Hyde Park over the years (including Blur twice) and it is every bit as bad as people are saying. The 2012 Olympic gig was a joke, listen to the live recording and you can hear people yelling "turn it up!" all the way through.

Like everyone else I'll wait a couple of months for the prices to go stupidly low. There's no chance BST will allow Blur to play to a half empty field.

[jcd_lowe]

They really are getting desperate aren't they? Shame there were not Ebay auctions for tickets anymore - you'd get a right steal in June on those.

Spot on - when they played Hyde Park in 2009, I managed to get 2 for £40-45! I remember face value being around that - and I'm intrigued why it's virtually doubled within 6 years...

[jcd_lowe]

best ebay one for me was old trafford cricket ground - saw REM in 2005 and Green Day in 2010 for £20 each, when tickets were meant to be £45!

I think I pulled off the same feat, more or less. God, I miss REM - that night was good, but 2003 on the Pyramid was as good it gets!

[sadimmock]

We saw Blur in 2012 and had a great time. However we were very close to the front; some of our friends were further back and could barely hear anything.

Luckily we'd been in Hyde Park the day before for the free Olympic stuff and so knew how expensive and awful the food/drink was. We had a few pints and big pub lunch before hand and had also found the "better" semi-hidden bar in the corner.

Still not convinced I'd go back to Hyde Park.

[evilduck]

I used to love ebay bargains the week of the gig. I still get a few good ones on twitter when the gig isn't sold out and they are desperate to sell. I'm still hopeful of paying £10-20 for Blur if I hold out.

[efcfanwirral]

I think I pulled off the same feat, more or less. God, I miss REM - that night was good, but 2003 on the Pyramid was as good it gets!

Can imagine! Idlewild, Zutons and Feeder supporting at LCCC that night. in 2005 that was a very good lineup! Would probably enjoy that today to be fair not that many others would

[DGrant261]

saw REM in 2005 and Green Day in 2010 for £20 each,

Muse and Green Day for £10 each. XFM Winter Wonderland tickets for 99p

Wow! I can't even imagine being able to buy gig tickets for that price now, and that's in the space of what 5 years. The going rates at StubHub are just as ridiculous as every other ticket resale website.

Spot on - when they played Hyde Park in 2009, I managed to get 2 for £40-45! I remember face value being around that - and I'm intrigued why it's virtually doubled within 6 years...

That I think in part is the problem. Inflation hasn't doubled and neither have people got twice as rich. If you were to do a survey as the why festival attendances are plummeting I reckon the top response would be the prices and not the poor quality line ups. V ticket are appallingly priced given the line up.

I think more and more festival will follow R&L's model this year. High weekend camping costs for the young 1st timers and the core fan base who go every year regardless. And them cheaper day tickets, that will sell on the strength of a headline booking and 3/4 appropriate acts lower down the bill to appeal to those fans.

Regarding Hyde Park as a venue, I may be young and naive here as it can count the major concerts I've been to on two hands, but the sound was pretty much the only thing about BST that I didn't have a problem with.

[Hugh Jass]

The reason they're striggling can be summed up in four words: Eighty. Quid. A. Ticket. Whoever set that pricing screwed up royally. I'm curious to know how many they've sold, less than half? Can't be a huge number of they're already getting desperate in terms of marketing.

It'll be embarrassing for all concerned if Blur (and The Strokes) walk out to a half-empty Hyde Park. Then again, with fewer people you may be able to hear something.

[Perks]

The reason they're striggling can be summed up in four words: Eighty. Quid. A. Ticket. Whoever set that pricing screwed up royally. I'm curious to know how many they've sold, less than half? Can't be a huge number of they're already getting desperate in terms of marketing.

It'll be embarrassing for all concerned if Blur (and The Strokes) walk out to a half-empty Hyde Park. Then again, with fewer people you may be able to hear something.

and get to the bar!

[efcfanwirral]

Wow! I can't even imagine being able to buy gig tickets for that price now, and that's in the space of what 5 years. The going rates at StubHub are just as ridiculous as every other ticket resale website.

Ah you just need to have alerts on - for example I got Row A courteeners tickets off stubhub for face value for a gig where standing was going for £100. It is down to the sellers a lot of the time and sometimes you'll get lucky especially for bigger gigs. The days of majorly cheap gigs are gone but if you are after a sold out gig face value isnt out the question.

The only problem is that the listing disappears 4-5 days before the gig so the cheap tickets are forever gone, which is a shame.

Edited April 10, 2015 by efcfanwirral

[russycarps]

Gumtree is still a sound place to pick up face value (or less) tickets. So long as you pay for the ticket face to face it's fine.

[brettredmayne]

I am.holding out for below £50 for blur, still hoping for some smaller dates

[Hugh Jass]

and get to the bar!

That too, was a feckin nightmare last time.

[DGrant261]

I am.holding out for below £50 for blur, still hoping for some smaller dates

I think 3/4 gigs at Ally Pally and gigs at the MEN & Hydro would've been much better received than another Hyde Park gig and a very overpriced one a that

[russycarps]

Ally Pally is a bloody awful venue too though...

[jamiemaher]

Ally Pally is a bloody awful venue too though...

I quite like Ally Pally tbh. It's just an absolute arse to get to and from.

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

Yeah I don't mind Ally Pally as a venue, just an utter nut ache to get to and the bars are a pain, not to mention the facilities are also few and far between - basically, it's a nice hall with ok acoustics.

[Badlands]

No sign of the album leaking yet? I've played those already released a few times, average blur fodder so far.

[cdm22]

No sign of the album leaking yet? I've played those already released a few times, average blur fodder so far.

There are the recordings people made of the live stream london album launch out there in the meantime.

[brettredmayne]

No sign of the album leaking yet? I've played those already released a few times, average blur fodder so far.

Think it's far better then average

[home to you]

I'm not a fan of Ally Pally either. Soulless and annoying to get home from!

[jcd_lowe]

Wow! I can't even imagine being able to buy gig tickets for that price now, and that's in the space of what 5 years. The going rates at StubHub are just as ridiculous as every other ticket resale website.

That I think in part is the problem. Inflation hasn't doubled and neither have people got twice as rich. If you were to do a survey as the why festival attendances are plummeting I reckon the top response would be the prices and not the poor quality line ups. V ticket are appallingly priced given the line up.

I think more and more festival will follow R&L's model this year. High weekend camping costs for the young 1st timers and the core fan base who go every year regardless. And them cheaper day tickets, that will sell on the strength of a headline booking and 3/4 appropriate acts lower down the bill to appeal to those fans.

Regarding Hyde Park as a venue, I may be young and naive here as it can count the major concerts I've been to on two hands, but the sound was pretty much the only thing about BST that I didn't have a problem with.

I've seen both Blur gigs, Pulp and Neil Young in Hyde Park. Although the sound has got worse/quieter since Blur in 2009, it only adds to the other problems. Last year for NY was a disaster - so corporate, poorly organised and lacking in atmosphere. The priority viewing area was a complete joke - if you arrived early enough you could be on the barrier with a general ticket. The second stage was ridiculous. At Pulp it was a tent with plenty of room - and the acts were arguably too small to fill the tent. Last year, the location was more within the main arena so they went for an enclosed stage - it was like a sauna. They'd also incorporated a bar and several booths (clearly not enough bars elsewhere selling overpriced shit pints...) so the capacity was far smaller.

The scheduling meant that The National and Midlake were a direct clash. I'd wager that a lot of younger NY fans would like both of these bands. Once the capacity became full, they had a queuing system - so people were queueing for Midlake around 2 hours before they were on, with no guarantee of getting in. Meanwhile Tom Odell (or Odull, as my mate suggested!) was boring everyone before The National on the main stage!

[neil999]

once again my general advice is..

DONT GO TO HYDE PARK!

it really is the only way of stopping this fraud of a venue, otherwise we will have to keep on putting up with pathetic sound levels and organisation