IainGraham

Crisis tickets Hi Folks, Apologies for the lateness of my posting here, and sorry if this is now old news. I haven't been here for a couple of weeks, but I did think the whole Crisis gig ticket thing might have caused some comment. I'd like to make the following observations in relation to this thread: 1) So far as I, and a number of my friends could see, the tickets went on sale at exactly 2pm on the Friday. To the second. At 5 seconds to 2, my PC wouldn't let me go through to the ticket sale page. At 2 seconds past 2, by the speaking clock, my PC would let me through but put me in a queue, presumably as several thousand other people were also trying the page every few seconds at around 2pm. So those complaining that the ticket vendors put them on sale early are, I think, incorrect. 2) Anyone trying to resell, or buy, any of those tickets is in for a big disappointment. To get in to the gigs I believe you will need some official (possibly photo) id and certainly you will need to present the actual credit or debit card used to buy the tickets. So if you're thinking of spending hundreds or thousands to buy such a resold ticket, you WILL be wasting your money. Please don't come back and whinge on this site if you're that stupid after all the warnings. I agree with people on the site who say anyone trying to sell these tickets should be brought to book in the quickest and most punitive way possible. 3) I understand people's concern at the method of allocation of the tickets, but I think all in all it was the fairest approach. The majority of tickets were split between an allocation for local residents near the Crisis centres of Liverpool and Newcastle (remember these are charity gigs and you want to drum up local support for such centres); general tickets / Coldplay fan site tickets (you needed the fan site code to order these - though a number of local radio stations advertised the gigs before the tickets went on sale, so it wasn't hard to get this); and then finally a small number for official auction to the highest bidders. Now I know this last lot caused the most anger to those of us who aren't rich, but did you ever write to BBC radio 2 to complain about Terry Wogan's annual "auction for things that money can't buy" for children in need? Or Chris Evan's similar auctions for people to go drive his Ferrari collection for the same charity? Thought not. Lots in those charity auctions regularly sell for tens of thousands of pounds, and we mere mortals have no chance of bidding. I think we have to face facts, when raising money for charity, sadly sometimes you can't be too socialist about it. 4) Coldplay have done the "lottery" approach to tickets in the past - I was lucky enough to be at Brixton Academy in June 2008 for the launch of Viva La Vida, for example. But this wouldn't be the best solution in this case - they need local people to support the Crisis centres, volunteers to work there, and they're not going to get this by filling the auditorium with people from other places. So come on guys and gals, I beg you to put your sadness behind you and remember what this is all about. Christmas is coming and Crisis could do with your support. p.s. for avoidance of doubt, I am not in any way connected with Coldplay, any of the venues, ticket sales companies, record company etc.; nor am I anything to do with the Crisis charity. I am just a fan like you - the average reader of this site, and all I wish is to help those still angry about any of this see that the important thing is the charity, not the gig. I'm sure we can all see Coldplay touring with a new album sometime soon - provided we all get online within seconds of the tickets going on sale, of course.