From: reb@Ingres.COM (Phydeaux)
Subject: Re: TICKETBASTARD STORIES WANTED
Reply-To: reb@Ingres.COM (Phydeaux)
Organization: E 4th St Home For The Overeducated Underemployed - Chicago Div.
Date: 17 Nov 92 21:51:41 GMT

As long as we're on the subject, here's an oldie (but a goodie!) which
some of you may remember seeing here a number of years ago.  It's hard
to believe it's  been over five  years since this happened!
								reb

=============================================================================
To: The Dead-Heads of the world                             19:17:13 3/1/1987

The  following  is  a  detailed  account of what happened when I tried to buy
tickets for The Grateful Dead Spring 1987 tour. I might point out that at  NO
POINT  were  any  of  the  problems  caused by any of the fans. They were ALL
caused by the "Security" officials who were supposedly there to protect us.


We arrived at the Spectrum in Philadelphia at  10:45pm,  on  Friday  February
27th,  1987, the night before the tickets for the Philadelphia shows on March
29th, 30th, and 31st went on sale.

People were camped around the Spectrum in an orderly fashion. Things remained
orderly until approximately 7:00am on the 28th. Then, Spectrum Security moved
the location of the line. The Security personnel did not let anyone know that
they  were  moving the line except by the fact that suddenly there was nobody
in front of them. The next thing I knew, there  were  about  1500  people  in
front of me.

The order of the line was completely gone. Security officials assured us that
they would hand out numbers, and told us that they were forming another  line
for  this  purpose. These numbers would be used to form yet another line, for
ticket purchase. They would begin to hand out  the  numbers  only  after  the
Philadelphia Police Department arrived.

Very few people could be  convinced to  join the "Number" line. The
security people began stalling, and not saying anything. After half an
hour of this, only 5  or 6  police officers  had arrived. Tickets were
supposed to go on sale at 10:00am, but by 8:45am nothing  had changed.
I went to the front of the line, to find out what was going on.

The police officers were there, along with several Spectrum officials. One of
them, who appeared to be in charge, told me, that that  they  were  going  to
wait  until 10:00am, use the police to maintain order, and then start selling
tickets. He said that it was not very likely that tickets would  go  on  sale
there  at  10:00am,  and  that  I  might want to consider going to one of the
Ticketron locations in Philadelphia. Soon, the situation at the Spectrum  got
more  out-of-control and we decided to leave.  We went to the Gallery, a mall
in downtown Philadelphia.

We got to the Gallery at 9:00am. Things were orderly, and the security guards
were maintaining a list of people to control the order of ticket sales. I put
my name on the list. I was number 136. The guards had  us  wait  outside  the
mall, and announced that they would let people in a few at a time.

At  a  few minutes before 10:00am, the first 30 names were called. The guards
let these people inside the door to wait before they were to lead them 10  at
a  time  to  the Showcase Ticketron agency. At 10:00, they stalled a bit, but
finally let the first 10 or so people up to the store. Wondering what exactly
was  going  on, I went into another mall entrance, and waited across from the
Showcase Ticketron.

In front of the line were between 9 and 12 rather large black men. (I wish to
state  that  I have NOTHING against blacks. But by the way they were dressed,
in Run-DMC shirts, Etc, it was obvious that they did not belong with the rest
of  the  crowd.)  Their names were not on the list, and when asked about them
the security guards said that,  "There's  nothing  we  can  do  about  them."
Because  the guards had all but the first 10 people away from the store, very
few people knew that they were there. Realizing that they could  do  nothing,
those  in  line at the front of the store accepted the fact that the men were
there.

All would have been okay, except for the facts that each of the  mystery  men
at  the  front bought upwards of 30 tickets each (far more than the 8 tickets
for 2 dates limit imposed on the rest of the crowd), and that store employees
had  purchased  many  tickets  for  themselves before they sold any to anyone
else. Again, only the first group of people in line saw all this up close.  I
was  across from the store, watching this from afar.  (Eventually, the guards
saw me and a couple of other onlookers, and asked us to, "Clear  the  area.")
Tickets did not go on sale to any of the people who had legitimately stood in
line until about 11:00am, an hour after tickets went on sale. By  that  time,
One show was already sold out.

The  whole  operation was very carefully planned by the security guards. They
had the most of the line sequestered from the store  at  all  times.  At  one
point, a fight took place. Three of the same ticket scalpers attempted to cut
into the front of the inside line. One of the people in  the  front  of  that
line  started an argument with them, and the security guards came to break it
up. They led one of the scalpers away, and let the other two  stay  in  line.
The  guards  promptly moved everyone else back outside. This provided an easy
way for the three black men to get into line again for  more  tickets.  Soon,
all three had them.

Next,  A  silver car with two white men in it drove up near the outside line.
One was hunched down in the back seat. One of the black men went over to  the
car,  and  nonchalantly handed him a very thick Ticketron envelope, obviously
full of tickets. The man put the tickets  into  a  large  stack  of  ones  he
already  had,  and  handed back money. A friend overheard him instructing the
man outside exactly what dates, seats and quantities of tickets to  purchase.
All  this  time,  both  men were looking around nervously while trying to act
normally. Then, the car drove off.

At about 12:00n, the guards began lining the people outside up  according  to
the  list.  Most  of  the  people  were there, and took their places in line.
During this, the names of three girls, who apparently were  not  there,  were
called.  Nobody  answered,  and  suddenly  the same three black men came back
outside saying, "We're here." They took places in line,  without  any  hassle
from the guards. They had been inside, and couldn't even hear the names being
called.

By 12:30pm, only a few people had moved inside  the  mall.  There  were  only
about 190 names on the entire list. Nobody could figure out why it was taking
so long for them to sell tickets. The guards gave us various excuses, and  we
foolishly believed them. After talking to several other people, we put all of
our information together and realized that the guards were in  on  the  whole
thing.  The  three  black men were about 3 people in front of me. We realized
that they were in line for a THIRD chance at purchasing tickets. This,  while
none of us had even had a chance to purchase them once.

Since  it  was obvious that there was nothing I could do about the situation,
and I was standing very close to one of the black men, I decided to  talk  to
him.  During our conversation, he told me that buying and scalping tickets in
this manner was his profession. It became apparent that the man for  whom  he
worked  controlled many people who did this at many locations in at least the
Philadelphia area. He also told me that, "All it takes is $55 or $60 to get a
spot  right out front of Showcase when they open. You can buy as many tickets
as you want. You save all your money for next year,  and  you  can  be  there
too."  He  also  told  us  that,  "They  sell  to  me  'cause  I'm a `Regular
customer.'"

Finally, at 1:00pm, the announcement came that all three shows were sold out.
We approached the Security guards and store personnel about this scandal. All
of them denied any knowledge of what was going on.

I don't know how many tickets were sold at the  Gallery  Showcase  Ticketron.
In  total,  only  the first 40 regular people managed to get into the line in
front of the store. Not all of these people were  able  to  purchase  tickets
before  they  were sold out. We estimated that at least 500 tickets were sold
to the scalpers and the store employees.


This experience proves two things. Security  officials  trying  to  do  their
jobs,  such  as  those at the Spectrum, should be very careful with what they
tell crowds. They made several poor decisions. They moved the line, and  then
lied  to the crowd.  They should be experienced at handling large crowds, but
they seemed to not know how to go about doing it. Last year, at the Spectrum,
they  basically  left  the  crowd alone, and everyone was very orderly.  This
year everyone was orderly until the security personnel moved  in  and  caused
confusion.

The  above  assumes  that  the security guards are honest. The other thing my
experience proves is that we should all be aware of what  is  going  on  when
standing  in  line.  I  can  not  prove  what went on at the Gallery Showcase
Ticketron agency. There were 20 to 30 witnesses to the whole thing, but It is
our  word  against  that  of  the  guards  and  the store employees. If I had
realized what was going on, and called the Philadelphia Police, maybe none of
this  would  have happened. I might not have gotten tickets, but I would have
felt better. The three things that make me the most angry were the following:

1  The scalpers got to the head of the line in the first place.

2  Once  they  got  there,  they  purchased  exhorbadent  numbers  of
   tickets, and returned to line again.

3  The security guards were in on the whole thing.

If  anything  like this has ever happened to you, or if you know what finally
happened at the Spectrum, please let me know. There are many people  who  are
going  to  persue  this,  and  any  information you may have that could prove
useful would be appreciated.


                      reb

P.S.:I just called a local "Ticket agent" (Legalized-scalper)  who  informed
    me  that tickets to the Spectrum concerts were, "$45 and up..." Probably
    one of the same tickets that I watched someone buy his way to  the  head
    of the line to get.

Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead