After my post on Monday detailing the news that Ticketmaster, after a class action lawsuit settlement, would be offering its consumers free tickets to certain shows in the coming months, a lot of people were probably wondering what those shows might be.
Well, as of last night the list of concerts is out, and unsurprisingly, it’s not that great. As of right now, the only concerts left in New England available for your free vouchers are Duran Duran and Chic on July 17 and Keith Urban on July 25, both at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Mass., and then Cam’ron, the Underachievers and more on July 6, K. Michelle on July 12 and Bayside and the Menzingers on Aug. 21, all at the House of Blues in Boston. The closest shows after those five are in New York City, and the majority of those are cover bands. So unless you’re a huge Duran Duran fan, or you want to spend the money to travel all the way to New York City to see a Guns n’ Roses cover band, I would say you are S.O.L.
I did look at this list last night within the first hour or two of it going live, and noticed that there were way more shows available in Boston at that time, like the Joan Jett, Heart and Cheap Trick tour at the Xfinity Center, for example, as well as a handful of others. Apparently all the vouchers were snapped up in the 12-ish hours since. Basically, if you weren’t online and paying attention and available in a two-hour span after 7 p.m. last night, you weren’t going to get any tickets you were interested in. And I’m not surprised — given the way Ticketmaster spent nearly 20 years ripping off music fans with exorbitant shipping and convenience fees, why would you expect them to change? Ah well. It was fun thinking we’d all get free tickets to fun concerts all summer. Thanks for nothing, Ticketmaster,