Twenty-five-dollar tickets for Irish rock sensation U2's first Southern California concerts in five years will go on sale tonight at 7. But chances are you will not get one. And if you do, you could wind up paying a ticket broker as much as $600 for it.
Demand is so high for seats at the band's two shows at the 16,000-seat Los Angeles Sports Arena on April 12 and 13 that they could sell out in the time it takes to read this article.
U2's "ZOO TV" tour is the hottest rock show of the year. It opened last month in Lakeland, Fla., and all the opening night tickets were snapped up in four minutes. The group's Miami show sold out in 12 minutes. There were similar instant sellouts in New York, Atlanta and Boston--where scalpers were said to get as much as $1,000 for prime seats.
It is a common occurrence on the rock concert circuit. Moderately priced tickets sell out in minutes only to reappear for sale days later for as much as 20 times their face value. At the moment, Los Angeles-area ticket brokers are selling prime $35 seats to Van Halen's May 1 concert for $250 and $16 Ozzy Osbourne tickets for $150. Brokers are selling top--$250--tickets to next week's star-studded environmental benefit, "Concert for Walden Woods," for $500.
In the past, fans have paid brokers as much as $600 for $30 Madonna tickets, $500 for $25 Bruce Springsteen seats, and $400 for $30 Michael Jackson tickets.
"Why is it that every time a superstar puts on a big arena show in Los Angeles the same thing happens?" asks Des Giffen, a U2 fan who lives in Woodland Hills. "I'll tell you what I want to know: I want to know how these shows all sell out so fast. How do the brokers get so many good seats? Where do all the tickets go?"
Good questions.
High consumer demand combined with thousands of freebie tickets handed out to entertainment industry insiders and a legal ticket brokering system that allows individuals to sell tickets at whatever price the market will bear have forced the vast majority of fans of average means to stay home. U2 management, which is trying to limit the access of brokers to tonight's sale, expects 2 million phone calls for just 26,000 tickets.
"There is a very strong perception in California that all the good seats go the ticket brokers," said U2 manager Paul McGuinness. "And in many cases that does seem to be true."
