2008 Woodie Awards
Bright Eyes show memorable
Ticket confusion doesn't interrupt great performance
Whitney Van Cleave
Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Six weeks ago, die-hard Bright Eyes fans began flocking to his Web Site in order to purchase pre-sale tickets for Saturday night's show through a label-contracted broker called Ravenhouse Ltd. out of Los Angeles.
Last week, panicked fans began to sweat the fact that their tickets had not arrived for Saturday's show.
Turning to the Internet for information on Ravenhouse, distraught fans found no contact information, not even on their conformation numbers and receipts.
Thursday brought another wave of distress, as Bright Eyes message boards and blogs ignited with a blaze of scandalous Ravenhouse reviews from consumers who had bought tickets for previous shows and never received them.
The chaos that ensued on Friday and Saturday night was frustrating and incredibly pointless.
To make a long story short, the Bright Eyes label, Saddle Creek, along with many other bands such as Modest Mouse and The Black Heart Procession had contracted Ravenhouse Ltd. to handle all of their fan club pre-sales.
The mistake proved to be monumental. Saturday rolled around and no one had tickets, despite being told that they would be Fed-Exed by Friday.
Four o'clock found a handful of enraged fans outside of will call, waiting to argue their sad case.
Six o'clock found will call open and the promise of a "master list" with all of the Ravenhouse names on it.
Oh, and did I mention there were now around 20 feisty patrons?
Seven o'clock: doors heartbreakingly opened before a long line of ticketless twenty-somethings.
Eight o'clock: the concert began as "the list" appeared with 16 names on it.
There were nearly 100 Ravenhouse purchasers in line.
Just when things looked like they couldn't get any bleaker, the final list arrived.
Thank goodness as the mob was beginning to get hostile.
By hostile, I mean passing around the Ravenhouse phone number and flooding their circuit board with hundreds of livid messages.
Last week, panicked fans began to sweat the fact that their tickets had not arrived for Saturday's show.
Turning to the Internet for information on Ravenhouse, distraught fans found no contact information, not even on their conformation numbers and receipts.
Thursday brought another wave of distress, as Bright Eyes message boards and blogs ignited with a blaze of scandalous Ravenhouse reviews from consumers who had bought tickets for previous shows and never received them.
The chaos that ensued on Friday and Saturday night was frustrating and incredibly pointless.
To make a long story short, the Bright Eyes label, Saddle Creek, along with many other bands such as Modest Mouse and The Black Heart Procession had contracted Ravenhouse Ltd. to handle all of their fan club pre-sales.
The mistake proved to be monumental. Saturday rolled around and no one had tickets, despite being told that they would be Fed-Exed by Friday.
Four o'clock found a handful of enraged fans outside of will call, waiting to argue their sad case.
Six o'clock found will call open and the promise of a "master list" with all of the Ravenhouse names on it.
Oh, and did I mention there were now around 20 feisty patrons?
Seven o'clock: doors heartbreakingly opened before a long line of ticketless twenty-somethings.
Eight o'clock: the concert began as "the list" appeared with 16 names on it.
There were nearly 100 Ravenhouse purchasers in line.
Just when things looked like they couldn't get any bleaker, the final list arrived.
Thank goodness as the mob was beginning to get hostile.
By hostile, I mean passing around the Ravenhouse phone number and flooding their circuit board with hundreds of livid messages.
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