No Chance to See U2

Ever since the U2 Vertigo tour was announced several weeks back, I'd been anxiously awaiting my chance to see the band in concert. I've been waiting at least eight years for this: The ZOOTV tour of 1993 came and went before I was old enough to go out to concerts, the POPMART tour of 1997 was a promotion of an album I didn't like at all, and I passed up the Elevation tour of 2001 because I couldn't afford a ticket and didn't have my own car. But now, here was my moment. What better opportunity? The Vertigo tour accompanies a great album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. I had the money for a ticket and I could drive myself without a problem. And honestly, U2's getting a little grey around the edges -- if not now, there may not be anymore chances to see them in top form. Here at last was my chance...

Or so I thought. My hopes of seeing U2 in person were completely crushed this morning, when at 10 a.m. Ticketmaster officially opened for business and promptly told the first customer in line that the April 5 concert at the Staples Center was totally sold out due to presales for the U2 fanclub. How in the world that could be possible is beyond me, because any concert presale should only take up a certain allotment of total tickets available. To make matters worse, the April 1 concert at the Arrowhead Pond was pronounced sold out of all but single reserved seats immediately thereafter. Five seats in a row, or even within the general vicinity of each other, were obviously too much to ask.

The fanclub, which had egregiously taken away all ticket availability from me, costs $40 a year and gives each of its members the benefit of buying 2 tickets through an exclusive presale. But with the way ticket sales are organized, fanclub members are apparently the only ones who can attend U2's concerts at all. Put bluntly, the presale is the only sale. On top of that, I've been reading reports from fanclub members during this past week, their presale peroid, that complained that even they had not been able to secure tickets. I thought they had merely meant that the presale allotment was sold out so that they would have to wait in line with the general public on this Sunday morning. Apparently, entire arenas were sold out even before the general public sale started (with the exception of the single seats at the Arrowhead Pond, but really, who goes alone?), according to my local Ticketmaster outlets. It's completely ludicrous to suggest that anyone who wants to go to a U2 concert needs to cough up an additional $40 just for a non-guaranteed chance to buy tickets.

I'm utterly disappointed in U2, Ticketmaster and the entire sales process. I had been planning to spend a wonderful night together with some loved ones and the greatest band in the world. Instead, I get absolutely nothing.

"Did I disapppoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?"

Yes. Yes, you did...

UPDATE: As rumor suggested, U2 announced two additional shows to accomodate fan demand, an April 2 show at the Arrowhead Pond and an April 6 show at the Staples Center. Amazingly, I had checked for any such information this morning at 9 a.m. before heading out and neither the official Ticketmaster website nor the official U2 website had any mention of these dates. Clerks at my local Ticketmasters did not inform me of anything either. By the time I came back home from church at half past 3, both new dates had already sold out completely. I couldn't even find single seats at the most expensive price! I've read complaints from people in line at Ticketmaster outlets when the new dates went up -- they say that the shows were immediately sold out upon announcement, which would seem to be impossible. Regardless, once again I'm out of luck...