Harvey Goldsmith attacks the ticket touts
I enjoyed a coffee and a chat with legendary concert promoter Harvey Goldsmith CBE today.
This world-famous music mogul and visionary staged Live Aid, the most famous concert in history, with Sir Bob Geldof.
I had the pleasure of discussing his latest project with him, a collaboration with Sainsbury’s on a two-day festival in London to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.
As I was in this intimate situation with the great man himself, I felt duty-bound to ask him something I have been wanting to get to the bottom of for years.
When I was 18 I wrote a cheque for £50 to Harvey Goldsmith Entertainment for two tickets to see Madonna’s Girlie Show at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Around two months later the tickets arrived, and my sister and I had a great time at Wembley courtesy of the queen of pop at a respectable price.
Fast forward 20 years, music fans are now forced to go through a vicious scramble to see their favourite artist, and usually parts with hundreds of pounds above the ticket's face value.
In 2001 I took my mother to see Madonna at Earls Court.
The hype before tickets went on sale was unbelievable, before I had even picked up the phone to Ticketmaster on the day of saleI knew I didn’t have a hope in hell.
True enough, the lines were jammed and after about five minutes I heard on the radio tickets had sold out – completely.
Internet sites had crashed because of the buying frenzy, fans had queued for days outside Earls Court to get them, it was mayhem, and despite being up at the crack of dawn with the phone on speed dial, I was quickly disappointed.
But a true Madonna fan knows no boundaries to getting a ticket to see their idol, and I turned to the back pages of various newspaper supplements to hunt out agencies.
Sure enough, the pages were packed with them, I phoned the first one I came to.
I was beside myself with excitement when they said they had tickets. I was however unaware I was being hooked into a nasty, ugly racket that relies on taking advantage of fans’ desperation to see the acts they love at any price.
And although I was on a low salary, it was any price I was prepared to pay.
I coughed up £600 for two tickets each with a face value of £40, for seats at the very back of Earls Court with a great view of a pillar.
As I said, a fan doesn’t mind parting with this sort of cash, until that is, the cruellest part of the joke is played out.
Two weeks before the concert, by pure miracle, Ticketmaster managed to produce hundreds more seats, seemingly from nowhere - that had after all "sold out completely" on the day of release.
Tickets went up for sale again and I realised I had been conned out of more than £500.
I was furious, upset and felt stupid at having been taken in by a particularly spiteful racket.
I am not alone in that opinion, Goldsmith thinks the same.
I am not alone in that opinion, Goldsmith thinks the same.
He told me tickets should represent entry to an event for the buyer only, and should not be used as a package to sell on at extortionate price.
By that he meant the ticket itself is simply a piece of paper, it should allow entry to the event you have paid for, you and nobody else.
In the hands of someone else it should be worthless.
“A ticket is not a commodity to be sold,” he said.
“It is the ‘pass’ if you like for the person who booked the seat to get into the venue, it is the event itself that is the product that you have bought.
“But they are being sold on at huge prices because they can be used by anybody, and so become a valuable product in themselves.
“I have been fighting to get this changed for the past 25 years, by going to see ministers, and trying to get this busineses outlawed.
She said he favoured the American system where concert-goers gain to the venue entry by swiping the credit card they used to book the seat.
That way the seat cannot be sold on, nor can they be booked up in bulk.
“That way it is fairer to the genuine fans,” he said.
“It is ridiculous as it stands, and we are trying to crack down on it, but we don’t seem to be able to police our industry.
“Time and again we have asked for this problem to be dealt with, but time and again we have been refused.”
He told me a number of tickets are held back from the initial sale to allow for stage layout and are released nearer the time.
He told me a number of tickets are held back from the initial sale to allow for stage layout and are released nearer the time.
I told him about the tim I sent that cheque for £50.
“£50? Madonna?” he laughed.
“God I bet you parted with a bit more than that this time round.”
He's right – I did.
I also spoke today to the CEO of Royal Parks Colin Buttery as Westminster council's licensing committee met to decide whether to impose restrictions on big open-air concerts in Hyde Park.
This could prevent them happening at all and apparently Madonna, U2 and the Rolling Stones, all due to perform have written asking for restrictions not to be imposed.
Residents have been complaining about the noise, and many big events do breach the 75-decibel limit.
The good news is Madonna fans need not worry.
Mr Buttery told me there would be “no problems” with bookings as Royal Parks had entered a contractual agreement with Madonna for the concert to go ahead.
Phew!
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