That sound? That sound you hear? The sound of scalpers flexing their fingers. It's the sound of human misery.

That sound? That sound you hear? It's the sound of scalpers flexing their fingers. It's the sound of misery.

Got a pair!!!!!!!!

Was on at exactly noon and got nothing. Damnit.

sold out

sold out

SOLD OUT AT 12:02

Got mine. Woo!

got 2. sweet.

It sold out within 20 seconds.

already gone

damn waiting room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

F'ing ridiculous...had 3 waiting rooms going...NOTHING.

hell yea got a pair woo!

Got two at 12:03. Was held up in limbo for a minute or two but it worked. I hope!!!

got 2!!!!!

They are still available. Use the password wowiezowie and hten put them in your cart. then check out.

Grabbed 2.

So glad I got this after missing out on all the other "big" shows this summer.

who the fuck cares, they will play agian soon

i guess i got lucky...scored one right at high noon

What was that 'waiting room' bullshit? I got nothing man

the question is will someone pay more than the $200 that was paid to go to the interpol show this week?

I got a pair and can't quite believe it after so many disappointments in similar situations this year. Am reading and re-reading my confirmation e-mail to make sure this isn't a joke.

If you keep trying you might get lucky.

"who the fuck cares, they will play agian soon"

Yeah, but not at the Bowery Ballroom.

Aaaarg... first missed the Interpol show, now this. At least I got Inteprol tix for Atlantic City as a consolation prize, but still pretty unfortunate.

Disco Stu likes disco music.

For those that got tickets, did you use the password?

Just saw this ad on Craigslist:

FRANZ TIX:
$120 EA CALL CHRIS 917-562-3143

Everyone call this guy and tell him he's an asshole.

KEEP REFRESHING I GOT THEM AT 12:15

just got tickets at 12:15pm!

w00t

persistence pays off!

I got one, yes, see you at the gig P

get over it, they are okay but not worth your energy or misery

that guy chris posts like every day for all the shows. he always posts the same number.

he often sells at scalper prices, and will lowball if he's looking to buy. often offers to trade a dvd of the show if he's looking for a tough ticket.

clearly, i spend too much time on craigslist.

just picked up 2 as well at 12:16

"the question is will someone pay more than the $200 that was paid to go to the interpol show this week?"

Probably. Franz fans are way crazier than Interpol fans.

yup, got them at 12:15

got a pair...when i refreshed my cell phone (on at&t time is that makes a difference) said 11:58pm and that's when i got the ticketweb form...by 12:02 i was checked out.

I've been in the waiting room for 10 minutes and have already entered my cc info. Is this normal?

I just got two also -- it's not over!

I got 2 at high noon - the server was so slow that I thought I'd missed out. This will hopefully make up for missing Interpol.

Holy crap just got a pair

Rather annoyingly I ended up with one ticket and not a pair - something went wrong around the entering the password point and when I got to the order confirmation form it was too late.

Oh well, I'll be the one at the back staring into my beer between bands.

Holy crap just got a pair

I hope there are openers, Booker T and the MGs are playing at 7pm and this show is listed at 8pm.

You people shouldn't give up so easily. About to get 2

hey..I just scored one for Lily Allen..Sweet!!!

hey..I just scored one for Lily Allen..Sweet!!!

i love how i was on the phone with some asshat at from ticketweb and he told me were sold out at 12:00pm on the dot. then i get tickets 15 minutes later. i'm feeling pretty lucky, got a pair to both interpol and franz at the bowery.

Alex - I'll be solo to. Let's get a group of BV readers to get together and stair into our beers. It'll be great!

How does that Chris dbag sell two? Doesn't the CC holder have to go in?

Keep getting tickets, and keep getting errors at check out.

Wow that was cool. I got in at noon on the dot. Got put in the waiting room for 5 minutes. I let out a huge fart and then i got 2 tickets. Smell one for the little guy. Yay

just got 2 at 12:26pm

keep trying guys

I got shut out, but then tried again with the wowiezowie for the hell of it and got two, that was at like 12:02. Can't believe it worked!

Wow that was cool. I got in at noon on the dot. Got put in the waiting room for 5 minutes. I let out a huge fart and then i got 2 tickets. Smell one for the little guy. Yay

lucky bastards, i've been trying since noon and nada.

Fuck ticketweb. 'Continue Shopping' for what? Norah fucking Jones.

this chris guy is busy:

http://www.google.com/search?q=917-562-3143&hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-51,GGLG:en&filter=0

2 kings of leon from chris...hahahah

that guy is scum

What's ticketweb's phone number? I can't seem to find it on their website.

Everyone call Chris. Post your Chris stories here.

MP77 - good idea, we could even stare at each others beers for a bit of variety.

Though I am now commanding all my friends to keep hitting refresh like there's no tomorrow. Most of them have given up and gone for lunch.

any point in still trying

Oh ya know what i just realized. I have spoken to this Chris cl guy before. I was selling my extra for Chris Cornell at Irving and he contacted me. Apparently the deal is he works for one of the major record companies and has contacts at the others and smaller ones and he gets tickets from them and then resells for profit. He has "in's" at a lot of different places ie sporting events, tv shows like Letterman and SNL. He is actually pretty well connected from what i gathered.

why does ticket web bother to keep the green ticket icon up like their still available?? You think they would let us know so we dont waste our time.

why does ticket web bother to keep the green ticket icon up like their still available?? You think they would let us know so we dont waste our time.

is anyone else stuck in a waiting room? i've been in for over 35 minutes and am afraid it's just stuck.
i'm getting hungry!

35 minutes in the waiting room? yeah, think it's time to call it a day. someone left you in there and forgot about you. my, you're patient...

50 minutes of hitting refresh, what a waste

I find it difficult to believe people got tickets off their cel phone internets when i got a high speed and cant get any

I'd like to nominate June 13 as Official International Cockpunch A Scalper Day. You're never going to guess how it's celebrated.

Then these scalper/fans post craigslist with "i will walk in with you" to venue. Yeah. "I will walk in with you and enjoy the concert you just paid me to watch with you."

"not so secret" show

take a gander at this asshole, i hope he chokes on a jumbo sized chicken wing and dies:

Selling: (1) One FRANZ FERDINAND Tickets @ Bowery Ballroom NEW YORK - $299
Reply to: sale-346922275@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-06-07, 12:31PM EDT

I have one ticket for sale. PayPal only.

We will enter the venue together on the night of the show as tickets are will call only.

I don't live in NYC, so Payment will be via PayPal only so I have a firm committment to make the trip to the city.

Please e-mail me if interested.

http://cgi.ebay.com/FRANZ-FERDINAND-TICKETS-6-13-BOWERY-BALLROOM-NEW-YORK_W0QQitemZ300119091574QQihZ020QQcategoryZ16122QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

check this one out..the person selling is offering hard tickets..and the one person who bid is another scalper.

I just emailed that guy who offered for $299 telling him i was very interested and if i could put them on "layaway".

Got to have some fun with those scum.

I have two extra tickets

Just flag those Craigslist ads as "prohibited," people. But be sure to do it more than once b/c it takes a handful of flags before a post is removed.

If you click the "prohibited" button when you find tickets on craigslist going for more than 10% over face, they often pull the ad.

Extra tickets? Let me know if you still have them. evanrmaxwell@yahoo.com

The thing I hate the most about big bands playing small venues is the inevitable complaining. It's not ticketweb, it's not some guy trying to get you to pay for his and your ticket -- it's the fact that Bowery holds 550 people!

This thread is exactly why a band like this plays a small venue -- to create demand, buzz -- they want to be NY cool again.

For the love of God, suck it up.

I actually emailed Chris from CL about tickets a while back. I also emailed a Tranny to set up a casual encounter. It turns out that they were both the same people.

This person is right. Scalpers have a hard life and need to be compensated. its not easy being a scalper. you try it. $500 for a pair of tickets isnt worth complaining over. Really.

How about the inevitable sarcasm? do you hate that too?

PS- Scalping is no longer illegal in NY. So all you dickweed hipsters can wear your Tina Faye glasses and whine all you want about not getting tickets...no one gives a shit.

Dickweed? I havent heard that term since the 80s. Ok Vinny, put your hard hat on and go back to the construction site I think you have some more sheetrock to unload.

How about when "scalpers" take losses and sell tickets for 50-90% below cost. Then you people come out of the woodwork to pay in nickels...and you couldn't be happier. No one says a word when that happens. But now you little fags can't get tickets to Franz Ferdinand and you act like it's the end of the world. Go read a book in the park and pretend like it's a cool thing to do.

Anonymous 1:43PM is right. Scalping in NYC isn't even illegal anymore.

the resale of tickets to events in NYS is still limited to face value+20% or $5 (whichever is higher). you're an idiot if you think scalping is legal.

If someone sells their ticket below face value, I don't know if I'd necessary call it "scalping"...nahumsayin?

When i see actual tickets to the show actually going for 400 or 500 dollars, and not just an asking price, ill be happy to sell mine. Id be crazy not to. I hate scalpers just as much as the next person but when you all start paying my bills then i will take the high road

I'm part Cherokee and scalping has been a tradition in my family for years.

"the resale of tickets to events in NYS is still limited to face value+20% or $5 (whichever is higher). you're an idiot if you think scalping is legal."

"You are a moron"- a wise man. Not just a regular moron, an uninformed moron. Who doesn't even think twice to read a newspaper, type in google dot come, or ask someone before spouting off misinformation.

the reason companies like StubHub can markup tickets to ungodly prices is that the NYS markup laws do not apply if the sale takes place outside of NYS. So if their offices are in Jersey, it's legal to charge $600 for a $35 ticket. Which is totally fucked and the reason the concert industry is going to fall apart, but is legal nonetheless

Hey, not to insert something completely random into this oh so intense discussion but anyone else listen to The White Stripes-Icky Thump retail leak that hit the net last night. There are some ridiculously rocking songs on there. Jack White really tears into it on this one.

http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070601/FRONT01/70601029

i always like to think of scalping (and its subsequent enemies) in the context of Friedrich Nietzsche's "On the Genealogy of Morals" and his concept of the master/slave morality.

The master morality takes what he wants --> he buys the two tickets and sells them.

the slave morality founds its morality on the basis that what the master morality does is evil since it interferes with his own abilities, and he is a victim of the master's deeds --> he did not get tickets, and does not have the money to buy scalped tickets, and thus he regards the scalping as evil.

nietzsche goes on to say that while members of the slave morality may regard the scalping as evil, if they were truly the masters of their own domain, they would simply buy the tickets, scalp them, and show no regard for the members of the slave morality. this is what seperates the masters from the slaves.

so basically, if you didn't get a ticket, and are complaining, then you're just a little loser bitch, and probably would be scalping them as we speak if you could.

the scalper is selling for the exact same reason that the victims are complaining - lack of money. we are all the same. the scalper is the same as the victim, only under different circumstances.

i now end your philosophy lesson for the day.

Got 'em.

Spoken like a true gentleman Anonymous, 2:01 PM.

and yes, scalping in NYC is completely legal now ,regardless of price.

so suck a fat dick, Anonymous 1:52pm.

a fat dick.

"The current law lets brokers charge up to 45 percent above face value for large events. However, for venues with fewer than 6,000 seats, the cap is 20 percent above face value."

This isn't Radio City Music Hall, so these tickets shouldn't go for more than $36.

Regardless of whether or not scalpers are heartless bastards out to make a quick buck - surely the burden here is with the venues, promoters and ticket agencies - not with the state?

It really isn't that hard to come up with a stricter way of ensuring that tickets are non-transferable and only the original purchaser can use them, it's just the venues are slack about enforcing it giving the scalpers a window.

Look at what's happened with Glastonbury in the UK, following so many years of tickets being bought up by scalpers and then sold on they've gone to the length now of having people's photos on the actual tickets and, hey presto, the scalpers are completely cut out.

Sure, that's a bit extreme, but if the Bowery just got tough on asking for photo ID which matches credit card ID which matches name on tickets it would be much harder for scalpers to offload tickets and therefore make them think twice before buying them in the first place.

Maybe for these high demand events they should insist on you naming the second person? No more of this 'we'll meet outside and you'll walk in with me'?

wow, some people are really stupid (Anonymous 2:06PM)

read the entire article.

and Anonymous 2:01PM just revolutionized scalping - that was just philosophical. very deep stuff.

good job!

The term "scalping" only has negative connotations. Look at the root origins of that word. You think the early american settlers were happy to get half their head taken off?

HAHA very well put, Anonymous 2:01pm. Kudos to you.

Wow...apparently your reading COMPREHENSION skills were left behind in 5th grade. That refers to the "current" law (current being current as of 5-7 days ago), in which they couldn't go for 20% more. That is no longer CURRENT.

Oops, I stand corrected. Thanks, Anon 2:01.

"the reason companies like StubHub can markup tickets to ungodly prices is that the NYS markup laws do not apply if the sale takes place outside of NYS. So if their offices are in Jersey, it's legal to charge $600 for a $35 ticket. Which is totally fucked and the reason the concert industry is going to fall apart, but is legal nonetheless"

Please explain to me why the concert industry is going to fall apart because there is so much demand that people are paying $600 for a $35 ticket. Seems like an industry where demand is greater than supply would be a good one to be in.

It is nice rhetoric though.

Anonymous 2:09PM,

The term "scalping" may have negative connotations, alluding to the Native American practice, but then again - doesn't this simply further support Nietzsche's Master/Slave Morality?

You only regard scalping as evil when YOU are the victim. Americans killed countless Native Americans while fulfilling their "manifest destiny" of their respective North American territory, and thus seems much less stigmatized than the seemingly "savage" and "rash" Native American practice of scalping during battles. But then again, both people are spilling blood, both are killing.

The Native American and the American are the same in their savageness. The Red Man equals the White Man.

(if you're lost, please refer to my earlier post, authored by "Anonymous 2:01pm")

I guess stupid hipsters like 2:06 PM just wear glasses and hang out in coffee shops to try to look smart, when in reality they can't dissect a 3 paragraph article.

anon 2:01pm has to be the single-most philosophical blog poster in the world hah

good sh*t nonetheless, all too true...

Ah, but the use of the word "scalp" now offends the Red Man. Thus, negative connotations still existing today.

Seriously.

the Nietzsche Post Guy (aka Anonymous 2:01pm) is good stuff - I hope he stops by the Vegan more often :)

Much better than all the complaining on this message board.

fuck this show. if they aren't playing in a bubble then it ain't worth seeing.

The concert industry is just in a very sad state these days. It's become nothing more than another venue for greed. The days when live music was for the fans are long gone. Now it's nothing more than a glorified stock market with a good soudtrack. It's a shame. It used to be about the music. Now that's the absolute last thing on anyone's mind.

goodnight old friend.

Yeah i enjoyed the whole Nietzsche theories applied to scalping and history. Fortunately for society and the planet, these theories are just that and not reality. It's those pesky honest, good, noble and optimistic people out there who throughout history continually shove a fist into the gloomy mouth of Nietzche's theories. Many people do not scalp their tickets for ridiculous prices because it is just sleazy and many people without those tickets do not like it because it is just sleazy. Luckily I get through life believing that Karma truly exists.

Was this Nietzsche guy a scalper? I think I used to see him outside Yankee Stadium.

i think he was trying to say that it didn't matter if he was a scalper or not, and that everyone is the same.

and i (unlike Anon 2:30pm) happen to agree - the theory gets more interesting if you apply it to other situations in life (like why i resent all of the things that my parents, and thus swear that i won't be that way when i'm a parent, even though i probably will)

i think he was trying to say that it didn't matter if he was a scalper or not, and that everyone is the same.

and i (unlike Anon 2:30pm) happen to agree - the theory gets more interesting if you apply it to other situations in life (like why i resent all of the things that my parents, and thus swear that i won't be that way when i'm a parent, even though i probably will)

Yeah, and I believe Nietzsche once scalped tickets at a Beethoven concert once so it's all good.

I've been refreshing for over three hours now..do you think its' wise to give up??

How did Nietzsche find out the password for the Beethoven tix if they didn't have blogs or email back then? Was he a member of Beethoven's fan club?

Beethoven played an invite-only show over at Nietzche's bathtub.

I just got tickets

Too bad beethoven was dead when Nietzche was born.

This thread has thus far proven that bv commentators can't read, nor do they know basic history.

Anon 3:09. Tix to what? Franz or the Beethoven bathtub show?

anon 2:01:

if i remember correctly, he also makes the distinction of good/evil, which is an idea of the slaves, and good/bad, which is something the masters subscribe to. the good/bad distinction is when you do something that is essentially *bad form*. something embarrassing. something you should have known better about.

in that case, if you think of indie rock nerds like all of *us* (meaning everyone who reads this site) as the masters (meaning this is where taste is determined for the use of people who aren't as educated, don't understand, etc) then scalping tickets is not *evil* but *bad*. because it is what a douchebag does who doesn't understand that your little $20 mark up means you're essentially middlebrow if that's what you work hard for. and art is bigger than that.

a stretch, perhaps. i read it like ten years ago, and i was drunk. and listening to the fucking sisters of mercy at full volume. getting a blow job from a scalper.

@ Anon 3:10

nor anything resembling a sense of humor. loser

I was at that Beethoven bathtub show...it sucked because the crowd wasn't into it...they just stood there with their arms folded and didn't move...those nazi hipsters think they're so cool...plus people were talking in the parlor...also they had the nerve to charge 40 pfenning...

This conversation is great and all but the big question is....who wants to join the beer staring party?

"The concert industry is just in a very sad state these days. It's become nothing more than another venue for greed. The days when live music was for the fans are long gone. Now it's nothing more than a glorified stock market with a good soudtrack. It's a shame. It used to be about the music. Now that's the absolute last thing on anyone's mind.

goodnight old friend."

More rhetoric. When was the music industry not interested in making money?

Dude, who quoted all the Nietzche stuff: Get off your ivory tower. And I dont mean the toilet bowl you currently frequent.

Josh 3:13,

Nietzsche's discussion on good/evil is an entirely different concept than his understanding of the terms "good vs. bad." based on his philosophy, good/evil is derived from the slave morality, as they first define what is "evil" as the actions through which the members of the master morality victimize them. the good/bad distinction is derviced from the master morality, in that the actions they do are good - not good in the moral sense, but great, heroic, triumphant, and praiseworthy - and thus they regard all inferior forms as "bad," strictly based on the sense that they do not achieve such levels of grandiosity - they consider themselves the highest echelon of mankind.

the master morality is regarded as the correct morality, since the slave morality is created through resentment of the master morality's actions, and - as Nietzsche so eloquently puts - basing one's moral parameters on another's actions being "evil" is as irrational as a the prey of a "bird of prey" basing its moral concept on the actions of the bird as "evil" since, in fact, the bird's actions are not evil at all, but rather simply of a superior nature to the victim (the bird's prey).

thus, if one were truly acquainted with the metaphysical nature of the universe, one would be forced to accept that the only correct thing to do is abandon one's slave morality and rather strive to achieve the superior, dominant master morality

Dude, you f'ing serious?!? The Beethoven Bathtub show was SICK. Ludwig was totally into it...The 5th Symphony (movement 4) encore was off the charts. I'm so tired of hearing these loser hipsters talk about people not "dancing enough" at these shows. He's a pianist for God's sake...just cause I'm not moving around doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it.

Anyone see Joseph Hayden in the crowd? Heard he was there.

(This work day can not end soon enough)

Yeah, I saw Hayden in the crowd. He was wearing a dress and getting serviced by Bach. Mozart was sitting in the balcony so we all started chanting "Wolfgang" "Wolfgang". I was kind of disappointed Ludwig didn't play any new stuff.

What time did Beethoven go on? How was the sound in Nietzche's bathtub? Anyone have the set list?

The sound in Nietzche's bathtub was tight! Much better than that new East Village bathtub.

They just don't make 'em the way they used to.

hrmph, yeah ok. point taken then if that's what yer saying. lesson is: quit complaining, which i can get behind in most situations, i admit. but then we gotta make the distinction that scalpers are not doing anything heroic, and so while we shouldn't label their behavior as "evil," that does not make them good either, and as they are certainly not supermen performing heroic deeds they fail on that count, too.

it would be slave behavior, middle class, what have you, to say something like "scalpers should get real jobs if they are capable of it," so we shouldn't say it. rather, we should float above all of it, eyes on our heroic deeds. not that we won't step on a few fingers, cause a few deaths, etc. because we are above caring about that.

i wish i could be in the other conversation about beethoven. that one's better, dude. we should have gone that direction with it.

F-ck Live Nation for making us go all the way to Nietzche's to see Beethoven. I had to switch horse carraiges 3 f-cking times! There was no place to get a lager after the show either.

And I can't believe they're going to rename the place Fillmore at Nietzche's Bathtub.

That Oompah Band they had opening really sucked. It took them forever to set up.

Also, too many frat boys in leiderhosen there. I can't believe everyone knows about Beethoven now, it's freaking impossible to get tickets.

Mozart stole my basketball.

I'm f'ing dying laughing over here...please keep the Beethoven posts coming.

I didn't like security - one guy kept poking me with his sword to get me to sit down. Also, I couldn't find my seat because there weren't enough candles.

Was it just me, or did Ludwig seem like he wasn't really into it last night? I think he may have done too much lead before the show.

Yeah security was too tight, you know all those guards listen to Rachmaninov before the show!

The website says the Beethoven show is sold out, but I understand there may be tickets at the door. Do I go to the box office in Salieri's drawing room, or straight to the Fillmore at Nietzche's Bathtub? I am so psyched for this. I saw him play the 11 o'clock Mass five years ago before the 8.9 on pitchfork.

Now this is an incredible message board. My job is done.

To anon@4:29pm...NO WAY, The Oompah band rocked! I only went to see them, left right after they finished...Beethoven sucks, don't you hipsters have any taste? It's like Beethoven can't even hear himself play...

Beethoven was good when he was indie but he's sold out now. He's a douchebag for playing the large concerts halls, he should come back to Bonn and do a free show for us.

via ludwigfans.com/blog.html

beethoven is the supposed 'surprise' guest this friday at south street seaport. he is not playing though, he is going to be spinning.

via ludwigfans.com/blog.html

beethoven is the supposed 'surprise' guest this friday at south street seaport. he is not playing though, he is going to be spinning.

I liked his Symphony Number 5, but Number 6 sucks balls.

i got 25 tickets but i'm gonna use them all for myself because then there will be more room for me to do my thing.

what is my thing?

take a guess...one lucky winner will get half of a ticket...ok, maybe whole one.

Is Beethoven playing in a bubble?

the show at nietsche's sucked. everyone in the first two rows had their quill and papyrus and was too busy writing to enjoy the show.