AIBU to think tickets and popular places are much harder to access now

[dapplefox]

Listening on the radio this morning about the Bayeux Tapestry being shown in London presently but also that it's completely sold out until January with no new tickets available yet. A friend of mind was unable to get tickets to the Frieda Kahlo show at the Tate recently and I've lost count of the number of times I have not been able to get tickets for a concert in recent years.

I remember years ago it used to be fairly easy to get ticket for a ballet, a theatre show (we went to see one in 2006 with a really star studded cast in London and got the tickets easily and it was much cheaper). I could easily get a ticket to see quite a large band like Primal Scream at a time when they were really popular at a really small venue but now similar acts often sell out super quick at much larger venues i.e. one that holds 15k people over 2k.

Is there just that much more people in the UK now? Do people just go to things as a matter of course if they can get a ticket whereas in the past it was more likely to be dedicated fans? It's so expensive I find this crazy although I know it happens as I met some friends at a Cure concert a couple of years ago and I was surprised as I hadn't known they like the Cure, when I said this they said they didn't really know their music but thought it would be a good experience!

Related to this is how social media can mean that some places, cafes, bakeries, bars whatever become massive hotspots due to social media like in LA there is a pink wall which loads of people travel to for instagram photos and they buy a pink Starbucks drink take a photo or reel then they dump their undrunk drink.

On one hand if people can afford it and get a ticket then why not it's a free country but on the other it is so hard to get tickets for stuff these days or to many places because it's always so busy and over subscribed.

Why is it so much harder to access anything now compared to 20 - 30 years ago when its all so much more expensive?

Super popular shoes and events shows have been difficult to get tickets for…. Well for as long as I can remember being in the market to buy tickets! I’m 45

remember oasis knebworth about 30 years ago!!

I think it's always been this way, tbh. The Tutankhamun exhibition at the british museum in the 70s had enormous queues didn't it?

Perhaps, I am not in London although I once lived there perhaps it was just easier up here and has now got harder? Although as I say I got tickets for a new Tom Stoppard play in London 20 years ago with loads of famous actors in it quite easily and now it seems much harder to get tickets for that kind of thing.

I've just checked the Tate website and it's showing lots of availability for FK, including weekends.

And moving a ~1000 year old tapestry seems like a mad risk to me.

To an extent you're right.

West end tickets were much easier to obtain I think. Now I have to book them via a pre-sale link on the day they are released - particularly if it's a big name starring in the show.

I got Radiohead tickets in the 1990s for £10 queuing at the Manchester Students Union!! No presale links or special album codes.

I also don't remember struggling to see Oasis at Main Road.

Yes!!! Absolutely enormous

There is availability for The FK show but the long weekend she was going to London she couldn't get a slot at all. If you are in London it's much easier to access these things and a lot of these shows and plays are London only so much harder for people from the rest of the UK to access even if they are willing to travel.

So there is availability

just not when suits

Yes! Thank you and I agree I saw Radiohead multiple times in the 90's and it was never hard to get tickets and they were so cheap. Even if you left it a bit late you could usually get a ticket. It was also much easier to get tickets for shows on the west end as you say. So difficult to get them now I almost feel why bother.

I do know there will always have been big events but even where I am there have been art shows that sell out all slots on the opening day for a show that is on for months! In 20 years ago there wouldn't even have been slots you could just go on the day and pay in. I even remember that for some really big shows at the Tate even 15 or so years ago. Now you'd be lucky if you don't buy in advance.

I just wonder why this is? Perhaps galleries and promoters have learned how to generate this sense of urgency to events where people feel the have to get in an buy tickets early? Also people using bots and software to buy up tickets can't be helping.

I agree. I used to be able to get festival and gig tickets quite easily. My first festival was Glastonbury 1992. I walked into a local independent record shop and bought a paper ticket couple of weeks beforehand. It used to be just music fans who bothered. Now events are widely publicised on social media and they become the must see events. Also I think older people are more outgoing than previous generations so it’s not just the younger demographic trying to get tickets. It wouldn’t have occurred to my parents to travel 3 hours to London for an exhibition/show/concert whereas DH and I will use it as an excuse for a weekend away.

I remember desperately trying to get prodigy tickets at Brixton academy 20 years ago! Same with Glastonbury, Wimbledon, oasis….

and yes… the queues in the 70s to the Tutunkhamen were insane

There are tickets available for the event you mention but they’d sold out when she wanted to go.

I can't think of a West End show that has sold out on the day of release except maybe at the Donmar (which is tiny)

So for the FK show I didn't imply there were no ticket at all only that my friend was unable to get tickets. She also was trying to buy them well in advance but no luck. She doesn't live in London so can't just go any time there happens to be availability. In the past at such shows there wouldn't have been pre-booked slots you'd have just went on the day and got a ticket. I did this myself for the Damien Hurst Retrospective 14 years ago and it was opening week! I just walked in on the day and got a ticket. You could never do that now and it isn't like they let less people in.

Well that was implying she was unable to get them because sold out

she just couldn’t get them on the precise weekend date she wanted!

More tourists. Both within the UK and from abroad.
Higher population
Stricter number controls for health and safety

I agree. I feel I have wasted the summer by not going out to any gigs, shows or exhibitions but by the time I factored in trying to secure a ticket, the cost of the event, the cost and hassle of travelling, possible overnight stay, food and being crowded by people at every stage it was easier, more pleasant and far cheaper to stay in the garden with a book.

It’s not just here. Everything is harder. When I was young and then again in my 20s, we visited the colosseum in Rome. Turned up and bought tickets.

This year, I practically had to donate a kidney to get the tickets, and was almost driven to tears after four hours of online frustration, having had to time my online booking session to the minute one month before my desired date. Must be bots/touts as well as more people wanting to do stuff.

People are more aware of what’s going on. More people believe that cultural events are for ‘them’, rather than the preserve of the more well-to-do. And I was going to mention the queues for Tutankhamen way back when.

People make content at gigs.

I've been to several gigs where people have stood like a bottle of milk and looked bored through lesser known tracks, then the big hits come on and they film themselves dancing around like a nutter to it.

Wow I didn't know this had changed. We went when my 9 year old was a toddler in a backpack, so maybe 7 years ago... And we just turned up and bought without a second thought.

The new system sounds unnecessary and maddening!

OK not sold out (although I think Paddington is sold out for months).

But very full. Little availability at your preferred price point or date.

DD was desperate to see Jonathan Groff at Stratford. So instead of taking a chance, I joined the 'friends of' and got access to tickets early.

I wouldn't have done that 20yrs ago. Maybe it's the hype of the actor and social media. I mean I've seen some extraordinary Shakespeare, who knows if JG will be as good as some of the incredible unknown casts.

Also, I'm sure my mum would have said no if I said I was desperate to see a show or actor.

Whereas I book out time in my diary at 10am on release day to facilitate brilliant tickets for DD!

Like a complete loser, I even watched YouTube videos on how to get tickets. That’s how insane it is now!

Why would your mum have said no if you were desperate to attend something?

I am the same! I despise myself yet bask in my success when I manage to get tickets for her 😏

I have managed to get Bayeux tapestry tickets and we are going at the end of this month. Not sure my family appreciate the lengths I go to though!