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That was the message on LiveNation's website when I tried to login to get tickets for Phish's show at Fenway Park, set for May 31st, 2009. The message appeared only a couple of minutes past 10 a.m.
I kept trying for one hour and could not once get the page to load. There are people posting tweets saying they scored tickets to see Phish at Fenway Park -- one guy with the user name Canada_Bound claimed to land eight tickets -- but lots of other people are saying they could not login to the LiveNation.com page either.
TicketSnow.com already had a link posted for tickets to catch Phish at Fenway Park for the opener of their 2009 Summer Tour, although it was not displaying any for sale before the 10 a.m. on-sale time. Tickets already were listed for sale on StubHub, though, ranging from $113 to $3,400 per ticket. TicketLiquidator had tickets for sale before 10 a.m. with specific seat and row numbers attached to them, such as "Field Box 92, Row KK -- two seats available" for $194 apiece. VividSeats had specific tickets as well, like "Loge Box 14, Row JJ -- two tickets for $190 (each I believe, although it's not clear)." Likewise, you could buy four tickets at 7 a.m. EST (three hours before the general on sale time) in "Pavilion Box 6, Row B" for $203 each at CoastToCoastTickets. And, of course, on eBay and CraigsList Fenway Park ticket prices are off the chain.
One thing that is glaringly obvious is that the same seats are for sale across all four websites. Now, Fenway Park's primary purpose is as the Boston Red Sox home field. Fenway Park does host other events throughout the year (for instance, The Dave Matthews Band is playing two shows there before Phish on May 29th and 30th; both bands have the same management company these days.), but "season tickets" are not sold for these additional events -- just for Red Sox games.
Perhaps the Red Sox offer first dibs for tickets to other events inside Fenway Park to Red Sox season tickets holders, and the tickets currently available on all of the scalper sites are simply posted by some enterprising Red Sox fans who have read the news about demand for Phish tickets, or heard it through the grapevine and see an opportunity to pocket a few hundred bucks.
No matter how those tickets to Phish at Fenway Park on May 31st became available for purchase before the public on sale date and time, it is fucked up (insert your own personal rant on Ticketbastard, LiveNation.com and ticket scalpers here).
On a side note, I wanted to announce that The Wagger will no longer provide links to ticket re-sale websites; if you plan on buying tickets through those bastards you can link to them on your own. Not to sound rude, but I don't want to provide them with any help at all, no matter how minuscule it may be and no matter how insignificant this Blog may be in the grand scheme of Phish. Sure I mentioned them by name above, but that's only for the sake of posting an entirely accurate news story.
In related news, New York Sen. Charles Schumer unveiled plans for legislation that would ban the resale of concert and sports tickets until two days after they first go on sale to the public, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
MORE PHISH-RELATED NEWS & LINKS
Jon Fishman will join Burlington comedy-musical duo Touchpants, following opening act Creedence Clearwater Silver Bullet, this Monday, April 20 at 10 p.m. For more information visit the venue's website at www.clubmetronome.com
Damion Brink, who six years ago with co-owner Christopher Walsh purchased Nectar's (from owner Nectar Rorris) and the upstairs music venue Club Metronome, the famed location in downtown Burlington where Phish established its humble beginnings back in 1984, announced via his Facebook page that he is giving up his share of the bar and restaurant. No details have been announced, according to the Burlington Free Press.
More than 100 indie, freak folk and noise-rock artists have re-interpreted Phish's coveted Gamehendge saga to create the 82-minute Gamehendge '09. Described as a “kaleidoscopic joyride through bizarre sound demi-genres,” the hipster tribute to Phish will include performances by Larkin Grimm, Towering Heroic Dudes, Teeth Mountain, Antique Brothers and King Crab, among many others, according to Relix Magazine.
Mike Gordon recently announced via Twitter that he "Would have liked to change his name to Hyphen but appreciated the legal challenge of changing to the exact same thing that it is." He also mentioned on March 31st that he was "arriving in a fun city to make a Phish album - and my own album is underway!" Follow Mike on Twitter.
Was U.S. Olympic swimming hero Michael Phelps photographed in South Carolina by a careless Phish-head? You be the judge. And make sure to read the readers posts; they're f-ing hilarious!
Did you know April is National Grilled Cheese Month? Here are some mouth-watering grilled cheese recipes that will make even the best grilled cheese you ever had in the lot seem like nothing but 100% schwag. The link does not provide straight-up, traditional recipes, rather it provides reviews to the best grilled cheese sandwiches found in New York City, along with their ingredients. They're easy to figure out and make on your own.
Here is a straight-out rip on Phish-heads and other fans of live music -- all of which apparently are now labeled hippies no matter what band is your personal favorite (I still don't think Dave Matthews fans are hippies, although some of our dreadlocked brethren do find their way to a lucrative afternoon in the DMB lot). Pretty funny stuff by a writer at BlogCritic Magazine taking people like us waaaayyyyy to seriously.
And here's another article, this one from Paste Magazine, that simultaneously bashes Phish and its fans while praising the band as innovative and influential.
Finally, if you're looking for a new show to jam out to, I've been seriously digging on Phish's May 6, 1993 show at The Palace Theater in Albany, New York. I downloaded my copy from the eTree Community Tracker, but don't see it posted on there right now. This one falls just three months after my first show, February 25, 1993 at the Cameo Theater in Miami Beach (South Beach to be exact), which is currently available on eTree by clicking here -- What a time that was ... Phish, the Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic all touring at the same time!
This show comes complete with a crazy, yet spaced-out and focused Tweezer (it makes sense once you hear it), an absolutely perfect and smokin' Tela, and a blisering Trey on Uncle Pen playing some of the fastest, cleanest licks I've ever heard in my life. Here's the entire setlist (which lists no --> transitions, but the songs are rattled off so quickly with little pausing in between the whole thing could be one long -->):
1: Chalk Dust Torture, Mound, Split Open and Melt, The Horse-> Silent in the Morning, All Things Reconsidered, Llama, Fluffhead, Possum, Lawn Boy*, Why You Been Gone so Long**, Tennessee Waltz***, Fast Train***
2: Suzy Greenberg, Tweezer, Tela, Uncle Pen, Big Ball Jam, The Squirming Coil, Mike's Song -> Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da jam**-> Rocky Top**, HYHU-> Cracklin' Rosie-> HYHU, That's Alright Mama***
E: Sweet Adeline, Contact, Tweezer Reprise
*Page hitting crazy high notes at the end; **With Dick Solberg on fiddle. **With Dick Solberg on fiddle and Jeff Walton on acoustic guitar.
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