reading books in romance languages: In which Allie tweaks FYAK…
Apparently I’ve been a little restless lately, so I tweaked some of the pages a bit as well as the sidebar. The biggest new thing is the events & appearances page because I got mad at alisonkrauss.com for not keeping us updated enough and…
I live ten minutes from the town she grew up in and have been waiting all my life for her to do a show here as a result… then when it finally happens the tickets are sold out instantly at the low, low price of 250$. are you kidding me?
Are you talking about the benefit show in Champaign? The most expensive tickets at that show were $100. Though I’m sure some were resold for around $250.
The most expensive tickets on last summer’s tour proper (not counting the benefit shows like the one in Champaign) were like $80. And now, one summer later, the most expensive price announced is $95. Oh, and no fanclub discounts so far. Coupled with the fact that the best AKUS tickets often get allocated through backroom deals to people who have ~connections… I’m currently not a happy fangirl.
yes ma’am. forgive me, I meant the ones after they were sold out were 250. I checked the site approx. 20 min after they went up, and womp. nothing.
Kathy Mattea came here a year back, did a free (or extremely cheap, I don’t remember) show that filled the whole research park (~1000 people, I’d guess). It was awesome. Why can’t AKUS do the same thing?!
(of course, when I point this out, my parents brag about how they saw her play fiddle in the park when she was 17 and I disown them from my life out of mad jealousy)
20 minutes? Gosh.
I really, really do not understand why they can’t do something like that. I guess maybe the point with the Champaign show was to raise money for a charity, but beyond that, would it kill them to do a series of cheap shows - general admission, let the hardcore fans queue up for hours beforehand, and let all the people who’ve followed them for decades but can’t afford to shell out $95 see them again for old times’ sake?
I guess most of their fanbase nowadays consists of upper-class old people - the “easy listening” crowd that picks up her CDs from Starbucks - and her tour planners figure selling out fancy theatres to hundreds of those kind of people is the way to go. Never mind if the longtime fans get shoved to the back.
Oh my god your parents. I hate people who got to see her when she was young and obscure and used to mingle with the audience after the show and all that. >_<
I’m gonna jump on here and say I have literally been waiting almost my whole 20 years of life to see them.
My dad is a (sorta) accomplished bluegrass musician and is the reason I knew who AKUS was at such a young age. He even played at gigs in Nashville while he was in his 20’s with (a very, very young) Alison, and even competed in music competitions against an early version of AKUS.As a kid, though, when I probably could have been going to shows at a much more affordable rate, my family didn’t go to “real” concerts. At the time, my dad wasn’t traveling anymore, and the only time I went anywhere to see music, he was involved in playing it. But I digress…
Fast-forward to now, being in my early 20’s and wanting like HELL to see this beautiful woman do her thing live, and I can’t nearly fuckin’ afford it. So I definitely share all sorts of angst over this.
There are so many people who have stories like this. Just waiting outside the theatre a few hours before the show in Knoxville started, I met several different people who said with the most regretful looks on their faces, “I’ve been a fan of her since she was a teenager, but I can’t afford a ticket.”
I get that they’re the cream of the crop and they’re incredibly in demand and they’ve worked hard to be the only bluegrass band that can charge what they want to charge. But it seems like there’s a happy medium somewhere. Maybe if they would play smaller venues instead of the biggest, nicest theatre in every city, it would cut down on some of the wealthy casual fans going for a night out on the town, and allow more space for those of us who count down the days for a tour.
Rising ticket prices… preferential seating that puts wealthy people in front of fanclub members… the fact that industry insiders get meet-and-greets while the fans don’t even get up-to-date tour info or a website that works…
Occupy AKUS fandom, y’all.
This might sound kind of harsh, but I honestly feel like AKUS has become a product - they’ve become something mainstream enough to market like crazy and sell off to the willing upper-middle-class/lower-high-class buyers that see Paper Airplane or Raising Sands while standing in line at Starbucks. Those are the kinds of people who can consistently afford those front-row tickets to those nice venues.
Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, necessarily. They are now, in the last few years, reaching a much larger audience than they ever have before and definitely making more money (let’s admit it guys), and as a musician, I can’t really fault them for that.
But what I do find fault in is the unaffordable ticket prices and the lack of information or even consideration given to fans. Especially the fans that don’t fit into that bracket I mentioned above. Because I definitely don’t.
So, I guess what I’m saying here, is basically, AKUS came out of the same bluegrass culture I have seen my entire life - little church shows, summer bonfires, small-ass festivals in campgrounds, music competitions, etc. Can I see that now? Not at all.
