So today I passed my probation and officially got offered the job

are you going to accept the offer?

YAY!! Super happy for you FF!! That is awesome news! Congratulations buddy!! :cheers:

Thanks all,

Adje I sure am, many city's to explore :)

Can I come?

happy birthday seb

23, gettin old

Very quiet around here these days. Shame.

yes seb for sure, and ff, ffy, guy lucy andy gez adje ........... :)

today my sister is flying out to visit :)

Yay!! So happy for you. Did it end up being on your flight like you were talking about?

always nice to see a quote from the late great Christopher Hitchens.

and back to work tomorrow

fly no they had to get another as its a different aircraft

Air France your Salon lounge in CDG 2E is a shambles, sort your life out.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Happy Black Friday for tomorrow.

just did a desert safari , amazing!

has there ever been such a thing?

One of the finest ideas we've latched onto from across the pond.

i'm interested as to why it's a good idea?

On route to Munich ...... Time for pork

I'm flummoxed as to why this was flop. What better way to wind down after that grand old traditional British festival of Thanksgiving than ploughing straight down to the shops for a scrum.
A drop kick back to New York is in order.

No such Black Friday in the 99p store. :0 (

I can hear my son in the next room taking his piano exam. He's nervous. I'm sweating.

Xmas has started. Guy I'm home 2-6 dec

I'm off work Thursday/Friday...

My wifes got teeth like a piano. Every other one's a black un. 8*0
Hope the boy did well?

So universal Orlando has a karaoke bar that has a live band that backs you instead of a karaoke track.

I'M GOING TO HAVE MY OWN NLE/E STREET BAND!

The examiner gives nothing away. Junior Chairboy seemed satisfied. I slipped a score into the fella's top pocket and thanked him ever so.

Come to Brighton

Christmas came early- first Tempe, now a tour! :D :cheer:

England is cold :(

Orlando looks warmer!

So the xfactor winners song is apparently FOREVER YOUNG......I love Meats version of this song and you just know they are all going to ruin it :(

why don't they ever do original songs!!!

def leppard tomorrow

very excited :)

BRUUUUUCE USA tour announced. Please come to the UK summer 2016! :D
Full River album playthrough would be awesome. 20 songs!

couple of hours sleep isnt good

well I'm pretty down as Mother in law died the other day aged 88:(

My condolences :(

CHEERS MY FRIEND!!

$2000 tickets for Springsteen tickets on Stubhub. Congrats to all the touts for making money out of this ridiculous nameless concert ticketing system that exists in the world. ;-)

They won't get it. People purposely post ridiculous prices because either:

1) They are speculating, and will buy the ticket for less elsewhere if someone is stupid enough to take them up on it;

2) It's a fake listing so that they can have access to certain info you can only get as a seller. If someone bites, see #1;

3) It's an inflated price to drive up the average listing price, and to make the other tickets listed at $500 look like a bargain by comparison.

Having said all that, I find it hard to believe that I was looking at a "No Tickets Available" message 30 seconds into the on sale. :roll: I'll get in somehow, but something's definitely messed up someplace. :?

There was an interesting documentary about the ticketing trade here in the uk. Third party resellers get special access to buy them in bulk. They were showing employees at these companies buying them and them selling them on. Also ticket master has the getmein site plus they are also selling their premium tickets. With demand for tickets rising and all these middlemen and systems being added there seems to be very little chance for anyone who hasn't seen Springsteen to ever see him perform live. I definitely think all tickets should be named, photo ID at the door and no possible transfers. Max 4 tickets per person. Can't go? Tough luck.

They do paperless (credit card entry) for a lot of seats here. They aren't transferable, but the brokers still find a way. They always have the advantage.

atm same is going on here in the Netherlands. Apparently Seatwave, which is a compagny owned by Ticketmaster, is getting all the great seats and selling them for ridiculous prices. Fans can't manage to buy those seats by ticketmaster because they are gone before official sale starts.

Of course Ticketmaster is denying that they reserve the tickets for Seatwave :roll:

Dutch politicians are looking into the matter to see if something can be done about it.

It's a long existing problem but it got 'hot' news here with ticketssales for the Adele concerts

1 standing ticket for nightwish at Wembley going.
19th Dec if anyone is interested

It actually may not be Ticketmaster funneling the tickets to the secondary market as much as it is the promoters, who then sell them themselves (Stubhub doesn't actually sell tickets, they are the marketplace and take a percentage as fees) and pocket the profit. No doubt the number of tickets the promoter receives is negotiated in the tour contracts.

Here's an interesting post on Reddit from someone who claims he used to work for a ticket broker:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comme...curing/cxvsniz

True, but the fact that Seatwave is actually from Ticketmaster doesn't help their credibility

You are correct. So they own ticket master sales fees, getmein tout resale fees and seat wave resale fees. It's a bit like playing monopoly on your own I guess.

But, bankruptcy is possible

i had a play on a hoverboard last week...

bet it would be funny trying one of them drunk!!

and germany is in our group for euro 2016 :shock:

So?
We, the Dutch, are so damn good nobody wanted to be in the same group as us. So we decided to skip Euro 16 :lol:

Albania and Iceland are attending

I think it's a good thing I can't get Bruce tickets as I would have gone over.

There's still time- keep checking. Some venues still have tickets, though if you're looking for the Northeast, especially NYC, that will be very tough.

Thailand today

Was thinking of somewhere different maybe LA or Chicago for a long weekend. Will see what comes up!

Cool- If you decide on Chicago, I can give travel advice. ;)

Also think about Milwaukee- Bruce always does great shows there, and Chicago is a short drive or train ride away. Milwaukee should also be an easier ticket than Chicago or LA, though he's doing two shows in LA.

Hey guys long time no speak

Brussels next

Hey there. :)

Nice to see you back. :)

Sat next to a wookie during Star Wars.

Has anyone seen the prices of Adele tickets on stub hub? Out of this world!!

Must brush up on my :moon: hah found my favourite

FFY go sit in the local depression centre , it's the same as one of Adele's concerts and much cheaper :) :) :)

Really should decorate the tree tonight

FF and guy coming to Abu Dhabi :)

Forget Diamonds.....a dishwasher is a girls best friend and mine has just arrived!! :cheer:

Unfortunately....my TV has just decided to die!

Can I come too? :)

Of course !

Never knew so many Springsteen bootlegs were available to buy on Amazon.co.uk till now. They even have the entire '78 radio broadcast collection in one 15 disc set just for £15. Long gone are the trading days it seems. Before that I paid flipping £30 to get one of those shows on Crystal Cat releases.

Apparently this is due to an EU copyright loophole to do with shows recorded outside of the EU making them I guess not really bootlegs but just live recordings anyone can release here.

Bruce must be pissed off.

Still the awesome 78 shows in one collection for so little money seems very tempting...

It's not snowing in Dubai

You can download them all for free- even Crystal Cats. Legal or not, I refuse to give those people any of my money- I'd rather give it to Bruce and buy the official archive releases.

Speaking of which, Santa Bruce gave us a present today! :D

The only reason I download bootlegs is there is no official release I'd happily spend money. Now Bruce has started releasing official recording I'll happily buy them. Especially with how well priced they are.

I'm perfectly fine with downloading bootlegs for free (not official releases). The ones Andrew was referring to are the same recordings that one can get for free (if you know where to look ;)) that are being sold through a legal loophole- I won't pay for those. So they print out some artwork and put it in a case- I can do that myself.

Basically that's what bootlegs are. Alternatives when there is no official release. They should be shared/given among fans.

I have a load of Meat boots but none from a complete deadringer show. I would love to have one. Last year I was offered one for money. Absolutely affordable. It's against my principles though, so today I still have none.

Oh I have no problem downloading boots either, see my iTunes! I just love that Bruce is chucking high quality recordings out.

Sprouts
8*/

Brandy Trifle
8*0

Blue Stilton
:->

I'm really in the mood to get an e36, it's been 10 years since I last had one.

New bailyes is lush

Haha, that is hilarious!!

Well GnR is confirmed for Coachella with a possible 25 Stadium tour.

Dublin on the 2nd

If I win my darts bet I'll come over.

ticketmaster is a pain in the arse

Who want to meet me in Dublin ??? 2nd

Wheres my Mulberry handbag?

On the case !

thank god for good mates

i was rescued last night at some time around 2.30 am

and he says that's the most drunk he's ever seen me lol

Very happy I got tix yesterday to see Meat at the Lynn Auditorium on March 23rd. I was"FORCED" (LOL) to buy VIP seats since all the good seats sold super fast for the venue Fan Club presale. Tix go on sale to the general public today - if there are left. It is a very small venue - just over 2000 seats. At least I do have good seats.

I was told by members of my family that we will not be getting VIP the next time we go see Meat. Which bums me out as I really enjoyed my seat at the Seneca Alleghany Casino but they were not happy when I told them they had too fork over $200 to me cause I got VIP. But I do understand the items we got for VIP was a little underwhelming but it was exciting to have VIP for a Meat show.

Glad you got seats and the show should be great I will be hoping for a Buffalo show to get added the NY shows that are listed are 7-8 hours dives for me so wont be going to those shows.

http://www.theleadsports.com/the-sur...er-a-kobe-fan/

I hate Basketball but what StubHub did to this Kobe fan is not right. Please read and share. I would also ask everyone to stop using StubHub but I can't tell you what to do. Thanks

Everyone loves to blame and hate StubHub, and I do think they might have done more for the guy in this situation just in the name of good customer service, but the real bad guy in this scenario is the original seller. StubHub DOES NOT sell tickets. They are the the facilitator of the sales, and for this they charge a fee. They also offer their "Fan Protect" Guarantee, which people really need to understand. The most StubHub is really obligated to do is refund your money, which in this case, they did (plus gave him $250 in coupons).

I can understand the buyer being pissed- I would be too. However, one needs to understand how the secondary market works. Unless you buy tickets from the original issuer (Ticketmaster, etc.), nothing is ever truly guaranteed.

My guess of what happened in this situation is that the seller was speculating on the tickets, meaning that they didn't truly have them in hand, but listed and "sold" them, believing that they could supply the tickets later, presumably after they purchased them elsewhere for a lower price. Professional brokers usually have a good idea beforehand of what they can get. While this is technically against StubHub's policies, they can't realistically verify if every single seller has tickets in hand, and probably wouldn't anyway. You need to watch Stubhub listings, to see if they mention a specific seat number, or just a row; also, listings that state tickets will be delivered at a later date indicate that some speculation might be happening. Or, perhaps the seller changed their mind after prices went up. But in either case, Stubhub's policy is that the tickets that are delivered have to be as listed, and if not, the buyer can either keep the tickets or request a refund. Since the the seller hadn't actually delivered the tickets to the buyer yet, I'll bet they used that policy as an out (stating they made a mistake in the listing and couldn't deliver the tickets) to renege on the deal. Stubhub could have "bought" comparable seats for the buyer and eaten the money, but they are not obligated to do so. Sucks for the buyer, but that's the reality of it.

I'll admit to buying tickets on StubHub, and sometimes I've gotten really good deals, while other times I've paid over face. It works both ways. But you have to understand the market and how it works. I do think their fees are pretty high, but I also like knowing that if there's a show that I really want to go to and get shut-out, I still have an option to get in where I know that the worst that could happen is I don't get into the show, but at least I will get my money back if that happens. Scalpers have always existed and will continue to exist. It's easy to say don't buy from them, but somebody always will,* and I'm not selfless enough to take one for the team if I want to see a show that badly (sorry, not sorry). StubHub is the big boy on the block (and technically not brokers/scalpers themselves) so they get all the bad press, but it's a much safer way to go than any of the hundreds (or thousands) of brokers and scam artists that are out there.

My guess is that this buyer is going so public with this story in the hopes of getting some attention and possibly getting seats from Lakers or some other sympathetic individuals for his trouble.

*I have heard that there was a verified sale of two tickets to a Springsteen show at MSG selling for $3,000 each- clearly, some people have so much money that they just don't care.

Chairboys.
Come on.......its only Villa!!
:0)

I thought you would be a Chairboy for the day!
Back us for the replay.

ever so tired

Is it JUST ME or is the VIP EXPERIENCE a little underwhelming for what you get BESIDES the concert seat?