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Hey everyone. Its my first bonnaroo and i havent gotten my ticket yet. My two friends and i were wondering how long typically before it sells out. I read that it didnt even sell out last year. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
i've heard that it sells out usually within a few weeks....not certain, though....if i'm not mistaken it did sell out last year....i've heard there were 90,000+ people....however, they're selling less tickets this year in order to make the festival less crowded, and thus, more enjoyable
if it sold out last year, it wasn't until after it started because there were box offices operating.....hard to say about this year because of the line-up and reduced capacity (i went ahead and bought my ticket even though i won't know until april if i get to go)
The tickets generally sell out (last year being the exception, of course) within a month or so. However, I've found that there is a pretty fierce second market for tix that pops up about a month before the show. On Ebay/craigslist/message boards you can generally find a last minute ticket in the $100-125 range. I've had great luck with this in the past and $125 is a lot easier to swallow than $180+
Post by melikecheese on Feb 21, 2006 11:37:48 GMT -5
I knew a guy who went the 2nd and 3rd year and bought his tickets from people on the road the friday of the fest. He paid 50 for one and 20 for another. Its risky but sounds like you can get a deal.
I wouldn't rely too much on the aftermarket for tickets this year, especially on ebay. Tickets aren't being sent out until June first. This means most people will get their tickets anywhere from the 3rd to the 7th. It is possible to get tickets shipped out to people from that point and get them to the bidder before Roo, but I wouldn't want to risk it. Also, there are alot of people out there that don't care if you get your tickets on time or not. I think it would be a better bet to try and buy them from a scalper. Scalping tickets is legal in TN, but getting the full ticket price on the day of the event isn't going to happen. You may get some deals. But there are less tickets, so I would go the safe route and just pony up the $200 like I did.
Post by jimmyjamesx5 on Feb 21, 2006 16:09:22 GMT -5
My buddy from Cincy had three people in his car and only two tickets when they went up to give the guy their tickets from their car the asked how many tickets and they said three, they only had two though so when they guy ripped of the two stubs he said there was only two, another that was working said can you prove they only had two, he said well I don't knowif they had two or three, so instead of holding the line up any longer they gave them 3 wristbands even though they only had 2 tickets
I've seen a whole lot of people on the roadside with their finger in the air. I wouldn't risk it. I swear I've seen at least 200 people looking for tickets.
Post by jimmyjamesx5 on Feb 21, 2006 16:13:39 GMT -5
Yeah but a lot of people get stuck with tickets because they don't mail them out till june, a lot of people end up backing out and send their buddies down there to get whatever they can for them. I personally each year have never bought it online buy from a person who commited to it sometime in Feb and for one reason or another they end up not being able to go to the roo in June
Post by Lucid Interval on Feb 21, 2006 19:50:19 GMT -5
I'd wait till you got there only if you absolutely had to and lived close enough to make the trip with the risk of not getting in, im sure scoring an extra outside the gate is pretty doable so long as you keep at it till it happens...
If you get there and absolutely cannot get a ticket, just leave your car somewhere you feel safe (wal-mart or a grocery store). Walk onto the farm. There are several ways to get in without having to go through the gates. That way you can atleast hang out with everybody, feel the good vibes, and maybe check out shakedown. If you do that and are really feeling brave, every year they make the wristbands too tight. This leaves an excess amount of wristband at the end that can just be cut off. The last two years in a row I have met several people asking to cut that plastic off so they can tape together a wristband for free from other people's wristbands. I in noway recommend this. Most of the time people get in, but if you get someone at the gate that wants to tug on your wristband you would get kicked out completely. On the other hand, you really only have to get in once. Then you can just stay in centeroo for the rest of the weekend.
This whole "they're selling less tickets" thing isn't exactly true. It may just be a ploy to sell more tickets. They capped the fest at 80,000 this year, but if you look at last years numbers, they only sold 76,000 tickets. They had space for 90,000 staked off, and I know they hoped to sell at least 80,000. They brought in 90,000 in 2004, but in 2005 they saw a drop off of around 15K.
So what to do they do? They artificially drop the number of tickets to sell, knowing full well they didn't sell that many last year, and then raise the ticket price by $20 a ticket. Of course last years headliners were WSP and DMB, so a dropoff could have been expected. With this years Headliners, it very well may sell out. But just be aware that it is basically going to be the same size as last years crowd, if it's not bigger by only a few thousand more people.
Post by ziggyandthemonkeys on Feb 22, 2006 23:32:18 GMT -5
I like how they promote it by saying theyr returning to the more comfortable size of 2002(?) when its going to be esentially the same size as last year.
It does mean a lot in terms of planning for services, staff, size and everything that goes into it. So if they just kept it the same size as last year for planning and that same number came, they are screwing themselves in overruns of operation costs.
Every ten thousand people is a huge cost, so the reduction really is a comfort on a grand scale to someone putting it on. I've done festival planning, trust me.
This whole "they're selling less tickets" thing isn't exactly true. It may just be a ploy to sell more tickets. They capped the fest at 80,000 this year, but if you look at last years numbers, they only sold 76,000 tickets. They had space for 90,000 staked off, and I know they hoped to sell at least 80,000. They brought in 90,000 in 2004, but in 2005 they saw a drop off of around 15K.
So what to do they do? They artificially drop the number of tickets to sell, knowing full well they didn't sell that many last year, and then raise the ticket price by $20 a ticket. Of course last years headliners were WSP and DMB, so a dropoff could have been expected. With this years Headliners, it very well may sell out. But just be aware that it is basically going to be the same size as last years crowd, if it's not bigger by only a few thousand more people.
Gougeaway, that whole argument relies entirely on those numbers…where did you get those figures from??
I e-mailed Bonnaroo just for the hell of it and asked them how close Bonnaroo was to selling out. As expected they told me they could not divulge any information about tickets sales but the guy suggested that “If I wished to attend Bonnaroo this year, that purchasing a ticket very soon is highly recommended” (Subtle hint I think)
There’s a chance he’d of said the same thing even if only 50 tickets had been sold, but you have to really think about what Radiohead is going to do to this festival: Radiohead just doesn’t tour the U.S. They have a large fan base here, so much so that they can sell out stadiums in a matter of minutes. Radiohead hasn’t been here since Coachella in 2004, which was there first and only (so far) American festival. I have at least a dozen friends that I know of who were explicitly not going to Bonnaroo this year, who completely changed their minds and are now going solely because of Radiohead.
Even if you are not a Radiohead fan you gotta sit back and look at the power these guys have to sell out shows. What separates them from DMB, Panic, Trey, etc…is that they just DO NOT play in the U.S. So this is a one-time opportunity for all the radiohead fans out there who never get to see them live.
Bonnaroo 2002 sold out in 20 days. ’03 people were giving tickets away. ’04 I saw a lot of people desperately searching for tickets (this with a 10,000 person increased capacity that year) and ’05 you could buy tickets from official vendors at the festival. (A first for Bonnaroo by the way)
There could be a lot of logistical reasons for the fluctuation in ticket demand, but mark my word on this: Radiohead will sell out Bonnaroo this year.
By a ticket now. If you can’t use it you WILL be able to make a profit once tickets sell out. (E-bay won’t be a problem…I’ve sold tickets on E-bay for show 2 days beforehand. With the shipping options out there today there today you could ship the tickets on July 12th if need be) Tickets don’t ship till June 1st this year but Bonnaroo is a week later this year. The same 2 ½ week grace period is the same this year as it has always been.
However, even with Radiohead, Kraftwerk, and the reuniting of the Pixies after a ten-year hiatus, Coachella did not sell out in 2004 until about a month before the festival. I am a huge Radiohead fan, but I think that you are overestimating their selling power. They did not sell out the Atlanta show at Lakewood in 2003.
However, even with Radiohead, Kraftwerk, and the reuniting of the Pixies after a ten-year hiatus, Coachella did not sell out in 2004 until about a month before the festival. I am a huge Radiohead fan, but I think that you are overestimating their selling power. They did not sell out the Atlanta show at Lakewood in 2003.
Key word "until". Regardless of when it sold out, Coachella DID sell out to a crowd of 100,000+ people; a feat Bonnaroo has never accomplished.
And this with Radiohead just coming off a two-dozen show tour less than a year earlier. There was an alternative in 03-04. Not as many people will drive to California to see Radiohead when they could see them close to their hometown. No such alternative exists today.
Let alone Tennessee being in the middle of the country, not a far corner like Cali.
Yeah, So radiohead's following isn't as huge in Atlanta and they didn't sell out one of the shows they played that year. They may not sell out a show when you've got 22 other chances to see them the same year
Point is, Coachella WAS the last show played by Radiohead in the U.S., and that will have been a 2 year break with no shows in the states come Bonnaroo.
It's going to be hard to place exactly WHY it happens when it does, so I won't be able to say "I told ya so", but take my word on it...Radiohead will sell out Bonnaroo. I do a lot of research into this kinda stuff because I buy and resell tickets.
"Key word "until". Regardless of when it sold out, Coachella DID sell out to a crowd of 100,000+ people; a feat Bonnaroo has never accomplished."
Coachella only sells 50,000 tickets per day. I think that is the capacity of the place. Of course they say they sell 100,000+ tickets but they count each day separately.
I am not saying that it wont sell out this year, but I still think that Radiohead does not draw as well as everyone is stating.