holy shit
this here is just to say that we were more than taken aback and surprised about the speed of ticket sales for the april 2nd msg gig, as well as the effectiveness of scalper pieces of fucking shit at getting their hands on said tickets before fans could, and it’s knocked us on our asses.
no—we didn’t have a smart paperless ticketing system in place, and no—we didn’t have the pre-sale worked out very well, but this is simply because we’ve never sold anything out so quickly in our lives, and certainly never sold out anything as big as msg. i personally thought i was being bold in suggesting to our manager that we might sell it out “in 10 days”. that was my bold claim. everyone laughed at me. it’s us and liquid liquid. that’s it. we had meetings and meetings about the “other band” we needed to “fill the place”, as we were definitely considered to be nowhere near big enough (most of these bands were, like, way bigger than us, by the way).
we didn’t sell out hollywood bowl, and that was with both hot chip and sleigh bells. there was, i repeat, no expectation of our selling this out either. my main concerns at the time were things like ticketmaster charges—how they were going to make the tickets ridiculously costly… we never dreamed some shitbags would try to get thousands for our show. it’s insane.
but it happened. we all looked at each other in horror and sat there. i mean, aren’t you supposed to be psyched? your band sold out madison square garden! i live in nyc, and that’s the place. i saw the jackson’s victory tour there when i was a kid.
but there it was—the shit was gone, and people—not just people, but fucking proper fans—were pissed. nancy from the band tried to buy tickets. failed. i tried. failed. our best friends—not wanting to hassle us for guestlist spots tried—failed. i bought 2 tickets to my own show for 3 times the value like an idiot to see if real tickets showed up. my family got burned.
it was, to say the least, weird.
we tried getting another day at msg. i’d mentioned this before and most everyone kind of rolled their eyes at me. “2 madison square garden shows, dude? really?” i thought, well, just in case, you know? maybe some people would fly from other places or something. but msg, being one of the most popular venues on the planet, was unsurprisingly booked. (for the record: just because it doesn’t look booked on the internet, doesn’t mean it’s available. just saying.)
we tried calling our lawyer about the ticket scalping. “it’s legal”. no joke. it’s fucking legal. i tramped around with friends and band getting insane. i wanted to buy some expensive tickets and then track the seller down to beat him. i acted stupid. i did some classic, shakespearean vain “fist shaking”, etc. i made angry tweets. (i’m wondering now what on earth could be less effective and more of a first-world spoiled idiotic move than “angry tweets”? jesus.) i read conspiracy theories about how this was some cash-grab i orchestrated. i read that there are 50,000 seats at msg (i think our show will have 13k). i read that people had already bought flights, hotels. wanted to bring their kids. waited in the cold. i read that some people thought this was one of the reasons we were calling it quits (check). i read that this was a media stunt we planned. i read very funny comments from my friend aziz, one of which was taken seriously (that msg had given me 30,000 tickets personally for guest list). i read that i was giving all the tickets to my “new celebrity friends” (aziz is about the closest thing i have to a “celebrity friend”, and we met at terminal 5 watching hot chip when we were, well, not very “celebrated”). i read that we should cancel the show and put the tickets up on sale in a better fashion. i read that we should not do that, for fuck’s sake. i read that we should go fuck ourselves.
i read a lot of stuff, waiting to hear if we could get another night at msg, which seemed like the only option. but it failed. then i kind of sat in my house, trying not to worry for 20 minutes, and made a very, very good coffee.
i don’t know what people think about us, really. i’d love to say i don’t care, but i do. these people in my band—they are my very good friends. i love them very much. i love this band very much. everything about it. i’m very proud of it—of us, and i get defensive when people talk shit about us. i feel like we’ve been able to do something sort of special for 9 years: making music we like the way we like it. going on tour and playing, no computers or bullshit. no in-ears. a bunch of weird substitute teachers just trying to play something like the bands we loved growing up. whenever anyone said shit about us being sellouts or something, it stung, because i consider this entire thing—the band, everything—to be a communication between us and whoever is listening, and not just a thing unto itself. i remember being a fan and seeing bands, thinking “this is us. this is you playing and me/us watching” and how real that connection was, and i always wanted to honor that strange relationship with our band. so when someone felt wronged or hurt or outraged, it stung. it stung because, on some level, regardless of the “you can’t please everyone” stuff that gets rationally said to you when this shit happens, it meant that i’d failed. i’d failed to communicate. on the other hand, i’ve had my world turned upside down by a lot of amazing things people have said about us, or to us. i’ve met fans and made friends, and felt very strongly how that relationship actually works—and how we brought ourselves, each other, finally here, to where we play our last show—and biggest show ever—together, at this amazing place.
and then, this fucking ticket thing happened.
so to the point. you can’t make everyone happy, and i’m sure this will wind someone up somewhere (“but i paid $600 for one seat at msg!!!) or seem like some shitty “plan” to someone else (“they were gonna do it all along!!! it’s all a big retirement money plan to bilk the fans!!!”) or something else that someone who theoretically likes our band thinks (why are you trying to buy a ticket?? how could you even listen to a band that you think is capable of some of this shit!??) but we’ve come up with the best solution i can think of, as quickly as possible so as to deflate the market for those scalping scumfucks.
we’re going to play 4 shows at terminal 5 in nyc leading up to the msg show, and they will include most if not all of the songs we play at msg. the farewell run-up to the last dance. it’ll be the 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st of march. obviously we’re going to look seriously at the way we sell these tickets. not “paperless, (i’ve been advised that the “paperless” thing is apparently now illegal in ny… seriously—don’t ask me) but there are some ideas floating around that could be just as effective (though it’ll take a minute to get folks in the door.)
we’ll announce the shows officially early in the week, and tickets will be on sale soon after. we’re announcing all the shows at once, and if they don’t sell out, i don’t care. i just want to give people who actually want to see us a chance to see us. for a reasonable ticket price. and i want to drop the price of the msg tickets being sold by piece of shit scalpers.
oh—and a small thing to scalpers: “it’s legal” is what people say when they don’t have ethics. the law is there to set the limit of what is punishable (aka where the state needs to intervene) but we are supposed to have ethics, and that should be the primary guiding force in our actions, you fucking fuck.
and to everyone else: thank you. you rule. don’t let the shitbags win.
i feel like conan o’brien.
james
infos
management:
booking in the americas:
samantha kirby yoh [email protected]
booking r.o.w.:
david bradley william morris agency [email protected]
press contact: steve martin
phone: 212 343 0740 fax: 212 343 0630
address: 110 greene st. suite 605
new york, ny 10012
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by michael kantrow, Colin St. John, gilberto arends, Chris Grunder, David Simandl and others. David Simandl said: fuck you, scalpers. terminal 5 shows added. http://bit.ly/fDUCul […]
Oh, wait, is this like a forum? Shit.
this post is the best exclamation of why I’ve been an LCD Soundsystem fan for 9 years.
[…] we’ll announce the shows officially early in the week, and tickets will be on sale soon after. we’re announcing all the shows at once, and if they don’t sell out, i don’t care. i just want to give people who actually want to see us a chance to see us. for a reasonable ticket price. and i want to drop the price of the msg tickets being sold by piece of shit scalpers. [LCDSoundsystem.com] […]
too bad the only way I’ll be able to see yall is if the shows were on spring break or in the summer. But that’s beside the point, everything that’s happened has just solidified why you guys are my favorite band, the fact that these shows mean so much to you guys makes it so much harder to face the reality it’s coming to a close. If its possible, forget the scalpers and conspiracy theorist and remember that every night of those last 5 shows your gonna be with people who care about you and your music and want to laugh, cry and sing during a glorious end to an unforgettable experience. You guys have shaped me into the person i am today and although i wont be there physically, ill be there in mind and spirit, and ill be home with my friends dancing to all your songs and so will thousands of others all around the world. It seems so close to the end, but its just the beginning. LONG LIVE LCD SOUNDSYSTEM!!
James/ LCD: I still feel honored to be the 1st on line to get the 1st physical tickets to your last show when I was there wednesday. Now I want to get tickets to the March 31st show as well… Waiting from 3:45am-10am to get tickets was & is well worth a band that will be with me forever… the posting you’ve just written affirms that you are revolutionary people manufacturing revolutionary music… (BTW: I blast your music in the operating room I work in-you’re saving lives too)… good luck with everything.
phish’ll let you use their lottery ticket system. give coran a call.
B-b-b-b-but…Terminal Five is our shittiest venue!
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Totally seriously: You totally rock, for caring this much. Don’t get an ulcer, now. <3
Only 8 comments? I loved every moment of the above post. I’m not loaded otherwise I’d pay those dirty tard scalpers for tickets to your last show, but I am a huge fan, like many out there, feeling so overjoyed right now to have another chance to see you guys play one final time.
thanks for listening, i’ll do anything to come out and support you guys! (except pay $1500! fuckers!)
Great solution, not easy, you rock James!
Thank you JM. I can’t wait to travel from Philly to see LCD again. The Making Time in Sept was my favorite show I’ve ever seen (I went to ~40 concerts last year and that’s normal).
I can’t wait for this show. Fuck Ticketmaster and their system.
Props for doing this for those that love to see this band live. I hope this moment helps you realize that their is still ground to cover. I’ll be waiting for the next batch sounds.
Amazing outpour of truth, James. Part of the reason I’m such a massive fan is your attention to detail in your music and every aspect of media you create, and I see no lack of it in your words here.
I caught you guys on a beautiful whim at ACL fest in 2007 and I havent looked back. Yes, I’m one who paid a hefty fee thinking that would be the only way I could catch your swan song. Yes, I will be flying across the country for it. And yes, I can’t really afford it. But you should know that I have no regrets.
The fact you are willing to stick it to the shitbags by playing extra shows is genius. I’m going to do what I can to make it to one of those shows too beacuse i know you guys will play your hearts out.
Footnote: Comparing this situation to Conan O’Brien’s only intensifies my admiration. You (LCD) and he are my two favorite entertainers, hands down.
OK, I’ve said my peace. See you April 2nd.
-Adam
I spent 4 hours re-typing gibberish into that Ticketmaster site last night (GMT). Gutted to miss the tickets. Thirty minutes in I’d got two tickets in the mezzanine but gave them up thinking I get better… massive facepalm!!!!!
Traveling in from London for the final show is expensive enough without paying hundreds more for Starhub tickets. See you at Terminal 5!! Thanks for caring, great post.
e-tickets are great for international fans, I hope Bowery can accommodate overseas sales.
Thank you.
ps Walk Like an Egyptian.
dear james- i have an enormous amount of respect for you and what you do. sincerely, adam
thank you for this – – i cannot believe i could not get tix through ticketmaster through either the presale or the general sale… what on earth happens over there? how do all these tickets end up with scalpers and brokers, literally instantaneously. I’m really bewildered..
So can you please kindly tell me when the t5 tix go on sale? Is this going to be more viable… i personally think that if you buy the ticket with a credit card, the name of the buyer and their guests (in my case, my husband, for example) should be provided upfront.. printed right on the ticket(s) and then matched with photo id (they check it anyway so you can get drinks) and that if it doesn’t match, you don’t go in. Thoughts?
My bandmate and I tried to see you guys at Hamilton College last year, but that sold out before it went to public sale. I was heartbroken when I couldn’t get tickets to the farewell, and so angry with the process that my kind coworkers gave me on-the-spot boxing lessons. Once calm, I soon realized that a band I love so much would probably do the right thing and add more shows.
That your post reflects the same heartbreak and anger, you have not failed to communicate. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for truly caring about your fans, for expressing your outrage, for answering my prayers by adding more shows, and for making music that has changed my life.
Nice rant, but I counted up ALL of the tickets in the secondary (scalper) market (I have access to these databases), and its 316 tickets TOTAL, so I don’t think you can blame anyone for “cornering” the market. Maybe you’re just more widely popular that you thought, and should just try to fucking enjoy the moment. 🙂
Glad you’re adding more shows though. 🙂
we’re with you
[…] UPDATE: OMG, they’re doing four additional shows. FOUR. MORE. SHOWS. LCD WEEK COMETH […]
awesome dude. i look forward to these shows and MSG. fuck the scalpers, don’t take any shit from those swine. gorgeousness and gorgeosity is to ensue!
Seriously, I’ve never seen an artist put this much effort in to rectifying this kind of problem. Most bands will just gloat at the fact that they “sold out” MSG but you guys added FOUR MORE fucking shows. Wish that after this whole thing is over with we didn’t have to see you go :(.
thanks for making what doesn’t work work, like you do.
lcd showed me that the internet is ruining music
written by sean foran (2/11/11)
twice this week i’ve been let down by music. i attempted to buy tickets to lcd soundsystem’s “last show ever” (i put it in quotes because so many people assume they will do reunion tour next year as so many bands do now a days) for my girlfriend and roommate who are in brazil (where lcd soundsystem is playing two days after they leave, in fucking rio) and myself. i couldn’t get tickets at the presale or the public sale, despite having three computers running and four or five friends trying. fucking disappointing.
seconds after both the presale and public sale there were plenty of tickets on stubhub for prices ranging $100-40,000, one person even had 50 of the ga tickets which were given out at the mercury lounge and had a limit of two tickets per person. this is when i realized the internet is finally killing music.
when the internet made music available for free i never complained, i even thought it was good for music. i have been exposed to so much music over the interwebs that my entire taste in music has shifted and does often. i guess you could just call that broadening your horizons.
it’s not like artists made a lot of money off album sales, fuck the record companies, record it yourself, put it out yourself, release it for free. maybe you get a record company to give you an advance but they don’t expect to make money off an album (maybe the vinyl since that’s back in style), they expect to make money off shows.
music advanced a lot recently because of the ability of bands to release their own music; someone can go viral in days and be a huge success if they’re good enough (or stupid enough in the case of most youtube videos that get popular). musicians can always hope to make money off concerts and selling their songs to car commercials (which is no longer selling out, because car commercials have awesome music), but now concerts are being ruined by the internet.
the majority of the lcd soundsystem tickets went to scalpers who are selling tickets at a 300-80,000% mark up. holding them like crack with music lovers paying whatever it takes to get their fix of lcd’s three-hour spectacular con choir.
now i compliment lcd for their attempt to thwart the internet’s assault on music by having a live presale and internet presale, complete with password provided to the world by pitchfork.com, but you failed.
there seems to be no simple solution, but i can think of two solutions to prevent the internet (with the help of scalpers) from ruining music forever. the first solution would be on the bands and venues. don’t sell tickets before the show. let’s cut out the middle man. i would say you could sell them ahead of time at the venue only, but scalpers would buy them all and put them on the internet. that would get rid of ticketmaster and their outrageous surcharges (which we’ve all been griping about for year), but stubhub and scalpers still win.
the second solution is on the fans. stop buying from stubhub, craigslist, or any of these other sites where scalpers operate. this will give them no market and they will stop buying tickets or take major losses. but this doesn’t stop ticket master. if we really want to save music from the internet we must buy tickets only in person. i know it requires a walk and we’ll even have to interact with someone in person, but it has to be done.
if we both hold up our end of the bargain, venues and bands you only sell tickets at the venues, music lovers, only buy tickets at venues, then we can exchange money for tickets ahead of time at the venue and destroy the ticket masters, stubhubs, and internet scalpers all at once.
for those of you that want to buy tickets in some distant city, two options: one, have a friend buy them. two, no friend in that city? no problem. venues, can you sell a few hundred tickets the day of. listeners if you want to see the show that bad, line up early; it will be fun, an old fashion line up just like lcd tried to do at mercury, but this will be at the concert so it will be a party.
old school scalpers who want to take a chance, buy tickets, attempt to sell them illegally at the venue, and maybe not even sell them at all, be my guest. you old school scalpers risk your money and provide a valuable service to that guy i was talking about before who doesn’t live in the concert location or the dummy that didn’t get in on their friend’s trip to the venue to buy tickets for everyone. he probably didn’t want to pitch in $5 for the train ticket of the person who offered to go wait in line for everyone (think riff randal in rock ‘n’ roll high school). now look who’s the dummy, having to pay extra to an old school scalpers. dummy. also remember once the show starts old school scalpers will unload tickets at less than face value, and who wants to see the shitty opener anyway.
can we please go back to the way concerts used to be and save music from the internet?
i know a lot of people will doubt this could ever work, but let’s get real people; the egyptian people just overthrew a neoliberal (that means the type of colonial capitalism the united states is guilty of today) dictator supported by the united states (hats off to you by the way); and i’m just talking about taking down a few internet middlemen that are really the ones destroying music. we won’t have to revolt, won’t have to take to the streets, all we have to do is have someone take the trip to the venue to get our concert tickets.
but who knows, no longer allowing ourselves to be screwed by rich middlemen may just spark our own peaceful revolt from neoliberal capitalism, one industry at a time.
sincerely,
sean m. foran
ps after i typed out this letter james murphy wrote a long post regarding how angry he was with the situation and added four more shows at terminal 5 with tickets costing $40! he suggested you will need to show some form of id from the ticket purchaser to gain entry. thanks james, it means a lot to your fans that you got our backs. i will try my damdest to get tickets to at least one of them. please no one buy lcd tickets off stubhub!
[…] that somehow this programming was completely legal. James Murphy, at the end of a long post on the LCD website, mentioned he asked his lawyers about the legality of the scalpers’ move, and they replied in […]
I love you! Thank you!
I was disappointed that the original ticket sales worked out the way they did. But this solves everything. 4 shows at terminal 5, that’s even better than going to msg. Now i just hope i can get tickets.
bravo sir. i’m in the uk, so in theory this means nothing to me, but at the same time, it clearly does. what a hero
Rx
a big thank you from a broke fan who would pay anything if i had the money to see you guys. it is appreciated how much you are willing to do for us. exhausting yourselves with a week of gigs just because you actually CARE. i wish this wasn’t the end for you guys because its bands like you doing shit like this that makes me still care about music.
i hope ticketmaster gets investigated. fucking frauds.
big love. i will see you at terminal 5.
well done, looking forward to terminal 5.
All Terminal 5 shows sold out before 10AM! I can’t believe it. WTF?
thanks. how about posting free high-quality recordings of all the shows? Probably a difficult thing to do with your contract, but those of us who failed to score a ticket b/c of this shitty situation would be appreciative of the gesture. We’re going to miss you.
DAMN JAMES !! I realised like three months ago that LCD Soundsystem is THE band that I’d been waiting to listen to, the one band that could be played loudly in my soon to be deaf ears in any circumstance. I fucking missed you last year in Belgium (twice from what I’ve heard recently from a friend). I’m feeling really sad that I will never have seen an LCD show, well I did catch a glimpse last year at Werchter but didn’t stay (I am a stupid idiot).
If you could just come around for Pukkelpop or somewhere in Europe for the summer that would be great ! I’m kidding, hope you have loads more fun and you live a long happy life.
Thank you for everything man !
I’m gonna go dance to Home now ! 🙂
You guys are a great people for doing this. Glad I got to meet you at ACL last year. Thank you for the music and thank you for being a fan’s band.
[…] all the kerfuffle regarding the ticket sales, their farewell show in Madison Square Garden is almost upon us, the end of an era and all that […]
[…] expressed his frustration with a “fuck you, scalpers,” post on his blog. So, to get back at them… he announced four more shows. Three more […]
[…] em menos de uma hora ! A banda ficou tão indignada com os cambistas-crápulas, que publicou um manifesto chamado “fuck you scalpers” e anunciavam mais shows na cidade. Os ingressos voaram tão rapidamente quanto os do Madison. […]
This is why I Still Let Music touch me! The Drama,Tailspins the tug and pull ,fight and scratch for what makes us feel somthing!LCD Is the most moving thing thats moved me…Stand up and dance in the face of Greed cause sitting in your 600$ seat ain’t gonna make you feel nothing but cheated!
[…] Also check you LCD Soundsytem’s James Murphy’s scalper rant from earlier this year Tags: arcade fire, craigslist, fake, final show, fuck you, lcd […]
[…] thus The Dance Pandas were born. Thanks to dickhead scalpers 4 additional shows were added at Terminal 5. Serendipity was on my side and I copped tickets to the […]
[…] thus The Dance Pandas were born. Thanks to dickhead scalpers 4 additional shows were added at Terminal 5. Serendipity was on my side and I copped tickets to the […]
[…] Initially heartbroken at my inability to get a ticket to the final stadium arena show that somehow sold out before tickets went on sale, I ended up completely satisfied seeing James Murphy and the crew in a smaller venue. Our decision […]
[…] In response to the situation, James Murphy added 5 shows prior to the Madison Garden show to lower ticket prices and wrote this blog post entitled, “Fuck you, Scalpers. Terminal 5 Shows Added.” […]
[…] final show at Madison Square Garden, which sold out in a matter of seconds. He then went on a few amusing anti-scalper Internet tirades, which you have to love. He then did the cool thing, and added […]
[…] So Murphy and co. came up with the best solution possible: play more shows so fans won’t have to buy from scalpers. LCD Soundsystem announced that they would play four more shows at Terminal 5 in New York leading up to the Madison Square Garden show. In Murphy’s own words, “Don’t let the shitbags win.” […]
Hi. I just unearthed your site. It’s about time a VIP actually showed us thru this material. However, I cant spot your Twitter link .. blushing! Thank-You.