5 Comments

I'm not gonna lie, that sounds like a whole lotta drama. But then I tried to buy tickets on Ticketek New Zealand Limited this evening and ended up buying the wrong tickets such were the distractions.

Select tickets. Easy enough.

And..... purchase.

- Hey, want to change your password?

No.

- we recommend that you change your password intermittently.

Not now.

- change your password.

No, I'm in the middle of purchasing tickets.

- change your password NOW.

Changes password. Waits for verification code. Wait for it.......wait......wait....

CRASH

Start process again.

Verification code received.

Oh! Types in verification code.

Sorry, too late, invalid code!

Repeat process.

CRASH

And repeat.

CRASH

And repeat.

⚙️⚙️⚙️⚙️⚙️⚙️⚙️⚙️

Success 🙌

Email confirmation! - wrong tickets 🎟 😒

My fault, but I was definitely.... helped.

Honestly, why ask for a password to be changed halfway through a transaction?

I hope rather than believe I might be able to change the tickets tomorrow when Ticketek is open and I can speak with a real live human.

Expand full comment
author

What were the tickets for Sarah?!?

Expand full comment

Oscar Kightley's play Dawn Raids.

I've yet to hear back from Ticket Master re transferring the tickets to a different date.

Reading the fine print it seems it should be possible.

I'm currently double booked to see Barry Saunders and Delaney Davidson at Suite Gallery.

I also have a running commitment on the other evening performance, so if Ticket Master do agree to change my ticket, I'll be going, as originally planned, with Wellington's School kids to the matinee performance. Yay. 😶

On at the earthquake prone Opera House- that had to undergo a structural check after the big shake on the 6th.

It's a beautiful venue, I'm glad it still stands.

I saw Tami Neilson there last Friday - HOLY CRAP she's amazing live. As good a live vocal as you'll hear. And a very warm and emotional performer.

As you will know, she sang from Willie Nelson's catalogue, but also her own and a couple of others.

A Kristofferson tribute - Sunday Mornin' Commin' Down, made me cry, and she sang Patsy Cline's Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray like her life depended on it. It was leap out of your seat, standing ovation great - only, the rather sedate Wellington audience did not leap to their/our feet. I instantly regretted my restraint when she went on to tell us that she had received a standing ovation when she performed it at the Grand ole Opry. I guess a Nashville audience understands just how good she is within this genre.

She ended with an encore, a sing along, Nelson's Mumma Don't Let your Babies Grow up to be Cowboys. Yee Haw 🧣💎🎸

The sound engineer did a great job. I was down in the stalls 4 rows from the stage - great seats - and at no point felt it was too loud.

Tami Neilson is special. We are fortunate that she settled here in Aotearoa.

Expand full comment
author

I have changed my Ticketmaster password three times in the past week - it asks me to change it every time I log on now?!?

Why is tech getting worse?!?

Expand full comment

Honestly, in many cases it is approximately the same cost to attend a show in Melbourne as it is in Auckland for people in most parts of the country that are not directly adjacent. The cost of accomodation and travel to Auckland is ridiculous, and the city is quite unpleasant in comparison, it’s generally not something that people like to do. The current status quo has been to book ridiculous concepts like 2 entire nights of Pearl Jam (who again no one listens to or really likes very much when compared with their contemporaries) in Auckland, the South Island being skipped has become an inside joke as has Wellington being skipped. The promoters are being misleading, they are booking bad shows and won’t admit that they are simply working in a profiteering fashion where shows are not being booked for the love of the artist but out of obligation to put something on in a stadium. This should be obvious from the simple fact that cynical fools at Live Nation are trying to force the concept of horrible country singer Luke Combs down our throats and have barely promoted the Pearl Jam concerts at all. If they want us to be enthusiastic then they have to recognise that New Zealand is very different demographically from Aus or US and that our charts actually have often reflected a very unique taste geographically due to competing British and American influences.

Expand full comment