Suggestion for PB

[bdouglaswood]

Listen up my little nephews and nieces. Y'all are looking at this entirely in the wrong direction. You're looking at Planet Bluegrass. Turn around. Look the other way!

They are all "National Touring Bands" doing Nightgrass. They have fans that follow them from all over the country. Here are three examples of what is actually causing the problem. Take a click and see for yourselves

Mumford & Sons
http://www.mumfordandsons.com/live?list=10

Yonder Mountain String Band
http://www.yondermountain.com/

The Punch Brothers
http://www.punchbrothers.com/tour/

The Nightgrass Shows are on THE TOUR PAGES! YES! ON THE TOUR PAGES!!!
To their credit, Railroad Earth, Cornmeal, The Infamous Stringdusters and Abigail Washburn (and that's as far as I checked) have not advertised the Nightgrass Shows on their Tour Pages.

SOLUTION :
There are 10,000 Folks at TBF, plus the local population of Telluride, plus the population of the Four Corners area, plus the Promoters... and last but not least, Our Beloved Sponsors. Nightgrass is advertised as the following, and I quote,

"2011 NightGrass Shows
The sun may set and the temperature may drop, but the music doesn't stop at Telluride Bluegrass... NightGrass is the late-night component of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. "

You are the fans of TBF and these bands. You write to them. You let your voice be heard. You tell them that Nightgrass is not just any other show to be posted on their Tour Pages. You explain that there are already enough butts in the area during FESTIVVVAAALLL!!! to fill the seats at a Nightgrass Show and they need not go trolling the country to fill those seats.

SPEAK UP!

Okay, it's too late for this year, but next year, as soon as the line-up is announced, take a moment of your time and send all the bands a note on this subject. Then maybe, just maybe, you'll stand a better chance of getting that dream Nightgrass ticket next year.

Auntie Hope 

I've given this a lot of thought since first reading it, and i just disagree.  i think it's completely the band's perogative to decide if it's just another show or not, and i think it would be disloyal of them to keep a date from their regular fans to pander to TBF fans (though with Yonder, at least, it's pretty much the same fans).  I don't really know that this is a problem anyway.  some people may buy tickets blindly, but even assuming there is a significant number of folks who first learn about TBF from the Mumford website, they are still likely to find out what goes into attending that show--in other words, not attend it unless they are invested in the full TBF experience--it's not cheap or easy to access afterall. to the extent these bands' non-publication might limit scalping--scalpers will find out anyway.  I don't know; I've never been the biggest champion of the free market, but i am in this case.  plus, i've come up just to see Yonder before, so i don't see much wrong with it. 

 Listening to: Panic

[Auntie Hope]

I don't see much wrong with it either, except for the fact that Nightgrass tickets are now not available to many of the folks that had full intent of being at TBF... last year... but the scalpers, opportunist and quite a few folks that don't have a place to stay in and around TBF do have tickets.


Care to join me and see how it all plays out this year and revisit this topic at a later date? I'm thinking box office in T'ride for Nightgrass might come up as an idea to toss around, but right now let's just concentrate on packin' and get on with the party we do have available access to this year! 

Oh, and if you know of a camping ticket available, there is a nice young man by the name of Ben on Trampled By Turtles Facebook Page looking for one. Not sure he understood he needs a festi-ticket also so I left a little note there about the forest service campgrounds. Gosh, after all that free camping I hope he at least buys a T'ride t-shirt while in town along with that band t-shirt! 

Auntie Hope 

[Jaci]

"PB should make NIghtgrass tickets "will call" only. That would cut down greatly on scalping and then people wouldn't tie up all the tickets for shows they don't plan on attending."

I agree. I got shut out of the Nightgrass lottery for RRE at the Sheridan this year, the only one I really wanted to go to. I understand that some people enter the Nightgrass lottery just so they can hold the tickets to trade later for other things. In other words, they didn't ever really intend to go see the shows for which they entered the lottery.

A "will call" ticket sale situation would actually work much better for everyone, including the bands. The bands would rather have The Sheridan full of diehard fans like me who might not have anything left to trade to others who won the tickets in the lottery.

 Listening to: RRE ELKO

[yojo]

Sorry but most of these 'ideas' are pretty selfish and not good at all (release 25% of tickets per day? Really? ) No matter what the system is that's in place it's called adapting and dealing with it. No use wasting time bitching and moaning about it. Lottery? Get all your friends to enter. No lottery? You better get online at the top of the hour and work it. I do like the will call only possibility.

PB's main goal is for everyone to have an excellent time, while ensuring selling out as much of the festival as possible. Looks like both will be attained this year, and by the looks of this lineup, it's gonna be a hell of a time!

Still looking for town park tickets here!