Gord Downie, Tragically Hip singer, has terminal cancer
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Something’s tragically wrong with ticket resales
By Christina Blizzard, Queen's Park Columnist
First posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 07:27 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 08:50 PM EDT
TORONTO - It is, sadly, a matter of supply and demand.
When a limited number of tickets went on sale for a Tragically Hip concert series that’s a poignant, emotional swan song for lead singer Gord Downie, you knew scalpers would clean up and there’d be heartbreak and finger-pointing from fans.
Does government have a place in the ticket sales of the province?
The answer is yes — and no.
Yes, because the government has already meddled in the resale of event tickets, aiding and abetting this nightmare. They changed the law preventing the resale of event tickets at a profit in 2015, thus enabling companies like Ticketmaster and StubHub to cash in.
And no, because this is a legitimate business that has the right to buy and sell tickets to whoever they want. And the law of supply and demand says when thousands of people pursue a handful of tickets, prices will soar.
That’s capitalism and no one should have to apologize.
What concertgoers should do — but won’t — is refuse to pay the inflated prices.
From 1914 to 2010, it was illegal to buy and sell tickets for above face value under Ontario’s Ticket Speculation Act.
In 2010, the government amended that to prohibit primary ticket sellers and secondary ticket sellers from selling tickets to the same events. The government says it was amended to ensure that if you profited from the primary sale, you couldn’t also profit from the resale. It was supposed to stop a parent company creating a subsidiary company to sell the same tickets at a higher price.
In 2015, that was changed again so ticketholders are allowed to resell their tickets at more than their face value on the condition that the tickets are verified by the original vendor or resold by a professional reseller with a money-back guarantee.
So that, essentially, was a massive cave-in to companies like Ticketmaster, StubHub and others.
In the legislature Wednesday, Progressive Conservative critic Todd Smith demanded to know why that change was made, with a question to Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur. It was that change that opened up the market to accusations of gouging.
He wanted to know if donations by Ticketmaster to the Liberal Party had anything to do with it.
“If Ontario music fans want to know what really happened, I’ve got 52,700 reasons why this happened,” Smith said.
“That’s how much Ticketmaster and its parent company have donated to the Ontario Liberals in the last two years.”
Smith said recent tour dates for acts like Bruce Springsteen, Adele and the Tragically Hip have resulted in tickets being resold at more than ten times the face value.
Meilleur said the change was all about making sure the resold ticket is legitimate.
“The rule we changed is to prevent fraud,” she said. “We needed to make sure that if you buy a ticket from a third party, that it’s a legitimate ticket.”
That may have been the intention. If you buy season tickets to the Raptors and can’t use them, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to resell them.
On its website, StubHub said a “portion” of Hip sales would go to the Sunnybrook Foundation.
But when companies are essentially buying from themselves, making huge profits and squeezing out the fans, something’s tragically wrong.
cblizzard@postmedia.com
Something’s tragically wrong with ticket resales | Blizzard | Ontario | News | T
By Christina Blizzard, Queen's Park Columnist
First posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 07:27 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, June 01, 2016 08:50 PM EDT
TORONTO - It is, sadly, a matter of supply and demand.
When a limited number of tickets went on sale for a Tragically Hip concert series that’s a poignant, emotional swan song for lead singer Gord Downie, you knew scalpers would clean up and there’d be heartbreak and finger-pointing from fans.
Does government have a place in the ticket sales of the province?
The answer is yes — and no.
Yes, because the government has already meddled in the resale of event tickets, aiding and abetting this nightmare. They changed the law preventing the resale of event tickets at a profit in 2015, thus enabling companies like Ticketmaster and StubHub to cash in.
And no, because this is a legitimate business that has the right to buy and sell tickets to whoever they want. And the law of supply and demand says when thousands of people pursue a handful of tickets, prices will soar.
That’s capitalism and no one should have to apologize.
What concertgoers should do — but won’t — is refuse to pay the inflated prices.
From 1914 to 2010, it was illegal to buy and sell tickets for above face value under Ontario’s Ticket Speculation Act.
In 2010, the government amended that to prohibit primary ticket sellers and secondary ticket sellers from selling tickets to the same events. The government says it was amended to ensure that if you profited from the primary sale, you couldn’t also profit from the resale. It was supposed to stop a parent company creating a subsidiary company to sell the same tickets at a higher price.
In 2015, that was changed again so ticketholders are allowed to resell their tickets at more than their face value on the condition that the tickets are verified by the original vendor or resold by a professional reseller with a money-back guarantee.
So that, essentially, was a massive cave-in to companies like Ticketmaster, StubHub and others.
In the legislature Wednesday, Progressive Conservative critic Todd Smith demanded to know why that change was made, with a question to Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur. It was that change that opened up the market to accusations of gouging.
He wanted to know if donations by Ticketmaster to the Liberal Party had anything to do with it.
“If Ontario music fans want to know what really happened, I’ve got 52,700 reasons why this happened,” Smith said.
“That’s how much Ticketmaster and its parent company have donated to the Ontario Liberals in the last two years.”
Smith said recent tour dates for acts like Bruce Springsteen, Adele and the Tragically Hip have resulted in tickets being resold at more than ten times the face value.
Meilleur said the change was all about making sure the resold ticket is legitimate.
“The rule we changed is to prevent fraud,” she said. “We needed to make sure that if you buy a ticket from a third party, that it’s a legitimate ticket.”
That may have been the intention. If you buy season tickets to the Raptors and can’t use them, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to resell them.
On its website, StubHub said a “portion” of Hip sales would go to the Sunnybrook Foundation.
But when companies are essentially buying from themselves, making huge profits and squeezing out the fans, something’s tragically wrong.
cblizzard@postmedia.com
Something’s tragically wrong with ticket resales | Blizzard | Ontario | News | T
Absolutely, it's obscene to be capitalizing off some poor bastard's misfortune! But then I suppose the funeral homes do it every day.
Many Tragically Hip fans disappointed as concert tickets sell out in minutes
David Friend, THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Friday, June 03, 2016 11:03 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, June 03, 2016 12:52 PM EDT
TORONTO -- Many Tragically Hip fans were left empty-handed Friday as tickets for some of the band's upcoming summer concerts sold out almost immediately.
Within minutes after the start of the public sale, it appeared that all available tickets for three arena shows at Toronto's Air Canada Centre had been snapped up, along with dates in Hamilton and the band's final stop in Kingston, Ont.
The story played out much the same across Canada as the 10 a.m. sale start moved west. In Edmonton and Calgary, tickets were snapped up in what felt like seconds. Tickets for three concerts in British Columbia will go on sale later today.
Disappointed fans took to social media to express their suspicion that a large portion of the tickets were bought by resellers hoping to capitalize on the intense interest.
This tour is widely expected to be the final one for the iconic Canadian band, given lead singer Gord Downie's diagnosis of incurable brain cancer.
"Hope the scalpers have a great time at the Tragically Hip shows!" tweeted user David Kennedy shortly after tickets sold out.
Others remarked that there seemed to be relatively few happy tweets from fans who were actually able to buy tickets.
"So did literally no one get Tragically Hip tickets??" asked user Ali Neil on Twitter.
Not everyone was shut out of tickets though and fans who chose the old-fashioned approach -- lining up at Ticketmaster outlets -- seemed to have greater success.
Emily Plunkett was one of the fortunate ones who stood outside the ticket booth at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa where a small group of fans waited all night.
All of them were able to secure tickets, she said.
Less than half an hour after the public sale began for the Toronto shows, more than 2,500 tickets were listed for marked-up prices on StubHub.
Huh....The Capital Tickets site thinks I'm a bot, after being online and in the waiting room for an hour.... #TragicallyHip this is madness.
— mizmulligan (@mizmulligan) June 3, 2016
Many Tragically Hip fans disappointed as concert tickets sell out in minutes | M
David Friend, THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Friday, June 03, 2016 11:03 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, June 03, 2016 12:52 PM EDT
TORONTO -- Many Tragically Hip fans were left empty-handed Friday as tickets for some of the band's upcoming summer concerts sold out almost immediately.
Within minutes after the start of the public sale, it appeared that all available tickets for three arena shows at Toronto's Air Canada Centre had been snapped up, along with dates in Hamilton and the band's final stop in Kingston, Ont.
The story played out much the same across Canada as the 10 a.m. sale start moved west. In Edmonton and Calgary, tickets were snapped up in what felt like seconds. Tickets for three concerts in British Columbia will go on sale later today.
Disappointed fans took to social media to express their suspicion that a large portion of the tickets were bought by resellers hoping to capitalize on the intense interest.
This tour is widely expected to be the final one for the iconic Canadian band, given lead singer Gord Downie's diagnosis of incurable brain cancer.
"Hope the scalpers have a great time at the Tragically Hip shows!" tweeted user David Kennedy shortly after tickets sold out.
Others remarked that there seemed to be relatively few happy tweets from fans who were actually able to buy tickets.
"So did literally no one get Tragically Hip tickets??" asked user Ali Neil on Twitter.
Not everyone was shut out of tickets though and fans who chose the old-fashioned approach -- lining up at Ticketmaster outlets -- seemed to have greater success.
Emily Plunkett was one of the fortunate ones who stood outside the ticket booth at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa where a small group of fans waited all night.
All of them were able to secure tickets, she said.
Less than half an hour after the public sale began for the Toronto shows, more than 2,500 tickets were listed for marked-up prices on StubHub.
Huh....The Capital Tickets site thinks I'm a bot, after being online and in the waiting room for an hour.... #TragicallyHip this is madness.
— mizmulligan (@mizmulligan) June 3, 2016
Many Tragically Hip fans disappointed as concert tickets sell out in minutes | M
How reputable is that Beaverton (never heard of it)- I checked C.B.C. ............nothing! I call bull sh*t!
I work at the beaverton. it's near bobcaygeon. true story.
it's tragic again.
there are plenty of families carrying the burden of brain-related cancers and such. this guy gets special mention because of some band he's in.
this man will die and people will mourn, many with severe levels of maudlinity but that's life in these post-Diana days.
at any rate, there are bigger, more highly influencing and mentoring Canadians in the music industry. Paul Anka and David Foster to kick off.
it's tragic again.
there are plenty of families carrying the burden of brain-related cancers and such. this guy gets special mention because of some band he's in.
this man will die and people will mourn, many with severe levels of maudlinity but that's life in these post-Diana days.
at any rate, there are bigger, more highly influencing and mentoring Canadians in the music industry. Paul Anka and David Foster to kick off.
Not very.... Beaverton (the paper) is satire - like the Onion.
...and the fact Downie wants to give it his best is what matters. Doesn't offend me ... and brain cancer's what took my kids' mother. I know what's to come....
The sour grapes are your own
...and the fact Downie wants to give it his best is what matters. Doesn't offend me ... and brain cancer's what took my kids' mother. I know what's to come....
The sour grapes are your own
Some people can be plain f**king ignorant! The term announced was "terminal cancer", there was no time mentioned. I hope he carries on for another 30 years..........................it's happened before.........................check Richard Bloch!
I think most people would want to go with 1 or 2 other people and sit together. I think a limit of 4 per person is more reasonable.
It is Canada's Onion. It is a satire site. Pretty funny sometimes.
I would assume that he has scheduled his tour with thoughts of the strain it will put on him and with consideration of his usable time left. His exact prognosis is really none of anybody's business. The single survivor statistic you waive around of course is meaningless. Once case does not create the norm.
No, just an ingredient in the formula to arrive at the norm- however it does prove the possibility & hence provides a glimmer of hope.
Yep, every idea takes form at some point and often can use some fine tuning. I think four would be reasonable!
They wont do it. As things are they sell every ticket which is all the want to do. They dont care who or what gets it. I got lucky this time around. I got one of these tickets. Not in the best spot, but hey, I can get in without spending a penny over face value. Looks like I was one of a handful of non scalpers/bots who got them.
My girlfriends father had the same kind of cancer. From diagnosis to death it took 8 months. By the looks of things Gord will outdo that and hopefully by quite a bit but who knows. Cancer can be a real b*tch. From what I've read 1-2 years seems to be the norm. Time will tell.
Absolutely, it's obscene to be capitalizing off some poor bastard's misfortune! But then I suppose the funeral homes do it every day.
A friend of mine who plays the organ at the church makes a lot more money playing funerals. He likes to say "Business never dies." I like a darker sense of humour.
Well, this sort of thing happened with public figures long before Diana too.
Good posts, glad you got your ticket at the proper price!
You just can't never tell, a lot has to do with attitude. Today I was watching old footage on C.B.C. of Muhammad Ali lighting the torch in Atlanta in 1996. To look at that you'd swear he was on his last legs then. I wouldn't have given him 6 months. At one point my old man was given about a year to live, he lasted for over 5. He was one tough old curmudgeon!
There's an old saying............."while there's life there's hope".
tough road to hoe though living in constant pain and discomfort. If ya don't feel like or can't do anything what is there to hang on to ?Good posts, glad you got your ticket at the proper price!
You just can't never tell, a lot has to do with attitude. Today I was watching old footage on C.B.C. of Muhammad Ali lighting the torch in Atlanta in 1996. To look at that you'd swear he was on his last legs then. I wouldn't have given him 6 months. At one point my old man was given about a year to live, he lasted for over 5. He was one tough old curmudgeon!
It did, of course, but with social media there is now a bombardment. Before social media, you kind of had to seek out this information a bit, so if you were not so inclined you just wouldn't.
And with actual media reporting everything on social media, the coverage sometimes seems like it's quadruple what it maybe should be.
Personally I don't think the coverage has been all that over done, not in my opinion. And I'm not necessarily a Hip fan....I don't actively dislike them (they aren't Nickleback after all
) but I don't really seek them out. I just think this is a horrible thing to have to face at an age when he should have many, many, many years left of life ahead of him. Cancer is insidious.
Guess it's one of those situations where you have to weigh the pros and cons and figure out which outweighs which!
CBC to broadcast final concert for The Tragically Hip
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Friday, June 17, 2016 08:26 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, June 17, 2016 11:13 AM EDT
TORONTO -- The CBC will broadcast live the final stop of The Tragically Hip's upcoming tour, which ends in Kingston, Ont.
CBC television, radio and online platforms will carry the concert on Aug. 20, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The public broadcaster announced the program as the band released its 14th studio album, "Man Machine Poem," on Friday.
The tour is expected to be the final one for the iconic Canadian band, given lead singer Gord Downie's battle with incurable brain cancer.
Downie's medical condition was revealed by the band on May 24, and the Hip's tour was announced the next day.
On Friday morning, a handful of people lined up outside HMV's flagship store in downtown Toronto to be among the first to purchase the Hip's new album.
Longtime fan James Cashman said he made an hour-long trip from the city's east-end suburbs to get the disc.
"It's going to be their last one and the poor guy is sick, you know. It's really sad," said Cashman, a 64-year-old retired funeral assistant.
Cashman said he was glad to hear the band's Kingston show would be broadcast on television, noting he couldn't afford concert tickets.
"The tickets were gone so quickly, this resale thing, it's not good. They should just put out two tickets per person, you know. Then everybody has a chance."
Demand for concert tickets has been overwhelming, with all 15 shows across Canada selling out almost instantly.
Ticketmaster told The Canadian Press that roughly 1.3 million fans tried buy tickets during the public sale but only several hundred thousand seats were available.
Earlier this week, a new batch of tickets were made available after the band tweaked its stage design to accommodate more fans but those seats also sold out immediately.
Fans have been fuming about the exorbitant mark-ups on tickets being sold on secondary websites like StubHub and classified sites like Craigslist and Kijiji.
Members of the Hip also seemed to be displeased with how ticket sales went.
Guitarist Rob Baker responded to a fan on Twitter, saying that they were "sad and concerned" about the sellout.
"We make every effort to make sure it is fair -- much beyond our control," he tweeted. "We want fans rather than the connected."
CBC said the concert in Kingston, the band's hometown, will be carried live on CBC Television, CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, its YouTube channels, and cbcmusic.ca.
The tour will launch July 22 in Victoria.
When the shocking announcement was made that Downie is battling terminal cancer, the band's managers assured fans the frontman had received clearance from doctors to perform and was determined to "blow people's minds."
The 52-year-old father of four was diagnosed with glioblastoma in December after suffering a seizure. He had surgery and treatment for what doctors say is the most common and aggressive type of tumour to start in the brain.
"The will to do the tour, that was easy," manager Patrick Sambrook said at a press conference also attended by Downie's neuro-oncologist, Dr. James Perry.
"The (question was): 'Can we do this?' and 'Can we do it to the level that (we want)?' It's a pro band, Gord absolutely doesn't want to go out there unless he can really do his thing and so I mean, their head space, his head space is: 'We want to blow people's minds.'"
The band has not spoken to the media about Downie's condition and the tour, but posted a letter to fans on its website saying the concerts felt like "the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us."
"What we in the Hip receive, each time we play together, is a connection; with each other; with music and its magic; and during the shows, a special connection with all of you, our incredible fans. So, we're going to dig deep, and try to make this our best tour yet."
CBC to broadcast final concert for The Tragically Hip | Music | Entertainment |
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Friday, June 17, 2016 08:26 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, June 17, 2016 11:13 AM EDT
TORONTO -- The CBC will broadcast live the final stop of The Tragically Hip's upcoming tour, which ends in Kingston, Ont.
CBC television, radio and online platforms will carry the concert on Aug. 20, starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The public broadcaster announced the program as the band released its 14th studio album, "Man Machine Poem," on Friday.
The tour is expected to be the final one for the iconic Canadian band, given lead singer Gord Downie's battle with incurable brain cancer.
Downie's medical condition was revealed by the band on May 24, and the Hip's tour was announced the next day.
On Friday morning, a handful of people lined up outside HMV's flagship store in downtown Toronto to be among the first to purchase the Hip's new album.
Longtime fan James Cashman said he made an hour-long trip from the city's east-end suburbs to get the disc.
"It's going to be their last one and the poor guy is sick, you know. It's really sad," said Cashman, a 64-year-old retired funeral assistant.
Cashman said he was glad to hear the band's Kingston show would be broadcast on television, noting he couldn't afford concert tickets.
"The tickets were gone so quickly, this resale thing, it's not good. They should just put out two tickets per person, you know. Then everybody has a chance."
Demand for concert tickets has been overwhelming, with all 15 shows across Canada selling out almost instantly.
Ticketmaster told The Canadian Press that roughly 1.3 million fans tried buy tickets during the public sale but only several hundred thousand seats were available.
Earlier this week, a new batch of tickets were made available after the band tweaked its stage design to accommodate more fans but those seats also sold out immediately.
Fans have been fuming about the exorbitant mark-ups on tickets being sold on secondary websites like StubHub and classified sites like Craigslist and Kijiji.
Members of the Hip also seemed to be displeased with how ticket sales went.
Guitarist Rob Baker responded to a fan on Twitter, saying that they were "sad and concerned" about the sellout.
"We make every effort to make sure it is fair -- much beyond our control," he tweeted. "We want fans rather than the connected."
CBC said the concert in Kingston, the band's hometown, will be carried live on CBC Television, CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, its YouTube channels, and cbcmusic.ca.
The tour will launch July 22 in Victoria.
When the shocking announcement was made that Downie is battling terminal cancer, the band's managers assured fans the frontman had received clearance from doctors to perform and was determined to "blow people's minds."
The 52-year-old father of four was diagnosed with glioblastoma in December after suffering a seizure. He had surgery and treatment for what doctors say is the most common and aggressive type of tumour to start in the brain.
"The will to do the tour, that was easy," manager Patrick Sambrook said at a press conference also attended by Downie's neuro-oncologist, Dr. James Perry.
"The (question was): 'Can we do this?' and 'Can we do it to the level that (we want)?' It's a pro band, Gord absolutely doesn't want to go out there unless he can really do his thing and so I mean, their head space, his head space is: 'We want to blow people's minds.'"
The band has not spoken to the media about Downie's condition and the tour, but posted a letter to fans on its website saying the concerts felt like "the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us."
"What we in the Hip receive, each time we play together, is a connection; with each other; with music and its magic; and during the shows, a special connection with all of you, our incredible fans. So, we're going to dig deep, and try to make this our best tour yet."
CBC to broadcast final concert for The Tragically Hip | Music | Entertainment |