Paul McCartney fans have a right to be irate

April 28, 2005 -- Houston Chronicle

Paul McCartney fans have a right to be irate

If you got shut out from buying tickets to the Paul McCartney concert, then hit the ceiling when hundreds of tickets went on sale on eBay (for 10 times their face value), Toyota Center management feels your pain.

And anger. And frustration.

More important, Toyota Center is doing something about it.

"I've got a whole stack of complaints from fans," said Andrea Bouchey, director of event marketing for Toyota Center. "These fans either weren't able to buy tickets or didn't get the tickets they wanted. So we are looking at ways of dealing with the situation for future shows."

The vast majority of concert tickets are purchased via home computers, so Toyota Center will begin limiting the number of browser windows a person can have open at one time.

"The ticket limit for the McCartney concert was eight per order, but if a person had four windows open, he could have purchased 32 tickets. We will fix it so computers can have only one window open on our Web site," Bouchey said.

"The problem is, because of the Internet, everybody can be a ticket broker."

It's true. I know someone who routinely sells concert tickets on eBay. He needs only two tickets but buys four ... or six ... or eight.

He uses what he needs and sells the rest - for a neat profit. "That way, I get to go to the concert for free," he says.

Bouchey said Toyota Center may discuss restricting the number of tickets allowed per order, too, but that limit is usually set by the promoter or artist.

"The McCartney concert was the greatest demand for any event yet at Toyota Center, more than U2, more than anything else. We could have sold out a bunch more McCartney concerts," she said.

Tickets for the McCartney concert went on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Saturday. Within minutes, the "sold out" sign went up.

However, there was a special "ticket pre-sale" the day before that sold 3,000 tickets. This is what sent many fans over the edge. They didn't know how to be included in the pre-sale.

Members of the Official Paul McCartney Fan Club got first crack at tickets. I received my "secret personalized password" a few days earlier, with instructions on how to buy tickets from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday.

Later that day, members of radio station listener clubs and the Toyota Center Insiders Club were able to buy tickets before the general public.

To become a member of the Toyota Center Insiders Club, click on www.toyotacentertix.com and follow instructions. It's free to join.

"Nearly every concert at Toyota Center has a pre-sale for Insider Club members," Bouchey said.

Neil Diamond is coming to Toyota Center on Oct. 11. No date has been announced for general ticket sales, but the "pre-sale" starts at 9 a.m. today.

Here we go again.