Fan Finds There’s No Cure for the Antics of Scalpers

The tug of war among concert promoters, ticket agencies, scalpers, and concert-goers continues. And, according to David Katz, it still is the true fan who ends up in the mud. Katz, 27, is a big fan of the Cure, the popular British band scheduled to perform at the Sports Arena on June 23.

Because they expected heavy initial ticket sales for the Cure show, promoter Avalon Attractions opted to use a system common for major concerts by which random-numbered wristbands are distributed to ticket buyers lining up on the first day of sales. With this process, the promoter, the ticket agency, and the venue seek to make one’s place in line to get the wristbands irrelevant, preventing unmanageable throngs of fans from descending on the box office.

After the wristbands are handed out, the supply-side folks use a relatively complex method of selecting a number at random, and the person with the corresponding wristband becomes first in line to actually purchase tickets. Other wristband holders are taken in sequence from that selected number. For the Cure show, wristbands were to be distributed on May 2--at 8 a.m. at the arena, and at 9 a.m. at all other TicketMaster outlets in the county.

Hoping for prime seats, Katz got up at 5 a.m. on May 2 and was first in line at the Wherehouse store on College and El Cajon Boulevard at 5:45. For the next two hours, in fact, he was the only one in line at that outlet. About 7 a.m., Katz saw what he presumed was a ticket scalper drive up in a rented car. The driver surveyed the scene, made a call on the car’s cellular phone, and drove off. He came back 30 minutes later with four people who got in line behind Katz.

Because they looked to be in their 40s, Katz suspected that the queuers were “droids” (slang for proxy ticket buyers), and the four admitted that a scalper was paying them $10 each to stand in line. By 9 a.m., two free-lance droids had joined the line. None of the others in line, Katz said, was familiar with the Cure. When the wristbands finally were distributed, Katz drew number 41.

At 9:30, a Wherehouse employee came out to inform those in line that the first ticket buyer would be wristband number 42. That meant that Katz would be the last in line to get tickets, even though he’d been the first in line and had waited the longest. That wasn’t the last of Katz’s aggravations.

Soon thereafter, the Wherehouse employee announced that TicketMaster’s main-frame computer in L.A. was temporarily out of commission, and that the start of actual ticket sales would be delayed from 10 to 10:30 a.m. A subsequent announcement moved the start time to the odd hour of 11:08. But Katz, who was listening to 91X on his radio, heard an Avalon spokesman say that tickets would go on sale at 11 a.m. sharp. He informed the Wherehouse employee, who argued that tickets would not go on sale until 11:08.

At 11:05 a.m., people were let into the store, by number, to buy tickets, only to discover that other outlets had put them on sale several minutes earlier. As a result of this five-minute gap, Katz ended up with what he feels are terrible seats.

“After five hours of waiting, and paying $27 a pop, I’m sitting at the very back of the arena,” Katz said angrily Monday. “My main complaint is that, by putting people in line, the scalper has a much greater chance of getting the priority wristband than a single fan does. It’s not fair. I’m the guy who buys the albums and listens to the music--not the scalpers, and not the people they get to wait in line. I’m out of work right now, and it was hard to scrape this much money together. I’m very upset and very disappointed.”

Katz took his complaints to those he felt were responsible. A spokeswoman at TicketMaster told him there was nothing she could do, but that she would bring it up at the agency’s next meeting. Someone at 91X listened sympathetically, but could offer no recourse. Katz tried unsuccessfully to get an Avalon spokesman on the phone.

“I’ve been going to concerts for 15 years,” Katz said. “I liked it better when it was first-come, first-served. If I’m willing to go to the trouble of getting in line to get the good seats, I should have a better shot at it than this. I feel completely screwed.”

Avalon’s David Swift could offer only sympathy for those who feel cheated by the same wristband system that was instituted several years ago--at least in part--to protect them.

“Initially, the two main reasons for the wristbands were 1) to thwart scalpers, and 2) to prevent people from hanging around the arena all night in an effort to be near the front of the line. I realize that scalpers can still have an unfair advantage by putting a lot of people in line for the wristbands, but what can I do? If (Katz) has any better ideas, I’d like to hear them.”

Katz, meanwhile, was not comforted by the news that tickets to the Cure’s June 23 show (co-featuring the Cranes) sold so well that a second show, on June 24, has been added. Tickets go on sale Saturday, and, yes, random-numbered wristbands will be distributed at 8 a.m. at the arena box office (no lineups allowed before 8 a.m.) and at 9 a.m. at other TicketMaster outlets.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.)

KMFDM plays Iguanas on June 6 ($14 in advance, on sale now, $15 on night of show). . . . Dramarama, originally scheduled to play June 5 at Iguanas, will instead open for the Cult at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre, June 14 . . . . A triple bill of Ozzy Osbourne, Slaughter and Ugly Kid Joe plays the Sports Arena on June 16. Tickets go on sale Friday, with random-numbered wristbands being distributed at 1 p.m. at the arena box office (other outlets will distribute wristbands at 2 p.m.) . . . . A country triple-header featuring Hank Williams Jr., Patty Loveless and Doug Stone will perform June 21 at the Cajon Speedway in El Cajon (on sale Saturday at noon). . . . James Taylor performs June 30 at the Embarcadero Marina Park South, the bayside home of the San Diego Symphony’s SummerPops, in the first of the Pops’ “Summer EXTRA!” series of concerts. Tickets ($18.50, $23.50 and $38.50) go on sale Monday at the Copley Symphony Hall ticket office (750 B St., 699-4205) and at all TicketMaster outlets (278-TIXS). Beginning June 22, tickets will also be available at the Embarcadero ticket office (8th Avenue, below Harbor Drive).

CRITIC’S CHOICE: STYLISTICS TO BE AT SMOKEY’S

With such soft-soul hits as “You Are Everything,” “Betcha by Golly, Wow,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” Philadelphia’s smooth, lush-voiced Stylistics wound up on the 1970s pop and R&B; charts at a time when “raucous” and “outlandish” were better bets for success. Inasmuch as those same catchwords remain in vogue, the vocal group might seem a much-needed antidote for today’s temper-tantrum rock and rap.

The Stylistics will perform 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. shows Thursday at Smokey’s, 10475 San Diego Mission Road. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 on night of show ($20 for special reserved seats on the floor). For information, call 563-0060.