What do you good festivarian folks think about the surplus of tickets for sale on the resale page? I am in my 8th year of attendance and have used the resale page to both buy and sell tix in the past (Debbie from Tuscon is the BEST). Its been an interesting evolution. I think its only been about 3 years that the fest has seen the 4 days and the Friday Saturday singles sell out almost immediately when the web tix sales open. I attributed that change to both the ever expanding awareness and appreciation of the Telluride bluegrass experience, but also to the big Phish show a few years ago that raised awareness among the jam band set and others.
Clearly some scalpers jumped in the last few years to try to profit, but I think after this year, those low lifes won’t take the risk. why are tickets so easy this year??
I personally wonder if a factor this year in the diminished demand is that they have not booked an iconic national rock act, and there doesn’t seem to be any buzz around a surprise late announcement. John Fogerty and Stevie Winwood were both epic, incredible shows. Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Counting crows, Robert Plant, Ryan Adams, Mumford (cancelled but intended) all come to mind. Janelle Monae, Leftover and Ry Cooder just aren’t in the same category. EVERYONE who knows TBF is of course thrilled and satisfied to see all of our brilliant regulars - Bush, Rowan, Douglas, Fleck, Meyer, O’Brien, Thiele, McCoury, Sutton as well as Yonder, Punch, Turtles, Greensky, Leftover, etc. But I personally think that a big name rock act is fun and worthwhile. Whats wrong with a shameless crowd pleaser? And lets get real, by 10 pm on Friday or Saturday after long days partying hard in sun, the crowd needs a high energy infusion of accessible fun.
So anyway, if I was making a suggestion to festival organizers it would be to spend the money to get one big, national classic rock act on the bill every year. I wonder if relatively slack ticket demand this year is sending the same message. Thoughts? Porto
I’ve been saying for a while that they need to just do four days of solo Edgar Meyer to ease the ticket demand, but I guess this works too, huh?
I, too am surprised at the many tickets that have been for sale this year. I wonder if the expensive GD50 events are forcing some festivarians to make a choice this year? In any event, I am counting the days to get to Telluride later this month!
We’ve seen this ticket dumping going on the past few years, but not quite at this level. I attribute it to poor planning more than anything else. People buy their tickets for their friends who say they intend to go, and now, closer to the date, have to get rid of them because those friends changed their minds. The demand for TBF tickets is high, yes, but I believe a good deal of that to be artificial. Tickets are nearly impossible to find early but incredibly easy to find in late May and early June. I don’t much care about the lack of a big classic rock icon. I enjoyed all of the shows you mentioned (with the obvious exceptions of Ryan Adams), but I don’t think it’s necessary to have them.
Hardly the end of the world, but this year’s absence of such a slot is notable and it certainly is part of an interesting overall dynamic re: ticket demand and such.
For my own situation and tastes: living in the area, the TBF has been one of the few entities which has been able to regularly deliver national headliners to town (apart from the core family of “regular” musicians). It’s one of the few ways to see the big stars. Otherwise, it’s a lot of traveling to get to see big acts at Red Rocks, 1st Bank, Pepsi Center, Phoenix, SLC, etc.
Widespread Panic will be coming to Telluride on July 11 & 12 … so that’ll help on the “lost rock” front for locals.
As far as the initial demand, the speculative bubble clearly exists … it’s just a question of how it breaks down as to why.
Now if only there was a surplus of Sheridan tickets or GSBG tickets.
I like having artist I don’t know more than the big acts . I always get turned on to some great new music in Telluride .
I don’t know if there is a surplus of GSBG tickets… But it’s usually not too hard to get a hold of some of the Sheridan tickets closer to the festival date. It seems 2-3 of those shows often sell out to people hoping to use them as trade bait.
I don’t want to spill the beans too much, but you can often get into a Sheridan show just by waiting outside the venue for a loose ticket to appear.
I also like having new acts rather than big names. (Though what “big name” means is open to discussion. Jackson Browne was a big name in the 70s, as was John Fogerty. Now they’re great fun to hear-- --Is Steve Winwood really a bigger name today than Ry Cooder? The heyday for both was decades ago; and thank God they’re both still out there playing–and they are hardly the band of the moment like Mumford was the first time they played the fest. And just as well they aren’t back, not that their first album wasn’t great.) I always enjoy hearing new acts and every year come away with a couple great surprises and have remained fans of those people since.
The fest is pretty much going to sell out or very close to it every year. If not having the big name (or the expectation of one, because of course the four day passes go in 7 minutes before a single act has been announced) helps get the festival back to a truer festivarian community and less one of people following big names around, all the better I think. It’s great to have a Robert Plant every once in awhile when it makes sense, as it did when he was doing his bluegrassish thing. And of course, Telluride bluegrass is always its own eclectic genre.
I seriously doubt many tickets were bought in the hope that John Fogerty would be on the lineup and that was what would make it worth going. I think it’s far more the scheduling things that were mentioned, and the economy.
I first started coming to the fest in '92 and it has changed. Though in many ways not that much. It’s still the best four days on the planet. And while I’ve enjoyed the “big names” mentioned, what has stuck with me more, beyond the regulars, are the people I have discovered at the fest who have become part of my musical life. Everyone from Neko Case to Ryan Shupe to Stephen Kellogg to The Mammals to The Duhks to The Greencards to Crooked Still to whoever I’m going to fall in love with this year. The music starts two weeks from today!
Ticket surplus is due to Yonder breakup.
Heck, I have a ticket to Sheridan show with my name on it, used to be hardest ticket of the year. Don’t think I can bear it.
Cry in your beer for three hours.
If that was the case, we would have witnessed the same number of tickets being sold last year. Yonder’s sets are a highlight of the festival for many, but there’s so much more to this festival than just one band.
Might have been the Mayor’s weather forecast.
The weather seems to be really nice…check out Accuweather Telluride…
thinking positive… :huh
This is certainly true, I am just speculating that the “ticket surplus,” if such a thing exists, might be attributed to Yonder fans, who in the past 10+ years have shown up in huge numbers.
I think that most of the availability of tickets is due to LIFE. Life happens and sometimes it change our priorities.
Just in my camp we’ve had work problems (“take your vacation now? are you kidding?”), health problems, legal problems, etc. It just happened to be all at the same time.
Agreed - lots of the content of the posts suggests this more than anything else. I think many people are likely realizing, too, that a 4-day (or single day) festival pass does not have the currency that other tickets do (i.e., even though tickets sell out fast, 4-day passes don’t tend to have much currency in trying to acquire the more coveted Nightgrass or camping tickets).
I know my group had a sort of combination of things – we got 8 4-day passes since our minimum travel group was 5 and the maximum was 7 and if only one of our group got tickets we didn’t want to have to track down lots of passes. We didn’t have firm commitments by return ticket deadline and hoped it wouldn’t be tough to unload them (hopefully in exchange for some Nightgrass tickets), and it was. We’ll be seeking commitments from our folks by the resale date in the future, but that still doesn’t guarantee that everyone will be able to come by June.
The bottom line is that I’ve sold all of my extra 4-day passes and gotten most of the Nightgrass tickets I want, but those exchanges were not connected - something I’ll keep in mind in the future.
Like several have said, though - it all works out for the most part. What’s life if not a series of stressful events that all complement and balance each other out? :burn :thumbsup :wave :cheers
^the yonder fall off certainly seems to be part of it, and the strength of the overall lineup is not what its been in recent years
I suspect the addition of the JAB to the TBF could only help with the overall “Yonder market”, regardless of who’s side one might be on. Personally, I really hope JAB is considered in the future.
I noticed JAB is playing at Huck Finn this weekend in Ontario, CA … which might be having some effect regarding the draw from the Southwest overall. They actually have an excellent lineup this year, perhaps rivaling the TBF lineup. Last year SCI played there and it’s possible many fans will return due to the nature of the lineup this year … which seems to be equally appealing to both “traditionalists” and “jamgrass” enthusiasts alike.
While the venue is great for LA, it doesn’t have much on Telluride … nonetheless, it’s possible some who live in SoCal and the SW are taking a more convenient path this year in light of their strong lineup.
This weekends Blue Ox Festival in Eau Claire WI has both Jeff Austin Band (2:30 Friday) and Yonder Mountain String Band (10:30 Saturday). Really have a hard time believing that anyone not named Sam Bush would have that much effect on ticket sales at Telluride. And that tickets for sale this year are not much different than other years.