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Ticketmaster Offering New Yorkers FREE Tickets To Musical Toilet Fires
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 22, 2016
Modified Jun 22, 2016
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 22, 2016
Modified Jun 22, 2016
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This past weekend, it was reported that the $400 million class-action lawsuit against Ticketmaster had been resolved—and that meant that anybody who has been buying tickets through the company most likely had earned themselves some free show vouchers. Maybe you were feeling optimistic about that, especially considering all the hours of your life you wasted stressing about futile attempts to score Radiohead tickets and those ticket scalpers you wished death upon.
I spent some time in my "Active Vouchers" account on Ticketmaster this morning and discovered that I have 17 vouchers (good for two tickets each!) plus another 17 discount codes worth $2.25 each ($38.25 is nothing to sneeze at). I felt like the king of the world!
And then I looked at what was available. You can go here and see every show throughout the country that falls under the vouchers, or you can go here to see just the NYC-area ones. Or you could just scroll down below to face what's currently available and weep with me.
For those of us imagining we would be frolicking in a world filled with free tickets to see Chance The Rapper or the Buzzcocks or what not, this might be a grave disappointment. Maybe you're the kind of person who can do the mental gymnastics necessary to think, "Maybe The House of Nails with Lenny Dykstra would be a fun Wednesday night on the town," and more power to you! But the vast majority of people are pretty upset about being strong-armed into spending time with Lenny Dykstra.
(Mind you, things are much worse in the NYC-area than elsewhere in the country: there are tickets to see Steely Dan, The Cure, Dolly Parton, Pitbull, Joan Jett and more at other cities, but you'll have to travel to Phoenix or Silver Spring to do so.)
Making matters worse: the roll out of the vouchers has been riddled with errors, and people have been having a very hard time getting them to even work with the shows available. The one show I wanted to see on the list is the Yacht Rock Revue at Irving Plaza, and all 17 of my codes weren't accepted by Ticketmaster. Thinking this giveaway would lead to anything but added frustration is truly what the fool believes.
Ticketmaster does caution that there will be more shows available in the coming weeks, and you should keep checking back to see what is listed: "If the initial list of events does not include an event in your area, please check back periodically, as new events will be added," a spokesperson said in a statement. “We are also experiencing extremely high call volumes and appreciate your patience as we work as quickly as possible to address all inquiries."
You can check here for more frequently asked questions about the giveaway. In the meantime, maybe you will find more to sift through than us—that Black Sabbath cover band sounds okay! ZZ Top is a band! (Close your eyes and pretend you're on a weekend getaway to the state fair?) Um, D Generation had a single we vaguely remember!
Tagged
concerts
lenny dykstra
live music
Music
ticketmaster
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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