and of course the origins of the name Bananarama were from an early Roxy single..

Yet another reason to fancy them

I'm curious to know how others fared in their hunt for tickets, so I'll share my booking experience to kick things off...

I'd received the pre-sale link by e-mail from the Royal Albert Hall on Wed, so despite getting online for 10.00 on Thur, I was fielding phone calls, e-mails & Facebook messages from friends demanding that I share it while I was trying to achieve my own bookings!

I can't/won't afford VIP, so was looking for the best of the other stalls options; however the ticket agency repeatedly only offered seats in the extreme wings. The view would simply not have been worth £100+.

It took me a while to realise that if I didn't release the unwanted seats from my shopping cart, the extra ones that I subsequently requested actually became replacements, rather than additional tickets (i.e. the process acted as an over-ride). It was still time consuming and frustrating, though.

I eventually booked a Wed ticket in row H, about one third of the way across the row; not great, but bearable. The seats offered for Fri were poorer value for money, so I gave up and headed off for an unavoidable trip to Wales (i.e. for mother-in-law's birthday celebrations!).

Booking from an iPhone from a train or using Welsh mobile phone reception proved akin to trying to unravel the Gordian Knot while wearing buttered ovengloves; not recommended!

I eventually managed to borrow Mrs Smudge's tablet or iPad (can't tell these new fangled gadgets apart... ) and booked a Fri ticket at midnight, succeeding in getting a seat in the centre of row I.

There was no facility for combining tickets for two gigs in one order, so my total outlay was an eye watering £214.50; this comprised £190 for tickets and £19 in fees, plus £5.50 postage.

Having only previously broken the £100 barrier for the Rolling Stones (Hyde Park) & David Gilmour (RAH), I'm struggling to justify the expense to myself and will probably soon give up trying.

I keep reminding myself that there won't be too many more tours, so I have to maximise my opportunities; however, I sometimes wonder if I'll end up living in a cardboard box on the Embankment well before BF decides to retire!

Let's hope the Scots among you warm him up nicely in Stirling & Perth and that he's on fine form at the Palladium. Doubtless I'll see some of you there.

Interesting, Smudge.

I was bang on the site at 10.00 am on Thursday ( via the Ticketmaster link) and I found the only seats on offer were in the wings of the stalls - the entire middle block of the stalls was not available for the Wednesday performance. At the time, I thought , wow, these are selling fast.

After several attempts - I selected seats that were then not available when I tried to pay - I secured two tickets in Row E.

Also a big outlay of £212.40 for the pair.

I realise now that the bulk of the stalls seat may have been held back for the Friday ticket release. Slightly cynical, I fear.

Since I had not booked for rah, (being a Brighton local) I had no special link.
I was travelling that morning, but pulled the car over and got the iPad out before 1000.

I suspected that nothing would be available on Many sites (my wife tried official/TM route whilst sitting next to me...no joy), so I went straight for the seetickets VIP link. On the stroke of 1000 the page switched from "tickets available at 1000" to "tickets unavailable" ie sold out. For all tickets, not just VIP.
So, I switched to Seatwave (a reseller site..."tout" site?!). Immediately saw top seats available at a ridiculous premium. I mean ridiculous. I won't comment here on what I did next.

But, I think it's a bit of a shame that I could only find a premium way to obtain a ticket, at £200 a pop, despite being ready and informed to go route one to get a ticket.

How come the tout sites had so much availability (showing many tickets available, and the ones I visited may be expensive, but they're reliable) seconds after official outlets were sold out...?

Hello RoxySiren and Smudge;

Hopefully I will be able to attend one of the Scotland concerts, but I am going to have to get my tickets from a "scalper", I was not even going to try to buy them when they went on sale anyway because I am not sure yet if I will be able to go. But having said that it might not cost much more to buy them on the "secondary" market and try to get really good seats for a little more than the original cost. Any advice or thoughts about that?

Smudges' comments about "unraveling a Gordian Knot" and "living in a cardboard box on the embankment"


And RoxySiren mentioning that's "another reason to fancy them" Bananarama

A very good friend I met here on the forum actually produced a song called "Suckers" for a Sunderland local band called "The Wall" that also had a Sex Pistols producer.

Hi Teresa,

I think I'd do it exactly the other way around, I'd buy the best available tickets first - if you really can't go you can still resell them either here in the forum or at ebays.

Just my 2 Cents.

Hi Lonely Dreamer;
I wish I would have thought of that !
I just hope I will make it over there for the Scotland concert with my dear forum friend
There are a few obstacles that will need to be overcome including an absolute terror of flying on my part!

First Scandinavian dates ticking in..;

http://www.ranablad.no/kultur/bodo/musi ... -42-128875

http://www.vk.se/1585498/bryan-ferry-till-sverige

Bodø, Norway, is really the oddest of places. I lived there during my teens in the 70s. -Not a trace of provincialism, and maybe that`s why this happens. Today it`s a town of 50 000 citizens, -quite big in a Norwegian context. We don`t live in the age of albums anymore, but according to this paper, it sounds like we do. In the 90s, Bryan sold more copies of Mamouna in this town than anywhere else in Norway.

When I arrived there in the summer of 1970, heavy rock was the big thing, although they called it prog.

Of all things, this link is not Bodø`s local newspaper, but the one in the smaller neighbouring town, 250 kilometers farther south.

In addition, Bryan adds another concert in Oslo.

-And then to Sweden. Of course. Malmø, Gothenburg and Stockholm. We know.

The Scandanavian & Benelux dates have been announced:

http://www.vivaroxymusic.com/tours_38.php

J.O'B.