Pearl Jam Sabotaged?
Heaven have mercy on the man, woman, or automated ticketing system that comes between a Pearl Jam fan and his/her presale tickets.
All hell broke loose in Pearl Jam Fan-land last week, with hundreds of irate fans smarting over problems related to presales exclusive to members of Pearl Jam’s longstanding fan club, the Ten Club. Members trying to get tickets to the band’s upcoming European tour were frustrated by, as one commenter on Pearl Jam’s website put it: ” . . . 3 fucking hours staring at my screen waiting for things to happen . . . I actually had the tickets in my cart . . . proceeded to payment and it said the cart was empty, too many times to mention . . . “
Pearl Jam has had similar problems with presales in the past, so they recently enlisted a third-party vendor, CrowdSurge, to handle ticketing. But since they’re having problems again, a Ten Club rep posted a note to the band’s website stating that further presales would be suspended, and that “Given that Tuesday’s pre-sale system failure mirrored that of the Ten Club ticketing failure earlier this year—on entirely different systems, and unrelated to server capacity—all involved now strongly believe that there has been an act of sabotage from an outside source that has prevented fans from executing their ticket purchases.”
This situation raises two questions: First, who’s trying to get between Pearl Jam fans and their tickets? Second, if Pearl Jam Nation is going to get this huffy about merely being denied access to presale tickets, how upset are Seattle fans that the band celebrated their 20th in Wisconsin, toured Canada, and booked a run through Europe, but hasn’t played Seattle since 2009? Chris Kornelis
The Croc, Neumos Add Second Stages
Just a couple of weeks after The Seattle Times reported that the owners of Neumos were planning to put a stage and space for 200 heads in the basement of their Pike Street club, the Crocodile announced this week that it’s added a stage to its bar. The Belltown club plans to book shows in the bar “pretty much whenever there isn’t something going on in the main showroom,” according to a press release. Some of the shows will be all-ages, and some will be free.
The two clubs join a number of local venues with smaller second stages at their disposal. Showbox at the Market and Showbox SoDo both book shows in their bars, and Triple Door’s Musiquarium is a regular stop for bands and DJs downtown. CK
Seattle Bands Are Boise-Bound
There’s no question that Boise’s putting out more than its share of exciting music these days. Youth Lagoon’s The Year of Hibernation is topping year-end lists left and right, and Brother Dan’s The Orb has been in heavy rotation in my space for months, just to name a couple. Earlier this year, our friend Eric Gilbert—keyboardist and vocalist for another great Boise concern, Finn Riggins—put together a list, which ran in this space, of Boise bands that are creating a stir down in southern Idaho.
Now Gilbert has gone and launched the Treefort Music Fest, a four-day affair (March 22–25) that aims to spotlight emerging artists from Idaho and beyond. Last week, Gilbert unveiled an impressive first batch of artists, from Built to Spill to of Montreal. This week’s second batch includes a number of Seattle-area bands—Lemolo, Pickwick, Champagne Champagne—as well as Blitzen Trapper and a handful of others. For the full list, check out treefortmusicfest.com.
Remember, you don’t have to love Boise State to appreciate Boise. In fact, you can hate Boise State with every fiber of your 100 percent-virgin-wool Pendleton Board Shirt and still find lots to love about the city, especially during Treefort season. CK
Beavis and Butt-head: Indie Rock’s Finest Critics
So, uhh . . . like, I just watched last week’s episode of Beavis and Butt-head, and the boys were, uhh, watching the video for that Avi Buffalo song, “What’s It In For?”, the one Seattle’s Sub Pop Records put out last year on the band’s self-titled debut. The boys pretty much sum up every feeling I’ve had about “indie rock” but couldn’t put into words. Here is what they had to say:
Butt-head: I think this is music for people who’ve, like, never had anything bad happen to them.
Beavis: Oh, yeah . . . like, they’ve never had ad-ver-sity (heh-heh-hmmm).
Butt-head: They decided to rebel against their parents by making even softer rock.
Beavis: Yeah, y’know, like, don’t express yourself too much, c’mon.
Butt-head: These guys were like “That music in the elevators is too balls-out for us.”
It’s moments like this that make me so glad Beavis and Butt-head are back! Thank you, Mike Judge! Brian J. Barr
