Demand for Turnpike Troubadours Tickets Crashes Multiple Sites
Friday, January 14th marked the third opportunity for fans of the Turnpike Troubadours to score tickets to one of their reunions shows after a nearly 3-year hiatus. And though many got lucky, for many others, it was three strikes and you’re out.
And despite the protestations of many online, no, it isn’t a conspiracy theory keeping you from tickets. And even though scalpers and bots are certainly playing a role in the situation, in a nutshell, it continues to be an issue of demand outpacing supply, dashing the dreams of some Turnpike fans to see one of their first shows back, and the fact that the Turnpike Troubadours might be bigger than any of us are contemplating at the moment.
On Friday morning at 10 a.m. Central, Turnpike Troubadours fans trying to score tickets to their first show back at their old stomping ground of Cain’s Ballroom on April 8th and 9th didn’t face any significant competition from scalpers. In this instance, it would be impossible for bots and resellers to be involved—or if they were, it was at their own peril, because the venue and the ticket seller eTix stated expressly there would be no name changes allowed on purchases, making resell tickets impossible.
So how did things fare? Demand was still so high, it crashed the entire eTix system for about the first 15-20 minutes of the sale, with fans being served error and bad gateway messages as they feverishly refreshed trying to get back in. Even when the system did come back online at about 10:20, it was still moving very slow, with some users complaining they even had tickets in their carts, but the purchase couldn’t or didn’t go through, and they were forced to refresh only to find all available tickets gone.
As for the shows at Billy Bob’s Texas in Ft. Worth for April 22nd and 23rd, the ticketing service AXS was used, which was the same company that drew the ire of many Turnpike fans trying to purchase tickets to their Red Rocks shows in Colorado on May 14th and 15th. Along with tickets being announced as “sold out” in less than a minute (yet resell tickets were immediately available for exorbitant markups), the website of Billy Bob’s went completely offline due to their server being crashed. They finally got the website back online at about 11:04—over an hour after the ticket sale started.
“I have been at Billy Bob’s for five years. This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, “ Terran Flusche of Billy Bob’s tells Saving Country Music. “I’m looking at our Google Analytics, and our traffic was up so much, we’re looking into getting a bigger server. We upgraded our server when the Miranda Lambert tickets and other big shows went on sale lat year. But now we’re gonna have to upgrade one more time, because this was huge.”
Flusche continues, “Our website alone had a 500 percent traffic increase compared to our normal on sale traffic. So that sent our website into overdrive. And the AXS, we’re getting reports of tens of thousands of fans logged on to the ticket link sites themselves to buy tickets. It was just a huge demand for tickets. Turnpike has a lot of fans that are ready to see them get back out on the road. And unfortunately, we only have a certain number of tickets that we can sell.”
Billy Bob’s also says they do make an effort to mitigate resellers, including cancelling purchases on the back end, though they can’t control every reseller.
“Our ticket office manager, she goes back on the back end, and if it’s a known scalper account, she will block them from being able to buy tickets,” says Terran Flusche. “A lot of the time people think it’s bots, but it really just is a high demand for tickets. And yes, there are some that do buy tickets just to resell them, and we hate that more than anyone. We hate the resell market more than anybody. I’m personally a Turnpike fan, and am as frustrated as anyone when the real fans that want the tickets don’t get the tickets. We want tickets in the hands of fans at an affordable price.”
Folks trying to score tickets to the Floore’s Country Store show on May 6th also had a rough go of it. Fans were already frustrated after presale tickets offered up on Wednesday sold out immediately. Then on Friday morning, a similar fate befell rabid fans who saw tickets sell out immediately, and also reportedly dealt with system glitches due to demand. Meanwhile, tickets for the event immediately showed up on StubHub and other reseller platforms, frustrating fans even more.
Though scalpers and resellers are certainly playing a role in the run for Turnpike Troubadours fans, so is the sheer volume of fans trying to score tickets, resulting not just in tickets selling out, but computer systems designed to deal with high demand crashing. As strange as it may seem, during the band’s hiatus, the Turnpike Troubadours increased the size of their fan base, and are now one of the hottest tickets in country music at the moment.
January 14, 2022 @ 10:54 am
I got tickets for Billy Bob’s with absolutely no issue this time around.
January 17, 2022 @ 12:40 pm
Good for you! That makes you 1 out of 1,000 other people that didn’t.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:03 am
Did TT underestimate the pent-up demand? They may have. I guess in retrospect it would have been ideal to announce a full tour at once, so the demand could be spread around.
But at the end of the day, as frustrating as it can be to get tickets for these shows, it makes me very happy that so many people are into such a great band.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:18 am
Freakonomics and Planet Money both have decent episodes about the secondhand ticket market for high-demand concerts. A lot of artists will purposefully low-ball their ticket prices in order to not appear stingy to their fans while it also guarantees that they play a sold out show. Also being able to announce “our show sold out in 5 minutes” is great press that generates more demand for later shows by creating the appearance of severe scarcity. People would have screamed if Turnpike charged $130 a head for their shows even if that is much closer to the true market value of their ticket.
Turnpike also might have been caught by surprise at how much demand there was, seems unparalleled for an independent artist. This is much more common for big headliners playing limited seating venues.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:44 am
This is nothing more than what any other product market strategy tries for. Any business out there tries to stoke demand for their product and would rather sellout out with customers unable to get something than to have too much product sitting on the shelves.
If this is, in fact, the strategy for high-demand concerts, it’s nothing more than an effective product launch strategy. It’s to every artist’s advantage to have a sold out show and leave some fans unable to get in, just like it’s in Microsoft’s best interest to to have the new Xbox model sellout and empty shelves with customers demanding more. For bands, this is basic career longevity.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:57 am
Speaking with folks behind-the-scenes as I’ve been ever since the first sale at the Red Rocks show, I don’t think there’s some sort of marketing angle to all of this. I think they’re flummoxed by the amount of demand. And why wouldn’t they be? Turnpike wasn’t selling out venues in 18 second before their hiatus. I also think they thought adding these new shows after Red Rocks would help alleviate some of the pressure. Nobody thought it would crash ticketing sites whose job is to to handle huge spikes in traffic during ticketing events. After having talked to multiple folks now, I feel confident in saying what happened today was historic in independent music. I’m not sure that any of us really have our hands around what’s happening right now.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:26 pm
Except it’s not? If you sell your product substantially below market value then that value difference is going to be captured by the middlemen and scalpers reselling tickets rather than the band/label. Why would you want your earned money going to someone else? Sony is not making a single additional dollar on those PS5’s being sold on eBay above market price, they either underestimated demand or decided to go ahead on launch without sufficient supply.
My guess is the demand just far outstripped what was expected. My buddy and I are going to the Billy Bob’s show and GA was $50 versus most of their shows that go for $20-30 and yet they still sold out in an instant
January 14, 2022 @ 11:51 am
I don’t think people really appreciate just how big the Turnpike Troubadours are at the moment. Miranda Lambert played Bill Bob’s last year, and according to the woman I spoke to this morning, the demand for Turnpike was many multipliers greater. Granted, they’ve been on hiatus, but there’s been two Red Rocks sales, and sales at Cain’s and Floore’s to also alleviate some of that demand.
eTix completely crashed this morning. You couldn’t even get to their website. This is a ticketing company that specializes in dealing with high throughput flash ticket sales, and they couldn’t handle it.
I understand folks are frustrated as they continue to see resell tickets up for exorbitant prices. And again, I definitely think resellers are playing a role here. But the demand here is unprecedented. The fact that they crashed multiple websites and ticket hosting servers simultaneously tells you all you need to know.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:14 pm
The demand should not be shocking. Their first shows back in the states and at venues that love them the most. How is anyone surprised? And 5 more shows with capacities like Cains and Floores isn’t gonna alleviate anything ???? at least Billy Bobs is a little bigger.
January 16, 2022 @ 6:30 pm
Yikes bringing up Miranda here
January 14, 2022 @ 11:27 am
I was on right at 10 this morning and it took a total of 22 minutes to finally get one ticket for Cain’s. I feel like I got really lucky on this one. I feel bad for the folks who tried but weren’t able to get tickets.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:38 am
I was right on at 10 too. Had issues with the website for like 15 minutes. Finally got to where I could put tickets in my cart and the site crashed on me. Then after another 5 or 10 minutes I finally got tickets in my cart, got put in the queue, then had a message pop up saying no tickets were available. I just moved to Tulsa and was excited about finally going to the legendary Cain’s and seeing Turnpike for the first time. And that’s my birthday weekend, so it was supposed to be my present. But unfortunately, I came away empty handed.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:04 pm
Sorry bro, that sucks. I didn’t have any luck either. I think my issue was that I was trying to snag multiple tickets. I’ve noticed some people say they tried purchasing three-four tickets, but after getting error messages that the quantity wasn’t available, lowered their purchase to one and got through. I tried to purchase three and had zero luck. Hopefully the hype dies down soon lol.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:12 pm
I was just trying to get 2 for me and my wife. We go to lots of concerts. Usually, if I’m not playing a gig on a Friday or Saturday, we’re at a concert or music venue of some sort. We were really disappointed we missed out on this one.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:32 am
“As strange as it may seem, during the band’s hiatus, the Turnpike Troubadours increased the size of their fan base.”
There was a South Park episode where Eric Cartman purchased an amusement park that shows how this sort of demand curve works. At first, Cartman wouldn’t let anyone in, then just a few friends, then eventually the public. When the public was allowed to return, the demand was dramatically higher than it was before he bought the park in the first place. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:36 am
The hype is real. I waited for almost an hour to snag tickets at Cain’s and failed miserably. lol
January 14, 2022 @ 11:45 am
The whole name on the ticket thing is useless unless the venue actually matches the ID of the purchase to the ticket, which they rarely do consistently..if at all. There will be many secondary market tickets online for the Cain shows.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:52 am
Just looked at the Cains website. The “no name change” policy applies to will call tickets only, so it doesn’t look like they plan to check names at the door. There are some pretty simple ways around scalpers, but artists / venues refuse to take the time to implement them. It’s a real head scratcher, especially at smaller venues where measures like checking ID or credit card last 4 digits would be manageable.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:47 am
How about offering a live stream of some of these shows? Not ideal, but better than nothing.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:57 am
Get it, Ian!
Ian Noe – If We Make It Through December (Merle Haggard)
https://youtu.be/3Z29vcqJPCw
Credits
Filmed & edited by Matthijs van der Ven.
Audio recorded & mixed by Matthijs van der Ven.
Location
Paradiso Noord
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Favorite song of Ian’s, thus far.
Production is Stellar. CLEAN.
Matthijs van der Ven, captured it 100%.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:57 am
Scarcity is a hell of a drug… I bet it’d be very different if they’d announced 20 or so dates around the country. Although who _doesn’t_ want to go to those Cain’s shows…
Sort of related, but is it me or does AXS seem even more scammy than Ticketmaster, if such a thing is possible? I was floored by the fees on a much smaller show I was checking out the other day, enough that I decided I’ll just roll the dice on tickets at the door instead.
January 14, 2022 @ 11:57 am
The Etix platform did NOT crash but was slowed down by bots attacking the platform. Unfortunately, it is fair to assume we removed ‘real’ customers from the purchase process mistakenly identified as bots. To help the industry fight bots, consumers should ONLY purchase tickets from the venue’s ticketing platform associated with the venue’s URL. Additionally, make sure the URL is genuinely associated with the venue.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:05 pm
Why did you even put her name in the article!! Blasphemous!! ????
January 14, 2022 @ 12:25 pm
Ha! Well for the record, I was quoting someone else, not evoking Ran Ran’s name personally. But I did feel like it was important context. If demand for Turnpike tickets was many multipliers more than her, that speaks to just how much demand really is.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:36 pm
she also got shit for playing those shows so early before the vaccines lmao and ended up playing five. they should just do a residency there. make it easy on their families and themselves, etc.
January 14, 2022 @ 4:04 pm
“ran ran’s” tickets were also $250 face value for every seat on the billy bob’s site and she still managed to sell out 5 nights without taking a 3 year hiatus. that’s what most of the turnpike re-sale is at on stubhub and people are crying about it. Be grateful plz lmao
January 14, 2022 @ 12:30 pm
Because a woman isn’t responsible for a man’s actions. And it’s over. And someone finally got the help he needed which is the only reason they’re back. Better a hiatus than 6 feet under.
December 22, 2022 @ 2:14 pm
She is, if she made a play for him. Miranda isn’t some innocent maiden.
January 14, 2022 @ 4:29 pm
Well, they DID kind of go together like peanut butter & jelly for a while …
January 14, 2022 @ 12:24 pm
Black Friday vibes. Except instead of crazy low prices it’s crazy good music.
My only take away: Good for them.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:48 pm
Tour dates. Whatever.
Waiting on the album announcement.
January 14, 2022 @ 1:23 pm
I got Floore’s presale but I had to monkey around and back door a way into it.
The presale link took you to a venue map and all the tickets were gone like 2 minutes after onsale.
So I surfed around the etix site and found links to the show that bypassed the venue map and it worked.
Not sure what any of that means but it might be worth trying to screw around on the ticketing sites if you come up empty in the future.
January 14, 2022 @ 1:38 pm
these boys need to play some payin gigs at an arena. this porch to porch shit is ridiculous.
January 14, 2022 @ 1:48 pm
exactly! assuming every fan in TX & OK, not to mention nearby states, were trying to get tickets for these shows… THE FIRST ONES BACK… no one should be shocked. The Cain’s capacity is laughable.
January 14, 2022 @ 2:54 pm
I feel like it’s worth mentioning that often times the second hand market “sells” tickets before they are on sale to the general public, and seconds after they go on sale/sell out, on spec. Meaning, the reseller doesn’t have the tix but is banking on getting them and then upcharging.
I’m not trying to absolve any of grifters involved, but pointing out that the primary ticket seller and the secondary seller aren’t (necessarily) colluding.
January 14, 2022 @ 3:15 pm
Just hope we have some new songs to sing….
January 14, 2022 @ 4:45 pm
I spent the hiatus converting as many people as possible.
January 14, 2022 @ 8:36 pm
Well, there’s always Midland. Just keep lambchop away.
Sorry…..
January 17, 2022 @ 9:00 am
Everyone needs to calm down. These shows are merely their comeback shows to get their groove back performing live. The reason is to play some of their favorite places to reconnect and heal. They will play larger and more venues. They are bigger than these venues, they just want to take it to their roots first. Let them work their process. They’ll be back for all to see.
January 24, 2022 @ 9:58 am
And now headlining Hwy 30 Music Fest in Idaho.
January 24, 2022 @ 10:08 am
And headlining Jackalope Jamboree in Oregon.
January 24, 2022 @ 10:14 am
…and Windy City Smokeout. Have an article coming up rounding it all out.
January 24, 2022 @ 10:39 am
Tickets are on sale right now for Windy City Smokeout Day 1 Thursday August 4th, with Willie headlining Turnpike, Zach Bryan, and Morgan Wade opening. I got a ticket!!! Of course I’ll probably go Sunday too……Miranda, Flatland Cavalry & Mike & The Moonpies.