MP3: Tom Waits – Return Of Jackie and Judy (Ramones)

From Paste Magazine’s site:

Many of the the Tom Waits tickets that have been purchased via resale sites such as eBay and StubHub.com will not be accepted at Waits’ upcoming shows.

Because all eight dates of his tour immediately sold out, tickets have been available for sale through resale sites and ticket brokers. Many tickets sold from these entities are assumed to be fraudulent, and some tickets may also be counterfeit.

All premium tickets for Waits’ shows, as well as all tickets for the Atlanta, Detroit and Louisville shows must be obtained at the venue on the evening of the show. Only the original buyer will be allowed to pick up the ticket and must show a valid photo ID as well as the credit card information used to buy the ticket.

There will be no exceptions, as the severe anti-scalping procedures were detailed before the official ticket sale dates. The venues, management, label, promoter and Waits are striving to catch scalpers and get the face value tickets to the fans. However, they will not be responsible for fixing problems with counterfeit tickets or fraudulent sale of tickets.

This seems like a weird situation, but I applaud Mr. Waits for trying to curb scalping. Of course, then you have to wonder if the timing couldn’t have been better; for instance, announcing that you’d be doing this before tickets went on sale. Now the scalpers already have the money of big fans who were willing to shell out a hundred dollars a pop to see a man who rarely tours, and those same fans won’t be allowed in the building. Still, at least he’s trying something.