Obscure Pet Shop Boys - New Live shows

[Gareth Pugh]

I would have loved to see this show. I was willing to pay for the expensive ticket and for the accomodation and travel from France.
So I placed an order for the Volume book (an extra cost consequently) as it should have guaranteed me to be able to get a ticket. But being at work, I wasn't able to try my luck until 11:30 yesterday. And of course, it was already sold out by then.

So they sold more copies of Volume than the numbers of tickets they had for pre-sale.
It looks like a scam to me. Trying to sell something against a service you cannot guarantee afterwards.

I will have to cancel my Volume order as a result. I have much cheaper means to get that book than ordering it from the PSB store.

Why can't they perform as many shows as necessary to meet demands ? I don't get it.

I hate to say it but that isn’t quite how presale access promotions tend to work. Usually - and they did it here - they put a disclaimer in comms that getting a presale code is not a guarantee that you will get a ticket if you want one. So, yes, there will either have even more presale access codes granted than copies of Volume preordered OR lots of people bought 2 tickets (the maximum allowed) rather than one. Remember also the UK legal requirement (via the Gambling Act 2005) that anyone running such a promotion MUST by law offer a no-purchase necessary option and that will have added to the total number of pre-sale codes issued too.
But in fairness, it wasn’t a scam and it wasn’t offering a right-to-buy; just a chance.
Good luck tomorrow though, I hope you can get what you want when the general on-sale opens.

[greenmile]

I would have loved to see this show. I was willing to pay for the expensive ticket and for the accomodation and travel from France.
So I placed an order for the Volume book (an extra cost consequently) as it should have guaranteed me to be able to get a ticket. But being at work, I wasn't able to try my luck until 11:30 yesterday. And of course, it was already sold out by then.

So they sold more copies of Volume than the numbers of tickets they had for pre-sale.
It looks like a scam to me. Trying to sell something against a service you cannot guarantee afterwards.

I will have to cancel my Volume order as a result. I have much cheaper means to get that book than ordering it from the PSB store.

Why can't they perform as many shows as necessary to meet demands ? I don't get it.

You absolutely were not guaranteed to get a ticket. That's not how pre-sales work. All it got you was a chance to buy a ticket early.

You also did not have to buy anything in order to get pre-sale access.

Your failure to read and understand the instructions does not constitute a scam.

I swear, PSB fandom is slowly going down the road of Madonna fandom, which is not a good thing!

[misterme]

You also did not have to buy anything in order to get pre-sale access.

Your failure to read and understand the instructions does not constitute a scam.

I'm sorry but that was not clear enough. I missed this information. And I still cannot find it now. Where was it ?
The method that was put forward to get tickets was to order a copy of Volume. This I didn't get wrong, for sure.

You absolutely were not guaranteed to get a ticket. That's not how pre-sales work. All it got you was a chance to buy a ticket early.

Maybe so. But launching the sale right in the middle of a business day isn't fair. There are jobs where you just can't leave everything to purchase a ticket at a a specified moment.

[Harry]

You also did not have to buy anything in order to get pre-sale access.

Your failure to read and understand the instructions does not constitute a scam.

I'm sorry but that was not clear enough. I missed this information. And I still cannot find it now. Where was it ?
The method that was put forward to get tickets was to order a copy of Volume. This I didn't get wrong, for sure.

I'm sorry but you did get that wrong. The PSB website said "Priority ticket access for all five “Obscure Pet Shop Boys” shows at London’s Electric Ballroom is now available to all who pre-ordered “Pet Shop Boys Volume” or registered via the store before 18th November 12:00 PM GMT — please enter your unique access code at the link that was emailed to you. Due to the large number of registrations and limited capacity at the venue, the purchase of priority tickets cannot be guaranteed and is limited to two tickets per booking."

The email containing the access code said "Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis to all those with priority access codes and we expect demand to be extremely high. Please note that having a priority ticket access code does not guarantee a ticket"

[misterme]

I guess I was wrong and I shouldn't have purchased Volume. I skipped the "or registered via the store" bit (that came after the "Volume" ad when it probably should have come first). It was not a scam. I overreacted. Proportionally to my disappointment.

They should add more dates though.

[Whosematchesarethose]

I agree this process appears to have worked well for the 'fans' with many on here able to secure tickets. For me the instructions and process were all clear. What has surprised me is every date on viagogo currently has at least 20 tickets (10 pairs) available.....lots of 'fans' changed their minds??

[Patrick Bateman]

I guess I was wrong and I shouldn't have purchased Volume. I skipped the "or registered via the store" bit (that came after the "Volume" ad when it probably should have come first). It was not a scam. I overreacted. Proportionally to my disappointment.

They should add more dates though.

To be honest, the whole business wasn't great. As has been expounded on here at length , they dropped a limited edition product without warning, with some ambiguous messaging concerning the tickets (which I believe changed slightly afterwards). I don't see any need to link Volume with Obscure - you didn't have to buy the book to get the priority sale link.

[TallThinMan]

Now the dust has settled on yesterday and the anxiety has reduced, my thoughts move to how they will present themselves for these gigs...

I'm torn between wanting them to have walk on guests like Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner for an Electronic track, hey, maybe even Patsy Kensit for a rendition of I'm Not Scared.. But I suppose if push came to shove I'd really prefer just Neil and Chris and those old machines (think Whistle Test..). No one else. No Pop Kids. No Sylvia and certainly no Courtney Pine !!

The Eighth Wonder version of 'I'm Not Scared' is ruled out as it was a single. As was 'Getting Away With It' and both tracks were hardly obscure, so I just can't see that happening. Old machines is a lovely idea, but it'll be Pete Gleadall behind the scenes with a rack of MacBook Pros.

[greenmile]

I guess I was wrong and I shouldn't have purchased Volume. I skipped the "or registered via the store" bit (that came after the "Volume" ad when it probably should have come first). It was not a scam. I overreacted. Proportionally to my disappointment.

They should add more dates though.

To be honest, the whole business wasn't great. As has been expounded on here at length , they dropped a limited edition product without warning, with some ambiguous messaging concerning the tickets (which I believe changed slightly afterwards). I don't see any need to link Volume with Obscure - you didn't have to buy the book to get the priority sale link.

But unfortunately Volume has already been linked with the ability to buy the pre-sale tickets in a lot of people's minds. Just look at the ridiculous number of repeated questions about the sale over the past week on the various PSB Facebook groups for proof.

I fear this is going to be the PSB equivalent of U2 giving their album away on everyone's iPhones a few years ago, which I can't believe people still bring up as if it was the absolutely worst thing to ever happen to them.

[Harry]

I guess I was wrong and I shouldn't have purchased Volume. I skipped the "or registered via the store" bit (that came after the "Volume" ad when it probably should have come first). It was not a scam. I overreacted. Proportionally to my disappointment.

They should add more dates though.

You have another chance at 10am UK time tomorrow (I believe that is 11am in Europe but check that yourself). I hope you get tickets.

[leesmapman]

You have another chance at 10am UK time tomorrow (I believe that is 11am in Europe but check that yourself). I hope you get tickets.

Correct. The pre-sale started at 11:00 CET. Good luck getting tickets tomorrow for the people who don't have tickets yet!

[Pod]

Good Morning, I was here years ago and joined new. I have a question regarding the tickets. Didn't read all of the many post here.
I managed to get a ticket for Friday paying with PayPal and ticket is from See tickets. And one with credit card for Thursday and ticket is from AXS. I got order confirmation emails stating an email with the e-ticket attached will come on a later day.
I am worrying a bit. But getting that confirmation emails it must be good.
So does anyone didn't get the e-ticket email when having successfully ordered a ticket?

Matthias Germany

Yes I am exactly the same. Got mine through AXS and have the confirmation email and number. It does say e-tickets will be sent later.

[tottenhammattspurs]

A New Life, After The Event and Jack The Lad would see me right.

[Gabby]

For anyone trying for tickets tomorrow (I wont be one so don't worry you're safe from me!) I suggest opening TWO or more browsers (not tabs in browsers) - so Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc - maybe a cell phone too, all to the same tickets page with the countdown - a good 10-15 minutes before the sale goes live.

If it's like the presale then as SOON as the counter hits 0 (maybe even slightly before) you need to refresh and then if it's like last time, sit tight until your turn comes up.

Anything after that you may find you're out of luck, but don't give up right away - peoples credit cards go over limit and tickets come back into the sale pool, or the website crashes (and as per yesterday bounces to a backup site), and you might find another refresh sends you to somewhere you can get tickets up to 20 minutes later (as I did).

I'd be willing to bet that by 30 minutes past the hour there's probably no point looking anymore.

[moxlox]

Now the dust has settled on yesterday and the anxiety has reduced, my thoughts move to how they will present themselves for these gigs...

I'm torn between wanting them to have walk on guests like Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner for an Electronic track, hey, maybe even Patsy Kensit for a rendition of I'm Not Scared.. But I suppose if push came to shove I'd really prefer just Neil and Chris and those old machines (think Whistle Test..). No one else. No Pop Kids. No Sylvia and certainly no Courtney Pine !!

The Eighth Wonder version of 'I'm Not Scared' is ruled out as it was a single. As was 'Getting Away With It' and both tracks were hardly obscure, so I just can't see that happening. Old machines is a lovely idea, but it'll be Pete Gleadall behind the scenes with a rack of MacBook Pros.

That's why we're praying for Patience of a Saint, which featured both Neil and Chris, with Bernard and Johnny!