Chicago, IL at All State Arena - November 15th

[meanmachine78]

man i cant concentrate on work today !! im so ready for some "November" rain !!! and im so happy that im taking my gf and 3 friends to see Guns for the first time !!

That's why I'm glad that I'm off!!!This is my Wife's second time seeing that and my 4th! Would have been 6th but they canceled Wi show. Was suppose to go with my sister and her boyfriend, but she didn't wanna pay 100 and the only tickets they had were the 80 + service fees. Couldn't get a hold of her so I made an excutive descion to not get them tickets. Now she's pissed at me....

[sofine11]

This will be my 3rd GNR concert at Allstate.  Saw them at the sold out 2002 show, and the very close to sold out 2006 show.  Both shows were incredible, just like I'm sure this will be.

[meanmachine78]

This will be my 3rd GNR concert at Allstate.  Saw them at the sold out 2002 show, and the very close to sold out 2006 show.  Both shows were incredible, just like I'm sure this will be.

I saw those and the one in Peoria in '02! Man, those were so great concerts! I cant wait!!!

[Lord Kayoss]

Just got my pre-sale tix.  I will be there!!!!!!!!


Finally get to see GN'R live!


 

First time?? That's so awesome!!! This is my first time seeing DJ live! But I know the rest of the boys do a damn good job!!!
What seats did you get?

Yes Sir!  I am psyched!

Section 103, I believe row G.  Not sure on the actual seats yet.  My fiancee handled it for me.

Already freed up my schedule.  I am pumped!

[jarmo]

Thanks Jarmo for keeping us informed!!!

No problem, glad I can help!

See you guys there!




/jarmo

[Birk]

Got my tickets too!!! Section 102 Row M!!! Seats 9-10! Was hoping for Section 114 like I had last time in '06 but I can live with this!!! Lets just hope my wife is happy with them but like she said, this is my event!!! Hell Yeah!!!

Thanks Jarmo for keeping us informed!!!

Im in 102 also

Yea but I hate you because you are in Row CC, I'm further up!  LOL!

 

Someone said on mygnr that section 112 row AA opened up, keep looking.

[sofine11]

This is gonna be dope.  Been scoping places for a pre-show meetup...lotsa options.

[Birk]

Thinking of a preparty here...

http://www.shoelessjoesrosemont.com/


right down the street from allstate, i can go talk to the manager and see what he says..as long as people show up i will try and set it up for everyone...
check it out, this place is awesome too

[Estranged#9]

man i cant concentrate on work today !! im so ready for some "November" rain !!! and im so happy that im taking my gf and 3 friends to see Guns for the first time !!

That's why I'm glad that I'm off!!!This is my Wife's second time seeing that and my 4th! Would have been 6th but they canceled Wi show. Was suppose to go with my sister and her boyfriend, but she didn't wanna pay 100 and the only tickets they had were the 80 + service fees. Couldn't get a hold of her so I made an excutive descion to not get them tickets. Now she's pissed at me....

Oh man that sucks but you had to do that The first time in 2002 i set in the upper level, in 06 i had right above floor but side of the stage!! i had to do it right this time around!! I remember the canceled WI show, right after Chicago, they did that to me with the Nashville show that year and i had great seats!!
good luck with the lady hope she forgives you soon  

[Mike McKagan]

Well, as I stated before, I got some good seats in the presale.  If, however, you want to know why they're just "good" instead of great, here's the letter I just fired off to Ticketmaster:

[/quote]

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Mike McKagan [changed for posting in the forums] and I'm writing to inform you of an unacceptable series of events during my attempt to purchase tickets for a concert.  Some background:  I've been a big Guns N' Roses fan since about 1989 (Appetite For Destruction was the first CD I ever owned), and I was quite excited to learn that they had scheduled a concert for November 15th, 2011 in Rosemont, Illinois--a mere hour-and-a-half drive from my house.  I got online and tracked down the presale code that allowed tickets to be purchased beginning at 10am CST through a local radio station--two days before they went on sale to the general public.  So at 9:55 this morning, I began repeatedly refreshing the Ticketmaster site to make sure I was among the very first to secure tickets.

At exactly 10 AM, the presale window opened and I quickly navigated to seat selection, where I was excited to find that seats in Row BB (the second row) were available.  I carefully continued entering information, logged into my account, and entered all of my billing information.  At this point, I was at the screen with the "Purchase Tickets" button in the bottom right corner.  It goes without saying that I was extremely happy to have snagged such ideal seats with a little presale know-how.

However, when I clicked "Purchase Tickets," I received an error screen informing me that the transaction couldn't be completed.  It only gave me the option of navigating backward, which I did, hurriedly reentering my billing information to re-secure the seats before they were rendered unavailable.  This time, the transaction proceeded as planned, but when I received my confirmation email, it showed my seats in Row M, which (as I understand it from looking over the All State Arena floor plan) is nearly twenty rows further back than the original BB tickets I secured.

I'm an educated, rational person, but I also love Guns N' Roses (even without Slash) the way Popeye loves spinach.  Obviously, this was disappointing, so I decided to call customer service.  After all, I did everything right on my end--I should be able to get the seats I deserved for being prepared.  When I got through to customer service, I spoke to a woman (whose name I've forgotten) who listened to my basic story, took my information, and said she'd be happy to help.  I was put on hold momentarily, and when she came back on the line, she informed me that there was simply nothing she could do.  All State Arena's policy was no refunds, no exchanges.  I got that, I told her, but this wasn't a case of me having buyer's remorse, or deciding I didn't want the tickets after all, or not knowing how to order tickets correctly.  This was a case of me doing things right, and the Ticketmaster website failing to operate properly.  In fact, I was literally re-searching for tickets as we spoke and finding better ones with every search.  I told her this.  She told me the same thing again.  I get it, I told her again, but surely Ticketmaster must have some contingency plan for website errors.  Nope, she said.  (I'm paraphrasing.)

At this point, she did two things that genuinely upset me.  First, as I began trying to further explain my point, she began talking over me.  As I attempted to tell her that I simply wanted to see what options were available to me, she began restating the "There's nothing we can do" line in various forms, not allowing me speak, and certainly not listening to me.  Second, she began to insinuate that the whole problem was my fault.  "I just checked our website," she told me after putting me on hold again.  "Everything's coming up fine, so it must be a connection issue on your end."  I told her that there was no Firefox error screen or "cannot connect to website" message when the ticket sale failed.  There was a Ticketmaster screen.  Which my computer clearly connected to.  Besides, just because the website was working now, that didn't mean it was working for me when I attempted to purchase the tickets.  Apparently, it was easier for her to try to paint me as computer-illiterate than to work to address my issue.

Finally, I asked to speak to a supervisor.  She put me on hold, and after a few moments, I was put on with someone named George.  We spoke for all of twenty seconds before the call was disconnected.  (This could have been a connection issue on my end--I have no reason to think he hung up on me.)  I called back again, and this time was connected with a different man, whose name I've also forgotten.  He listened to my story (which I was getting pretty good at explaining by now) and put me on hold while he contacted George.  Shortly, he came back on the line and informed me that George said there was nothing that Ticketmaster could do to rectify a problem caused by their website.  ( I should point out here that the second agent, unlike the first, was professional and apologetic for the duration of the call, and seemed genuinely empathetic regarding the situation.) 

So I had now been told by three different people (two directly) that although the Ticketmaster website failed to fulfill my correctly-submitted ticket request, Ticketmaster had no intention of either admitting responsibility for the situation or attempting to make amends with a customer who has purchased from them for years.  I don't think I'm overreaching to call this behavior unacceptable.  The venue rules make the situation complicated, I have no doubt.  Certainly, Ticketmaster has no responsibility to refund tickets purchased in a normal manner under such clearly-outlined rules.  But when the problem lies with Ticketmaster itself (via its website's inability to properly function at a critical time), I truly believe some form of exception could be made, even though it would be much harder than simply denying the customer over the phone while being careful to not admit any wrongdoing (and, apparently, question the computer skills of the customer to boot).

I realize that in the grand scheme of things, the difference between Row 2 and Row 19 at a Guns N' Roses concert probably doesn't seem like a big deal to most people, but to someone who has been patiently waiting to see this band perform live, having been too young to catch them in the '90s and too poor to catch them in 2002, this was a big deal.  Yes, I get to see them, but now the experience will be tainted, whether I like it or not, by looking 17 rows down and knowing that that's where I should be sitting to watch my favorite band.  That's not happening now--I get it.  The better seats have slowly evaporated in the two hours I've spent dealing with this.  All I ask is that Ticketmaster take some responsibility for its failure in customer service.

Best,

Mike McKagan

[/quote]

So irritating on a morning that should be pure awesome.  Oh well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised, what with Ticketmaster's glowing reputation for customer service.   

Still, getting to see GN'R in 2 months!

Cheers!

[Birk]

Its been near impossible to get AMAZING seats from when a show goes on sale, been like that for 10yrs now..unfortunately you gotta pay for them off ebay, i find it odd how noone got section 103 or 110, and i my 102 row CC seems the best ive seen so far.  Which im not complaining at all. 

[richwoman]

^^ sometimes they hold them back for competitions and then release whats left closer to the date they did that in the uk last year

[Estranged#9]

Mike i have ground/floor row G for the show but its standing room on the floor/ , ,isn't it?
i thought when it gets that close its first come/ first serve? i just thought technically they give ya a "row" and a "number" but no technical seat assignment  

[justastud79]

Finally, finally I get to see GNR, last time they didn't make it to Milwaukee; we tried going go Sturgis, but couldn't make it. But at long last I get to see them, super excited!

[Birk]

Floor tickets are still available with the presale password

[Birk]

^^ sometimes they hold them back for competitions and then release whats left closer to the date they did that in the uk last year

Maybe for radio stations and shit like that who knows, bottom line for good ass seats you gotta pay out of your ass.. it sucks, but money talks

[Mike McKagan]

Yeah, floor tix aren't an option because the wife's coming with and wants a seat.  Oh well, it's still awesome.

And to echo others, thanks, Jarmo, for making it possible for all of us to keep up on stuff like presales.  You rock.

[Birk]

yeah floor tickets aint my thing anymore lol, good ass seats are the way to go.

[russtcb]

Congrats to all that got tickets today! I'm forced to wait until September 30th to buy mine (long story) but I'm pumped regardless!

 

[axlrosegnr]

Congrats to all that got tickets today! I'm forced to wait until September 30th to buy mine (long story) but I'm pumped regardless!

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I just hope there's still floor for this show and the Minneapolis show!