Local residents had a real opportunity to see a major act (Smashing Pumpkins) on their first tour in years. Nine nights at the Orange Peel in late June/early July. Instead of setting aside a certain number of tickets for Asheville/WNC residents, the tickets were sold en masse over the Internet.
After an initial crash on Sunday, May 20, caused by high demand, tickets sold out within five minutes the next day. I wonder how many of those tickets actually went to local residents, the people who have supported the Orange Peel since its reopening?
I won’t be seeing any of the shows, though I tried. I hope the audience filled with people from New York, Chicago, Miami etc. enjoys the show. I could get a ticket if I wanted to pay anywhere from $250 to $1,200 (prices I have actually seen on the Internet). Owner Liz Whalen was very naive if she thinks the meager steps they took prevented scalpers from scooping up tickets.
Next time, make some kind of provisions for the people who provide the bulk of your income, i.e.
Asheville locals.
— Everette Robinson
Asheville
The Orange Peel is about one thing and one thing only: making as much money as it can. Such considerations as the letter writer expresses are not likely to elicit any warm and fuzzy response.
I discovered recently that the Orange Peel typically charges a higher amount for tickets than other similarly-sized venues in the region. For example, the last time John Hiatt played here (he’s a favorite of mine), he was playing at many venues from eastern Tennessee throughout the Carolinas. Ticket prices were generally around $10 to $20 at virtually every venue except The Orange Peel. Same show, but tickets were $30 and higher. Ridiculous, but consistent with money-grubbing.
Complain all you want, but the Orange Peel doesn’t care about satisfying locals, whether they ‘support the club’ or not. They care about the Almighty Dollar. Period.
I hate to let facts ruin a perfectly good whinefest, but here we go. First, let me say that I work for the local company that owns the Orange Peel and have personally spent numerous hours responding to folks who did not get tickets to the Smashing Pumpkins.
The Orange Peel did, in fact, request that tickets be set aside for locals for the Smashing Pumpkins shows. We’ve always done that for shows we think will sell out quickly to give an edge to the folks who regularly support the club and take the time to line up at our box office. We did this most recently for Ben Harper – who sold out in just over a minute – yet every person who was in line when the box office opened that morning was able to get tickets.
The reality is that The Orange Peel is a small club in a very small market and the power is in the hands of the Artist and his management. The Artist controls the price of the tickets, when they go on sale, and how they are to be sold. Because The Orange Peel was chosen as the East Coast residency location for The Smashing Pumpkins, the band’s management was adamant that ALL tickets be sold online to give all fans a fair shot at a ticket. Despite this, it looks like almost 20% of the tickets for the residency went to Asheville residents – we’re either luckier or more persistent . . . yet there are hundreds more here in Asheville who spent many unsuccessful hours trying to get a ticket and were completely shut out. The Fillmore in San Francisco sold their 14,000+ tickets in minutes as well. The band had a huge following and haven’t played in 7 years. Do the math.
To respond to Dionysis – again, the Artist (or, realistically, his management) sets the ticket price. If we were truly the money grubbing folks with the power, do you think Smashing Pumpkins tickets would have gone on sale for $20??! Almost all ticket revenue goes to the band – most of the rest goes to the IRS. Believe me, if you’re in this business to make a lot of money, you’re an idiot. If you can bring great music to the town you care about, treat your bands well, cover your costs and pay your staff – life is good. Period.
I gotta side with Karen on this, and I’m not even affiliated with the Orange Peel. Look at the situation: huge demand plus limited capacity plus “fair” online ticket sales (no favoritism shown to anyone, locals included) does not equal the Orange Peel as some scheming corporation hell-bent on ruining everyone’s good day to fuel their engine of townie hatred. The Orange Peel generally does a good job (although, seriously, get some more seating), and isn’t evil incarnate just because you didn’t get to see a rock concert.