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Today Phish confirmed a show Fenway Park on May 31, 2009, delighting fans and making public one of the worst kept secrets of the Summer concert season. The Fenway Park Phish show will be the new kickoff stop for the band's early Summer tour and will follow two nights of Dave Matthews Band at Fenway.

As has become the standard, Phish broke the news with a custom Phish Fenway announcement video. The video features images of Fenway Park accompanied by the musical stylings of Red Sox organist Josh Kantor. Stick around for the second half of the clip where you'll find Kantor playing a cool (but too short) arrangement of Tweeprise.

I can't be sure but I think there might also be some kind of hidden message in the announcement video… will take a closer look later :)

Phish Fenway Tickets

Request Phish Fenway Mailorder Tickets »
A limited number of tickets are available directly through Phish Tickets' online ticketing system. The ticketing request period is currently underway and ends Sun, April 12th at 11:59PM ET.

Update (April 14, 2009 @ 9:00pm) The mailorder window is over and the announcements have been sent. Congrats to those who scored Phish Fenway Tickets in the lottery, and best of luck on Etix for those who didn't.

Buy Phish Fenway Tickets via Etix Public Onsale »
Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday, April 18th at 10:00am. Tickets can be purchased online at Etix or charge by phone at 800.514.3849 or at the Orpheum Box Office.

Update (April 16, 2009 @ 11:30am) Yesterday a number of fans succeeded in getting Phish Fenway tickets using a leaked Fenway employee presale password (which was “fenphish” in case you were curious). Given that most of these folks are not actually Fenway employees, there's still a chance these tickets will get canceled a la Red Rocks. Meanwhile, today is the season ticket holder presale for Phish Fenway tickets, and again some fans are reporting on message boards that they were able to pull tickets. For the rest of us, tomorrow beckons.

Update (April 18, 2009 @ 9:01am) Etix = fail. Site totally crashed about 1 second after the Phish Fenway ticket onsale time. Oh well.

Update (April 18, 2009 @ 10:00am) Phish tickets for Fenway are sold out. Search for secondary market Phish Fenway tickets on Jamtopia.

This morning Phish announced 12 more summer tour dates which unlike the early Summer tour offers some welcome news for fans in the Mountain states and West coast.

Phish Tour Dates: Late Summer Tour 2009

• 7/30

  Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO

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• 7/31

  Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO

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• 8/01

  Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO

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• 8/02

  Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison, CO

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• 8/05

  Shoreline Amphitheatre Mountain View, CA

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• 8/07

  The Gorge Amphitheatre George, WA

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• 8/08

  The Gorge Amphitheatre George, WA

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• 8/11

  Toyota Park Chicago, IL

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• 8/13

  Darien Lake Performing Arts Center Darien Center, NY

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• 8/14

  Meadows Music Theater Hartford, CT

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• 8/15

  Merriweather Post Pavilion Columbia, MD

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• 8/16

  Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, NY

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Once again the band used a custom announcement video to break the news, this time featuring a Google Earth zoom into some farmland culminating in a large “09” painted on a field. Birds rages in the background of the video with tour dates superimposed on top.

Upon initial viewing, I thought this video was about 1/3 as cool as the other two announcement videos. But a post on The Butter Room changed my opinion drastically. Per The Butter Room, the video is a clue as to the whereabouts of an (as yet) unannounced end-of-summer Phish festival.

According to Rand & McNally over there — “doing a little research and utilizing Google’s Earth and Maps” — the festival will be on a small family-owned farm in Georgetown, Texas. Take a look at the embedded google map below to see the exact spot of the “09” in the video.

The Butter Room contacted Georgetown’s Public Information Office who did not confirm a Phish festival, but did indicate that “a touring band with a substantial following has indicated interest in using the location for a festival in late September.” Looks like our friends in the Lone Star State may be in for a little musical treat in September!

NOTE: The Phish festival in Texas is apparently not happening. See below for updates.

And of course speculation continues that Phish will kick off their Summer tour not at Jones Beach on June 4th but at Fenway Park on May 31st, following a two-night stand by (another Red Light act) Dave Matthews Band.

Welcome to Vol. 5 of “Who's Got My Extra?” — Jamtopia's series all about the business and pleasure of concert tickets.
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Yesterday Wall Street Journal reporter Ethan Smith blew the lid off one of the worst kept secrets in the music business — Concert Tickets Get Set Aside, Marked Up by Artists, Managers.

And best of all, he named names, so you know exactly which artists are gouging their fans with inflated prices for concert tickets.

Smith outs a wide range of artists and managers, from Neil Diamond and Celine Dion to Bon Jovi and Van Halen to Billy Joel and Elton John. Even no-longer-bald Britney Spears gets called out for a little scalping.

Virtually every major concert tour today involves some official tickets that are priced and sold as if they were offered for resale by fans or brokers, but that are set aside by the artists and promoters, according to a number of people involved in the sales.

Of course none of the acts the WSJ contacted got back to them… probably embarrassed that they're now in the same camp as Gene Simmons, in it for the money and not the music.

Hey, at least Gene's not trying to hide anything.

Update (March 16, 2009): Well it seems Michael Jackson may have a little Mike Damone in him too, at least according to the veiled accusation in this WSJ article.

Meanwhile, guy-who-gets-it Trent Reznor clued in his fans with incredible transparency on the NIN forum (see quote below) — picking up a story that, as Lefsetz noticed, didn't get much traction in the media beyond the original article.

The true market value of some tickets for some concerts is much higher than what the act wants to be perceived as charging. For example, there are some people who would be willing to pay $1,000 and up to be in the best seats for various shows, but MOST acts in the rock / pop world don’t want to come off as greedy pricks asking that much, even though the market says its value is that high.
Trent Reznor on the NIN forum

Related Links

• Concert Tickets Get Set Aside, Marked Up by Artists, Managers [WSJ]
• Singer Neil Diamond Under Scrutiny in Ticket Markup Arrangement [FOXNews]
• Who's Scalping Those Concert Tickets? Artists And Agents, Frequently [Consumerist]
• Scalping [Lefsetz Letter]
• Trent Reznor thoughts on ticket re-sellers / scalping [NIN Forum]
• AEG Accuses Ticket Agent Of Scalping Jackson Show [WSJ]
• More Scalping [Lefsetz Letter]

Attention custys and w00ks — wanna score some free Phish tickets? Just predict the Hampton opener for a chance to win. Good luck to everyone who entered.

That’s right. If you correctly predict the first song Phish plays on March 6th, 2009 at Hampton Coliseum you’ll have a chance to win free Phish tickets.

Everyone who enters gets to take one guess at the Hampton opener.

If more than one person makes the right prediction, you’ll all be entered for a chance to win two (2) lawn tickets to your choice of these shows — Great Woods (6/06), Camden (6/07), Burgettstown (6/18), Deer Creek (6/19) or Alpine (6/20 or 6/21).

We’ll select a single winner via live webcast on March 15th.

If you’re the only person with the right prediction, you’ll win EITHER two (2) pavilion seats to your choice of the shows above OR one (1) ticket to the Fox Theatre (6/16) show. Take your pick, either way you score big-time.

Update (February 15, 2009, 11:00 am) There are already have 100 entries in the contest. The top two picks so far are Chalkdust Torture and PYITE followed closed by Curtain With. Other songs with multiple entries include 2001, Back on the Train, Buried Alive, Divided Sky, DWD, Foreplay / Longtime, Free, Golgi, Mikes, Possum, Tube, Tweezer, Tweezer Reprise, Wilson, and YEM.

Update (February 17, 2009, 12:00 am) There are now over 400 entries and some big new additions to the leaderboard including seven songs with more than 10 picks each. In alphabetical order they are: AC/DC Bag, Chalkdust Torture, Curtain or Curtain With, Down With Disease, PYITE, YEM, and Wilson. Now you late birds have a bit of inside scoop to help you make your pick, so stop reading and learn how to enter. Then take a look at some of our featured entries.

Update (February 19, 2009, 9:20 pm) There are now well over 500 entries and eight more songs with more than 10 picks each. In alphabetical order they are: Backwards Down the Number Line, Divided Sky, Fluffhead, Free, Mike's Song, Runaway Jim, Simple, Tube.

Also added a bunch of great new entries to the list of featured contest entries. Worth a read.

Update (March 2, 2009, 2:00 am) Well that's all she wrote. The call for entries is now over. There were 736 entries, all of which I'll be posting in the next few days. The top 5 picks were: Wilson (34), Curtain / Curtain With (30), Chalkdust Torture (29), You Enjoy Myself (28) and Punch You in the Eye (24). Good luck to everyone who entered, and stay tuned for news about the live announcement of the winner which will take place on March 15th.

Update (March 5, 2009, 1:00 am) As promised, I've posted the complete list of entries for the Hampton opener contest. Can't wait to see who (if anyone) takes home the prize!

Welcome to Vol. 4 of “Who's Got My Extra?” — Jamtopia's series all about the business and pleasure of concert tickets.
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Editor's Note: I tried to cover the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger as an update to my open letter to Nathan Hubbard about the Phish ticket debacle at Live Nation but the story has escalated to the point where it needed a full post. Also, huge props to Chris Walters at Consumerist for coining the phrase Satan's Box Office. Genius.

Late in the day on February 3rd, the Wall Street Journal reported that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are “close to a merger” — a deal that would centralize control of concert ticket sales, artist management and concert venues under a single corporate umbrella.

Per the article, the two-headed beast's prospective name is Live Nation Ticketmaster Live Nation Entertainment Inc. Too bad they didn't go with Masternation. It could've been the name and corporate manta all rolled in to one. Plus it would've made for some hilarious antitrust hearings.

Unfortunately, the name won't be Masternation, and if you're a concert ticket buyer there's really nothing funny about the prospective merger.

For starters, Live Nation had just barely rolled out Live Nation Ticketing, a long-awaited challenger to Ticketmaster's alleged but never proven monopoly over ticket sales. With this merger, it'll be back to business as usual, thwarting your chance of seeing sub 30% service fees any time soon.

The one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near monopoly situation in music ticketing.
— Bruce Springsteen with Jan Landau and the entire Springsteen Tour Team

Then, you've got the fact that both companies seems to over-promise and under-deliver on customer experience, with a recent disaster from each making the fees feel all the more painful.

Welcome to Vol. 3 of “Who's Got My Extra?” — Jamtopia's series all about the business and pleasure of concert tickets.
See all posts | Buy concert tickets

Dear Mr. Hubbard:

On January 30th, 2009, just as Phish tickets went on sale through Live Nation's spankin' new ticketing system, Pollstar posted a now sadly ironic interview entitled “That's the Ticket.”

The interview starts off on the topic of your infrastructure's readiness for prime time. Pollstar asked, “when can we expect to see its first big test?” You replied:

I don't know what you mean but I can tell you that we're fully under way… We’ve undergone the largest transition in the history of the industry and so far we’re very pleased with how it’s gone.
—Nathan Hubbard, CEO Live Nation Ticketing

You may be fully underway, but I hope you're not still pleased with how it's gone. Your new ticketing system is definitely not ready for prime time.

Trying to buy Phish tickets from Live Nation the past two days was a labyrinth of temporary waiting rooms, KITT inspired loading bars, pathetic error messages (see below), repeated requests to sign in, apologies for the inconvenience, illegible CAPTCHAs (again, see below), and ominous timers that ticked away to zero sending once-loved tickets back to the orphanage you call general inventory.

And that's not to mention your 877 number, a robotic seductress forever promising that “fans come first” but literally and figuratively unable to comprehend the phrase “buy tickets.”

It was an epic fail.