With so many people entering the touting business over the last couple of years, it would be nice to think that a lot of them have had their fingers burned (the vast swathes of empty seats at Springsteen's apparently sold out Emirates gig on the Friday gave me hope) and have now decided to leave the purchase of tickets to those of us who actually want to go and see gigs who refuse to pay the tout's premium.

According to Ents24.com, the show will move to the 7,500 capacity Cardiff International Arena (owners: Live Nation).

"As yet, officials have made no comment on the reason for the move. All tickets for the original venue will remain valid, for refunds, please contact your point of purchase."

So does that mean the 18,000 ticket-holders are going to be squeezed in? I think not.

that booking stadia was rather optimistic for REM these days, much as I still love them.

Never mind, I'll be at Twickenham!

Blackpool Winter Gardens
presents

Puppet Show
R.E.M.

downsized their gig in Stockholm from the 30,000 capacity Stadion to the much more 'intimate' Globen arena which only holds 12,000. (and is also the world's largest spherical building, Death Star fans)

I think so. When touts outside The Emirates are giving away fistfuls of Springsteen tickets for free, then the number and expense of outdoor shows and festivals is finally putting people off.

in the first place?
They had no right to expect they could sell out the Millennium Stadium.
A couple of sold out nights at a medium sized venue would have looked so much better.
I haven't heard the new album but the claims by the band and the majority of reviews that this is a 'return to form' reeks of wishful thinking and not a little desperation.

If Oasis book stadiums on their next tour I expect a similar outcome.

As for Springsteen, who also played the Millennium Stadium recently, I remember walking around the town on the day of that concert and I saw literally hundreds of people walking around with Bruce Springsteen T-shirts. As an indication of the level of acts who have played here, I know acts like The Rolling Stones, The Police and U2 have been here in recent times- I don't really see REM at that level anymore, whilst those bands have kept their popularity fairly consistent.

They had a phone in on this on the cutting edge channel that is Virgin 1215 last night and this DJ was going on about how if he was going to pay £50 he'd want a guarantte from the band that they would play their old stuff that he liked from "when they were at the top of their game". I thought it was a strange thing to say but showed what people thing of REM - I doubt your average Joe would be able to name any of their singles from the last ten years.

moved to Cwncarn Working Mens Club by Friday

3 quid in and the meat raffle cancelled on orders of the singer...The lads playing cribbage in the front bar won't like it...

admit that REM haven't sold a huge amount of records lately, but then they have had hits more recently than The Police who have just grossed $358m in the third highest earning tour ever. So I don't really think that is the only reason.

It's hard to believe it now, but when the band released their two most successful albums, Out Of Time and Automatic For The People, they didn't tour either of them. The odd show here and there, usually under a different name, but no tours. I can't imagine any supposedly mainstream act being able to get away with that today.

was musically the last great REM album - Out of time and Automatic for the people catapulted them to superstardom. I have a theory that when the masses propel an act into a different league it is usually a fashion thing and generally short-lived.REM enjoyed a status beyond the merits of their music and they shouldnt be too disappointed that there are now new kids on the block. Lets face it they are all multi-millionaires now so I dont think their kids will be starving.These megastars rarely throw up any surprises so is it any wonder the punters would rather spend less money on an up and coming act that may have the potential to excite them?

You're right to make this point - REM used seem rather mysterious. Now days they'd probably play Johnathan Ross and appear with Ant and Dec. I saw them in 1995 with Blur supporting - it was the height of Brit Pop and an incredibly hot day at Milton Keynes - probably the best stadium gig I've ever been to.

about how crap their newest album is - it was my first entry into the world of the word blog 'accelerate is crap - official' and ruffled a few feathers of those insistent that they hadn't lost they way since bill berry's timely and shrewd exit...

yes, they had a couple of huge albums in the early 90's in 'out of time' and 'automatic' but it's been a fairly concerted downslope on the quality since with sales figures to match, i'm guessing.. am not at all surprised they can't sell out huge arenas.

comparing them to the police is daft as firstly the police were clever enough (more like hated each other so much, actually) to quit at the absolute peak of their success and leave people wanting more.. they were consistently one of the best singles bands of their era - their albums were always patchy but they have enough hits to fill a 2 hour show with songs everyone can sing alomg to and so they clean up. i saw them at twickenham last year and it was utterly woeful - but that's a whole other story.

REM are simply not in that league - when they were good they were my favourite band but they just don't have it anymore. my guess is that warners got their fingers really badly burned with the legendary $80 million deal and are still trying to get them to claw it back.

other than ego i can't think of another good reason to book such vast venues - just greedy.

and let's face it, REM are not what they were.

Didn't I read somewhere that Michael Stipe was refusing to do 'the hits' or even the early stuff?

In which case, why would anyone want to go?

I would find it hard to believe that they've brought in that many new fans with anything released post Automatic For The People.

Nobody is forcing me to shell out megabucks to see a band I have seen in the past, although I would think twice if offered free tickets for an outdoor show with the sort of weather we have seen this summer.

Give me a nice comfy venue with an accessible bar but for certain bands, if they were playing in my back garden I would shut the curtains.

Agreed.

I remember disbelieving that anyone would/could ever pay the 30 or 40 quid asked for Streisand and Manilow in thir respective heydays (and yes, I know they ask and get a whole lot more now) but how is it suddenly "normal" for tickets to start at £50 - 75?? I have tickets for Stevie Wonder and Leonard Cohen that are in that league and, sure, they are each hardly likely to grace our stages here very much more often, and I am relishing the spectacle, but, steady on, it is still too much!! I stopped bothering with the Stones after about '97 as their prices were becoming too high, having caught them each outing from Knebworth onwards, but it looks as if everyone else is catching up and way too fast. Even Tin Pot Joe and the Wibblies are charging £20 for an upstairs room at the Flea and Pirate, fer chrissakes. Is this appropriate inflation or am I just too old?

does anyone know the ticket prices for the Cardiff REM show? I suspect that they are around the £40 to £50 mark. A bit steep, I reckon. I've just paid £40 each for really good seats to see David Tennant play Hamlet in London next January as a present for the wife. Excellent seats, no booking fee or hidden charges such as being charged three quid for the privilage of having your tickets posted to you. It's a four hour play, and it's unlikely we'll get another opportunity to see Tennant play the role again in the near future, so I feel that it's good value for money. REM, on the other hand, as much as I love their old stuff, will probably be gigging again within the next year. Stand still for long enough and they'll probably set up a stage and play in front of you.

.

...I did think it was a mistake doing all of their dates in the middle of the peak holiday season, and all in stadiums. Lots of people hate stadium gigs, plus there will be a lot of fans unable to go to the shows as they're on holiday - which is exactly what has happened to me in this instance. Had they played a couple of summer shows or a few festivals, then gone off into Europe, and then come back here for a winter arena tour I think it would have been a lot more successful. The credit crunch can't have helped either. I really hope they don't call it a day though.

everytime they release a new album i HAVE to buy it - it's an OCD i'll admit, i'm a completist - i've got all the other albums so if i don't buy this then...then...

i am currntly receiving treatment..

please please please make them stop - go on stipey, go and be a flag waver for worthy things and put the old typewriter away, just for me?

I've just got an e-mail that claims it's my last chance to buy REM tickets.
The Cardiff gig is now sold out. Apparently.

Disappointing...

they book the local enormodome, sell little over half the tickets available, relocate the show to a venue that holds less than the number of tickets already sold for the show and then email their fans to let them know that the gig is now a sellout.

That is just taking the piss.

Incredibly overrated in any case....

Forced through by US College radio in a desperate bid for a stateside replication of The Smiths.

Undoubtedly have released a few half decent songs but, in truth, nothing truly engaging since World Leader Pretend.

was Bill Berry leaving. So, despite what Mr Stipe says, a three legged (or multi-legged, depending on the concert) dog is not still a dog.

And as Steve Turner notes above, it's all downhill after Lifes Rich Pageant, which is not to say Murmur and Reckoning are not still great.

was great. Went to the first two shows. Tickets were 35 Euros. I've seen them outside twice (at Huddersfield in 95 when all the indoor shows were cancelled, I had tickets for two of those, and when they played Nottingham on the last tour) but, on principle, I won't travel a long way to see a gig in a football field so, although they're my favourite band, I'm giving them a miss this time. It helps that I saw them do the new songs in a tiny theatre. It pisses me off that they're not playing any arenas (Cardiff comeuppance aside) in the UK when they're playing small arenas and bullrings in Europe and the US. But they're hitting fifty and taking their paydays while they can. You pay your money and... etc

and realising that your career, at least in its present form is coming to an end, doesn't justify treating your fans with contempt. In fact, it makes it worse. If they really are banking as much cash as they can before calling it a day (and depsite what the band may say, I believe that this WILL be their last proper studio album together) then they are entitled to do so, I suppose, but they should at least tell it like it is, rather than dressing it up with all of this "We feel like a proper band again" bollocks. If they are such a proper band, why do they refuse to be interviewed together? At least The Police will admit to hating each other's guts.

Ultimately, they are entitled to earn their pay, and if people are prepared to pay to see them then that's fair enough. I sincerely hope that all who go to the shows enjoy themselves. But if it were me, I would be extremely angry about being manipulated in order to put a positive spin on the band's fortunes. The fact is, the band's management overestimated their current popularity by some considerable degree. I have no idea what the sales figures are on "accelerate" but I'll wager that they probably sold about as many copies in the UK as, say the last Editors album, who continue to play fairly medium sized venues. Granted, the tour dates were probably booked before the album was released, but this was a major miscalculation, whichever way you look at it, and a rather transparent damage limitation exercise has ensued as a consequence.

Is it me or are the marketing bods at REM & Live Nation missing a trick. Hello, stop thinking rocking superstars and tabloid fodder. Think outside the box (luvvie). Think Next. Think Marks & Spencer.

You have to sell 35,000 tickets and so far you have only shifted 18,000 (allegedly) for REM supported by Editors & Guillemots. Time to beef up the selling. Get a decent special guest, preferably Welsh. Cut the ticket price for a limited period - call it a flood damage sale. BOGOF in fact. Anything but ringing up the residents of Cardiff and its suburbs with those nasty cold calling tactics. Try TV ads with Danny Baker knocking on doors, exclaiming excitedly, "Would you swap your Madonna ticket at the Millennium Stadium for 10 REM tickets?"

If that does not work get in Alan Sugar. You're fired!

has touched on ticket prices. I just got 2 tickets for Leonard Cohen at Birmingham NEC - face value is £110.00 - with add ons it is over £130.00 plus it will cost me £8.00 to park the bloody car at the NEC. I want to see Leonard cohen but ideally at the Town Hall or the Symphony hall. Unfortunately it will most likely be his last tour of the UK so someone has got me and most of his other fans by the bollocks.
The thing that puzzles me is that half of the audience go as a status symbol and will end up talking through the show and leave before the final encore so that they can get out of the car park. Don't believe me? The number of people going to see him live on this tour probably exceeds the number of sales of any one of his albums in this country.

see elsewhere on the blog for our discussion about stadium gigs where I describe my recent Radiohead experience at Victoria Park. £46 quid plus booking fees plus 4 quid postage to stand in a field surrounded by chinless idiots straight from the office who talked through the whole show with their backs to the stage.

Enjoy Cohen, though. I saw him on the I'm Your Man tour at the NEC and he was extraordinary then. By all accounts, he's even better now.

I think the surge in new, smaller festivals has to be a factor. These "BIG GIGS" often cost little less than a ticket to a festival with at least one act on a similar commercial level. I'd like to see R.E.M. on this tour, but £50+ seems a bit steep compared to a weekend ticket somewhere for just over £100. I've taken on 2 festivals this year, it's just better value.