While confusion over Rage Against The Machine‘s decision to sell highly priced ‘charity tickets’ at each headlining stop of their world reunion tour caused an abundance of controversy and aggravation, the move has at least one silver lining: numerous charities and and activist organizations will benefit.
If you’re unaware, in a bid to donate funds to select charities and organizations in the cities they are hitting on the tour, the band decided to withhold 10% of the tickets at nearly all of their headlining stops.
As they announced earlier this week, those randomly withheld tickets would be sold throughout the trek as specially marked ‘charity tickets’. Those tickets would go for rates above face value with the excess proceeds made from them to go towards charity. The band explained that as such:
“WE are holding in reserve 10% of the seating (random seats throughout each venue) to sell at a higher ticket price (but low enough to undercut the scalpers) We will donate 100% OF THE MONEY over the base ticket price to charities and activist organizations IN EACH CITY.”
While an admirable gesture, the prime $125 face value tickets for the tour quickly sold out due to high demand/scalpers, quickly leaving charity tickets as the only option for desirable seats. While some fans seemed unaware of the idea behind the charity tickets and railed against the band over perceived high prices, others were left soured by just how high those charity ticket prices actually went over face value. Indeed, prices for charity tickets direct from venues and Ticketmaster were seen to have been going for as high as $750 or more.
In an Instagram post made by the band’s guitarist Tom Morello yesterday, February 14th, he revealed that despite all the uproar, the band raised over $1,000,000 for the charities via the charity ticket program in just one day and over $3,000,000 in 48 hours.
As previously reported, various steps were implemented to combat scalpers, with Morello further stating that they were able to block 85% of scalpers during the first day of tickets being on sale. He commented via Instagram:
“So far we have been able to block approx 85% of scalpers trying to buy tickets and in one day have raised over $1,000,000 for charity. Still, annoying scalpers (and misinformation) remain. We appreciate the overwhelming demand and are discussing next steps to ensure more of you will be able to come and see us.”
While he has since confirmed via social media that the set face value or each ticket for the tour was $125 (sans charity tickets of course), numerous fans were still left unhappy, directing their anger towards him and the band. Whether it be due to a lack of advanced communication on the band’s part regarding the details of their charity tickets plans or fans simply not paying attention, the matter has turned into a bit of a fiasco.
Furthermore, as successful as the group were in combating scalping, there was no shortage of tickets hitting the secondary market, further stoking the fire. While limited official options are still available at select dates for the tour via ratm.com, many of the prime seats are long gone.
If you’re unable to find what you want at the band’s official website, you can see what your other options are on the secondary market below:
With Run The Jewels:
03/26 El Paso, TX – Don Haskins Center (tickets)
03/28 Las Cruces, NM – Pan American Center (tickets)
03/30 Glendale, AZ – Gila River Arena (tickets)
04/10 Indio, CA – Coachella (tickets)
04/17 Indio, CA – Coachella (tickets)
04/21 Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena (tickets)
04/23 Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena (tickets)
04/25 Portland, OR – Moda Center (tickets)
04/28 Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome (tickets)
05/01 Vancouver, BC – Pacific Coliseum at the PNE (tickets)
05/03 Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place (tickets)
05/05 Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome (tickets)
05/07 Winnipeg, MB – Bell MTS Place (tickets)
05/09 Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford Premier Center (tickets)
05/11 Minneapolis, MN – Target Center (tickets)
05/12 Minneapolis, MN – Target Center (tickets)
05/14 Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center (tickets)
05/16 St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center (tickets)
05/19 Chicago, IL – United Center (no Run The Jewels) (tickets)
05/20 Chicago, IL – United Center (no Run The Jewels)
05/23 Boston, MA – Boston Calling (tickets)
06/19 Dover, DE – Firefly (tickets)
07/10 East Troy, WI – Alpine Valley Music Theatre (tickets)
07/13 Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena (tickets)
07/15 Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena (tickets)
07/17 Ottawa, ON – Ottawa Bluesfest (no Run The Jewels)
07/18 Quebec City, QC – Festival d’Été de Québec (no Run The Jewels)
07/21 Hamilton, ON – FirstOntario Centre (tickets)
07/23 Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena (tickets)
07/24 Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena (tickets)
07/27 Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Center (tickets)
07/29 Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (tickets)
07/31 Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena (tickets)
08/02 Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena (tickets)
08/04 Washington DC – Capital One Arena (tickets)
08/05 Washington, DC – Capitol One Arena (tickets)
08/07 Camden, NJ – BB&T Pavilion (tickets)
08/10 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden (tickets)
08/11 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden (tickets)
08/13 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden (tickets)
08/28 Leeds, UK – Leeds Festival (tickets)
08/30 Reading, UK – Reading Festival (tickets)
09/01 Paris, France – Rock En Seine Festival
09/04 Stradbally Laois, Ireland – Electric Picnic Festival
09/06 Berlin, Germany – Lollapalooza Berlin Festival
09/08 Prague, Czech Republic – O2 Arena (tickets)
09/10 Krakow, Poland – Tauron Arena (tickets)
09/12 Vienna, AUT – Stadthalle
Theprp.com may receive a commission from tickets purchased through the links in the above post.
Comments