The curse of the secret gig…

So secret gigs are probably the best way of bands to promote new material to their ‘hard core’ fans in a small and intimate venue. For some bands it’s a way of saying thank you to their fans for being there through everything. But what happens when the fans can’t get hold of these golden tickets and why is it becoming increasingly diffficult for genuine fans to go to these special events.

Take a look at The Strokes’  recent reunion gig under the name ‘Venison’. The Strokes left a number of clues on their website for fans to guess where the gig would be. And then it all unfolded, The Strokes would be playing Dingwalls in Camden under the name of Venison. Fans prepared themselves with F5 and their debit cards but so many people missed out. Why? NME released details the day before telling the whole world where and when this gig was and how to get tickets. What’s secret about that? How is that rock and roll? It isn’t. The website crashed leaving hundreds, even thousands of fans dissapointed. The worst bit? Touts were selling tickets on ebay for £500 – £4000. And that’s the problem right there. Announcing details to the world doesn’t just increase interest from music lovers, it gives touts the opportunity to buy these tickets and sell them at a higher price and they did at The Strokes gig – to people desperate to see their favourite band, people who lost out on tickets because of these very same touts.

And I’ve experienced it myself. When I heard that Arcade Fire were playing a secret show tonight at the Hackney Empire I was excited. I had a chance of seeing this amazing band in a stunning venue and what happened? An insane amount of music websites released the details how how to get tickets… I hit the buy button at 9 and as soon as I pressed it tickets had sold out. I kept trying for half an hour and still nothing. It left a lot of people disappointed. But now as I speak, tickets are selling for over £140 each and desperate fans are paying it to be a part of history.

Something needs to be done to stop the touts and to stop music magazines making it easier for the touts to know where and when these secret gigs are. Let’s face it a secret gig isn’t secret when it’s posted all over the internet. It never used to be like this. Why does it have to be like this today?

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Gigs Electric Shutdown is looking forward to…..

So Electric has a lot of gigs lined up already for the next couple of months so here are a couple we’re looking forward to:

– Editors @ Bournemouth Pavillions

Firstly I’ve never been to the Pavillions so that’s a new one and secondly Editors are so awesome live! Russel’s energetic dance moves combined with Tom Smith’s energetic piano playing makes you fall in love with them all over again.

– We Are Scientists @ Hoxton Bar and Grill, London

I’m just so excited about the return of WAS! It’s been a long two years without their perfect live shows and comedic stage banter. Welcome back Keith and Chris!

– Rage Against the Machine @ Finsbury Park, London

First of all, it ‘s free, a big thank you from the band for getting them the christmas number 1 spot. It’s sure to be a good one. Looking forward to the mosh pits!

– Muse @Wembley Stadium, London

Having missed them play there the first time, I can’t wait to see how they transform their live shows to a stadium audience and still manage to wow the crowd. Listening to Harp gets me even more excited!

So that’s a couple, i’m sure they’ll be many many more with so many bands taking to the road this year!!

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Electric news: Victory for Music or outRAGE?!

On Sunday evening, it was announced that Rage Against The Machine had made the number one spot, selling 500,000 copies of ‘Killing in the name’ in a week. The X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s cover of ‘The Climb’ was kept off the top spot after an internet campaign on Facebook. The campaign led by Jon and Tracey Morter, huge Rage fans asked members of the ‘ Rage for Number one’ group to buy at least one copy of ‘Killing in the name’.

So what does this mean for the X Factor and Simon Cowell? Cowell claims to be ‘gutted’ for Jo but congratulated the people power of the facebook campaign. It seems that the people have spoken – we’ve had enough of this manufactured pop music. What about the bands that write their own music and are talented enough without having to go on television. Let’s give them a chance and leave the decade of reality television behind.

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