Venue Cymru Arena

[Yorkie]

Theatre tickets have a bigger black market than any other commodity, even during the war years.  Ask your local Councillor if he or she can get you one!   I bet all those on the Theatre Committee have had their fill of what was available. ££$

[DaveR]

Quite often, I'll hear of someone going to the Theatre. "We were given some free tickets by a friend." is their usual answer. Who is receiving all these free tickets and why? With a £1.5m loss a year, questions need to be asked.

[Fester]

If a play or a show is poorly subscribed and looks like being an embarrassment, then I have no problem with REDUCED price tickets being made available to fill the venue.
In a similar way to marking down 'close to sell by date' food in ASDA.
But, it has to be managed fairly, within a policy.

What I do have a massive problem with, is the creaming off of premium 'sought after' tickets to the privileged few.
That, plus the majority of the tickets being hoovered up by those who seek to instantly seek a huge profit.

Its amazing how many times I have tried to buy tickets from a venue directly to be told that they are completely sold out.
Then, mysteriously there are LOADS returned on the day of the gig by the likes of Ticketmaster, leading to both disappointed fans who never knew, plus empty seats at the gig. 

 

[Yorkie]

Quite often, I'll hear of someone going to the Theatre. "We were given some free tickets by a friend." is their usual answer. Who is receiving all these free tickets and why? With a £1.5m loss a year, questions need to be asked.

Free or Complimentary tickets are often given to those companies or individuals who subscribe as friends of the theatre or whatever other fancy name they give them.   I certainly have been told in the past from reliable source that Pentraeth have had free tickets given to them on regular occasions.  They also used to have parking concessions for the theatre car park.   I feel a FoI request coming on!    ZXZ

[Nemesis]

Years ago we were given some tickets by someone who was a volunteer steward. Do they still get them? If you think about that, if each one gets 1/2 a doz given, even a £20.00 ticket will add up to a large amount when multiplied.

[born2run]

Years ago we were given some tickets by someone who was a volunteer steward. Do they still get them? If you think about that, if each one gets 1/2 a doz given, even a £20.00 ticket will add up to a large amount when multiplied.

I have another friend who says she watched the Stereophonics (sold out) gig with her partner because he worked their at the time so they just "Let him in" They left after about 40 minutes because they weren't enjoying it 

[Nemesis]

No wonder they are losing money left, right and centre.

[cygnusx-1]

Not heard of Mumford and Son's, but I am getting old so that is not surprising.


They are appearing on Jools Holland's BBC2 show next Tue.........catch it and get down with the kids!!

[born2run]

This mentioned on Oscar now

Venue Cymru's customer service has seemingly sunk to a new low worthy of having their contact terminated if their was a contract to be terminated, remember we are dealing with the council here so there is very little that can be done.
I for many many years bought various tickets from the NEC in Birmingham for many top acts and groups of the day long before there were sophisticated computer systems to aid such concert venues, in those days trying to get through was as simple as having to dial the number repeatedly until one got through, it worked for years and also we got some great seats, no Internet, no EBay for resellers to clip the unsuspecting fan and all where happy.
There are of course new computer systems now that seem to work well for the likes of Ticket Master and many others firms specialising  in selling concert tickets, they are in the game for profit so it follows they have to have competent systems and management, either that or they go bust, that is how it works in the real world of business.
No such rules and guidelines seem to apply to public bodies like Conwy Council, they neither give a doggy doos about profit or customer service as the above comments plucked from the Twitter sphere show.
Is there any wonder the Venue is in the state it is in both financially and in terms of shows staged?
Who is accountable for the poor show at Venue Cymru and what performance criteria are their annual assessments based upon I wonder, customer service can't rank very high nor can customer satisfaction for if they did there would not be the complaints there are.
So who will do anything about it and when will things change?
Is it time for a change?
I think the answer is yes don't you?

[Nemesis]

I agree there Born2run. I too have bought many a hundred theatre tickets for places as far apart as London, Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Huddersfield, Sheffield and dare I admit it without sounding like a dinosaur Batley Variety Club. All we did was pick up the phone and keep trying-- indeed Batley had a system whereby you could book a phone call as the box office opened-- and you didn't pay a 'booking fee'. With this system we were often able to obtain front row seats for many of the top stars of the time. Many of the theatres we frequented were council run and were always efficient and well supported. Thereagain back then you dare walk the streets of a city to the station and /or leave your car safely without paying a fortune.
OMG I am sounding old !!

[Yorkie]

Let's put things in perspective.

The Theatre is OURS.

The Councillors are OURS and PAID to REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS.

So why not TELL THE LOT OF THEM WHAT WE WANT DONE ABOUT IT!

Much too much HOT AIR and not enough ACTION!

[born2run]

Lets also remember the Theater/Arena is failing two fold.

1) They can't get enough decent artists

2) When they finally have a decent artists, and I look out of my window and the moon is blue, they completely hash up the ticket selling process, making them look like the amateurs they are.

Back to point one - and I remember around ten years ago - before the arena was even built - I saw gigs by Van Morrison, Status Quo, Willie Nelson, Don Williams, Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, Levellers, etc

Nowadays even Status Quo have given up on the theater! That concert alone brought in 2 nights of packed houses and business to the town. The programme this year, and last year is absolutely dire. Rhyl have a better line up with a venue one third of the size.

[Yorkie]

Does that mean that a highly paid manager at Venue Cymru is failing to do their job?   If so sack him or her and get someone in who can do the job.   Acts won't come to us, we need someone to get off their ass, get out in the field and bring the business in.   Get In Turner involved!   

[Fester]

It would appear that you are right Yorkie and B2R,

Given that there are a myriad of talented acts out there, a very large number of people in the N Wales area who would willingly pay to see them.... and a 'state of the art' venue to house them,   then it can only fail due to mis-management.!     

[Paddy]

The Nolan Sisters are coming to VC next March.  Not really my thing but I'm sure they'll fill the place.

Nolan Sisters 1974

Disclaimer: Video not indicative of what they look like now!