Plant and Krauss
Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 08:03 AM
We went to see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at Ravinia last night. It was a good concert, but it wasn’t as great as I’d hoped. Of course, both Robert and Alison are awesome performers (I use the term “awesome” not in the casual way that people (including me) tend to throw it around, but closer to its true sense - they are both performers that leave you in awe), and T. Bone Burnett’s arrangements are nothing short of masterful. But, the concert did have some down sides.
First, despite T. Bone’s incredible musical genius, he doesn’t seem to understand that you don’t put a bunch of slow songs in a row in your setlist. There were too many slow songs last night. If you’ve heard the album, it’s like that. Sure, it’s a great record, but it’s difficult to listen to it all at once because the are just so many slow songs on it. Last night’s concert was like that. Unfortunately, with a concert, you don’t have the option to listen to part of it now and part of it a little later. So, when you get three songs in a row that are down tempo, by the time you get through them it feels like you’re just dragging along.
Second, the sound in the pavilion was terrible. The vocal levels were too high compared to the rest of the mix. In fact, they were so high that both Robert’s and Alison’s vocals would hit “peak” levels and clip whenever they pushed a little bit. For those of you not familiar with mixing, I don’t mean to say that they were too loud. The volume level was fine. The inputs on the vocal mics were pushed too high. It’s a little hard (for me anyway) to explain, but the end result is the upper volume levels sound bad and can actually cause a very unpleasant sensation in your ears when the levels peak (which I felt quite frequently last night). The sound guy should be taken out back and shot for the disservice he did to their performance.
It did sound good when we got out of the pavilion and walked around. But we paid for the “good” seats - they should come with good sound. And, if you’ve never been to Ravinia, if you’re not in the pavilion, you can’t actually see the performers. Seriously. The lawn area doesn’t raise up behind the pavilion like most outdoor venues. It’s level, and (seemingly) a bit lower than the back of the pavilion. It’s great for the picnickers, but not if you want to actually see the concert.
On to the good stuff…
Like I said, T. Bone’s arrangements were amazing. The musicians were amazing. And, of course, Robert and Alison were amazing. The highlights (for me, anyhow) were the “In the Mood/Matty Grooves” medley and “Black Country Woman”. “Please Read the Letter” was one of my favorites off of the album (not to mention it’s original version from Page and Plant’s Walking into Clarksdale), so that was good to hear. T. Bone did a couple of songs on his own, and Alison did a great job with Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose”.
They did do a version of “Black Dog”, which I didn’t think much of. I’m not a huge fan of that song to begin with, but when Robert has recently reworked it with The Strange Sensation (to great effect), why rework it again for this project? Pick a different classic Zeppelin song in it’s place. Of course, they also did “Battle of Evermore”, which I pretty much expected they would. It didn’t do much for me, though. It was the one song that really didn’t stray too much from the original.
So, like I said, it was a good concert, but not as great a concert that I was hoping it would be. I am glad I went, though. And, honestly, I hope they put out a live album from this tour, because the songs that were great were simply amazing.
Concert Tickets - Postscript
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 11:23 AM
I finally got a response to the original help request that I filed via Live Nation’s online form (way back in Part Two of this saga). That was over a week ago, remember? Now, bear in mind that when I filled out the form I included very detailed information in regards to the problem, that I was billed twice for one purchase. This is the response I received:
Dear Live Nation Tickets Customer,
Thank you for contacting Live Nation Ticketing Support.
Tickets are currently expected to arrive 4-6 weeks prior to your event if you select the Regular Mail shipping option. Ticket shipments are not trackable with the free Regular Mail delivery option. If you wish to have a trackable method of shipment, please choose 2-3 Day Express Delivery if that option is available for the show you wish to attend.
If you have not received your tickets within 72 hours of the show please contact us by calling 1-800-431-3462. If we are closed because you are calling outside of our normal operating hours you can email us at ticketsupport@livenation.com - when calling or emailing, please reference your order’s 8-digit confirmation number.
For more information please visit http://www.livenation.com/help.
If this did not accurately answer your question, please accept our apologies and reply directly to this email for further assistance.
Thanks,
Shane.
Live Nation Ticketing Support
It took over a week for them to send a form letter that doesn’t even come close to addressing the issue? Way to go, Live Nation. You’re really on top of your game when it comes to taking care of your customers.
Concert Tickets - Part Four
Friday, June 06, 2008 - 11:39 AM
Part One - Part Two - Part Three
Well, hopefully this will be the last post on this.
After not hearing back from Live Nation by late afternoon yesterday, I decided to call back (again). I explained to the man that answered everything up to this point about the billing issue (as briefly as possible). He was extremely understanding and said that he wouldn’t get off the phone with me until the problem was resolved. He put me on hold to talk to his supervisor and came back on the line a couple of times just to update me and let me know he was still working on it.
It didn’t take too long before he came back and said that the supervisor was able to identify that there had been an error on their part, and they did bill me twice. He was going to credit my account back and I should see the credit in a couple of days. If I didn’t, just call back and ask for him directly.
This call did not take that long, and I really don’t understand why it required me calling three times to get this resolved (not to mention filling out the web form - which I never did get any kind of response from). I understand that the people answering the phones can’t fix every problem and might need to escalate things. But, if they tell you somebody will call you back, they should follow up to ensure that someone calls. It’s basic customer service.
In the end I did ask if there was anything they could do for me to make up for all I had been through. Unfortunately, he said there wasn’t. So, in the end, the problem was resolved, but they did nothing to try to make me a happy customer.
I know that in the future if I can drive to the venue to buy the tickets I will.
How (not) to Purchase Tickets - Part Three
Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 09:38 AM
If you need to get caught up:
So, after never receiving any sort of response to my initial help request, sent through Live Nation’s online form, (apart from the “Your Question has been Submitted” confirmation email), I tried the 800 number again. Incredibly, someone actually answered this time. (It was interesting that this time while I was on hold a message would occasionally come on saying “Somebody will be with you shortly.” That never happened the first time I called - just straight hold music the whole time.) I spoke to a pleasant young woman and explained my situation, including the fact that I never got a response to the help request submitted on line. She looked at my order and the history for my credit card number, which only showed that one order. According to what she saw, there was only one order, ergo, they only billed me once. I assured her that there were two transactions on my account. She said she would have to check into it and somebody would call me back.
That was yesterday. Guess what never happened?
After I got off the phone with her I called my bank. I wanted to make absolutely sure that there wasn’t any kind of error on the bank’s part, but I also wanted to gather more information for when Live Nation called me back (which never happened). It wasn’t an error on the bank’s end. They saw two separate transactions occurring at two different times (twelve minutes apart), each with its own trace number. Clearly, Live Nation billed me twice.
Today, after not hearing back from Live Nation, I decided to call again. I got straight through this time. I spoke to another young woman to whom I had to explain the situation, including the fact that I had called yesterday and never received a response (on top of never receiving a response from their on line form). Of course, I went through the same things with her that I did with the other woman - checking the order and credit card number, seeing that there is only one order, explaining that even though there’s only one order they did, in fact, charge me twice, etc. She said told me that she couldn’t help, and that both of her supervisors were in a meeting. She could take my information and have somebody call me back. It was very hard to keep my patience and remain polite at this point. (I did, however. People are always more willing to help you if you are polite. No matter what, always try to keep your cool when you are in these situations.)
So, now I’m waiting for another call back. I’m not optimistic.
How to Purchase Tickets - Part Two
Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - 11:38 AM
Read Part One first, if you haven’t already.
So, to top off everything else, they over billed me. I logged onto my banking website today and discovered two charges from Live Nation, each for the full amount of the tickets I purchased. Ugh.
There was an 800 number listed on the charges, so I called that number. I was greeted by a voice saying “Thank you for calling Live Nation ticketing. Please have your order number or credit card ready so that we may assist you. An agent will be with you shortly.” Then I heard the sound of hold music. I sat on hold for nearly 45 minutes, listening to the same six Elvis Presley songs*, in a loop, over and over again.
After being on hold for so long (while still on hold, I wasn’t ready to give up just yet) I went to their website to see if I could find a different 800 number. No such luck. In fact, one of their FAQs said that they didn’t operate a call center! Just who was I waiting on to pick up the call then? (I did eventually find the same 800 number I was already on hold with buried in a different FAQ.)
They did a have contact form to fill out, so I gave up on the phone call and composed a polite message detailing the over billing, and all of the other problems I experienced while trying to purchase the tickets in the first place. I asked that they reverse the extra charge and to also refund their “convenience” fees for all of my problems. We’ll see how they respond. It bothers me, though, that there’s no real way to follow up on that message, since I know calling their 800 number is a pointless exercise.
* The songs were “Jailhouse Rock”, “Don’t be Cruel”, “All Shook Up”, “Hard Headed Woman”, “Return to Sender”, and “In the Ghetto”. I think that could be considered torture in some countries!