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| Muse World Tour 2026 |
If I didn’t know better, I’d think Muse had named this tour after the mobile phone situation in Chichester as that’s what most people exclaim in the town centre if they miraculously manage to obtain a signal. Wow!
I’ve done bugger all other than watch and wait. ‘Not now cat’ I shout at the needy mog who is clamouring for a bit of fussing; I’ve got other more pressing things to attend to.
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| Almost there |
There’s now a minute to go. My buttocks are clenched with excitement, stomach’s churning like a banned tumble drier, credit card poised ready for the online starter pistol to signal that the race for tickets is on.
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| OMG! So many people in front |
Aha! The cyber queue finally opens. There are 163 invisible, nerve-wracked, PJ clad, sweaty fingered peeps in front of me all sat in front of their devices chomping at the bit. It’s been a while since Muse toured the UK so ticket demand for this gig’s going to be colossal.
Unlike the queue at our local post office, this one eats through 163 fans at a rate of knots. Burp! It is not long before I find myself at the front, only 1 cyber peep left ahead of me.
The venue map opens. There are many pockets of blue left so seat availability appears good. Except it isn’t. What I’m looking at is a sea of rapidly shifting quicksand. The £79 seats I’d clicked on have evaporated into thin air before reaching the basket.
In seconds, the cheapest seats have gone from £79 to £147 so I’m guessing that menace called Dynamic Pricing is in force. This is now the scourge of all music fans. Fanning the flames of corporate greed by forcing us all to pay over the odds for tickets to events. This preys upon a fan’s fear of missing out and operates on the premise that those keen enough to want to go are willing to pay anything to be there.
Come on Muse. Dynamic pricing, really? How can you sing about fat cats having heart attacks because we're rebelling against their control then allow these very same fat cats to shamelessly rinse devoted followers with these evil algorithms? Strikes me as being a tad hypocritical.
Artists really need to put their feet down to stamp out this practice if they don’t want to alienate fans especially for those that would struggle even to find £79 for a seat. ‘Lack of single/album sales’ bellows the other half down his mobile phone (hands free) as he motors on to Winchester to deliver toilet seats to customers too lazy to collect.
Artists really need to put their feet down to stamp out this practice if they don’t want to alienate fans especially for those that would struggle even to find £79 for a seat. ‘Lack of single/album sales’ bellows the other half down his mobile phone (hands free) as he motors on to Winchester to deliver toilet seats to customers too lazy to collect.
Is this situation really the result of internet streaming and the demise of the 7” single? Record sales were once a big revenue stream for bands but since everyone now expects to hear it for free on some streaming platform then the buggers are having to find new ways to make up for lost income.
As someone who has been a frequent flyer to gigs, festivals or other live music events for decades, dynamic pricing is an evil that needs to be vanquished and pretty quickly. If a ticket has a face value of £79 then that’s what all fans should pay regardless of their position in the cyber queue, personal wealth or their desire to see a particular artist.
An hour has passed. I’m ticketless. The Live Nation pre-sale has been one humungous waste of time and put me in a mood so foul that I’m now going to take it out on the garden before the forecast ‘heatwave’ hits Chichester.
Look out flower beds, I’m coming for you!
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