Advance ticket booking for Files/Forum members

[magdasto]

Tom: why do you presume Leonard's concert would last only 45 minutes?

[curiousberyl]

Great news!

[liverpoolken]

Tom: why do you presume Leonard's concert would last only 45 minutes?

With so many bands waiting in a queue to do their 'take the money and run' sets at these summer festivals artists usually have neither the inclination nor time to give a full set list.

Tom - Will you have finished your Croatian Ulysses by the time we sit down and close our eyes to listen to LC in some wintry European city?

I've finally managed to dig out the photo I was telling you about in Venice of the poster for the Joseph Strick film. It's in the Joyce museum in Sandy Cove just outside of Dublin in the martello tower mentioned in the first chapter of the book.



Ta Ken

[Deena]

Hi LiverpoolKen,
What an amazing coincidence! Obviously I'm here on this forum as a longtime Leonard Cohen lover (that's lover in the admiration/fan sense, obviously) but couldn't believe it when I saw your Ulysses poster. Just returned from a weekend in Dublin where I visited various Joycean sites, tried to get to the museum at Sandy Cove but it was closed, and have been fairly immersed in various Joyce related activities/tangents that would take too long to explain here without going severely 'off-topic'. Nice to meet you!LondonDeena

[tinderella]

There are creators and appreciators.... I am not a writer but an avid reader and love to read the forums here about Leonard. Just because we do not add to the Forums threads does not make us less of a fan of Leonard's work. Some members here have had the good fortune to even meet Leonard a number of times. I have never ever seen him live, all I have is his music which i really really love. Let's hope there is no bitterness after the tickets go on sale and that some fans that never ever got a chance to see him play live ( I was surrounded by babies the last time he played Ireland).... get this one chance to see him live.

[andreigheorghe]

Hello everyone, nice to meet you! The tour is great news, can't wait to find out the locations!

I have a question regarding the tickets/person statement: "The number of tickets each member can buy will also be limited, and the tickets will be non-transferable.".

I want to buy two tickets, one for me and one for my girlfriend. Will that be possible?

Thank you!

[claire.oconnell]

Hi All,

I'm a very long time reader but newbi in terms of registering and posting, and I see that that's not going down too well with some members, I guess it's understandable, and I know well the fear the thought of not getting tickets can inspire! All I would say is that joining recently does not automatically mean that the person is a ticket tout. I'm a massive fan like many others here, and have been following this site closely for such a long time in the hope of finding even the smallest hint that the great man might tour again. I'll happily admit that I'm not generally one for posting to forums, and that I was encouraged to FINALLY actually register for this by the thought that it might even slightly increase my chance of getting a ticket - the rumour for Dublin is a fully-seated outdoor gig in Kilmainham hospital - a very small venue, not exactly on the glastonbury scale - so I am absolutely terrified at the possibility of missing out on tickets for this gig, probably a once in a lifetime opportunity at this stage.

I understand that long term members might feel agrieved, particularly if they see the influx of new members as a threat to their chances of getting tickets, but I think the first-come-first-served on the day approach that Jarkko is speaking of sounds fair, and I think that myself or any other great fan would be foolish and insane not to even try to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

Here's to hoping there's enough to go around,

Cheers,
Claire.

[Suemerlyn]

Oh wow, I have been away for a couple of days and come back to a massive 9 new pages - which i have just rattled through!!

THANK YOU JARKKO n LEONARD!! I am super appreciative as I have shared all the angst re actually getting tickets and having to compete with the general public on Ticketmaster or somewhere. I gues it will still be Ticketmaster or somewhere, but at least long time fans will get some priority. I'm soooo excited, can't wait!!!

[Knickerless]

i'll tell you what is great about this besides the fact it increases the chances of people getting tickets... the fact that all the people like myself that used to just lurk and never post have now been forced into joining up and making themselves known!

[lizzytysh]

Hi Claire ~

I understand what you're saying. I think the difference you're picking up on in the discontentment is that of "the spirit of the law" and "the letter of the law" ~ a wide variety of people "loyal fans" have made it a point to participate across time in various ways. One might have done so in one fashion, but not in another; another in still another, but not the first way; and so on... there are [as I count the possibilities] about six-to-nine, different ways wherein "loyalty" could be established, via the direct participation in one or another of these six-to-nine, different ways. They're all valid, though the six are more 'solid' and the seven-to-nine portion might be "stretching" it with what I would consider probably Leonard's intent when he offered this here for his loyal fans. Participation in any one of these could easily be justified as warranting the gesture. This Forum is only one of the six-to-nine.

First-come, first-served still applies when tickets go on Public Sale on March 11, via TicketMaster and the other public-sales sites. This is more of a "fan club" membership offer... you know, those 'dorky' things that people do, but that sometimes eventually afford them a totally unexpected opportunity out of the blue. It's that kind of thing that this seems to me to pretty much refer to. Coming in at the eleventh hour and claiming longtime devotion isn't quite the same. For at least four years here, we've personally wished Leonard a Happy Birthday. If someone were going to join here in the past [when a tour was definitely NOT expected to ever happen], I would think that would have been a prime time to do it. We who have been here, and other places, have for a long time participated in that Happy Birthday [but at least some have had a join date... September 21... # posts ~ 1], as well as other ways [and I stress that, as there have been other ways outside of the Forum]... which really have been concrete, graphic indications of loyalty. Not all of those various folks I'm referring to have participated on the Forum... even in the "Happy Birthday" regard, but have tangibly participated in other ways.

So, what becomes the measure of "loyal" at a time like this? As I look at the "Members" section, by reading backwards to see where the influx started, it becomes obvious that this could just as much equate to an announcement to the General Public vs. "loyal fans" that "Tickets will go on sale early; and the means to obtain them can be found at http://www.leonardcohenforum.com on March 11." That ends up being very different. The "Tickets will go on sale on March 11, the day after the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Awards on March 10" and [paraphrased] "Special Announcement: Leonard and his management are offering his loyal fans from the LC Files/LC Forum an opportunity to obtain tickets for good seats in a special section, where they can all sit together" are exceedingly different. There clearly won't be enough to go around for loyal fans to sit together in good seats.

I've seen Sierra Club membership deals, but those who attend the meetings, participate in mail drives, etc. are those that are offered the deals. I'm using that as maybe a poor sample, but what you're noting here is the reaction of those who are feeling the difference. I'm not saying that you're an opportunist or that you're not a longtime fan, but there are clearly those who are here that wouldn't meet the 'cut-off' criteria for the working definition of the key word "loyal." I'm not focusing on myself when I'm saying all this. I would like one ticket for maybe two venues... whether I get them or not remains to be seen. I'll have my finger on the button the same as everyone else. I may end up a winter attendee, the same as Tom. I don't like all the acrimony I'm seeing, but for those who have participated in one way or another, and for a long time, "the spirit of the law" takes form and I feel it has legitimacy, especially as I scroll through at least 7 new pages in the Members section. This would be being reacted to differently if Jarkko had said, "Leonard and his management want everyone to know that tickets will actually go on sale early."

This is written with all respect to those I know are loyal fans, even though it's your first time officially here. In fact, the groupings that I'm referring to could easily be established and compiled onto lists.


~ Lizzy

[claire.oconnell]

Thats fine Lizzy. I appreciate how long-time members might be feeling, and if they were to make the decision to prioritise those that have been not just lurking but actually registered for some time, I'd completely understand and say "fair enough". We'll see how it goes, they might have to do something...I just feel that I'd be a complete idiot not to take advantage of the chance here if it does arrive, I'm so desperate to get to see him in concert if at all possible, and am prepared to queue anywhere, anytime and in any format! Two tickets to one gig and I'll be absolutely over the moon.

Good luck!

Claire

[loulou]

Thank you so much Leonard, his managment and Jarkko for taking the trouble to allow us an advance booking opportunity

[lizzytysh]

Hi Claire ~

I guess there are a lot of different analogies for it... those special flyers that arrive in the mail from retail stores, where some have charge accounts and have a solid, purchase history... "For Our Special Customers Only" ~ not as good an analogy, as I think they sometimes just do mass mailings; but really the same idea, if that's not the case. Going down that morning and getting a charge card and buying something doesn't put that person in that same, intended category.

The spirit of the special-opportunity offer really does hinge on the word "loyal" ~ and there are inherent measures for that; whatever they might be, they're tangible. As I said, that's from a "working definition" perspective, for this particular context.

I have no idea what will happen or how it will all go, Claire, but I hope you get to see Leonard perform Live. For me, I'd love to see him at a smaller venue somewhere in Canada, and wouldn't mind seeing him at a festival somewhere in Europe. It may come down to one [or one to however many] tickets to one venue only for everyone, though... and so be it, if that's what happens.

There's only one thing I know for sure. The record for "Most users ever online" is about to be broken, nay, smashed to smithereens. I'm not sure but, in fact, I believe the site could get jammed. The current record is "110 on Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:12 am" ~ I believe that was probably related to the Happy Birthday thread for Leonard, leading up to September 21, 2005. Time flies, so it could have been related to Kelley Lynch, though I don't have the date of all that in mind like I do Leonard's birthday and the approximate timeframe for the thread to appear beforehand.


~ Lizzy

[tinderella]

Some of us also have Myspace pages where there are tribute pages to Leonard and from there we would post our birthday greetings to him, in the vain hope that he may log on and see the greetings.

[technicalblack]

Thanks a billion Jarkko and Leonard. I rarely log in when I visit as I tend just to look around and see what's going on but the messages in the tour section prompted me to look further and luckily I was able to find this! I'm so looking forward to seeing one of these shows and it'll be great to see the great man performing!