The line stretched about a quarter mile through the Old Mill Friday with hundreds people waiting for their Hayden Homes Amphitheater tickets. It was the general onsale for two huge acts — the legendary James Taylor and multi-Grammy-winning country star Chris Stapleton.
The general sale was one day after presale tickets online.
“We tried online yesterday and it was too expensive so we decided to show up here,” said Tony Salido of Bend, who shared this experience with a lot of others in the line.
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“Saw it was up to about $400 or so but less here. So [we’re] trying our luck here,” said Derek Benson.
Hayden Homes Amphitheater Marketing Director Beau Eastes told Central Oregon Daily ticket prices are not always up to them.
“I think a lot of that is people going to re-sale sites, right? Where people have jacked those up,” said Eastes. “The ticket prices started at $115. There’s some platinum seats as well, but again not only are we giving access to locals, we’ve locked that ticket price in, too.”
Ticketmaster and Live Nation were the two ticket sites brought up the most in terms of more expensive tickets.
“If you buy them online, you of course pay the Ticketmaster charge after charge,” said John, who showed up for tickets after looking for them online.
He ended up not getting tickets because the Ticket Mill sold out of what he was looking for.
The majority of the people we spoke with said they did not plan to show up in person, but they could not bear the prices online.
“It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is,” said John.
Eastes said they are trying to keep tickets affordable and accessible and the Hayden Homes Amphitheater team is ready to help concert-goers out via email or phone call.
Ticketmaster has come under significant fire in recent months following its spectacular breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. The issue even ended up in a congressional hearing earlier this month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
