Overselling tickets has always been an issue in the concert industry. When a show sells out, or there is no cap on tickets sold, it looks better for the sponsor and for the band’s sales of the show. However, they do not take the overall safety issues of the venue into perspective.

Case in point, the 89x Birthday Bash. Like Taryn (Read the Review), I was at the show on Memorial Day. Also like Taryn, I was enjoying myself until the time when the headliners were supposed to go on. As the security guards guarding the Fox Theatre were instructing people to stand in line in order to see the Killers, people began to get out of control at the thought of not being in the venue. The semi-orderly line became a fiasco, as people began to rush the line, pushing and shoving to try to get into the Fox.

I would estimate, that there were 5,000 or so people already in the Fox, with another 1,500 waiting outside to get in. I would also estimate that another 500 or so people waiting outside the State Theatre with the assumption they were going to be able to see Social Distortion. However, most of the people were relegated to watching DJ Z-Trip at the outdoor stage; or they just gave up and went home in pure disgust.

How did 89x let things get so bad?

It was obvious that 89x, who was announcing the show was “sold out” numerous times during the day, did not cap the number of tickets sold. I still remember some of the math I took in school and did a few simple calculations;

It went a little something like this…

• Fox Theatre Capacity: 5,000
  plus
• State Theatre Capacity: 3,000
  plus
• Outdoor Stage Capacity: 1,500

There! 9,500 tickets maximum that should have been sold for the event. If you saw the dual fiascos outside, you’d realize that close to 12 or 13 thousand tickets were sold for the event. Honestly, they probably shouldn’t even have sold as many as those 9,500 tickets, which would have allowed people to check out bands, without having to stand in line.

The next day, 89x didn’t mention a word about the fiasco, let alone an apology, to the fans who had been led to believe they would get to see the bands they wanted to see. The radio station DJ’s just went on and on, discussing how great the event was. Obviously, they didn’t get audio from the people shoving their way into the Fox; or the people being kicked out of the outdoor area, after voicing their frustration with the whole concert. Let’s just say that a lot of people who bought Killers t-shirts never even got to see the band they wanted to check out.

A simple apology from the station may have calmed some of the fans down, but there was none of that. It was poor planning on the station’s part, who more than likely allowed Ticketmaster to sell as many tickets as they did. It became a logistical nightmare, and left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouth. And to blame the bands for the situation outside is completely ridiculous; they had about as much of an idea about the shut out of fans as the fans themselves.

Not putting a cap on tickets sold has never hurt the Warped Tour in the ten years of its existence. But there’s a big difference, all stages at the Warped Tour are outside. The lack of a ticket cap does not work well in a situation like the 89x show; where venues have limited space. Overselling tickets does lead to some bad situations. Arguments, fights, and we don’t even have to mention the Station incident in Rhode Island two years ago. 100 people died in a venue, that was (you guessed it) oversold. It may seem like the incidents on Monday are a far cry from what happened with the Station; but one bad situation can lead to situations that can turn to be harmful, or in extreme cases, fatal.

89x needs to do something to make up for the few thousand fans that were left out in the proverbial cold. Perhaps beg and plead the Killers or Social Distortion to come back for another show?

I think it’s more likely I will be watching Social Distortion on a concert DVD before 89X does us a favor like that…

Art can be reached at arthatesyou@detroitbuzz.com.