So as some of you are probably aware, Matt and I are in the process of scheduling an appt with Mr. Eric Bachmann and his Loafers et al. A pair of shows in New York seemed the ideal fit—a relatively short trip from New Haven, weekend dates, not to mention the NYC backdrop. Anyhoo, tickets went on sale late last week, but as our plans were still in the formative stages, I held off on pulling the trigger. I checked TicketMaster again this morning, and seems the show is already sold out—this is the distressing part of the story.  I immediately headed over to StubHub only to discover a pile of tickets ranging from $70 to $180 each, i.e. between 250 and 650% face value—this is the infuriating part of the story. Given the proximity of the on-sale date, you can be fairly certain that some (if not most) of these tickets were purchased strictly for re-sale by assholes who knew longtime fans (see: Matt, myself) would sooner shell out exorbitant prices than chance missing the Archers’ reunion. That some of the scalpers are likely fans themselves, figuring they could pay their way by purchasing a couple more tickets than they actually needed, may be the most offensive part of the whole business. In my experience, bands try keep their ticket prices as low as possible. This only makes sense: they only take a slice of the door, particularly after setup and venue fees are taken into account—better to leave those dollars in your fans’ hands for use on merch, of which the club typically doesn’t take a cut. Scalpers who ask $30, $50, $100, whatever, over face are shitting on these efforts, not only screwing over fans (which obviously pisses me off a great deal), but also pocketing money that should have gone to the band. End diatribe.