THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 27 lines
I was happy to see that I'm not the only one who feels that the amphitheater/TicketMaster deal is a scam (letter, May 27). I attended the Bruce Hornsby concert on May 15. I was impressed with the facility and the quality of the show, but I was angered by the apparent greed and lack of forethought on the part of management and TicketMaster.
The tickets, which were advertised for $10, ended up being $14. Service fees, blah, blah, and a parking fee. A what? It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that this policy, forced on ticket buyers, discourages car pooling and penalizes those who do so. In our vehicle, for example, there were six of us. That comes to $9 for one vehicle to park, more than triple what other venues charge.
The concession prices are too high, roughly double that of other local parks, and on the night I attended, there were entirely too many idle concession workers. The no-lawn-chair rule is also ridiculous; the grade of the lawn is steep enough to allow anyone to see over a lawn chair.
The whole affair needs to be straightened out quickly before the amphitheater loses the business of young concertgoers such as myself.
CHRIS YERKES
Chesapeake, May 27, 1996 by CNB