The David Archuleta Showcase fiasco

da ginny

I came into possession of two tickets for the David Archuleta Showcase at 3 pm today and picked Ginny up to go to Sunway with me. I planned to arrive at her house at 12:30 pm but missed a turning and ended up being stuck in KL traffic on a Saturday. I only managed to get to her place at 1:30 pm.

da showcase

Anyway, we arrived at Sunway Lagoon Amphitheater at slightly before 2 pm. We were turned away at the parking area for reasons unknown. They had barriers to the David Archuleta Showcase Car Park and despite plenty of empty lots, everyone was asked to park elsewhere so we had no recourse but to park at Sunway Medical Center and walk over.

da crowd

There was a huge crowd waiting at the amphitheatre and we queued up at the entrance. I should have expected a massive turnout since I watched the YouTube video of David Archuleta being mobbed by fangirls at KLIA when he arrived.

da arrive

I thought we managed to get in just in time, since we passed the first security check, but everyone was turned away from the second security check due to the place being filled to capacity. The reason given was that the stadium was already packed with 3,000 people and they could not accommodate any more.

da disgruntled

There were at least a hundred people waiting to get in and most of them have waited there for ages, like us. Just look at the disgruntled faces in the crowd.

da banner

It’s neither DiGi nor Sony Music’s fault – the tickets had Fine Print (TM) at the back that clearly states ticket holders are not guaranteed entry. I still feel it could have been better planned though. The tickets were oversold – there were 3,000 people in there by 2 pm and they stopped letting people in after that.

I got the tickets thanks to Nuffnang, and we wanted to get in to take photos and videos of the showcase. I felt sorry for the fans who came later than us, who either bought the CD or won the tickets from a radio station, and was turned away. We left at 3:15 pm when it was clear that they were not letting anyone in come hell or high water.

We bumped into some latecomers after that who asked us why we were leaving and we told them they couldn’t get in coz the stadium was filled to capacity. They had bought the CD and was pretty bummed about being turned away.

I felt really bad coz I was working and I couldn’t pick up the tickets so I got Ginny to pick up the tickets for me…and we ended up not being able to see David Archuleta. We just lost the window of opportunity by probably 10 minutes – if I had not missed the turning to Ginny’s house or managed to park at the amphitheatre entrance, we would have gotten in.

da us

Thus left behind, we headed to Ajisen Ramen at Sunway Pyramid and had a late lunch before heading back.

I knew we should have arrived earlier considering the popularity of David Archuleta with his…er, enthusiastic target demographic. Oh well, at least I’ll remember the turning to Ginny’s place now. :p

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42 thoughts on “The David Archuleta Showcase fiasco”

  1. I think that’s a very bad way of organizing an event. They clearly oversold the tickets at the same time knowing that the venue can only accomodate 3,000 people. It’s like conning people right at their face!

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  2. I thought of giving one of the ticket to my friend so I arrived earlier at 1pm.
    Many people already rushing in…
    That’s why I tell my friend if she will come soon and tell him we can actually get the tickets by buying RM30 Digi reload there!!
    Yeah, tickets are oversold!!

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  3. Cheesie: Yeah, the tickets are seriously oversold. A lot of people couldn’t get in. I didn’t know you were there too, or we could have gone for lunch together.
    Photos, coming right up. I see you on MSN. :p
    YilingL: Oh well, I think it’s the mechanics that’s the problem – if you give EVERYONE who buys the CD a ticket, that’s gonna be a problem since if more than 3k people buys a CD, then the 3,001 and above people won’t be able to go in.
    chefmel: Yeah, but then again the ticket redemption mechanics is flawed. Everyone who buys a CD gets a ticket. That’s a recipe for disaster.
    Tian Chad: Yeah, I think a lot of people went at 11 am or some crazy hour coz the place was at full capacity at 2 pm. :S

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  4. Gin: You do know where I work right? :p
    When I was 23, I wouldn’t have given a fuck and would have unleashed hell.
    Time and work experience taught me to hold back. πŸ™‚
    hitomi: Oh well, it happens.
    Better luck next time (and I shall go earlier than the fangirls). :p

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  5. debra fong: Yeah…and I passed through several tolls due from being lost. It’s supposed to be my frugality month too, damn broke this month.
    Oh well, I just picked up the TV I won from the Sony contest when I bought my dSLR. It’s worth RM 1,799. Gonna sell it since I need the cash. πŸ™‚

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  6. HB, when David was on American Ido I voted so many times for him but he lucked out to David Cook who also very good. Do you get Dancing the Stars in Malaysia and So You Think You Can Dance?

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  7. Yatz: Oh well, can’t do much about it. It happens. IMHO, if you plan for 3k people, the tickets should be at 3.2k, allowing for 200 no shows coz there’s plenty of people waiting to get in there without tickets, but purchasing the DiGi deal.
    Amy: Hmm…I don’t watch TV much. I just won a TV from Sony from my dSLR purchase…and I’m gonna sell it coz I need the cash more than the TV. Retail is RM 1,799 gonna sell it at 1.5k, brand new, unopened, just picked up today, with evidence of my winning letter and photos from Sony Style. πŸ™‚

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  8. Malaysia sounds like the last frontier or something. In america that would be as illegal as it gets for a place to oversell tickets with no guarantee of entry.

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  9. chriso: Haha! True, that. πŸ˜‰
    Darren: Cheers mate! πŸ™‚
    amns: OMG! ROTFLMAO! Nice one, my friend, that had me laughing out loud – my first of the day, just woke up.
    Cheers for that, mate. Hilarious! πŸ™‚
    Okay, I’m not a fan but I wanted to go anyway to see what the hoo ha is about with this David dude. πŸ™‚
    Trey: Welcome to Malaysia. πŸ™‚
    Anyway, for proper concerts, they don’t do oversell. They’s calling this a “showcase” instead.

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  10. mellissa> imo, its not “damn nonsense” coz people did not pay FOR the ticket. clearly, people won it FREE or bought something that gave out FREE tickets. if you did not pay for it, i guess people did not have the right to complain. (yes, i know you only said “IF” but its smth i wanted to share.)
    people were already queueing up at the entrance as early as 9am (coz there was a long queue in front of me, who arrived at 10am). when i was seated in the amphitheatre (they open gate at 12noon) the seats were pretty much full after an hour plus. by getting there early, i managed to seat in the second tier. (1st tier reserved for VIP/media, three tier in total.)

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  11. Yeah, it sux bigtime, overselling tickets like that. Good on you for giving this event the bad revue it deserves, I can imagine plenty of others are just as pissed off as you are who don’t blog the experience.

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  12. Hey Hb. Just wanted to say happy Easter and say thanks. Your blog/site has been a great aid to me. I got 20 years on you ( but not much wisdom) God Bless you. Half a world away, tis easter morning, here. I am glad to be here. Glad you are there ( here) also, HB. Please for give me this one religious reference,BUT He still lives!!!! ( sometimes in the good guys like you)
    Tom

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  13. Oh,ow, ow, ow. jezzz, All right, all I meant to say was red or yellow, black or white, we are precesious in his site: “Jesus loves the little children of the world”. I have Jewish, Hindi, Bahia, Moslem, Bhuddist, Shinto, and agnostic friends. ( since they ( agnostic) do not believe, I did not capatialize — it irrittes the hell out out them!!) My outer skin color is different than yours, but we all bleed red. But what is true, HB, is no one want to give an inch (what , switch to metrics– notonoyour life). The nations of this world spend way too much on arms, ( myself, nine years in the USAF – nucs, and damn proud of it) while kids go hungry, whether in Korea, Darfur, Malasia, Japan, Europe, or the US, UK , EU or South America. Not to mention Isreal, Saudi, Yemen, ETC.. Bitch and moan. I am almost going to retire. Pass the baton to you. It seems to weigh more as time goes by. Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, you know. Your turn now. Try not to piss too many off along the way. God Bless,
    Tom
    e In my home area included. All of us could do better. That is our job, now that we are older, and should be wiser. But i wouldnt lay odds on it happening. Go with god HB. Pray for me. I will be praying for you.
    tom

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  14. you shouldn’t have left early πŸ™‚
    i was there at 3pm, and i managed to get in.
    they started allowing people in around 3.30pm, and the event only started around 340pm.

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  15. Gin: It is, if it’s proper concert and they sell tickets (for cash). πŸ™‚
    vvens: Oh well, if it were NOFX, I’ll pursuade, bribe and gatecrash my way in. πŸ˜‰
    Oh, nice! I want one! πŸ™‚
    Mellissa: Yeah, the problem is, the bought the CD to get the tickets so there’s a bit of a grey area there. It still doesn’t make it right though. :S
    Akiko: OMG! No wonder we wouldn’t get in. You were there at 10 am???
    Jesus Christ, I haven’t even got out of bed at the time. πŸ™‚
    Jeff: Yeah, they probably are not bloggers but they gave security a hell of a time though, the vocal ones. The bouncers had a good answer – look at the Fine Print (TM). :S
    tom: Happy Easter to you too my friend, and many more Easters for you to come.
    God bless.
    tom robinson: Suffer the little children. I love that phrase…it was an SK short story and it reminds me of the Nirvana song that goes “Save the kids some food”.
    You served in the Air Force? Impressive.
    Take care, my friend and be well.
    mknace: Yeah, there were A LOT of people there.
    rachel: OMG! They started letting people in at 3:30????
    Damn it, we should have stayed.
    Er…next time call me? πŸ˜‰
    016 888 2069.

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  16. I got the tickets from Digi too and when I collected them, I was shocked to see the “no entrance guaranteed” in the terms and conditions behind the ticket. Seriously, this is like a freaking marketing gimmick because you only knows the term and condition AFTER we got the tickets. According to the law book, if they only inform AFTER the transaction, it is certainly not valid. wtf.
    Anyway, I sold off the tickets (since it doesn’t say that it can’t be sold to another party) but ofcourse I told her about the “unguaranteed entrance” but she still bought it anyway.
    MARKETING GIMMICK! Digi macam gila wang. I can’t believe they’re still using the tickets to persuade people to buy their RM30 digi reloads on that day itself. Wht fuck.

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  17. aww… u guys were turned away? i got in.. i went there like 10.40 in the morning and there were already about 100 ppl lined up just to see him.. crazy fans

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  18. Forsakengel: Hmm…my apologies mate, I can’t comment on this. You’ll understand if you know where I work. πŸ™‚
    Amanda: 10 am in the MORNING????
    No wonder we couldn’t get in. :p

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  19. Hello πŸ™‚
    I was there at 11am & I was already 2 gates away. Can you imagine that?
    But you should’t have left so early, the amphitheater fit in 5000-6000 people at last.
    Some were standing throughout the whole thing.
    So yeah.

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  20. I didn’t know they stop letting people in…i was already in the theater at 12pm, and saved some seats for my cousin who only came in around 3.20pm…i think they let people in again around that time coz a huge crowd started to come in again around that time and most of them stood and watch the whole show

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  21. Adele: 11 am? OMG! You were there early!
    Oh well, I don’t know why they didn’t let us in at 3 pm so we left at 3:15 pm coz we though the concert would have ended soon.
    nQw: You can save seats in the theater? I didn’t know that or I would have gotten people to save us seats.
    Alas, we left 5 minutes before the floodgates opened. Oh well.

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  22. ShaolinTiger: Yeah…if it were Nickelback, NOFX, or Eminem (even MCR), I would have camped there the night before. πŸ™‚

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