Incubus tickets go on sale despite lottery

When students arrived at the IU Auditorium Tuesday morning to buy tickets to the Nov. 7 Incubus concert, they were prepared to wait in line. Instead, they were handed a blue ticket with a number on it.\nAll were informed by Auditorium employees that a lottery would determine where they would stand line. Some students had arrived as early as 6 a.m. only to later find out that people who had walked in at 9:45 a.m. could possibly get better seats than they did.\nWith the lottery system, a number was randomly selected and those holding the tickets with the following 10 numbers could then purchase tickets. Then they would draw a new number and progress through the 10 numbers. The lottery started at 758; the first person who arrived at the Auditorium had number 641. \nMany students who had been waiting were not happy with Ticketmaster or the lottery policy.\nSenior Kirsten Washburn and sophomore Ashley Washburn were at the Auditorium at 8 a.m. to get tickets and didn't know there would be a lottery until they got there. "We've been here since a little after 8 a.m. this morning," said Ashley Washburn. "There were about 20 people that were here before us, and we thought that we would be the first ones there. And we weren't. I think the lottery system really sucks. What if you were here at 6 a.m. and you're last in line? That's horrible."\nThe Washburns were not the only upset people waiting in the lobby.\nSophomore Jason Alexander said he had found out about the lottery when he went to the Auditorium to buy tickets to another event. \n"I found out that the tickets were going to be given out by a lottery ... and I asked them why, and they said it was a Ticketmaster policy. They said they don't want people to loiter and get here early, like the night before, and that it leads to security problems," Alexander said. "But take a look around, we're all loitering right now. It doesn't make sense. It's not right for the people who walk in 5 minutes before tickets go on sale and get tickets before the people who have been waiting. It's not fair."\nJunior Brian Kelley was the first person to arrive at the Auditorium, and he ended up being in the second half of the line to get tickets.\n"I've been here since about 6:30 (a.m.), I was the very first person to be here to get tickets," Kelley said. "How do you justify people getting here at 9:59 (a.m.) when I've been here for 3 1/2 hours and get ahead of me? I don't think you should punish loyal fans. It doesn't make sense."\nDoug Booher, director of the IU Auditorium, said the Auditorium has no control over the policy of how tickets are distributed and that is left up to Ticketmaster.\n"The lottery is an industry standard; it's Ticketmaster's policy," Booher said. "The lottery system is used for two reasons: The first is to ensure fairness, and secondly to prevent people from camping out. With fairness, if you have an 8 o'clock class and you want to attend, and you send in a buddy at 6 (a.m.) to wait in line for you, then you finish your class and jump in line, that's not fair since you were not in line at 6 (a.m.) and other people have been waiting."\nBooher maintained a lottery system is the only true way to eliminate biases in buying tickets.\n"There is nothing more fair than a lottery system, it's the only way to ensure random bias," he said. "So far, I haven't seen anyone disappointed with their seats."\nBooher also said Incubus is excited to come to IU and hopes students look forward to a good show.\n"Students are in for a great night. Make sure to bring your IDs and definitely prepare to have an awesome time," Booher said. "I know that Incubus is fired up to be coming to IU, and this is a place that they wanted to play at."\nDespite the ticket buyers frustrated with the lottery system, half of the seating was sold in two hours.\nUnion Board Concert Committee Director Jeffrey Hasson said the 3,200 seat Auditorium venue had sold 1,600 by noon.\nHasson helped to get Incubus to play at IU and had been working on this project since this summer.\n"Some committee members heard this summer that Incubus was playing at smaller venues this fall, so we have been talking to them for the last four months trying to get them to come here," Hasson said. "I think I found out the third week of school that they were finally coming here."\nHasson also said the band was coming through the area, playing a concert at University of Illinois in Champaign Nov. 9, so playing in Bloomington was a logical choice.\n"It just made sense for the band to play at IU, and they were coming through Indiana on their way to Illinois," he said. "We wanted to have the student body have a really good rock show.\nRegardless of the Incubus fans' discontent with the lottery system, they were not discouraged from buying tickets to see the band in concert.\nFreshman David Sokoloff has seen Incubus several times and thinks their ability to adapt makes them worth seeing again. \n"I've seen them four times, and this will be my fifth," Sokoloff said. "I'm from San Diego, and I saw them over the summer, and they played a two-hour show. It was awesome. I really think they are a cross-over band. They have such a unique sound -- that's I why I like them so much."\nMany students also agreed getting such a big band to play at IU will only help increase their support.\n"I think Incubus coming to IU only increases their fan base," Sokoloff said. "I don't buy CDs, but I will pay to see them in concert."\nAshley Washburn agreed, saying Incubus can usually be found on tour, keeping their fans happy.\n"I think it's really good that Incubus is coming to IU. They are always on the road. This summer I think they were on an overseas tour, and now they are back in the states," Washburn said. "I don't think they ever stop touring, and that just keeps the fans wanting more."\n-- Contact senior writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu.