The Wynn Las Vegas and musical resident Garth Brooks have announced the next 20 concerts for the country phenomenon’s five-year residency at Encore Theater. But ticketing restrictions enacted by resort proprietor Steve Wynn still stand as obstacles for those with less than concrete plans for attending the concerts.
Five more weekends have been set aside for the country titan’s performances at the nearly 1,500-seat venue: March 26-28, April 9-11, June 25-27, July 16-18 and August 6-8. Brooks’ will play each weekend evening at 8 p.m., as well as a second set at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday nights.
Ticket sales for the next five weeks begin this Saturday, February 27, at 8 a.m. (PT). The residency features a flat ticket price of $125, plus an additional $18 in service charges and tax per ticket.
Orders are limited to four tickets, and the name of each attendee must be provided at the time tickets are purchased. Tickets will only be available for pick-up at Will Call on the evening of the concert, but must be claimed at least an hour prior to show time. When attendees pick up their tickets, all members of the group must be present with valid photo IDs, as well as the credit card used in the original transaction.
A notice on Brook’s official Web site explains the strict procedure:
Specific measures have been put in place in an effort to ensure that the tickets for concerts are accessible to fans at face value and through authorized sales channels exclusively. Fans are discouraged from purchasing tickets through unauthorized channels as these tickets will be cancelled. Wynn is committed to developing and implementing new and improved measures to combat scalping until such a time that the illegal activity ceases. Suspect activity will be investigated and forwarded to authorities for prosecution.
These are the same ticketing restrictions that caused confusion and frustration during onsales for the opening weeks of Brooks’ five-year run.
Tickets for the iconic musician’s concerts on December 11-13, January 1-3, January 22-24, February 12-14, and February 26-27 sold out within hours of the start of onsales in October 2009. However, Wynn did not announce ticketing restrictions until later, causing a last-minute scramble as ticket buyers paired attendee names with their orders. In local news reports on the last-minute restrictions, fans called the requirements “arrogant” and an “invasion of privacy”.
Similarly the National Association of Ticket Brokers spoke out against the restrictions, noting in a statement, “Fans should have the right to buy and sell the tickets they want without having to RSVP their guests or risk cancellation based on new, arbitrary rules.”
Ultimately, though, ticket brokers agreed to comply with ticketing restrictions and move forward with business. But for many, complying with the regulations meant not buying tickets for the Brooks concerts at all.
