Booking Opens Today!

[Petrushka]

I thought this thread would be real active this morning.

So did I. After the multiple stories of disaster and complaints about the website last year I was expecting another repeat. Looks like most are satisfied then?

[Lizabel]

I got in to the waiting room at 9.03, at 363 in the queue. By 9.15 I was already at 27, so I sat staring at the screen ready to pounce. I didn't touch anything, honest - but when the screen refreshed it told me that I was now at 3671 in the queue. Not fair! Did anyone else have this experience, and can anyone tell me what went wrong?
Relatively happy ending, though - I did get all the concerts I wanted, though not the seats I would have preferred.

[gedsmk]

Didn't make it into the waiting room until 9.15 despite repeated attempts. 3231 in queue. But was eventually able to get all the concerts I wanted, though not necessarily in the places I wanted. Best improvement on last year is the confirmation of seats and seat numbers. Last year had to wait until they sent me the tickets to find out what I'd managed to get.

[StephenO]

Don't like the Royal Albert Hall.

Can't stand London in the Summer.

Staying at home with my HD TV and Radio 3.

Likewise. I prefer Birmingham, Cardiff or Malvern for my concert going.

Quite a lot to look forward to in this year's Proms, though - Benjamin Grosvenor in Liszt on the opening night, Sibelius 7 from Mark Elder and the Halle, Rachmaninov from Noseda and the BBC Phil, Stephen Hough, Miah Persson in Mahler 2, Gergiev conducting Swan Lake, Haitink's Brahms, Volkov's Bruckner and Fischer's Mahler, not to mention Elijah and Der Freischutz. I don't think I'll be straying far from R3 this summer.

[LHC]

Well it appears you all got lucky.

Like everyone else I logged on at 9:00. However I couldn't get into the queue until 10:20 (at 4760) and didn't get to book tickets until 12:40, by which time most of the performances I was after were either sold out or only had a few circle seat left.

[gedsmk]

I took a look over at getmein.com someone has spent a small fortune buying up seats throughout the season to sell at premium prices.

[bluestateprommer]

The reason for the relative lack of posts here may be that people were trying to book on the RAH's site and didn't want to be distracted. Multi-tasking does have its limits.

With respect to Petrushka's post about expected disaster, I sort of expected that too, but this was my first time booking on line and my initial impatience with getting into the e-queue aside, it went OK. In retrospect, I didn't think to write down my exact number, but it was something like 1758. So by comparison to others, I guess that I didn't do that badly.

It looks like 5 sell out concerts as of this time.

[Bax-of-Delights]

I did try at 9.a.m and got into the waiting room at 9.15 - number 4565. As Mrs BoD was expecting a day out and her normal extensive preparations could be counted on to allow me some leeway I sat until 10.15 and by which time I was 2500. Then, there was a call of "well, I'm ready!" and so I had to log off.

On our return at 9 p.m. I logged straight in and got the Bax 2 (I guessed it wouldn't be sold out anyway!) but realised that apart from the general area of the Hall one couldn't choose exact seats. I presume this was to avoid congestion on the first day.

[David Underdown]

On the Brian, I gather the performers will number 1015 and the choirs will extend into the side stalls, so there were fewer seats available to start with

[Petrushka]

If I logged on, as I did, at exactly 9am I wonder why 4772 people can be in front of me and Prom 29 still manages to sell out when the seating capacity of the RAH is roughly the same figure. Surely not every person ahead of me booked for this Prom?

'On the Brian, I gather the performers will number 1015 and the choirs will extend into the side stalls, so there were fewer seats available to start with'

When I attended a performance of the Gothic in the Victoria Hall, Hanley in 1978, the number of performers outnumbered the audience and the conductor had his back to the rear wall. Brian was born in Stoke on Trent and his inspiration for the title was Lichfield Cathedral, my 'local'. I performed at both venues as a church chorister in 1965 and 1972 when local choirs were brought together under the direction of Dr Gerald Knight.

As I was also at the 1980 Ole Schmidt outing will anyone else have been to three live performances of the Gothic?

[PhilipT]

I don't claim that these numbers are exactly right, and I'm open to correction, but: The seating capacity of the RAH for an Ordinary Let is 3,929. That number includes 740 seats in the Arena that aren't in the Arena at a Prom, so the number comes down to 3,189. Prom 29, Mahler 2, requires a large choir, so it's a good bet that the 450 Choir seats are off sale, and the number comes down to 2,739. If 30% of those 4772 people ahead of you tried to book two seats each, some of them would be disappointed.

[Kuhlau]

I started trying to get in at about 8.59AM but it wasn't until about 9.05AM that I was actually put in the waiting room. I think I was 1192, but it still took about half an hour to count down. Managed to get reasonable seats in the stalls for Beethoven's Ninth and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (plus the late night Hamelin spectacular) but wasn't quite so lucky with Verdi's Requiem which I understand has now fully sold out. The stalls must have gone immeadiately as I have been placed in the second tier. On the whole, not too bad, and I've managed to secure accomodation in the Imperial College too, so all in all - happy enough!

[Eudaimonia]

I was very lucky indeed: in the waiting room at 9:00 (107th), on the purchasing screen at 9:03, and the relieved owner of an Arena season pass by 9:06. Hooray! Or rather, make that 4:06 New York time. I had to be up early to volunteer at an animal spay-and-neuter clinic anyway, so I'm glad it worked out.

You might think it's a bit nutty for a season ticket subscriber to want to be there on the dot-- but it totally makes sense when you remember that if there's any one group of people motivated enough to queue en masse at the earliest possible opportunity, it's the Arena prommers. Looks like I was right: yesterday afternoon, I heard that 263 (283?) of the possible 500 passes had already been sold--over half gone in a couple of hours! I wonder if they're sold out yet.

PhilipT: hello again--nice to see you here! In case you missed the name swap, I'm the front-row nuisance formerly known as Schopenhauerian...looking forward to commiserating with you over the sad state of the RAH dining facilities soon. Cheers! ~E.

[Lord Mersey]

E

Poor catering facilities at the RAH. Surely not!

Lord Mersey

[BBMmk2]

Surely, the RAH ticket accquiring system could've been managed better, in the knowledge they would've known about the amount of people that would have been using the facility?