Want to see Green Day? No problem.
The second leg of Green Day’s Revolution Radio tour went on sale Friday morning with dates in the US and Canada through mid-September. Roughly 48 hours later, seats are still available at every location on the tour.
This is a noted change from the first wave of dates: When the tour was first announced and went on sale months ago, seats were snapped up quickly by ticket bots, leaving fans angry, frustrated and left with the option of paying more than face value for tickets on the secondary market or sitting home and missing out.
This is one of the first major rock tours announced in the United States since the implementation on a new federal law banning the use of ticket bots. Signed by President Obama in December, the law makes it a federal crime to employ bots, software designed to buy up large batches of tickets the instant they go on sale. The new law also makes it possible for the US government to intervene in, and file, civil lawsuits on behalf of customers who were unable to purchase tickets to a given event because bots were used.
But is the legislation the reason seats are still available? Or is it because bands like Green Day and Guns ‘N’Roses, also on the road this summer for the Not in this Lifetime tour, are playing bigger outdoor arenas and amphitheaters?
Tickets are available in every price range for both Green Day and Guns ‘N’ Roses at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center and New Era Field in the Buffalo area, as well as at the newly renamed Budweiser Stage in Toronto. Tickets are also plentiful for Green Day in Kansas City, Missouri; Hartford, Connecticut and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ultimately, if you’re a Green Day fan with your heart set on going to see them, you might not care what size venue the band is playing, you’re just glad you can go. But whether the US legislation is effective is unclear at this time. As more summer tours are announced, or as indoor arena tours are booked, the power of the presidential pen might become more apparent.