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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pearl Jam Sweetens Up To Ticketmaster

Gene Stout Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle rock band Pearl Jam has dropped its long-running boycott of Ticketmaster, conceding it will be forced to work with the nation’s largest ticket seller in booking future tours.

“We feel it’s impossible to tour America without Ticketmaster,” said Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam’s manager. “We also feel that for the sake of our fans and in order for Pearl Jam to get back to playing their music, we may have to work with Ticketmaster.”

Ticketmaster spokesman Larry Solters in Los Angeles responded to the truce with a statement:

“We are pleased that Pearl Jam is doing something to benefit its fans, and we are happy to work with anyone (who) wants to use our services.”

About two-thirds of the nation’s 10 million concert arena seats are controlled by exclusive contracts between Ticketmaster and arena managers, according to the musicindustry newsletter Pollstar.

Last year, Pearl Jam canceled a U.S. tour in a dispute with Ticketmaster over service charges added to the price of tickets. Last June, Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster aired their differences at a House subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C.

The dispute led to a $185 million class lawsuit against the ticket seller by fans of the rock band.

Pearl Jam has been working independently to book its current tour, which begins today at the 9,205-seat Casper Events Center in Casper, Wyo. The tour, which visits non-Ticketmaster venues, concludes July 10-11 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Tickets for the sold-out tour were sold through California-based ETM Entertainment Network, a new alternative ticketing agency whose first client was Pearl Jam. Curtis said the band will continue to sell tickets through ETM whenever possible but can no longer avoid working with Ticketmaster.

Curtis admitted the challenges of launching a national tour without Ticketmaster were too daunting.

“It’s too much work,” Curtis said. “It took us a year to put together what amounts to 13 shows. That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t really count as a tour.”

Curtis said Pearl Jam scoured the country to find suitable, non-Ticketmaster concert sites, among them ballparks, race tracks, even open fields in Woodstock-like settings.

“It took us a year and we probably visited 60 sites, which meant sending out a group of six people to walk through these sites to see if they were appropriate,” he said. “Then there’s the problem of local politics in regard to doing a show in an untried venue.”

Earlier this week, Pearl Jam was forced to cancel its sold-out shows June 26-27 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds near San Diego because of a county sheriff’s concerns about security.