The annual ticket-buying rush for Meijer Gardens members resumed today only after major system snafus Saturday morning. Still, 18 of 33 concerts sold out in little more than an hour. More at Local Spins.
Greensky Bluegrass: Tickets for their return to Meijer Gardens sold out quickly this morning. (Photo/Anna Sink)
On a day of myriad celebrations — pot/marijuana/cannabis advocates commemorating 4/20 with parties and special discounts, and vinyl devotees embracing Record Store Day with giveaways and deals — some music fans spent the morning trying to buy tickets for the most extensive summer concert series in the history of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, system glitches foiled some buyers’ attempts to purchase tickets for their desired shows. At one point, the Meijer Gardens website shut down not long after ticket sales opened at 9 a.m.
Complaints ranged from long delays to ticket buyers getting an error message just as they were completing their purchases to members having difficulty getting their membership codes to work properly. This came after Meijer Gardens switched ticket providers from eTix.com to AXS.com after encountering first-day sales issues in 2023.
With the Meijer Gardens site down today, members were encouraged instead to access tickets via AXS.com/meijergardens.
Error Messages: Seen by some ticket buyers today.
“We had an extreme surge in demand of nonmembers accessing both AXS and the Meijer Gardens website,” Meijer Gardens announced in a statement this morning.
“We have worked with our partners at AXS to relaunch the purchase process and tickets are flowing again for members only and selling quickly. The updated process requires you to select one concert and complete checkout, after which the process can be repeated for additional concerts.”
Despite the snags, 18 of the season’s 33 concerts sold out in little more than an hour, starting with Gin Blossoms/Toad the Wet Sprocket/Vertical Horizon (Aug. 5), Jason Mraz (July 17) and My Morning Jacket (July 1).
Not long after that, tickets for Greensky Bluegrass, O.A.R., Black Pumas, Bonnie Raitt, Mat Kearney, Old Crow Medicine Show, Bruce Hornsby (with Grand Rapids Symphony), The Temptations/Four Tops, The Wallflowers, Boyz II Men, Kansas, Blues Traveler/Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Fitz & The Tantrums and Michael Franti & Spearhead sold out. By noon, Five For Fighting (Aug. 11) also had sold out.
The Reddit site was filled with more than 200 comments by unhappy ticket buyers who called the process “frustrating,” “absolutely insane” and even suggesting Meijer Gardens scrap online ticketing and go back to in-person, first-day sales. (Meijer Gardens “limited” comments on its own Facebook page.)
Jason Mraz: One of today’s first sellouts. (Photo/Shervin Lainez)
“This is really disappointing, especially after spending so much time waiting,” ticket buyer Darci Fawcett-Austin posted at Local Spins.
Jack Clark insisted “the system is broken. I know several friends that were not able to purchase tickets, not because they weren’t in line in time or any fault of their own, but because of ticketing issues once again.”
Added Sara Dailey: “They should have shut it down completely and started over on another day with clear communication to the members. People that were in the waiting room and ready to go got hosed and missed out on shows they wanted. Such a mess.”
Still, Meijer Gardens insisted “we are confident that the high website demand issues from earlier have been resolved” and noted that tickets are continuing to sell.
View the full Meijer Gardens concert schedule for its 1,900-capacity amphitheater at Local Spins here.
Copyright 2024, Spins on Music LLC
