B-b-b-benny and the jets.  If Benny lives in Singapore, he might have scored tickets to see Elton John in Youngstown at The Covelli Centre on May 1.  The general sentiment of Youngstown area residents was frustration Friday morning.  At least 100 people who have talked to 100 people who have talked to 100 more have said five hours after the concert was announced sold-out, that nobody was able to buy more than one ticket online. 

The sellout will go down as the fastest in the arena’s four-year history smashing the old mark of seven-and-a-half hours that it took Carrie Underwood to fill all of the Covelli seats.  The Centre, and director Eric Ryan are on fire with pushing the right buttons to draw crowds these days.  The Ringling Brothers – Barnum & Bailey Circus, which was originally scheduled for seven shows, had to add one to meet the demands of the public.

Marketing Director Bridget Wolsonovich said those who could not purchase tickets online were just unlucky.  “When thousands of people all log into Ticketmaster at once to buy tickets for an event like this, many will be unsuccessful.”  When asked why all of the people who have conversed in circles all day were unsuccessful at 10 am,  Wolsonovich was quick to mention that people were successful online and that I just hadn’t come across anyone who did succeed yet.

Joel Hoskins, of Youngstown, was quick to cry foul.  “There were tickets available through brokerages and scalping agencies hours before the on-sale began.  I checked the same sites that had seats listed before the sale started and the information was identical.    I even called a couple of them who said that they did not have the tickets in-hand yet, but was assured that the seat numbers and sections listed on their sites were accurate and that for about double the face value, I could buy tickets.  They sold those tickets ahead of the advertised sale date, isn’t it obvious?”

Melanie Taylor, a Poland resident, claimed Eric Ryan went back on his word.  “Ryan was all over the media yesterday telling people that they would have a better chance online.  I heard that all of the people who went to the Covelli box office got tickets a half hour after the sale started, it is crappy business.”

In fairness, a show of this size creates so much more demand.  Elton John can sell out 100,000 seat arenas in an hour.  Our 7,000 seat venue is fractional in stature to Wembley Stadium.  One must wonder, is this show too big for Youngstown?  Wolsonovich didn’t think so.  “Nothing is too big for Youngstown.” 

Whatever the situation, a big tip of the cap to Eric Ryan and his staff for drawing an act as big as Elton John.  This is a good problem for the Youngstown area to have, demand has not exceeded supply very often here in the past thirty or so years.

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