Elton John Tickets

I am writing to express my disappointment. My wife and I went to see Elton John Friday night at Petco Park. My wife asked me to buy tickets and she had looked at tickets on the left lower section. As a surprise for Mother’s Day, I decided to “upgrade” to better (and more expensive) tickets on the lower section but straight across from the stage Section 101, row 20 seats 12 and 13. She was very surprised and we were both very excited as we went towards our seats, and then we sat down. Unfortunately for us, the venue set up a canopy or shade area above the sound system people that completely blocked the view of the stage. So, all we could see is whatever was being shown on the screen and this canopy. If I had just bought the tickets that she wanted we would have had a great view of the stage, yet in “upgrading” to what should have been better seats (based on location and also the higher priced tickets for this location) we ended up with a much lower quality experience as we could not see the stage at all. Not sure what can be done about it. You need to have better descriptions or the venue needs to be aware of how their set ups can interfere or block the view of the stage and then be transparent on the description and price the seats accordingly. All I can say is that I was hoping to WOW my wife with a surprise seat upgrade and experience yet we ended up with an inferior experience than we would have had otherwise on the original seats that she wanted or even up top on the nose bleed section. Elton John was amazing and I am glad that we got to see him, but our "upgraded"seats sucked.

Such a privilege to see a legend perform, even with the audio problems he encountered he handled it like a professional!

We were very excited to see Elton John! He was absolutely amazing! Sounded incredible and played beautifully. We were also exited to go to Petco Park for a concert. However, ALL of the seating from section 101 down and any section 4-5 sections to the left or right were blocked by a huge awning that was erected to cover the sound system & crew. Unless you were seated on the floor in the outfield or above in the higher sections you could not see anything! COMPLETELY BLOCKED VIEW!!! We could see the top of the drummers head only because he was on a riser. We watched the whole concert on the two side screens and could only see what the camera was on at any given moment! The Huge Diamond Vision screen was not used at all! We were incredibly disappointed. How do you block the view for 8 whole sections? There was no notice of obstruction when we purchased these tickets. Horrible!

Such a great concert for an outstanding cause. This was my first time seeing Elton in concert...I was just blown away. Myself and my wife plus 26,998 others helped raise $11.5 Million dollars for cancer research...amazing. It was realky great to see Elton John here in San Diego, it was truly a great experience.

He is an amazing performer. This was for an amazing cause and I will never forget it.

This concert was for me the best event of the year! I saw my idol live! it was legendary!

Don’t get me wrong, Elton was wonderful. He is a masterful pianist, his vocals were great and he sang many of his hits. But this was a fundraiser for cancer and as a cancer survivor, I was eager to hear Elton’s own cancer story. But he said nothing about it and just played his music. He’s so talented that it’s hard to complain, but his appearance was impersonal, nothing connected to cancer survival, and when he sang your song at the end, to a compilation of cancer survivors, he still didn’t really acknowledge why he was there, other than to say he was a prostate cancer survivor. Granted he raised 11.5 million for cancer research in San Diego that night and so it was a success, but I wonder if he thought about any of us there, our stories of cancer survival at all. I know I thought about his story and wished he would have shared it.

I have always wanted to see Sir Elton John perform and when he graciously agreed to perform for @Curebound, it was a no-brainer. What a great night and great event! And he did not disappoint. A talent like his knows no age and he was very attentive to the audience as well. Cannot thank @EltonJohn or @Curebound enough!

The concert was very enjoyable and memorable. Watching and hearing Elton John sing is a dream come true. I was also impressed that the proceeds are going to go to a good cause - finding cure for cancer and helping patients deal with such a disease

So disappointing! We were thrilled to have perhaps one of the last opportunities to see one of the true greats of music live, but THE SOUND WAS THE WORST I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED -- TOTALLY DISTORTED TO THE POINT THAT IT WAS UNINTELLIGIBLE. Most people in our group noticed that, on several occasions, Elton himself became frustrated and uttered comments that could be heard thru his microphone (ie, his comments could be heard by the audience). The observable fact was that the sound was distorted to the point that most of the lyrics were unintelligible, and the music itself was garbled. I do not know the root causes, but it may be helpful, if anyone actually reads this with the intention of improving future events, to think thru some possibilities: 1. the amplification system was turned up too high and was distorting (this is almost certain to have been part of the problem, as the quietest passages were much more intelligible, and thus much more enjoyable); 2. It may have been felt that the Petco Park was so large that an extreme level of amplification was either desired or required; 3. It's unfathomable that there was either nobody out in the park monitoring the sound and making adjustments, or that improvements were not possible; 4. this was a one-off concert so perhaps Mr Elton did not have a dedicated sound crew; maybe sounds techs were hired for this event only and did not know how to manage it? 5. Being a one-off event, perhaps the sound equipment was rented or was of poor quality? 6. perhaps the sound equipment belongs to Petco Park and is not designed for music? 7. perhaps the acoustics of Petco Park are poor -- we heard a lot of echoing; 8. why was the event held at Petco, a ball park, instead of a venue designed for audio events? Was the Cancer Foundation trying to make more $$? Understandable, but the stadium was NOT full, and the experience of hearing Elton in concert was decimated; 9. we contrasted our experience hearing Elton at Petco Park with hearing James Taylor at the Rady Shell just two days later -- absolute polar opposite experiences; the latter being one of the acoustically best performances we've ever heard. The shameful sound quality reflects poorly on the reputation of all entities involved in this production, including the venue, the sound techs, AND the cancer foundation, which was the decision maker in the organization and logistics of the event. Unfortunately, in the minds of some, it may diminish the reputation of Elton himself. We were glad to have an opportunity to see this great artist in person, but our memory of it is shadowed by the appalling sound.