When Phish returned at Hampton, waiting until two weeks out before shipping tickets made a lot of sense. It made scalping slightly more difficult and then anything that did that was a good thing. However 2009 has become 2010. Far from being a popular thing to scalp, people are now lucky if they can get face value for their extras for most nights.

The delay can definitely cause issues. If you get a partial tour fill, tickets could come when you’re already on the road. When you send tickets out this close to showtime, it doesn’t take much of a shipping delay to cause issues. And while scalping is something worthy of stopping, plans can fall through. The shows you think you’re going to in March might not be your actual June plan. Selling tickets to friends for face has always been part of the Phish community and that also is made more difficult by the delays.

Yes, the intent was good, but the problems outweigh the advantages. Free the tickets! Let Fed Ex packages fly!

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