I was glad to read JP's statement. A lot of people are still unhappy, and that's understandable. But at least he made the effort now and hopefully going forward he (or someone in the band) will be a little more proactive going forward. If memory serves, I think JP has said in interviews that he doesn't read comments on forums, youtube, or social media. That might be for the best to maintain sanity, but the downside is you miss legitimate concerns like this. Someone on their team should monitor this sort of thing as it happens. At least he found out through this forum.
I did notice that people on Facebook are still asking if new shows might be added, especially seeing that a show was added on Long Island recently. I hope they'll chime in to let people know if indeed there are a few more dates in the works or if this is it.
Going forward, my suggestions would be:
- the holiday/advance teaser is fine, but follow up. "We've decided to do a North American tour, but have not begun the booking process yet; know that we're coming, but it will probably be a few months before we have tour dates." I actually didn't mind the "coming soon" messages, but do see others points; maybe instead of just the "coming soon," add a little something else as well. When they expect them to be available, etc.
- after making people wait for so long for the tour dates, don't announce them at midnight and then have the first shows go on sale the next morning. Why the Rush at that point? Give people some time to find out about it. Don't wait until noon to announce that tickets went on sale for certain cities at 10 am that day! Do it a week before, a few days before, the day before, an hour before, etc. Get people the presale codes or give them a clear way to sign up to receive the codes in an email.
- ditch the "you won't know what seat you're getting when you buy the ticket" VIP thing. I normally buy at least one VIP, sometimes more than one, but only if I know what I'm getting. I know I'm not the only one who hasn't bought VIP on this tour as a result
- Just a personal preference here, but I'd love them to ditch the bandsintown connection on their website and just have 2 direct links for each city. One to the VIP, one to the event on ticketmaster (or who whoever is doing it for that city).
I love DT, and think they put on an incredible live show. I hate to see them getting a bad rap for stuff like this. And I know they shouldn't really have to deal with it personally, and probably don't want to, but sometimes it makes a big difference.