Dave Grohl will roll out the Sound City Players for a showcase appearance next week at SXSW in Austin, Texas but prepare for a mess. Citi cardholders have been given priority to the show.
The SXSW Sound City Players event will be held at Stubbs BBQ on Wednesday, March 14. However, like the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band confusion of last year, tickets will be luck of the draw.
For starters, Citibank credit and debit card holders who purchase a Sound City blu-ray from a special Citibank URL from 4pm today will get will get a ticket with their purchase giving them priority over SXSW badge holders.
SXSW badge-holders will need to register and then go in the draw for the chance of the remainder of the tickets that don’t go to Citibank cardholders.
The decision to go the ballot and corporate Citi route will mean disappointment for a lot of SXSW badge holders.
The Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band showcase at SXSW last year was a ballot but only single tickets went to “the winners”. The result was a large number of no-shows with Springsteen’s people having to walk the surrounding streets and hand out “free tickets” just to get the numbers up. Grohl could face a similar backlash with his Sound City showcase policy.
It is a shame Dave Grohl is allowing this to happen. If Grohl really cared about the fans then the Sound City Players should be a free show for all at Auditorium Shores. If it was about the industry it should be a showcase for SXSW badge-holders. Sound City Players at SXSW could easily end up a debacle.
The Sound City Players will feature Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield and Cory Taylor with Ling Vear of Fear, Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine, Chris Goss of Masters of Reality and Alain Johannes making up the band.
Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett will also perform as part of Sound City Players.
