This is a story with a happy ending all around. Sort of. A world famous rock star got a new heart valve, an old hippie from Mobile unexpectedly got half of his ticket money back and a scalper from Metairie got paid for standing in the cold for five hours.
Michael Hallett, 67, was happy to pay $750 for a pair of tickets to the Rolling Stones’ New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival concert that was planned for May 2 -- even though the face value of the tickets was only $185 each. Hallett, a self-described old hippie from Alabama, said he didn’t have the cash when the tickets went on sale online Jan 18. Since the show sold out in a heartbeat, Hallett thought he would have to miss what was probably his last chance to catch Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie in person.
But then he spotted a posting on craigslist offering a pair of precious Stones tickets. Sure, the price was steep, but not as steep as some of the Stones concert prices he’d seen on other resale sites. And anyway, how else was he supposed to see the big show?
So Hallett drove to a Metairie filling station where he said he met the entrepreneurial ticket buyer named Ricardo and made the purchase.
Which would have been the end of the story, if the world’s most famous frontman, Mick Jagger, hadn’t been diagnosed with heart trouble that required surgery asap. On March 30 the Stones announced they had canceled their tour, including the New Orleans stop.
Rolling Stones canceled for Jazz Fest
In a few days, Jazz Fest began returning the cost of the tickets to purchasers. But that didn’t help Hallett. Since he hadn’t bought the tickets with his own credit card, the electronic refund would go to Ricardo. Weeks had passed since he’d made the filing station purchase, and Hallett’s 6-year-old cell phone couldn’t retrieve numbers beyond a certain date, so Ricardo’s number was lost.
Hallett reached out to Jazz Fest management, hoping they could refund the face value of the tickets he held. Hallett praised a young woman in the Jazz Fest offices who “bent over backwards” to try to aid him. But in the end, he said, there was nothing she could do.
Hallett, a security guard, thought he was sunk. Then someone clued him that AT&T could provide him with phone numbers going back much further than the list on his phone. Ricardo’s number was on the list.
When Hallett got back in touch with Ricardo, he immediately proposed that the young man refund only the ticket price, not the profit. Hallett said he didn’t begrudge him the $380 fee, since Ricardo told him he had been part of the crowd of Stones fans who lined up for hours at the Superdome for a special pre-sale to Louisiana residents on chilly Jan 17.
Rolling Stones fans shiver through the cold night for advance tickets
Hallett, who says he used to have hair down to the middle of his back, breezily accepted the loss as part of the concert-going game. “I took that risk when I bought the tickets,“ he said.
Again, Hallett drove the two-hour trip to New Orleans. He met Ricardo at the Smoothie King Center and received his refund. Hallett said that after he got his refund, he bought two mufalettas in the French Quarter to take home to a friend. He’s disappointed that the Stones won’t be here to greet him on his next trip to New Orleans for the second weekend of Jazz Fest, but he pointed out that he’ll still be able to see favorites including Jimmy Buffett, Herbie Hancock and Buddy Guy.
Ironically, on March 27, just three days before the Stones canceled, Jazz Fest offered many more tickets to the May 2 concert sale online, making Hallett’s purchase of scalped tickets and his quest for a refund unnecessary in the first place.
Before we go on, we have to discuss the elephant in the room. The Internet is as crowded as the Acura stage with ticket resale sites and individual sellers. But isn’t ticket scalping illegal?
Apparently in Louisiana it’s OK to resell tickets at face value, but it’s illegal to make a profit. The law reads: “No person shall resell or offer to resell such admission ticket for an amount in excess of the price printed on the face of the ticket, Except as provided in Subsection E of this Section.”
Subsection E tells us that reselling tickets at a profit is alright, so long as the original ticket seller says it’s alright.
But Jazz Fest doesn’t condone resales. As a fest representative explained via email: “We do not authorize Jazz Fest tickets to be sold for more than face value nor do we authorize their sale by anyone other than Ticketmaster, Smoothie King/Superdome box office or at the gate on Festival days.”
Ricardo Guerra, the man who sold the $750 Stones tickets to Mr. Hallett, said he wasn’t aware reselling tickets could be against the law. Guerra said he and his brother intended to see the Stones. They waited in line outside the Superdome starting at roughly 7:30 a.m. on chilly Jan. 17 and finally got their tickets at about 12:30 p.m. or so. Somewhere in there, it rained, he said.
Each purchaser was allowed two tickets. Guerra said they intended to sell the spare tickets to family members, but no one was interested, so he posted them on craigslist with a built-in profit.
Guerra said he was surprised at Hallett’s offer to allow him to keep the profit. He believes Hallett made the gesture because “I had told him about the long wait.”
Correction: The scalper’s profit was $380, not $460 as originally stated.
Doug MacCash has the best job in the world, covering art, music and culture in New Orleans. Contact him via email at dmaccash@nola.com. Follow him on Instagram at dougmaccash, on Twitter at Doug MacCash and on Facebook at Douglas James MacCash. As always, please add your point of view to the comment stream.