IN CONCERT — Guitarist-songwriter Pete Townshend of the Who has electrified the stage with his acrobatics since the 1960s. He was in fine form Saturday at Worcester Centrum concert. (Michael Gordon photos)

Scalpers, Fans Scrounge for Tickets

By Chris Hamel

WORCESTER — “A ticket! A ticket! My kingdom for a ticket!”

That old rock maxim summed up the scene outside The Centrum Saturday, as The Who touched down for the only scheduled New England stop on what might be a “farewell” tour.

Long after ticket holders had taken their seats at 7:30 p.m., several hundred devotees of the brash British rockers shivered on nearby sidewalks. It mattered not that one soon would hear the group’s thunder through the arena’s walls.

Being inside, an issue settled weeks ago by 13,500 lucky fans, was crucial. Money — “awesome” amounts of it — was now the key.

“$100 Apiece”

“We’ll pay $100 apiece for two tickets,” said Phil Broadwater, 18, of Albany, N.Y. He had come to the concert with Lisa Martin, 19, of Harvard.

“They’re (ticket scalpers) asking as much as $150, and $125 is the lowest price we’ve heard so far,” Broadwater said. In a worried tone, he added that he’d seen one scalper arrested.

“There are too many cops here,” he observed.

Box office price for the prized tickets was $16. Ticket outlets were sold clean within hours of the show’s announcement last fall.

Early rumors had The Who headed for Hartford, Conn. However, the new Centrum inked a date, and it may go down as the band’s last New England concert — ever.

The wealthy quartet, whose brilliant career has been blotched by group squabbles, the death of drummer Keith Moon and the fatal crushing of 11 fans in 1979 at a Cincinnati show, has been saying it will quit lengthy tours after this one.

Select concerts and recording have not been ruled out, however. And though tickets to The Who’s shows have always sold swiftly, frenzy for them is perhaps higher now because of the “semi-retirement” stories.

“No problem, two minutes,” was how one young fan described the fast sale of two tickets for $200. But the night wasn’t all fun for him and three chums.

“We Got the Tickets”

“We got the tickets at an outlet the day they went on sale,” he said, ignoring a friend’s advice not to talk to the press.

“Four of us went, but we could only get two tickets. If we could have gotten two more, we wouldn’t have sold these.”

Asked how they planned to use the $200, one of the fraternal foursome said, “It’s going to my car.”

Scalping proved no party for another man, who could not come to terms with two pairs of clients. During heated negotiations, the five bickering fans drew a large crowd of onlookers, who sided with the consumers.

After the four shoppers declined successive offers of $300 and $250 for two tickets, the scalper shouted, “What is this? I ain’t President Reagan, ya’ know. This ain’t welfare!”

His obtuse ramblings were booed by the crowd, and he was last seen in the grip of a policeman.

Steve Cunniff, of Walpole, also had a problem. He had a ticket — but it was a leftover from The Who’s concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

Standing on a curb outside the arena, Cunniff, 18, explained that he and a buddy had leftover tickets from the Philly show, which they had attended. He said they tried to pass off the tickets at The Centrum and now he was literally out in the cold.

He said: “The tickets look exactly the same as the ones for tonight’s show. My friend got in with his, but I went to the turnstile next to him and got caught.”

Figuring that The Who would hit the stage about 9 p.m., many ticket hopefuls deliberately waited outside through opening act David Johansen. They expected that scalpers’ prices might drop as the show progressed.

“Veteran rock fan” Kevin Gully, 35, of Worcester, said, “I figure I’ll wait until the band is just about on stage. I’ll pay about $35 each for one or two tickets. I’ve been through this sort of thing before.

“It’s not all that important to me to get in. I’d like to see them. But I’ve got some principles. I refuse to pay $75 to $100 for a ticket.”