Blue Dot Fever and the Fight Against Ticketmaster

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**SPEAKER_3** (1:00)
Nerd of Mouth.

**Holden McNeil** (1:32)
Sorry, I didn't write anything.

**Mike Lawrence** (1:33)
We're doing Blue Dot Fever before Pac-Man Fever, although in Pac-Man, they do become blue dots.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:39)
That's true.

**Mike Lawrence** (1:41)
No, they don't actually. The ghosts become blue, but the dots stay the same.

**Holden McNeil** (1:44)
Yes, that's right. We're talking Pac-Man. We're talking the movie Pixels, weirdly enough.

**Mike Lawrence** (1:50)
I think that the creator of Pac-Man has his arm bitten off by Pac-Man in it.

**Holden McNeil** (1:56)
I don't know, the only way I can watch the movie is fully on Katamine. So I cannot tell you what happened.

**Mike Lawrence** (2:01)
That was in every trailer, and it's like, oh, silly Japanese guy. He thought he could befriend the monster.

**Holden McNeil** (2:09)
No, we're talking about something that's been nagging at me, honestly, since the Ares Tour went on sale, which was when a lot of people really kind of started to feel this strain when it came to the price of tickets. It's something, though, that I've been aware of for all of time. I mean, almost. Ticketmaster has kind of been the monopoly since I was a youngin. And we've had some version of this, but it feels like it's finally hit such a fever pitch because the monoliths that are Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
But just for my own personal anecdote, like anti-Gush, I don't know what you call this segment. I remember distinctly-

**Jake Weisman** (2:52)
It's not Gush. No, it's not a Gush, it's a Seep.

**Mike Lawrence** (2:57)
We want this episode to be positive. I suggested this episode and one of the main reasons I did was because I do feel like there is a fan orchestrated backlash against this corporate bullshit that is genuinely beautiful and inspiring. I think when we talk about the- this is all about the Gush.
Let me just finish. This is them manipulating the Gush. Because people are always like, how is this topic nerdy? This one is literally what is the price of your fandom.
I think that what's really important is we still Gush at the beginning here about the experience of live entertainment. Yeah. Because that's what this all comes down to. We are only having this fight because it's worth fighting for.

**Jake Weisman** (3:49)
Every time a musician is about to sing the chorus, but then they point the microphone at me, and I get to be part of the show. I feel alive. I feel great.

**Mike Lawrence** (4:00)
You know, like, I have an amazing concert experience with old Jakey Cakes here. We saw...

**Jake Weisman** (4:07)
I know which one you're gonna talk about.

**Mike Lawrence** (4:09)
Oh, it's the best. We saw the Counting Crows at 6 p.m. They were done by 9 The encore was just Adam Dirtz telling us to go out and vote.

**Jake Weisman** (4:19)
But here's the thing. What I will remember the most about that is that they called the tour the Original Renegades.
As if, like, in the middle of the toughest biker bar in Butte, Montana, they're just like, I've been hanging around this town on...

**Holden McNeil** (4:36)
So for Counting Crows, I've heard this about them. What's his name? The lead singer?

**Mike Lawrence** (4:40)
Sam Duritz.

**Holden McNeil** (4:41)
He won't actually let you sing along because he never sings the song the way he should.

**Mike Lawrence** (4:47)
Well, his na-na's are better than your na-na's.

**Holden McNeil** (4:49)
Right? Like, he'll just alter the song just enough in the way he sings it so that if you attempt to sing along with these very well-known songs, it doesn't quite work.

**Mike Lawrence** (4:58)
Oh, you're ready for a long December and each short September's your ass. Yeah, yeah. So, but my favorite, there are two incredible stories from that concert, you know.