Indigo 2

Hmm.

I confess I am, in general, quite excited about what's happening at the Dome (no -I'm not going to call it that stupid corporate name until I really have to) and it's only because nothing at the Arena appeals to me and I'm not prepared to spend ridiculous amounts on buying a ticket for something I'm not interested in that I've not got tickets to the first night(aye, there's the rub of the whole Phantom gig - I might be able to say what I like about things but I don't get any freebies.)

But I've been uncomfortable about not being there, so when I saw an ad in the News Shopper for the Indigo2 music venue (what are their PR department up to, one wonders - surely you'd have thought they could get a bit of editorial...) I thought I'd book up for something.

I didn't bother taking the paper upstairs to book - I pride myself at finding things on the net - but after about 20 minutes of floundering around insubstantial websites I gave up and went downstairs to get the address (if you're interested it's www.theindigo2.com.) Trouble is, the site looks good - but it misses out what the place actually looks like, so when you come to book you have no idea of where you're going to be or whether it's best to sit or stand.

What, for example, is "The King's Row?" You'll pay £ 40 for the privilege of sitting there. It says it's the VIP bit - but where is it? Quite often the VIP areas are just hosting corporate clients who aren't actually interested in the event so it's noisy and difficult to see anything for all the horsey people quaffing champagne.

Ticket prices are not cheap. They start at £ 30 for standing, and some of the tables also cost £ 30 - but I can't tell whether you'd actually be able to see anything if you sat in one - or whether the people standing in front would block your view. The centre seats are £ 35 and there seem to be some more expensive ones at £ 39.50 (only on some ticket websites) which for the extra 50p you might as well sit in that mythical Kings Row.

Its being a new venue, nobody knows. It would have been really helpful to get a seating plan - or even some kind of flowery description. There's a fairly rubbish artist's impression which could be bloody anywhere and, er, that's it. Is there food? Who knows. Is there drink? Probably. Do you have to drink? Only time will tell.

After a lot of faffing around on the ticketmaster site I gritted my teeth and bought tickets - but oh-my-god it hurts. The actual price paid isn't just the face value, of course.

It costs a whopping £ 4.75 PER TICKET extra PLUS £ 2.75 postage. What are they going to send them in? Gold envelopes?

These extra charges really stick in my craw. And you can't avoid them because there's no box office to visit in person. GGGGGRRRRRRR. Presumably once there is a box office they won't actually be able to charge the postage any more, but I'll wait to see whether that sodding "service charge" remains.

What I don't get is why they don't make the tickets themselves more expensive and hide the "service charge." (probably some tax-y VAT thing, I guess, but it's still crap.)

I don't know any more than anyone else what the Indigo2 venue's going to be like. But it had better be bloody good for these prices and the amount of time I've just spent buying the tickets.

I'll report further developments as I hear them.