The House Of Blues Boxoffice

House of Blues Chicago has devised a novel way of bringing in lunch traffic. The venue plans to act as a central boxoffice for the area’s Live Nation venues – namely the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Alpine Valley Music Theatre and Charter One Pavilion.

There will not be service fees for the shed shows, although a $6 parking charge is tacked on (shows at the HoB have a $2 service fee and a $2 facility fee).

It’s not an earth-shattering concept and Live Nation isn’t playing it up. Chicago-based Jam Productions also offers tickets without service fees at its venues.

What is interesting is that, with the purchase of the House of Blues chain, Live Nation now has the ability to have similar "central location" box offices in other major markets.

Back in the horse-and-buggy days of the ’70s, there was always at least one place in town where a fan could get a ticket at face price. With the advent of computerized ticketing services, convenience fees and the Internet, many of those box office locations have been shuttered.

Live Nation spokesman John Vlautin told Pollstar the Chicago initiative was developed by the local promotion team to help drive business into the club and is in no way a prototype for the nation. And, as Vlautin pointed out, 70 percent of concertgoers now buy their tickets online – so maybe that ol’ centralized boxoffice is just a sentimental part of our history.