After selling out his announced appearance at Staples Center on the night of Jan. 26, AEG started adding shows Saturday to create a five-concert block over the course of two days. Actually, about 36 hours will pass between the time he takes the stage for the first gig - at 6 p.m. on Jan. 25 - and his last set concludes on the 26th.
Brooks sold 85,000 tickets in 59 minutes, which AEG says is a record for Staples Center. The shows' proceeds go toward recent Southern California fire victims and fire fighting in the state.
He will perform at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the 25th and at 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the 26th. He is the first performer to sell out five shows at Staples in one day and will become the only performer to play five full concerts in two days at any U.S. arena.
While I am not fully tuned in to exactly how scalpers use certain software to secure tix for shows in a split second, the Brooks method of announcing the latest show first and then working backward apparently thwarts their efforts. The same procedure was used in Kansas City, Mo., where Brooks announced a one-night-only concert and then proceeded to add eight other shows.
Mid-day Sunday, when news that Brooks had added four shows was slowly getting out, there were more than 1,000 listings on eBay offering Brooks ducats - but little traffic. With fees included the Brooks tickets were $45 each; most of the eBay offers were around 100 bucks each with people selling the first 10 rows of the floor for three- to five-times that price.
StubHub had about 1,500 postings, ranging from $50 for a single in section 205 to $1,900 for the first row on the floor.