Monday, May 9th, 2016

More Super Early Bird Concert Tickets Available After Initial Batch Sell Out

More Super Early Bird Concert Tickets Available After Initial Batch Sell Out

Worcestershire CCC have already sold out of their initial batch of Super Early Bird tickets for the all-day music festival head-lined by reggae giants UB40 at New Road on Saturday, September 10.

Music fans quickly snapped up the 950 tickets originally released at £40 each for the 12 hour event which also features Lulu, The Lighthouse Family, M People, Alexander O'Neal and The Real Thing.

As a result the County have made available a second batch of Super Early Bird tickets which can be purchased on line via the website www.wccc.co.uk

But the club stress these will only be available for a limited amount of time before the price goes up to be part of this star-studded event.

Worcestershire Commercial Director Jon Graham said: "All in all the sales have been fantastic, ahead of expectations and, when you bear in mind, we are four months away from the concert.

"To get off to such a good start is encouraging. We've got the same buzz and feel as we had about 'The Lion King' when tickets for that went on sale.

"You know if you hit ticket sales or above what you were expecting, then you are onto a winner.

"We used the same sort of thought process as we did with the Lion King as far as getting the info out there about the concert through social media and our channels.

"The feedback has been really positive. We originally released 950 tickets at Super Early Bird prices and they went very quickly.

"We have released another batch of Super Early Bird tickets but it is very much a very short time-frame as to how long we can keep them at that price – £40. Once they are gone the price will go up."

It is a decade since 18,500 fans packed into New Road to see a concert by Sir Elton John and his band.

Graham is hoping this year's concert will lead to similar ventures becoming a regular event at New Road.

He said :"This concert is something we've been trying to do for three years but financially it hasn't made any sense up until this point.

"Now we are on board with a partner who is incredibly supportive, experienced and incredibly helpful and I really hope this success in 2016 will mean we will have a concert every year.

"The concert has certainly been a labour of love has far as the club is concerned.

"The really good thing about this concert is that everyone will have a different opinion about who should be head-lining it, who is their favourite act.

"The benefit of having such a diverse set of acts is that people will have their own personal story about each of them."

Graham insists the September 10 concert fits the 'family audience' marketplace the club is focusing on and which satisfies the criteria laid down by the ECB.

He said: "It is not your stereotypical concert. You could probably look up and down the country at cricket venues featuring one artist.

"Again going back to the commitment the club has made to the ECB, in terms of everything we do outside of cricket, the events are going to be targeted at the family audience.

"With the best will in the world, a three hour concert at seven o'clock at night to watch Elton John, Rod Stewart, Simply Red, whoever it may be, is not really conduisive to bringing a family.

"We wanted to make it a family all-day event. "We will have come out of the period where the kids are going to be on holiday because if you've got half of your potential audience in Spain, France, wherever, you are limited in what you can do."

Graham says the timing of the event will also limit the potential for any negative impact to the outfield cricket-wise.

He said: "There is always a concern when staging events on the outfield – whether that be weather related or anything else.

"I would be potentially a lot more nervous if we had a concert slap bang in the middle of July.

"But the weather in September now is often equally as good as it is in June and after the concert there is only one more home game this season."