Dave Matthews Band tickets for Syracuse show on sale early to Chiefs season ticket holders, Saturday to public

Chiefs season-ticket holders, newsletter subscribers to get first dibs. Box office will open to general public Saturday.

Thursday, March 12, 2009
By Mark Bialczak
Staff writer
Syracuse.com

By showtime Aug. 4, Syracuse Chiefs officials expect a capacity crowd of about 18,000 at Alliance Bank Stadium to see the concert by The Dave Matthews Band.

The stage will be in center field, with amplifier towers and video screens on each end, said Bob McElligott, the Chiefs director of communications.

Seating in the stadium's two levels holds about 11,100 people. Those seats will be reserved. The rest of the fans will hold general admission tickets that will allow access to the field, where everybody will be standing.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Saturday.

They will be available at the Chiefs box office at the stadium, online at www.tickets.com and www.syracusechiefs.com, and by phone charge at 800-919-6272.

All ticket outlets, including those at the Chiefs box office, will be tied into the tickets.com computer system, McElligott said. There will be an eight-ticket limit per person.

The corporate suites behind home plate will be open for the concert; suite holders for the baseball season must buy tickets for the concert, McElligott said.

Dave Matthews Band Fan Club members had access to buy tickets at his Web site shortly after the show was announced Feb. 18. McElligott said he could not get any figure for the number of tickets sold then.

Syracuse Chiefs season-ticket holders and advertisers can buy tickets today, and subscribers to the Chiefs newsletter can buy tickets Friday.

Mike Voutsinas - Chiefs assistant general manager and director of promotions, who is the baseball team's liaison to promoters JAM Productions Ltd., of Chicago - told McElligott "there is no concern about selling out (the concert) before . . ." tickets go on sale Saturday.

The Dave Matthews Band has been one of the most popular rock acts in America for 15 years. Led by singer, songwriter and guitarist Matthews, the band has sold more than 35 million CDs and DVDs and has been named the top-drawing concert band in the world by Billboard magazine.

The band will release a studio CD June 2, its first since "Stand Up" came out in 2005.

South African native Matthews is joined in DMB by Carter Beauford on drums, Stefan Lessard on bass and Boyd Tinsley on violin. On this tour, they'll be joined by Tim Reynolds - a longtime acoustic duo touring partner with Matthews - on guitar, Rashawn Ross on trumpet and Jeff Coffin on sax. Founding member and sax player LeRoi Moore died Aug. 19 from medical complications after an ATV crash.

McElligott said the Chiefs hope to announce more Alliance Bank Stadium shows. This is the first concert at the North Side ballpark since The Allman Brothers Band played then P&C Stadium during the summer of 2000.