The Beatles & Pearl Jam at Radio City

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will both take the stage in support of transcendental meditation when the onetime Beatles perform at the “Change Begins Within” benefit concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on April 4th. The concert will benefit the David Lynch Foundation which, according to a press release, “raises funds to teach one million at-risk children to meditate — giving them life-long tools to overcome stress and violence and promote peace and success in their lives.” Yes, that David Lynch, the director who brought you unsettling films like Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks.

Any time you have Macca and Ringo, there’s not much need for a supporting cast, but Lynch has never been one to follow the rules: Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Ben Harper, Moby and Donovan — who is head of the musical wing of the David Lynch Foundation — will also perform at the event. Russell Simmons and Lynch vet Laura Dern will also appear. “In moments of madness, it has helped me find moments of serenity,” McCartney said of transcendental meditation in a statement. “I would like to think that it would help provide them a quiet haven in a not-so-quiet world.”





To those of you who contacted the David Lynch Foundation following the ticket sale:

We have received quite a few emails from disappointed fans. We wanted to give you the courtesy of a follow-up note about the pre-sale Sunday and public sale Monday, and to apologize for any frustration and disappointment we have caused you.

Most of the emails dealt with:
Flawed pre-sale on Sunday
No code for the pre-sale received
No tickets available from the start of the public sale on Monday
With ticket prices starting at $79.50 and $99.50 we really tried our best to make the ticket opportunities affordable and accessible to fans.

The foundation held 75% of the seats priced between $79.50 and $325.50 for the pre-sale Sunday. The pre-sale was offered to people who registered on our public website over the last few months.

25% of these seats, or about 1,200, were held for the public sale Monday morning. There were some $504.50 seats available for both pre-sale and public sale but the majority were held by our event planner for premium tickets and packages.

Regarding the pre-sale there are a couple of points to mention. Although it was not intentional, we bear responsibility for the fact that the pre-sale wasn't held on a level playing field. We gave first notice of the pre-sale promotion code to about 3,000 people beginning right at 11:00am on Sunday. The notice went out at the same time to everyone but we overlooked that emails don't arrive to everyone at the same time, so not everyone had an equal opportunity to purchase. Tickets were still available as of 11:10 or 11:15, but for those who received the email later than that, they were frustrated and disappointed, and we apologize.

A number of people were told by Ticketmaster that the pre-sale Sunday morning started at 9am Eastern. This is true. We offered a limited, private 2-hour pre-sale window to a select list of friends of the foundation - people known to us. The great majority of pre-sale tickets were still available at 11am Eastern.

A few dozen people told us they never received their code at all. We did have emails bounce back to us as undeliverable.

Many said they reached Ticketmaster for the Monday morning public sale at exactly 11:00 am, or a few minutes after, only to be told the concert was sold out. They could not believe this was possible. Ticketmaster suggested the demand was so great that internet ordering could easily claim 1,200 tickets in a matter of moments. We did hear from individuals who beat the scalpers and got a ticket on the Monday morning sale. But many didn't. We were alarmed seeing that tickets were listed on the scalping sites days before they went on sale. To our knowledge these tickets were only being held by Ticketmaster for the pre-sale and public sale.

It is disappointing to us that we can not accommodate all the fans who want to attend. And very disappointing for us to see how many tickets are being sold on the ticket reselling sites from people who only care about making a buck. It's not kind to the foundation and it's not kind to fans. If we do have any tickets in the $79.50 to $329.50 range come into our possession we will inform you, and you can be assured they will be sold at face value.

David Lynch is such an authentic and good-hearted man. Please don't let this reflect on him or his foundation's work. Thank you for your understanding and I apologize again for your disappointment.

Please feel free to email me back if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,