Ravinia Sells Out Three Shows On Day One

Thursday was a big day for , and a long day for its fans.

The festival began selling tickets for its  Thursday morning and within hours had completely sold out for three shows, according to Ravinia's Backstage blog: Santana, one of two Train concerts and James Taylor.

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As of 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, lawn seats were all that remained for these shows:

• Earth Wind & Fire
• Colbie Caillat / Gavin DeGraw
• Sarah McLachlan
• CSO/Idina Menzel
• James Taylor (July 27)
• Train (Aug 12)
• Duran Duran

The thousands of fans that logged onto Ravinia's website to buy tickets on the festival's busiest ticket sales day in history had to wait at least 30 minutes to get them, though for many the wait was much longer.

Patch reader Jennie Moore commented on Patch's Facebook page that she was waiting for over two hours Thursday morning, but logged off because she had to go to work.

Hundreds of people left comments on Ravinia's Facebook page throughout the day Thursday to voice their annoyance with the long wait to buy tickets.

"I have been trying for SIX hours," wrote Esther Spaeth Kelly. "James Taylor and Train have completely sold out for the Saturday shows on the lawn. Great."

Julie Pasternak Trumbo wrote on Ravinia's Facebook wall that she'd waited for almost 10 hours, only to find that tickets for the show she wanted were sold out.

Some ticket buyers had better luck. Lindsay Tague Badalamenti, for example, wrote that she got up "extra early" on Thursday and got her tickets.

"People should learn that when a sale of 100 of shows goes on, there will be a wait and some will sell out quickly!" she wrote.

Ravinia Director of Communications Nick Pulia told Crain's Chicago Business that acts like Santana could be the reason why there was so much interest in getting tickets.

"We have an extremely hot summer lineup, bigger acts than we've had in a while," Pulia said.

Ravinia's site maintained 9,000 users through lunchtime on Thursday, according to the festival, with 2,400 users trying to purchase tickets simultaneously at its peak.

"I still have one computer that is still waiting in line since 6:50 this morning," wrote Jane Reardon Powers at 5:30 p.m. on Ravinia's Facebook page on Thursday. "That is just silly."

Click to see the full summer lineup and here to buy tickets.

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