Michelle Obama book tour has two dates at Barclays, and tickets are hot

It's a lot better than the low-attendance Islanders, that's for sure. Former First Lady Michelle Obama's book tour for her memoir, Becoming, is selling out arenas across the country, with premium seating available and a second date added at the Barclays Center. (Presumably, the Brooklyn arena had more flex in its schedule than its rival in Manhattan, Madison Square Garden.)

Currently, the best price for  Brooklyn tickets on the secondary market via StubHub are $166.25 (Dec. 1) and $114 (Dec. 19, see bottom). The price in most other cities is also north of $100, except Detroit, where a ticket is the comparatively low $64.

(The original face value of tickets is unclear. The Barclays Center is obviously "sold out," but it doesn't look like seats behind the stage were sold, which does happen with concerts.)

A concert promoter

As the New York Times reported 9/21/18 (and published in print a day later), Michelle Obama’s Big Book Rollout: ‘It’s Like You’re Looking at a Madonna Tour’, Obama's ten-city tour  has been organized by the concern promoter Live Nation. From the article:

On its website, Live Nation said that Mrs. Obama’s show would “feature intimate and honest conversations between Mrs. Obama and a selection of to-be-announced moderators, reflective of the extraordinary stories shared in the wide-ranging chapters of her deeply personal book.” Because of high demand during the pre-sale period, which ended on Thursday, the promoter recently added second shows in Washington and Brooklyn.

Though 10 percent of the tickets for each event will be donated to charities and other groups, the article quoted Anand Giridharadas, author of a recent analysis of current-day philanthropy, “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World,” as suggesting that the tour illustrates that "cashing in has become our common culture in a way we don’t realize."