Mug R
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Front row tickets are usually not available to the general public. Buying online is the quickest way to get good tickets. Standing in line is a waste of time. Buying tickets is more of an art than a science.
If you’re buying tickets on the advertised date that tickets go on sale, you’ve likely already missed the best opportunities to buy tickets. There are many pre-sales for event tickets. Local radio stations will have pre-sales for concert tickets. Some venues will sell tickets at their box office, before they go on sale to the general public via TicketMaster. One venue in my local area sells tickets to local residents first, and then makes tickets available to the rest of the public later.
Even if there are good seats left when TicketMaster opens the door to all comers, it’s a matter of getting lucky. There are literally hundreds of other people out there trying to buy tickets on the on-sale date/time, and they’re all pounding TicketMaster at the same time you are.
Some tips that will get you better seats include:
* Always find the presales for concert tickets. If your local radio stations have email lists for you to sign up for, do so, since that's often how they tell you about their secret presales. Also watch fan sites for the artist in question to see if they know about presales and how to get into them.
* If the artist has a fanclub, see what their benefits are. Some fanclubs allow fans to purchase excellent tickets directly from the artist. You'll pay for the privilege of being a member of the fanclub, but you'll be virtually guaranteed to get excellent seats. For example, the R.E.M. fanclub annual membership fee is $10, and they have offered seats within the first 5 rows to their concerts to fanclub members for their last several tours. The ten dollar investment is well worth it!
* Buy smaller groups of tickets. When you buy tickets, TicketMaster tries to get you tickets together. If you want 8 tickets and punch in all 8 at the same time, TicketMaster searches for 8 seats together. It’s more likely that your seats will be further back. Buy tickets in pairs, or even singletons if you’re willing to sit by yourself for a concert, and you’ll get better seats.
* Don’t be afraid to try later. When you start the process to buy the tickets, those seats are held for you until you complete the transaction. If the transaction is cancelled for any reason (you don’t like the seats, your credit card is declined, etc), then the tickets will be thrown back into the pool of available tickets. It’s possible to get great seats because someone else’s transaction didn’t go through.
* Get a little help from your friends. Try multiple avenues of buying tickets at once, such as both online and on the phone.
If you don't like the tickets available when they're on sale, don't give up hope. You still have some options.
* Keep on checking back at TicketMaster. Sometimes additional tickets are released at a later date. (This is another place where the radio station emails can come in handy, because a release of extra tickets might make it into one of their newsletters.)
* Watch fan forums for someone who has to sell their tickets for some reason. Hopefully, fans are least likely to try to make a profit on their tickets.
* Watch local forums (such as your local craigslist) for people who are trying to sell their tickets. Don't pay more than face value!
If it's the day of the show and you still don't have tickets, you still have a chance to get into the venue. All of the above still apply, and there are some additional ways where you can get tickets.
* Call the venue's box office and ask when tickets will be released. Tickets are reserved for many reasons (radio station giveaways, for the artist and their management, etc etc etc), and sometimes they're not all used. The venue will sell these tickets on the day of the show for face value, and they're usually excellent seats.
* Show up at the venue and see if you can find an individual (not a scalper) trying to sell their extra ticket. This works better if you just want one or a pair of tickets. Lots of people need to sell an extra ticket for many reasons, and you can get lucky.
* As it gets closer and closer to the start of the show, look for the scalpers. They will want to unload their tickets. If it's within 10 minutes of the start time of the concert, offer them a few dollars off of face value. If it's after the slated start time, offer them even less. You can get lucky and get excellent tickets this way. |
Lara
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Not that it's always the best method to use, but I got 2 tickets to the 2006 show on E-bay for just under $200. The seats were on the floor, about 15 rows back. It was worth it when you figure that I'd have paid that much just going through Ticketmaster & paying all of the fees. I already messaged the broker that I got them from the last time just in case I can't get tickets on my own. I'm not saying that you can trust everyone selling online, but it did work out well in my case. |
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