How to buy concert tickets?

K.B. · 09-30-2007, 01:54 AM

So my 11 yr old daughter wanted to go see Hannah Montana. Tickets were supposed to go on sale online at 10:00 thru ticketmaster for a showing at Van Andel. They expected the tickets to sell out in 5 minutes.

So I sat ready and waited till the appointed time and at exactly 10:00:01 I tried to purchase the tickets only to be informed they were all sold out. So I look on line and find that there are scalpers selling the $56 tickets for over $200 each. So no Hannah Montana..........gone are the days of camping out overnight with a sleeping bag to score front row seats for Rush.

Anybody have a clue as to how to successfully get concert tickets online?

Danny_Ocean · 09-30-2007, 06:28 AM

I've had good luck with E-Bay and Craigslist. You have to be cautious about counterfeits, however. If seller wants to meet you in the Denny's parking lot, forget it. If they invite you to their home or place of business, it's probably a safe bet that the tix are genuine.

Or, you could do it the "old fashioned way". Cruise the venue the night of and buy from scalpers standing outside. Unfortunately, there's a high chance those could be counterfeit, too.

LOL. Scalping "Hannah Montana" tickets...Jerry Garcia is rolling in his grave.

nota · 09-30-2007, 06:30 AM

one way is to call a little early and BS/charm with the saleschic on the phone
as the on sale time comes near then place your order
but many hot tickets are presold in fact the system sucks
as it is set up for the insiders not the public

but sometimes you can get a deal on the street out side the hall
if the scaplers over buy they will dump their tickets once the show starts
but thats real hit or miss and look out for fake tickets

rouxroux · 09-30-2007, 06:44 AM

Yeah, the "Hanna Montana" scam has worked all throughout this tour. The same thing happened in Shreveport, even to the "Fan Club" members who were "promised" early access. The Shreveport Times wrote a number of pieces on it.

Pretty good marketing scheme going on there to see the young Cyrus. I guess her daddy would say it's caused a few "achey breaky hearts" among the little girls. (how can you tell a princess she can't go to see her idol because of "money"?) I'm sure there are a bunch of folks that are paying the $200+ price however.

K.B. · 09-30-2007, 07:31 AM

Well a blog online suggests that first you make sure your computer clock is accruately sinked with the atomic clock. But what if ticketmaster isn't sinked? Then it says you need to open explorer, firefox and opera and try them all once because the cookies prevent you from trying to reorder tickets from the same browser. You can then check from all three to get tickets - triple your odds so to speak.

Anybody tried anything like this that works?

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I almost only buy tix in the parking lot just before the show and I have NEVER once not gotten killer seats for a little over or sometimes even below face value. Believe me, there are tons of folks who go to shows and bought a lot of tix, but a few people in their group couldn't make it at the last minute. The worst I ever did was in July for a Rush concert, where I missed the first two songs, but paid under face value for seats right in front of the soundboard. I'm doing the same thing for Van Halen in Philly tomorrow night. Oh, last Sat. I saw Rush in Toronto. Since it was my bachelor party and big roadtrip, my buddies had bought tix well in advance and we ended up having an extra. They sold it for exactly what they had paid for it and did so on the way into the arena. I hate giving a dime to Ticketraper.

john70t · 09-30-2007, 08:56 AM

In Ann Arbor, tickets are sometimes sold through UM ticket office, Crazy Wisdom bookstore and Herb David guitar.
See if you can find other semi-local outlets for ticket sales other than Ticketmaster; don't get suckered into their monopoly.

One has to wonder, sometimes, if TM and/or their employees aren't diverting blocks of tickets to the gray market on the side.

I once tried to buy tickets through TM's phone-ordering, selecting the budget seats, but the purchase price kept reflecting the mid range seat prices. There wasn't any stated indication that the cheap seats were sold out.
I wrote a quick e-mail to the state attorney general about the semi-deceptive process, leaving only my e-mail, and got an extremely defensive response from Ticket Master. They sent me a couple e-mails, sent a letter to my home(now how did they get my address?), and called me on the phone(how did they get that as well?), as if to say to me "push this further and you'll get slapped with a libel suit". F'k them.

mattdavis11 · 09-30-2007, 09:12 AM

Brings back memories of 15-20 years ago. Buy and sell to a ticket broker, fast cash. TQ's were in almost every 7-11. I have no idea how to score premium seats on the cheap now.