How do music/rock concert ticket sales work? Gogar or anyone else

[G50]

Question on how concert ticket sales work.

I got tickets for the Offspring show in So. Cal. this summer. They were first made publicly available in a "fan presale" on the internet a few days ago (through Tickemaster). I signed in the second sales started. There is a "Pit" section (general admission right in front of the stage, cool!), then Orchestra seating, Loge, etc.

Even though I signed in immediately, I could not get any "Pit" seats. I did manage to get in the first few rows in Orchestra, which is cool, but Pit would have been really fun.

Today I noticed Pit tickets all over ebay from ticket shops. How did they manage to get these tickets?

(Anyone have any connection with Columbia records - last summer I noticed a few hundred people in the wings on stage - would love to get some stage passes )

[stomachmonkey]

It's all a racket.

I recall once standing outside a ticket bastard, 3rd in line for Clapton tix.

They open at 9 AM.

Bout 5 to 9 we see a guy walk in the back door. Sits with clerk at the computer.

10 after 9 he leaves and the clerk opens up to the public.

All good seats gone by then.

[Gogar]

Some of it's a scam, some not.

Premium tickets are held from general sale by lots of people. The promoter, the band/management, and ticketmaster itself.

Ticketmaster will hold back it's own premium seats all over the venue for later auction on TicketWeb, a subsidiary of Ticketmaster. Nice, huh?

The promoter will hold back seats for their own guest list, and what's called a "will buy" list, industry folks who need/want to get into a show where tix are hard to come by can call the promoter and maybe get 'will buy.'

TM also holds back seats for the band to sell on their website; typically not more 10% of available seats at any show are sold by the band to the band's fanclub, etc.

The band usually has its own 'guest list', which usually pulls numbers from the GA section of a show.

Corporate sponsors of shows, if there are any, will receive tickets held back from general sale as part of their sponsorship.

Anyway, if you're seeing the Offspring in SoCal, there's probably a zillion people with their hand in the ticket jar, so it's probably pretty tough.

I recommend you always try the band's website long before the 'onsale' date, and if there's no extra money committment to buy tickets from the band's fanclub or something, you usually can do pretty well that way.

We sell tix on our website with a $2 service charge and NO TM fees, so depending on the show you can save anywhere from $5 to almost $15 from ordering from the band directly.

[89911]

I've given up going to big venues because of the problems you speak. My last concert was a Beck, Ben Folds Five concert at the largest outdoor place here. Tickets went on sale at 9, I was on the phone with the guy at 8:59 and bought my tickets. There had to be a few thousand seats gone before I got mine. As a side note, I saw Fountains of Wayne at a local club and could basically go up and grab the singers ankles if I wanted. It made the show everything. I doubt I will go to any large shows again.

[Rick Lee]

I camped out for Van Halen tix in 1986 and our seats still sucked. Best seats I ever had, I got at 2pm on the day of the show for VH in '95. I had a friend at Ticketscheister and he hooked me up. I was the only guy in the front row, paid face value. Since then I have not once bought tix through TM. I always go to eBay, Craigslist or just show up before the show, check the box office and then hit the parking lot folks. I have almost always paid well below face value, rarely been more than 10 rows back on the floor and never once gotten stuck. For the last VH tour, we walked up to the box office at 7pm day of the show in Philly and got 7th row front and center for face value. Did the same for Motley Crue a few years earlier. I'm going to the opening night for Rush in Albuquerque in June and plan to get there around 7pm and find tix in the parking lot. Last time I did that in Albuq., I paid $50 each and was 4th row in front of Geddy's mic. Nothing better than getting a smoking deal for great seats and not paying a dime of TM's "convenience" charge.

[sailchef]

In Dewey Beach we have a cool little"venue"called The Bottle & Cork, been there for ever, they will bring in some of the old rockers for summer concerts for $10-$15, people like Cyndy Laupher, Sammy Hager, George Clinton, Blondie, Dave Matthews. The Place is barely bigger than a three car garage and 1500 people will pack the place.

Only in the summer June until August. The town turns into one very large BAR.

Check it out if anyone is ever out this way

Welcome to DeweyBeachLife.com

[Gogar]

I've been to the Bottle and Cork a few times. Fun place; like Jersey without the spray tan!

[nostatic]

Total luck of the draw sometimes. I've use TM a number of times over the past year or three. For Tommy Emmanuel, I went online and bought tickets. I checked the map of the venue (Smothers Theater at Pepperdine), and the tickets that came up weren't on the map. I was fairly late to purchase (about a week or two before the show) so I just bought them and figured I'd take what I got. When we got to the place, we went in and it turns out they were dead center 1st row right at the edge of the stage. TE was like 5' away from us. Turns out the "pit" area wasn't listed on the seating map.

And the concert was sold out (as was the previous night - in fact that one was sold out when I went to buy tix). The only other time I've gotten front row center was for Jeff Beck in 1980. We slept overnight and were the 3rd people in line. The first two guys bought Santana tickets. I got 4 tix first row dead center. That was a religious experience.

[Rick Lee]

I saw Jeff Beck open for Stevie Ray Vaughn. Can't remember how I got those tix though. I saw Rush in Germany twice and it was all general admission. It was just a matter how early you wanted to get there and hold your place in front of the stage. Got front row both times for that.

[Gogar]

And the concert was sold out (as was the previous night - in fact that one was sold out when I went to buy tix). The only other time I've gotten front row center was for Jeff Beck in 1980. We slept overnight and were the 3rd people in line. The first two guys bought Santana tickets. I got 4 tix first row dead center. That was a religious experience.

On the day of the show, tickets that were "held back" (in the ways I mentioned) but unused get sent back to the box office for regular sale.
At the "day of show" price, of course.