I would like to see Brian Setzer in Boston on the 23rd of November, but apparently that is impossible unless I am willing to sit in the nosebleed section or pay upwards of $200 per ticket.
How early do you buy tickets for live music acts to get decent seats without taking out a second mortgage? Or do the ticket brokers have the market all sewn up so that the little guy has no chance to get first crack at tickets?
I use Ticketmaster and actually have two concerts I’m attending later this week. The combined price (including a parking pass for one) is only about $80.
When did you buy those tickets?
Also if TM says the 2 tickets availbe are 105-107, does that mean they are not together?
Oh, right. Forgot that. Back in August, maybe? They’re for smaller acts (Regina Spektor and Tegan and Sara, for what it’s worth) and I imagine that’s also part of the reason for the cheapness.
No help on buying multiple tickets. I’m going alone.
It is often the case that seats are not numbered consecutiveively, so that they would be (similar to the way that 105 and 107 might be adjacent houses). If you’re ordering tickets online, they generally give you a chart so you can see where they are.
And “as soon as you know they’re going on sale” is usually a good time to buy.
That occurred to me, but the StubHub online seating chart doesn’t show enough detail for seat numbers.
Yes it does: looking at the purple section, the odd numbered seats are on the left (101 is near the left centre aisle) and even numbers are on the right (102 is on the right centre aisle). So your even numbered seats are right of centre.
ETA: The ticketmaster seating chart is somewhat better. Just select “Generic” and click go:
:smack: I get it now. thanks.
Heck, sometimes the challenge is to get seats at all. We’ve had some popular shows in Kansas City recently that sold out within a few minutes of tickets going on sale.
A lot of tickets never go on sale to the general public. They’re set aside for the entertainers, the venue, fan clubs, etc. The little guy has a chance when regular ticket sales start, but it can be a small one. Brokers have equipment that facilitates multiple early purchases. Furthermore, many of the ordinary folks who do score tickets resell some of them to brokers, or on eBay. It’s a matter of being there the instant tickets go on sale AND being lucky enough to get through in time.
Wait until they become less popular and see them in a small venue.
The good thing is, though, that many of the promo tickets that get set aside often get thrown back in the pool if the recipients couldn’t give them to anyone. Same for people who ordered tickets but their credit cards later refused the charge.
Keep trying Ticketmaster up to and including the day of the show since these tickets often just randomly show up. I hear that the day of the show is a good time to look.
I used to work with ticketbrokers but bailed out when my soul started meliting. A few tips:
1- Brokers, to a certain extent, have the great seats locked up. If not them, then (as mentioned upthread), the venue/ team/ band will have dozens of VIP seats for celebrities and other various fancypantses. This doesn’t mean that good seats aren’t available—it does mean, however, that the best seats are rarely available to the little guy.
2- Someone mentioned to keep checking the ticketmaster website and, yes, that’s a fine idea, especially 24 hours in advance. Sometimes, even those aforementioned VIP tickets are back on the market (for example, David Stern, commisioner of the NBA, has good seats to EVERY NBA game EVERY NIGHT. Once he’s chosen which game he’ll go to, the other tickets are usually released to the public. Chicago area brokers will vouch for this as, during the Jordan years, these seats could go for thousands each.
3- Otherwise, you need to be on the sale the nanosecond it happens. For big shows, other fans will do the same and, coupled with a few select shady broker tactics, some events will sell out in minutes (as also mentioned upthread).
Hope some of that helped.
$200 forBrian Setzer??
That’s fucking nuts, and I’m at least mildly a fan of his, in both his Stray Cats and Brian Setzer Orchestra incarnations.
I mean, my wife and I only paid about $60 per ticket to see Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello at Merriwether Post Pavilion several weeks back, and that’s about as much as I’ve ever paid for a concert ticket. And in the past couple of years, my wife and I have seen U2, Billy Joel, Dr. John…not exactly nobodies. Actually, we may have paid more for U2, but it didn’t break into three figures, I’m sure of that.
Of course, if there’s someone who we’d like to see perform live, we occasionally check in at their website so we know when they might be going on tour. Then we have an idea of when tickets might be going on sale. Then when we find out, and the sale date comes around, we play Magic Fingers on the phone and the Web.
Oh yeah, and more. For the balcony.
I saw her this weekend. She isn’t touring with her band, just her and her piano. She’s great. Only Son opens for her. It should be a wonderful show. Have fun!
edited formatting.
I can’t speak from personal experience, but buying from an “on-site ticket re-seller” seems like the way to go.
The pre-show Ticketmaster releases are worth checking out. But, you can get face-value-or less seats from the scalpers if you wait until the last minute. They don’t want to get stuck with excess inventory–those tix are worth zilch once the show starts.
There’s always the chance of getting ripped off by a bogus ticket, or settling for a nosebleed seat anyway. From the (admittedly apocryphal) stories that I’ve heard though, it’s probably worth the risk.
My thoughts as well. I saw him just a few years ago (Brian Setzer Trio) as an opening act for Tom Petty. Tickets were around $50 and it included enterence to Summerfest.
Go see a show in Allston.
I already saw her once this year, at Bonnaroo in June, and am pretty excited to see her again. I’m just disappointed that I won’t be as close to the stage this time.
What city did you see her in?
I admit that I once paid nearly twice that for a Depeche Mode ticket.
