Albabe's Ticket-buying Tips
"Hello. My name is Alan and I'm a seat snob."
Of the 150+ concerts that I've attended, more than half I've seen from the first ten rows. There's a passion at a live show that I just don't think you can get from the nose-bleed seats. So I've been willing to pay the price. I've camped out about a dozen times, sometimes in pretty extreme cold at outlets a few hours away. I've hidden in bushes to run faster to a ticket window entrance. In 1993, I drove from Wenatchee Washington to New York City in a 17-year-old Honda Civic to see a Bruce Springsteen show.
You may not go to these extreme measures, but if you're interested in getting good seats, here are some of my tips.
The first critical step, of course, is knowing that something is going on sale. That itself can be a challenge. I routinely check the Ticketmaster web sites in the US and Vancouver B.C. every Friday morning. I check the web sites for several radio stations that I like and Seattle Sidewalk. I also read the "Tempo" section of the Seattle Times and the "What's Happening" section of the Post Intelligencer. Other times, I've seen material in the Rocket and the Seattle Weekly that I didn't see anywhere else. I've compiled all of the important concerts sites that I use onto my concerts web page.
I send out e'mail every Friday with information on the shows going on sale that weekend. I've you're interested in being on that e'mail, drop me a note.
I also listen to the radio every morning. The real reason I do this is because I'm too cheap to buy a CD player for my car, but twice this year (Indigo Girls and Steve Earle), I've learned about a show on a Wednesday morning going on sale that day at 10 a.m.
Once you know that a show is going on sale, the big question, of course, is "How can I get great seats?" And it is hard around here. There are no Ticketmaster outlets in this state that allow you to camp out overnight.
So don't waste your time planning that. (Sights & Sounds, a family-owned outlet in Moses Lake, used to be a renegade in this regard and allow people to camp out. However, Ticketmaster took away their right to sell tickets and gave it to a chain drugstore.) Now, every Ticketmaster outlet in the state is expected by Ticketmaster to do a lottery half an hour before the on-sale time when there are more than 6 people in line. That's true for reserved and popular general admission shows. The key thing is to select your outlet wisely. There are two main factors I use - the likely size of the crowd and the efficiency of the people operating the machine. If you can find an obscure outlet that may not get a lot of people lined up, then your chances are obviously better than if you go to the same Tower Records that 50 other people are going to. (For a list of all the Washington outlets, check out http://events.ticketmaster.com/cgi/tcenter/centers.idc?state=WA.) If there are fewer than 6 people in line, the outlet does not have to do a lottery, so showing up an hour or two in advance will pay off in those instances. Often, to get less competition, I will target an outlet in an area that is a poor match for the type of music going on sale. (i.e. Neil Diamond might not be too popular in some areas, Coolio might not be too popular in others.)Of course, this assumes that the clerks operating the machines are all equally competent, which isn't the case. I've seen some people who were 9th in line at one outlet do as well as someone who was 2nd in line at another outlet because they had a clerk who was very skilled at processing orders. If you've got an obscure Payless nearby, you can possibly be first in line there. But the risk is that you may end up with a clerk who is more talented at making one-hour photos than working the Ticketmaster terminal. If you have a lot of friends, you can all go to the same outlet and whoever gets the best lottery position buys everybody's ticket. Another strategy is to get somebody in another area of the state to buy the tickets for you. Chances are that the outlets in Spokane, Wenatchee, Ellensburg etc., aren't going to be too crowded for a show at the Tacomadome. Furthermore, the Washington, Oregon and Vancouver B.C. outlets can all share information and sell each others tickets. So if you've got a friend or relative in Oregon or B.C., they can buy seats for you. Sometimes, the venues themselves sell tickets and aren't particularly crowded. The Paramount is one such example. That leads me to the other technique - phoning in. Generally, I recommend against this as it's too risky. On a busy morning, if you call (206) 628-0888, you just don't know whether you're ever going to get in. However, the advantage to this system is that they have the best reps. If you really like the idea of calling and you still want really good seats, then I recommend calling a less busy line. The other lines in Washington are: Kennewick 509-735-0500, Tacoma 206-627-8497 or Yakima 509-453-7139. If you're willing to pay a little extra in service charges, you could call Vancouver's phone center at (604) 280-4444. (Be aware that they don't open at 9:30 a.m.)
If you are REALLY, REALLY fanatical about an artist, you can do some research to find out which phone centers will be selling tickets to which shows. In the fall of 1995, I learned that the calls for Bruce Springsteen's Louisville, Kentucky show were being handled by the Columbus, Ohio center. The morning they went on-sale, all the Louisville phone lines were, of course, very busy. But I got right through to the Columbus center by calling the Youngstown phone number. The list of ALL the phone center numbers all across the country is posted at: http://events.ticketmaster.com/venue/chargebyphone.html
Of course, some people combine these techniques - taking their cell phone with them to an outlet and dialing while they are waiting in line. Apart from the knowledge that you look like a real geek, this can be an effective strategy.
Some radio stations have started offering tickets to members of their "listener clubs" a day before they go on sale to the public. (Sometimes, though, even though they are being sold a day before public gets a crack at them, they haven't set aside the best seats.)
Other venues and promoters offer special group or VIP seats, which vary quite a bit from venue to venue and concert to concert. If you can put together a group of enough people The Gorge, the Pier and the Puyallup Fair all have group sales. There are also subscription programs offering by the Gorge, the Paramount and other venues.
Keep abreast of special promotions. During the Rolling Stones 1997-98 tour, Sprint customers could buy their tickets before the public. I had to wake up at 5 a.m. to call Chicago, but I got tickets in the 7th row for their show in the Kingdome. If the show is a benefit for a local charity, call that charity to see if they have any tickets to give you in exchange for a direct donation.
Also, fan clubs can be good too for artists that you really like. I know Pearl Jam, Melissa Etheridge and John Mellencamp have reserved quite good seats for folks in their clubs.
Another factor to consider is the number of tickets that you get - the bigger block of seats that you want, the further back you will likely be. When tickets for the Rolling Stones 1994 Seattle show went on sale, I saw a group of high school students getting a block of 12 seats. Even though they were first in line, their seats were WAY back on the floor. However, the guy who was 3rd in line asked for just two and got his pair in the 2nd row center. Getting a single might mean going to a show alone, but there are often random singles pretty close to the stage longer than there are pairs or blocks of four. If you're one of those people who gets all the tickets for all your friends, you can feel good about your generosity, but you are not going to get the best seats. The Pearl Jam fan website also has a good guide to ticket-buying tips at: http://www.fivehorizons.com/tour/98/roadtrip/tmtricks.htmlIf you get shut out the date tickets go on-sale, don't give up. The promoters may put additional tickets on sale a few days before the show to foil scalpers, so keep calling or checking the Ticketmaster web site. Other times, you may find that people have extras that they are willing to sell - radio station KMTT has a busy ticket exchange web site. If all else fails, just go to the venue the day of the show. I have rarely seen shows without somebody selling tickets outside.
Incidentally, if you want to know how good your seat is, check out the section on the left where it will have x1, x2, x3 etc. This is how Ticketmaster prioritizes the seats within their database. (Hence the cliché' that you get "the best available seat.") If you are first in line and the operator of your machine is skilled, you might get x1, which are very, very close seats. I've been first in line at some locations where I've gotten x4 seats.)
So just what do you have to say? Drop me a line: alan@albabe.com
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