Well, in the case of the concert I bought tickets for, the front row center - both sides of the aisle - went to devoted fans who thanked me for the "heads up" on the concert going on sale. At least one of them bought tickets way after I did; possibly both of them as they wrote me days later. I am happy for them, and glad that scalpers were not involved, but I am very disappointed in my seats and probably will not go. When the other side of the aisle went on sale, I could have bought four additional tickets. I missed the most center ones, but could have taken the ones right next to them. Excellent seats. But I was too angry to do that, and even the next day when I tried to exchange the tickets (customer service is only open from 9 to 5 EDT), the seats were still excellent - 2nd row, almost at the aisle. When they refused to exchange them, I decided that I was not going to buy more tickets.
I am almost sorry that I post all the information at my web site, and send out e-mails too. I thought about keeping it to myself until after I bought tickets, but I am not that sort of person. I wouldn't have minded a few people getting in ahead of me, if I had gotten what I know was still available when I did order.
On other concerts - the really big ones - you are right about scalpers or radio station giveaways. But you can't count on those (often you don't know if there will even be one), so you buy what you can get. Many times it is dreadful seats, way up in the second balcony or worse. And this, when you order when tickets go on sale (assuming you get in, of course).
My son wanted to see Billy Joel. The first time, there were NO tickets left when we finally got through (dialing constantly, and two of us doing it on four phone lines). For that concert, we later bought a ticket from a fan who couldn't go. At face value. There are nice people left in this world. The other time, my husband did the "dial Ticketmaster" chore. He got in about 15 minutes after the tickets went on sale, and got seats in the nosebleed section. The concert was great; Billy even did his GL imitation. But I didn't like seeing all those tickets for auction at Ebay. They may have cracked down on scalping now, but the scalpers have lots of other outlets.
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Valerie Magee
Visit my GL web site at
gordonlightfoot.com