Maybe you do lottery tickets. I do ticket lotteries.
Just for a few minutes let’s forget politics, the lack of spring, your grumpy neighbor or whatever else is pissing you off these days. We are all seeking a little enjoyment and a brief escape from the threat of nuclear war. (We’ve already lived through that one.) So why can’t we even get a ticket to a concert or event? Have you tried lately? The frustration begins with logging onto the event website about 10 minutes before tickets go on sale. Or maybe for more adventure you try the old school method of waiting in line for a day or two. Although I think that’s pretty much something even the oldest of the Millennials have passed off to their younger siblings. I’m not sure. Maybe that’s just the line at the Apple store. Anyway, that leaves the rest of us hovering over the keyboard waiting for the clock to strike “now”. You hit “buy tickets” and 5 seconds after sales open there are no decent seats left. How can this be? It looks like Ticketmiser Ticketmaster, Seat Cheats Geeks and the rest of them have won again and scarfed up all the tickets. Did you know there are computer bots that are able to do this? Even Bruce Springfield is angry because his fans can no longer afford him.
This leaves two options. Stay home or go to the big resale sites and get f***ed over on the price. Just make sure it is a legitimate ‘f*** me over” site and not a scam where they just steal your money and give you a bogus ticket. This actually happens. Please don’t ask me how I know. But because so many of life’s regrets are the things you could have actually done and didn’t, and since these ticketed experiences are still within reach, I keep trying.
If you were to sign up today to get season tickets for the Denver Broncos it is now estimated to be a 20 year wait list. I don’t even think the bots can get tickets. Greedy fans will resell their tickets on a game by game basis for about four times what they paid for them. And that’s when the team isn’t doing so well. In good times you would have to cough up even more. According to the Denver news, it seems that some ticket holders haven’t actually used their seats for years. They are just opportunists. Or ass****s. You decide. Someone is supposedly looking into this. Since my son has been on the wait list for about 15 years now I am hoping I live long enough for him to get his tickets and take his mama to a game. I believe he loves me enough even for this.
Rockies tickets are easier because they play about a thousand games a season but you still pay through the nose. And then there is the usual lightening, rain and/or hail and a game delay. They never cancel. If they did you could actually use your tickets for the rescheduled game. Last year we bought really $good$ seats for our son’s birthday but we never got there. The game didn’t start until 11pm. A real treat for working fans. I might as well have just burned my money in the front yard. This year I thought we had hit the ticket jackpot. We were invited to an opening day pregame party at a great restaurant near Coors Field with game tickets included. We were so excited! And so thrilled to be a part of this generous party. It snowed. Coldest opening day on record. Game delayed. We went home but since they did eventually play I guess we were among the lucky ones since we hadn’t actually paid for the tickets.
And snow!
And who has tried to get tickets to Hamilton? Did you know Hamilton has a ticket lottery. I downloaded the app and entered every day.
I guess I’ll just have to read the book.
We figured since we have moved to Colorado we really need to go to Red Rocks Amphitheater. I mean, it is legendary. Everybody has played there! So we checked this year’s schedule as soon as it was published. Who are all these bands? I must be really getting old. I never heard of any of them. But somebody obviously has because there are no seats available. Finally, I found two seats in the very last row for over $100 a piece for Steve Martin and Martin Short. At least we know who they are. And if it doesn’t lightening, rain and/or hail we can cross Red Rocks off the bucket list.
sixtiestosixties 
We hope we make it too! If you get my blog by email you will have to change it yourself through the “follow”on the site. Or just sign on as a new follower if nessecary. WordPress does not provide me with emails of followers to protect their privacy. Hope you change it and keep reading! I know what you mean about Spectrum controlling everything. Just a few enormous companies left.
I saw “Waitress” was coming to the National Theater in DC. My on-line ticketing efforts were fruitless so I drove to DC, found 6 parking garages full. Hour and a half later, got a spot ($12 for 1 hour), walked to theater through a gigantic crowd of people, was deafened by loud speakers and drumming at “Freedom Square” (which is about 50 feet directly in front of the doors to the theater and box office). Arrived at box office just as intermission occurred pouring the audience into the lobby with me. The one person in the box office behind heavy glass window with a 4 inch diameter hole in the window about 5’9″ from the floor (I’m 5’7″). The hole is apparently for communication purposes. We pantomimed preferred dates for tickets. She showed me a seating chart and I purchased tickets that were actually worse than the on-line seats I looked at earlier in the day. As she slid the tickets through the slot, the light flickered, the audience left the lobby and the loud speakers fell silent. I think life was easier when I couldn’t afford to go to the theater.
Did you enjoy the show?
Show is not until May 22. I thought the note was from someone else about your show…maybe I’m just not smart enough for blogging.
I’m not sure at am either I can’t figure out why so many followers are not receiving it.
it.. The answer comes from sixtiestosixties which means I wrote it.
[…] via Tickets […]
I feel ya girlfriend. I haven’t paid for a concert ticket in years, my boss has a “guy” who probably swoops up seats with a bot or other means. I can’t complain, I’ve gotten to see big name bands like ZZ Top(front row!),Tom Petty(RIP),Fleetwood Mac, and The Police. Don’t know what it cost, but they probably weren’t cheap.
What I have endured lately was taking my 5 year old to see “Paw Patrol” in Tijuana ( here it’s called “Patrulla Canina”). His mother told me about the show, it was in a section of the old Jai Alai building in downtown TJ. I looked online and the ticket prices were about 150 pesos (8-9 dollars) but in the nosebleed seats. Front section was closer to $600 pesos($30), but I figured since it was just he and I ( his mother wisely declined to go), I’d splurge.
There were three shows, 12noon, 3PM and 6PM. I decided we would go to the 3PM show, thinking that there wouldn’t be much of a crowd on a Sunday afternoon. Wrong! The line to buy tickets was around the block. We got in at the end, and were immediately beset by vendors hawking all kinds of Paw merchandise. My son and I both suffer from “something shiny” syndrome, so immediately it was “Papa Scott, wil you buy me….”. I gave in and bought him a laminated lanyard for 10 pesos, telling him that that was it, nothing else.
The line started moving, and about 2:50PM, we got to the front, ready to buy our tickets, only to be told that we were in the wrong line, this was for ticket holders only. We were pointed to another (very long) line that obviously meant we weren’t going to make the 3PM show. In the new line, my son and a couple of other kids got into an argument over some dead leaves on the ground. I managed to find a dead leaf for each child, staving off any potential wrestling matches.
Finally got to the front of the ticket purchase line, where an overworked employee showed us a seating chart for the 6PM show. Not only were there no front section seats (they were sold out weeks ago!), the only available seats left were way off to the side of the stage, cutting off much of the visibility of the screen projecting images behind the live characters.
No matter, my five year old was thrilled to see his favorite cartoon friends come to life. Once again, we were assaulted by vendors and waiters offering more Paw merchadise, drinks and food.
When I say drinks, I should say sodas and water. If there had been beer or wine offered, I would have been a lot more tolerant of the constant intrusions which caused me to have to decline my kid’s nonstop requests. I finally assented to a mini pizza and water (about $15) which kept him happy, while I was assigned to guard his dead leaf.
I’m sure with a growing child there’ll be more such events, but at least I can try to plan ahead of time to make it less painful.
(If you squint, you can make out some of the characters onstage)