Concerts for Spice Girls and Hanna Montana sell out in record time

[j7wild]

I hardly go to concerts anymore because you cannot get tickets at regular NON-RESALE prices.

Madonna was the last concert I went to last July in Miami and those pair of tickets cost me over 1,500 each, way above their face value!!

Regardless whether it's a big sport event or a big concert; most of the good tickets are already sold to special promoters, radio stations, media people, the very wealthy, etc etc

Don't tell me that every single ticket for every single seat is available to buy online or by phone at the start of the ticket sale;

when they advertise so and so concert, tickets go on sale Saturday Morning at 10 am for example;

when that clock strikes 10 am, the good tickets have already been sold to the group of people or organizations I mentioned above - the tickets remaining for the public are the not very good tickets.

Of course, everyone denies this happens but it's common practice (I have a friend who is a Manager for ticket masters and he confirms it).

It's an unfair practice and it should be illegal; everyone should have to wait until 10 am to get those tickets regardless whether you are John Q Public or whether you are a Celebrity or a member of some Radio Station system like Clear Channel.

How do you think the Radio Stations get the FRONT ROW tickets they constantly give away on the air days or week(s) before the tickets officially go on sale?

[corfy]

I hardly go to concerts anymore because you cannot get tickets at regular NON-RESALE prices.

The last concert I went to I got free tickets for, although they tried to talk me into "upgrading" from free to one of the paid levels. It was an outdoor venue, with free tickets in the lawn behind the seats, which was good enough for me. But now I can honestly say I have seen B.B. King in concert. I'm not much of a Blues fan, but... it was B.B. King!

The concert before that, I went to because my office was one of the sponsors of the event, so I got free tickets to that one as well. I don't remember who we saw, though. It was some up-and-coming Country singer that I have never heard of (I'm not a country fan, either). This would have been about 1999 or so. My wife, who worked at a country radio station at the time, doesn't remember for sure, either, but she thinks it might have been Ty Herndon. I don't think so, though. I think he had "Kenny" or "Kenney" in his name somewhere, but I don't remember if it was first or last name.

The only concert I ever paid for came to my home town. I don't remember how much the tickets were, but they weren't terribly expensive. And I had never heard of the group before then (a Christian rock band called "Whitecross"), but how many concerts come to a town of 1,500 in the middle of nowhere? I still have the concert t-shirt with my home town listed on the back as one of the stops.

I also attended a Beach Boys concert back in 1988 when they performed at the Ohio State Fair. We had to pay admission to the fair (which was $5-$10), but the concert was included.

Those are the only concerts I have been to. I saw "Weird Al" Yankovic was in concert in Indy few years ago, but my wife and I couldn't afford the $80+ per ticket to attend.