So the show is sold out and everyone knows it, what now? The first thing you need to do is bookmark the web page for the event at the primary ticket provider. Occasionally they have tickets held back for the artist, media, labels, or other luminaries. If those people do not want the tickets they will often be released back to the primary ticketing provider. Sometimes you may find one ticket other times you may find 8 or more. Grab what you need and alert other people on Craigslist or message boards who have posted wanted messages to increase your karma.
Simultaneously with checking your bookmarks multiple times a day you need to be on Craigslist, eBay, and your preferred ticket broker website. With these three website at your disposal you need to gauge the supply against the amount of bidders on eBay, amount of wanted postings on Craigslist and the supply on the broker site of choice. Be aware that inventory may overlap between all three sales venues.
Now that you have an idea of what the market is doing you have to gauge the market. Here it is often just economics 101, supply and demand. If the band is getting hotter and hotter with more and more press and blogs covering the band the prices are soon to go up, so you should figure out what price you are willing to pay and buy. If there is not much buzz and the ticket market is stagnant hold off. I have seen people struggle to sell tickets under face for sold out club shows before.
So you had another engagement or just didn’t know the show was going on sale and now the show you want to go to is sold out, but you still want to go. What is the next step?
For small to midsize club shows the steps below will help you out. First you need to look at the market. Is it a small club show? Did it just sell out, but weeks after the on sale? Quick call the club that the show is at. Some clubs hold back tickets to sell out of the box office with little or no service fee. If the club is sold out too or doesn’t hold tickets you need to hit eBay and Craigslist hard before others realize the show is sold out. If you can find the right person who has an extra ticket or two before everyone is hounding them for a ticket you are likely to pay “face” value or less.
No Doubt makes their triumphant return to Southern California starting on Wednesday with 7 shows over the next two weeks. No Doubt has sold over 75000 tickets at close to $90 each for these concerts. Kind of makes you wonder why they would even go on tour anywhere else.
These No Doubt tickets were hard to acquire. If you were in on the fan club “tour club” presales there were basically no good seats available that are not a pain in the ass to use.
No Doubt tickets at Gibson Amphitheatre have been hot since they sold out almost as soon as they went on sale. Lately the shows have become unexpectedly lukewarm. The box office is virtually sold out for all the Gibson shows so if you are thinking of catching a release, it is doubtful they will release more than 10 tickets for any of the shows. The first show Wednesday night has tickets available on the secondary market stating at about $75 each in the Loge but quickly jumping up to $95 each. Good Loge No Doubt tickets, which I define as in the first 5-7 rows and not all the way off to the side run $110-$125 each. Finally the best Orchestra tickets for No Doubts’ first show at Gibson are running in the $200 range. There are no No Doubt pit tickets available on the broker market for their first show. If you are dying to go see every No Doubt show in Los Angeles and don’t have tickets for every show yet, tickets for the first show at Gibson are not obscenely priced.
Come back tomorrow for an analysis of No Doubt tickets for their 2nd and 3rd nights at Gibson Amphitheatre. I will finish the week with my analysis of No Doubt tickets for their concerts next week at Verizon Wireless in Irvine. I will give one nugget on the Verizon Irvine tickets now. If you want No Doubt pit tickets in Irvine, Sunday night has the least expensive pit tickets for their seven Los Angeles area shows.
HOW DO TICKET BROKERS GET THEIR TICKETS ?
Most tickets that brokers sell are never available to the general public. At large venues, most of the orchestra seats are sold to season ticket holders. They are much more expensive than if someone purchased them for an individual event. That is the “cost” for that guarantee of better seats.
Unsold season tickets are then made available to the individual artist. Believe it or not, it is the artist who decides how many of the unsold PRIME SEATS are allocated. They may choose to:
- Distribute to their fan club for resale.
- Use them to promote the concert.
- Give them to business associates and friends.
A good example of this is the recent Springsteen debacle. Springsteen alleged that Ticketmaster attempted to defraud his fans of the best seats in the house. In reality, Springsteen held the 2000 BEST SEATS in the arena for people he knew or politicians and other public figures who needed to be “seen” at a
his concert . The only way to get the best seats was from a broker whom had been sold tickets by those insiders. The people making the most money were the INSIDERS WHO WERE ALLOWED TO PURCHASE TICKETS.
In most cases, ticket brokers make only 10 to 20 % of face value but the insider may make 500%!
WHEN IS A GOOD TIME TO USE A TICKET BROKER?
TICKET PRICES ARE GOING DOWN. For example, tickets for a certain engagement are not selling and prices are coming down. Keep an eye on the show on ticket websites for the month leading up to the event. Get an idea for how many tickets are listed and note that 2 or 3 times a week. If supply is staying the same or just barely moving down, wait to purchase. If there 5-10 sets of tickets gone each time you check back, it’s time to purchase before prices start going up. What do you do? Go to ticketliquidator.com check out the price and pick out the seats you want. You go to ticketliquidator.com because they are the cheapest website for tickets. This will allow you to find out the top price you should pay from a broker. Once you find out the price from Ticket Liquidator, call your local brokers to find out who owns them and buy from the person that owns them. This way you avoid the service fee that Ticket Liquidator charges on top of the price shown on their website. Buying locally from the ticket owner generally allows you to avoid the shipping charges, as you can go and pick up the tickets.
WHY USE A TICKET BROKER ?
If you are looking to go see Coldplay in Los Angeles the weekend of July 17-18 you have two options. Coldplay tickets are available for Verizon Wireless Amphitheater and the Home Depot Center. The show at the Home Depot Center is less popular and for good reason. If you have never been to the Home Depot Center it is just like most other stadiums. The seats are FAR away from the stage. As of this writing there are decent seats in section 110 in Ticketmaster. http://bit.ly/47nbg This is the second best section in the stadium though will still leave you a ways away from the stage but will end up running you $230-$240 for two tickets. Okay orchestra Verizon Wireless tickets will set you back about $165 each on the secondary market. If you can afford the prices, these tickets will give you a much better experience.
Those of you who do not mind standing up for the whole show can find some good Coldplay tickets for a great price. The front “pit” tickets are general admission for the Coldplay tour. GA pit Coldplay tickets will set you back around $175 each at Verizon Wireless in Irvine. This will get you as close as possible for this Coldplay show. The pit at Irvine Meadows is pretty small and restricted to 250-300 people. The GA Coldplay tickets for the front area at the Home Depot Center will set you back $120-$130 a ticket on the secondary market. Definitely a better buy than most other tickets but still a tough place to watch the whole show. The Home Depot Center pit tickets will put you in the company of 2,000-3,000 other people.
My recommendation: If you want to go to the Coldplay Home Depot Center show buy good seats from Ticketmaster now- http://bit.ly/47nbg or wait a little while longer to pick up tickets below face value for worse seats. If you want the best experience go to the Irvine show and pick up GA pit tickets or upper Orchestras now on the secondary market. Also note that parking is included at Irvine Meadows and will set you back $20 at the Home Depot Center.
