For the seccond sunday in less than a month, I woke up early to buy tickets to a concert that was going on sale at 10. Both times I sat there for 5 minutes, hitting reload and getting in within 15 secconds of tickets going on sale. Both times the seats it gave me were the rear of the seccond section. Today's were section 200 row Q. I was so disgusted that I didn't buy ticketc for either.

Back in the good old days two or three years ago I used to get great seats using the exact same method. Now it seems everything has fan club seats and "internet presales" and by the time the tickets go on sale there aren't any decent seats left.

If I show up at the venu when tickets are slated to go on sale will I have better luck? I've always assumed i'd be stuck sitting in line when I could just be buying tickets online. With the outrageous prices and fees and crappy seats, I'm growing to hate ticketmaster even more than I have in the past...

Sorry for the rant.

Matthew

if you really like the band sign up for the fan club thats what i have been doing as of late and have gotten great seats, and sometimes even cheaper than wehn going thru ticketmater.

Nowadays the reality just is that unless you closely follow the bands and the local radio stations that play them, you're taking your chances with any "regular" method of acquiring tickets. I still say getting them online is the fastest, easiest way. Especially if you have a high speed connection.

But Justin's point has some real merit. If you don't mind a few extra emails a month, go ahead and sign up for the mailing lists of your favorite bands, or even local radio stations. I personally despise the local rock station, but they still keep track of some bands I like, and so if they have some inside "thing", contest, whatever, I like to know about it, on the off chance that I may be able to get better seats than by using a "regular" method.

But I still make sure I'm online at the website at 10am in order to get tickets to a show. In one instance last year, this method got me good seats to a TOOL show, after I had left the box office because they said "lawn seats" when I was 2nd in line.

awwwe man tool concert.. drool.. *as i stare at my 5 foot tallk tool poster* ive only had the opertunity to see a perfect circle twice but never got to see tool as of yet. hopefully they go on tour or come out with a new album soon.

Rumors are that TOOL is going to tour with nine inch nails this year. Don't take that as fact, though. It's just something I heard.

Oddly enough, I missed my chance at seeing a Perfect Circle, but have happily attended 3 TOOL concerts within the past year or so.

Well, that's what you get if you see the big groups. Get into some lesser-known bands is what I say

But seriously, that's the way I see it these days. I've now seen Stone Temple Pilots 3 times, each time in very different ways.
1) Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA: it's a basketball arena, so the whole floor was standing room. I was one of the first to rush in when the doors opened, and I was as far center-forward as you could get without hanging out with the bouncers.
2) the Norva in Norfolk, VA: a smaller, 1000-person club where I was on the floor with good visibility.
3) the Family Values tour at the MCI Center in Washington DC: huge basketball arena, I had seats on the side, waaaaay back. Not a fun way to see a show (especially when most of the bands (Deadsy, Staind, etc.) suck hard).

So what's my decision? I go see bands like: Tuatara, Queens of the Stone Age, and Rilo Kiley. I'm really into all of these bands, so the fact that they're not huge doesn't bother me. In each case I got to see them up-close and personal. I was right by the stage at Queens, one of 20 people at Tuatara, and the lead singer of Rilo Kiley came out into the audience and brushed past me. How much better can you get than that?? I say you can't.

I'm going to see Zwan and Queens of the Stone Age later this month, and I'm going to enjoy it, but I'll probably be really far away. It just can't match the other times I've seen them.