Rush plays in my neck of the woods this September. According to the Ticketmaster web site, an "internet pre-sale" of the tickets begins tomorrow.

Has anyone ever done one of these pre-sales? How do they work? Sounds like it sure beats camping out in front of the record store (something I've done more times than I care to remember).

Do you need a password or something?

Yeah, the password is "I'm with the band".

Leave it to a monopolous conglomerate like Ticketmaster to take the fun out of camping out for tickets.

Edit: Cool, I just made up a word... I guess I should have said "monopolistic..." Where's Bitt when you need him?

Ah, OK, I found the presale password. It's on their main site promoting the new album. Cool, I'm all set.

Damn, ticket prices are steep for the good seats.

That's how I got tickets for the STP show. The venue was like 1800 people, and I wouldn't have gotten tickets if it hadn't been for the exclusive presale. A friend was on a mailing list so he had the password for me. It was great.

Too bad they screw you like crazy with the "convenience charge"

Yeah, I wonder who it's convenient for?

Leave it to a monopolous conglomerate like Ticketmaster to take the fun out of camping out for tickets.

Why would you WANT to camp out for tickets? It's not like it is so fun to be in a single file line for hours. At least not for me.

Camping out will still get you better seats MAYBE. I know that pre-ordering doesn't gaurentee the best seats...

Well the experiences I've had camping out for tickets were very fun. You bring a gas grill, you cook some burgers, meet people in line, play records from <insert band's name here> and, when it's all over, bask in the glory of your front row seats. Or bitch and moan about how you got stuck in row 32, depending on how successful your camping strategy was.

Oh, and what he said about not being guaranteed the best seats if you pre-order online.

It sucks though when the person who is doing all the tickets is slow. I had that happen at Rite Aid once, I figured no one would go to my local rite aid to buy tickets, and I was right, no one did. I was the third person in line. But I got no tickets, because the ticket person was so slow it took them 5 minutes for each person.

What was cool was once at Tower records this one employee sae how many people were in line and then cranked out that many tickets when they went on sale. Kind of screwed everyone not there, but we didn't care at the time.

In reply to:

---

Yeah, I wonder who it's convenient for?

---

It would be more convenient for TicketBastard if you'd just bend over already.

Why would you WANT to camp out for tickets?

- 2nd Row Rush
- 5th Row Rush
- 12th Row Rush
- 13th Row Sting
- 15th Row Jethro Tull
- 2nd Row Peter Gabriel

Etc.

I think I have been jaded due to all the tickets I have purchases recently have had the "wristband number" system, where they draw a number and the line starts there rather than the first person in line. I think it sucks because it takes away the camping out advantage, which I respect a great deal. I think if somone is willing to come out a night before, they should get the first crack at it. When you guys mentioned camping out, all I thought of was the stupid "wristband" system and I thought it isn't worth it.

Last time I camped out was in 1996. I've never been victimized by the wristband system.

Why would you WANT to camp out for tickets?

11th row Clapton
12th row KISS

Doing the TicketBastard thing. Not presale though, they just opened at 10AM on Saturday and I went dang ol click click click till I got reserved seats for my transaction. Used to work real well, too many folks on the Net now...

"... nekkid chicks on there, it's real easy, man."

2nd row (center) for Santana / Rusted Root is the best I can claim. Camping out for Pink Floyd in '94 got me sections 563 and 318 in Veterans Stadium, no remarkable feat. But I am convinced that the first 30,000 seats were sold before they really went on sale for those shows, I got my tickets six minutes after they went on...

Some day I will get front row seats to a major concert. Some day...

2nd row is probably the best you can get for just about any concert. Row 1 is reserved for VIPs for most concerts.

I really prefer seeing my favorite artists in small club situations. I've seen Steve Morse both in a stadium (opening for Rush as a matter of fact), and in a small club. The club is much better. I know I'll probably never see Rush or Peter Gabriel that way, but I like the occasional "intimate" show you can get by being a fan of a lesser-known artist.

I agree. Like I said, I've seen STP in a basketball stadium and in this 1800 person club. The club was just so intimate. I could have been in the back of the room and it would have been better than when I was right up at the gate for the other STP show.

This summer my cool-as-hell girlfriend bought us tickets to see kick-ass Queens of the Stone Age (featuring my favorite artist of all time: Mark Lanegan) at the 9:30 club in Wash. DC. That show will rock.

"... nekkid chicks on there, it's real easy, man."

"That boy ain't right!"

Hah, cool. Got my seats. Really good ones, too. In section 103 as seen here.

I consider these seats better than the ones in section 2 because they are in the sloped section instead of the flat floor area, yet they are still close enough to see everything clearly. I will be able to see the entire stage panoramically.

Also, I will be sitting immediately in front of the mixing board, so I'll be hearing the show the same way the sound guys are hearing it. Which is a good thing, as the sound has generally sucked most of the other times I've seen Rush.

Excellent catch!!!