I am a very avid concert goer who loves nothing more than a enjoying live music with friends and frosty beverages. I have been going to live shows since I can remember. I was lucky enough to have my parents take me a little kid and have had the love ever since. One of my favorite memories is saving up for months to go to my first big show with friends. I was 13 and Aerosmith was coming to the Memorial Auditorium in downtown Buffalo. It was their Get A Grip Tour and I wanted to make sure I was there. Tickets cost $35 and I had to mow extra lawns to make sure I had enough money when tickets went on sale. There were no online ticket outlets back then it was camping in line and waiting to get your hands on actual tickets. Presales did not exists and it was first come first serve the best seats went to the most dedicated fans willing to brave the elements sometimes for days. Since I was only 13 I did not get to wait in line over night but as soon as school was out my friend Tom and I hopped on our bikes rode 10 miles to the closest ticket outlet and bought the best seats that were left. We ended up sitting half way around the Aud about 50 rows up in the blue section. The feeling we got from knowing that we scored tickets to the biggest show that year was incredible. I know that had this been in today's ticket markets we would not have had tickets and would have lost out on an amazing show.
Now a days we have to worry about presale after presale after presale. They have artist presale venue presales credit card presales and radio station presales. You also have to worry about ticket agents like Stub Hub and Ticket Retriever getting their hand on tickets. The last show I bought tickets for this year was Keith Urban, tickets went on sale to the general public at 10am Friday morning. I was at a computer and on my phone and tablet at 9:55 ready to buy. I must have refreshed the site 100 times until 10 just in case. When the tickets went live at 10am the best seats left were section 400 out of the 5 sections not including lawn seats. How in the world can there not be any seats left in the first 3 sections at the exact time tickets were available.
The next thing that is getting out of control is the prices. We are now paying sometimes over $100 a ticket not including the enormous fees they charge. I have spent almost $1000 on tickets this year and not all the concerts are on sale yet. It is seriously disturbing knowing that I will have to chose between a car payment or 2 concerts tickets. Seven years ago I spent $25 a ticket to see Taylor Swift and James Otto at the Erie County Fair and now this year to see Lady Antebellum at the same location tickets are $80 plus $30 in fees. Are you kidding me $110 to see a concert at a fair no way. This is getting ridiculous when will it stop. I know that my daughter and her friends won't be able to see their favorites without us as parents helping them pay for them. I feel bad telling her that we have to chose between some of her favorites singers and can;t see all of them.
I am a sucker I mean fan so I will continue to pay these extremely high prices for terrible seats. I just wish I could let my daughter share in the joy of scoring first row seats. Or even having be able to buy her own ticket without spending all her money on one show. I love songs about hard work and tough times, but how can we believe them anymore because obviously they forgot how hard it is to make money in the real world. I know Ticket agencies like Tickets.com and Ticketmaster are to blame as well. and the venues themselves are evil as well. Someone needs to get this back in control. What happened to tickets.com not charging fees? I think we need to stop all the presales except fan club ones, also we need to make sure that decent seats are still available at the time of public sale.
