The early days of Ticketmaster Horror Stories...

[S2M]

Remember camping out for tickets back in the day? Remember bracelets/numbers? Remember when you actually had a chance of getting front row without mortgaging your life?

A couple of horror stories for ya:

Back in 1994 I wanted to see the original Face 2 Face with Billy Joel and Elton John. The show was going to be at what is now Gillette Stadium, in Foxborough, Ma....so I researched and found out that a local dept. store, Ann & Hope, was a ticketmaster outlet. So I figured on camping out overnight until 10am Saturday morning so I could be first in line to get good seats...I get there at midnight and just sat on the ground with my walkman. Nobody else is there....sometime during the night a patrol car drives up and the officer asks me what I'm doing - I tell him and he says no big deal....Anyway, come 7am people start showing up....I feel pretty awesome that I roughed the night alone for these great tickets. About 9:45am this lady comes out with a bullhorn. She says that the box office will open shortly and ANYONE WITH A BRACELET CAN COME TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I'm like, What the fuck!?!?!. She says that they gave out bracelets the day before. I felt like an idiot, and ended up something like 80th in line, or some shit like that....

In July of 2002 I went to see RUSH in Mansfield, MA for the Vapor Trails Tour...so at that time Filenes was still a ticketmaster outlet. This time I didn't stay out all night. I showed up around 7:30am and was, again, the first in line...I don't think people were quite into camping out in 2002. I'm feeling pretty good again being first in line. So this lady comes out with a fucking hat and says, "Ticketmaster has a rule that if there are more than TWO people waiting in line that you must pick numbers out of this hat for line order." I'm like WTF!!! And again ended up way back in line....this time about 27th. Needless to say by 10:15am I was pretty much in the section right before the lawn seats....

Would it be redudndant to say I fucking loathe Ticketbastard?

[Michigan Girl]

Yeah, those were the days and fun too, I love meeting new people and fellow fans!!
When push came to shove my mom had contacts in the local venues ...that was very helpful, too!!
No horror stories, though!!

[Rocker Chic]

That's why I call them TicketMobster and TicketBastard! I just looked into tickets for an upcoming show that costs $23.25 after including their charges... The ticket at the venue costs $15!!!! THEIVIN' BASTARDS!

Debbie

[WickedGail]

That ia why I liked the pre curser to Ticket master----Ticketron. They never pulled the wristband shit. As I have said before if you were really in the know in the 70's you knew that the Ticketron in Grand Central Station opend a hour before anywhere else and even the box office so if you were on line there you were guaranteed a good seat no matter what. Even first row! I used to like to get my tickes then go to the Garden a tease my friends still on line at the Garden Box office with the good tickets I had already gotten! Yes getting tickets then was a much simpler process then. NYC!

I hate it now! Between pre sales. ILAA and other high priced options it's a never ending screw job! If the artist want the extra money just charge the damn ticket price! Stop putting us through all this crap to get a ticket to see a concert!

The industry is whining and complaining about the low ticket sales in 2010, yea it's the economy but the price of a ticket and the hell you go through to get a decent seat has to take alot of the blame. I know this has kept me from a few myself. We have enough shit in our lives then going through all this crap to "enjoy" and "relax' with what is supposed to be some "ENTERTAINMENT"!

[SF-Dano]

Out here in California there was BASS tickets before Ticket Master. Those were the days.