bobo32 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I just attempted to purchase presale tickets with no luck unless I wanted to pay a broker $247 per ticket for a $167 ticket. I will still go to the show but have to wait for best available tickets go on sale in a week. I was just sitting here remembering my first rush ticket buying experience. It was the mid 80's on the power windows tour. My brother a good friend and I camped out all night at a nearby department store that was a ticket outlet. We stayed up all night listening to rush, yes, supertramp and various other groups. Around 7:45 we received a line ticket and a few hours later our number was called and we proudly walked up to the counter and purchased our 3 concert tickets. There was a small fee but no presale, no gold or silver package only, no codes to enter, just some hard earned lawn cutting money that was spent on a band that would become and remain my passion as well as favorite band. 3 of my kids are going with me to this tour. technology and time have ruined the buying experience I am glad they have not done the same to the band. "I'm looking back but I want to look around me now" 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 All venues really should be like Jones Beach where you can choose whatever seats you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakai Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 you're so right. I remember these days too, a simple ticket and you choose where you stood or sat. These were the days.... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calirush Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I just attempted to purchase presale tickets with no luck unless I wanted to pay a broker $247 per ticket for a $167 ticket. I will still go to the show but have to wait for best available tickets go on sale in a week. I was just sitting here remembering my first rush ticket buying experience. It was the mid 80's on the power windows tour. My brother a good friend and I camped out all night at a nearby department store that was a ticket outlet. We stayed up all night listening to rush, yes, supertramp and various other groups. Around 7:45 we received a line ticket and a few hours later our number was called and we proudly walked up to the counter and purchased our 3 concert tickets. There was a small fee but no presale, no gold or silver package only, no codes to enter, just some hard earned lawn cutting money that was spent on a band that would become and remain my passion as well as favorite band. 3 of my kids are going with me to this tour. technology and time have ruined the buying experience I am glad they have not done the same to the band. "I'm looking back but I want to look around me now" Time has definitely NOT stood still as far as ticket prices go. :eyeroll: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aikenrooster Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 The band wasn't as popular and the population of North America wasn't as big. Those are factors, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analog guy Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 (edited) 20 bucks for a lawn seat on a huge outdoor theatre in the middle of nowhere, piling into a shitty old Buick with six or seven other people, everybody air drumming to a cassette of Exit Stage Left, entering the venue with no line. The security guard only concerned with finding recording devices and nothing else. Sitting on a blanket under the stars. People sticking lighters in the air for Closer to the Heart because nobody has a phone. SInging along with the opening act's one hit and then giggling at the rest of their, *ahem*, repertoire. The painful 45 minute interlude while the stage changes over. Then, sheer bliss for two hours. Not wanting it to end when it does. I guess that's the one thing that doesn't change. That was 1992... which seems like a really long time ago now, doesn't it. Edited January 30, 2015 by analog guy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I find it kind of ironic the fact that things like raves and EDM shows do things the old fashioned way, with general admission instead of floor seats and no VIP packages. It's only arena rock shows where it's a pain in the ass to get tickets now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddiescott98 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I remember camping out at the mall for Signals. My friend and I got there somewhere after 9pm for the 8am sale the next morning. Somewhere in the wee hours, a helicopter landed in one of the mall's parking lots. You don't see that everyday. My ticket was $12.50. I still have the stub. Those were the days indeed... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 All this talk about the good ole days is seriously making my young life not worth living. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coventry Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Rolling Stone had a good article about how the VIP trend is ruining concert experiences and ticket trends. The gist was that the VIP tickets also drove up other tickets, discouraged hardcore but not-so-well-heeled fans from trying to get tickets, and rewarded businesses who would buy VIP tickets for clients, etc. Essentially, how concerts were going the way of major sports venues a la sky boxes executive lounges, and the like. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G Lee Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 (edited) Just listen to Tom Petty's song called 'Money Becomes King' off of the Last DJ album. It is all of the experiences you guys are discussing put to great music. Edited January 31, 2015 by geddylennon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootlegguy Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I find it kind of ironic the fact that things like raves and EDM shows do things the old fashioned way, with general admission instead of floor seats and no VIP packages. It's only arena rock shows where it's a pain in the ass to get tickets now.At least around here, every single EDM event has VIP tickets. Every single one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootlegguy Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 By the time I started going to concerts is right when ticket sales on the internet started to grow. Of course, back in the early days 2000-2003 you could get great seats for Face value if you were on TM refreshing at the moment the show went on sale. It also helped if 2-3 guys were trying on different computers on different homes on different internet connections, on a conference call, and whoever got the best match did the purchase. Sadly I never had the chance to camp out at TM all night to buy tickets. I would gladly do that for the best chance at Rush tickets today, but those days are long gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron2112 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 You guys lamenting the "good old days" of camping out are looking through rose-colored glasses. Even if you lucked out an got a decent-self-policing crowd that decided to make a list of folks in the order they arrived to camp out, those plans could be thwarted by a store manager (in NoVA, TM locations were collocated with departments stores in the early 80s) who decided to implement a lottery or open the doors 2-3 minutes late. On the GUP tour, I arrive at 2:00 AM, was third in line and had a store manager who would only let us in two at a time. For PoW, got there at the same time, was #2 in line and had a store manager decide that he wanted a lottery. A dude that go there five minutes before ended up first in line. Almost had a riot that year. Yeah, what fun. Give me a high speed connection and leave me to my own devices any day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Principled Man Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 The Who - December 3rd, 1979; Cincinnati, Ohio (the Tragedy concert) I got to the Riverfront Coliseum ticket office about 6am, and there were at least 100 people ahead of me. General admission tickets. I bought two at $10.00 each. People who knew I had an extra ticket were offering me $15.00 for it..... :o :D 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyg7133 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I camped out a few times, with varied levels of success (floor for Floyd and DMB, front row for Primus) but then a little known secret came my way that one of the TM outlets at a record store had a system that made sure everyone got tix. If you camped, he would get there at 7:00 a.m. and get everyone in line. Cash only. He'd get your info, collect your cash and go inside. As soon as tix went on sale he had 2 terminals and would just start banging out tix left and right based on his list. I never saw anyone walk away without tix and on more than one occasion saw people score first and second row. While I do enjoy the convenience of sitting in my own home or loafing at work browsing TM during onsales, I miss the hanging out all night and the excitement as onsale time grew closer.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lerxt1990 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I camped out a few times, with varied levels of success (floor for Floyd and DMB, front row for Primus) but then a little known secret came my way that one of the TM outlets at a record store had a system that made sure everyone got tix. If you camped, he would get there at 7:00 a.m. and get everyone in line. Cash only. He'd get your info, collect your cash and go inside. As soon as tix went on sale he had 2 terminals and would just start banging out tix left and right based on his list. I never saw anyone walk away without tix and on more than one occasion saw people score first and second row. While I do enjoy the convenience of sitting in my own home or loafing at work browsing TM during onsales, I miss the hanging out all night and the excitement as onsale time grew closer.... I used to use a ticket agency that did this. They got tired of the BS, took cash deposits ahead of time, and then wailed away and always had good lower bowl arena seats near the stage every show. I remember thinking $28 was a lot but for a great seat OK. Holy crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdaddie Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I live in a smaller city that doesn't get big shows, the nearest bigger city is two hours away, so when I started going to concerts it was buying tickets over the phone after begging mom or dad to let me use their credit card. So I'm torn, as on the one hand that was not a fun experience (the phone or the begging!) but prices were reasonable, whereas now the purchasing process online is much better but the prices, well, are what they are today unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slack jaw gaze Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 The "simpler" days of camping out in public in who knows what weather compared to the super complex present day of a few mouse clicks? Our definition of simple differs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 20 bucks for a lawn seat on a huge outdoor theatre in the middle of nowhere, piling into a shitty old Buick with six or seven other people, everybody air drumming to a cassette of Exit Stage Left, entering the venue with no line. The security guard only concerned with finding recording devices and nothing else. Sitting on a blanket under the stars. People sticking lighters in the air for Closer to the Heart because nobody has a phone. SInging along with the opening act's one hit and then giggling at the rest of their, *ahem*, repertoire. The painful 45 minute interlude while the stage changes over. Then, sheer bliss for two hours. Not wanting it to end when it does. I guess that's the one thing that doesn't change. That was 1992... which seems like a really long time ago now, doesn't it. Do you still have that Buick? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleMoon Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 The Who - December 3rd, 1979; Cincinnati, Ohio (the Tragedy concert) I got to the Riverfront Coliseum ticket office about 6am, and there were at least 100 people ahead of me. General admission tickets. I bought two at $10.00 each. People who knew I had an extra ticket were offering me $15.00 for it..... :o :D I went to the concert before that one and so my mom didn't want me going to this one. I hated it at the time but when I heard about all the people getting trampled I was glad I didn't go I wasnt' surprised at all. I was lifted off of my feet in the crowd crush when they opened one door for all of those people to get in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Principled Man Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 The Who - December 3rd, 1979; Cincinnati, Ohio (the Tragedy concert) I got to the Riverfront Coliseum ticket office about 6am, and there were at least 100 people ahead of me. General admission tickets. I bought two at $10.00 each. People who knew I had an extra ticket were offering me $15.00 for it..... :o :D I went to the concert before that one and so my mom didn't want me going to this one. I hated it at the time but when I heard about all the people getting trampled I was glad I didn't go I wasnt' surprised at all. I was lifted off of my feet in the crowd crush when they opened one door for all of those people to get in. Yes.......the "simpler days" of going to concerts. :eh: General admission seating, no seats on the floor, and the mad rush to get next to the stage. Huge cloud of pot smoke in the venue, thousands of Bic lighters aflame..... :haz: People fighting over seats after they come back from the bathroom, people overdosing and writhing on the floor.... The Men's Room: Everyone pissing in the toilets, sinks, and garbage cans.... :o Losing track of your buddies and not seeing them until the next day......and still saying that it was a GREAT SHOW!! :lol: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Sounds like Woodstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troutman Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 The Who - December 3rd, 1979; Cincinnati, Ohio (the Tragedy concert) I got to the Riverfront Coliseum ticket office about 6am, and there were at least 100 people ahead of me. General admission tickets. I bought two at $10.00 each. People who knew I had an extra ticket were offering me $15.00 for it..... :o :D I went to the concert before that one and so my mom didn't want me going to this one. I hated it at the time but when I heard about all the people getting trampled I was glad I didn't go I wasnt' surprised at all. I was lifted off of my feet in the crowd crush when they opened one door for all of those people to get in. Yes.......the "simpler days" of going to concerts. :eh: General admission seating, no seats on the floor, and the mad rush to get next to the stage. Huge cloud of pot smoke in the venue, thousands of Bic lighters aflame..... :haz: People fighting over seats after they come back from the bathroom, people overdosing and writhing on the floor.... The Men's Room: Everyone pissing in the toilets, sinks, and garbage cans.... :o Losing track of your buddies and not seeing them until the next day......and still saying that it was a GREAT SHOW!! :lol: :codger: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bard Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Yeah, massive general admission shows? Always sucked. There weren't any 'good old days' when it came to 20k strong clusterfucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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