So, you couldn’t get tickets to that show you’ve been wanting to see? The good news is that “sold out”, never really means sold out.
With concerts coming back in full swing, everyone is fighting for their lives in the Ticketmaster app trying to get tickets to see their favorite shows. The rush of anxiety when the tickets drop. Waiting for your turn to pick a seat. Finally, getting to the end of the long race to get tickets to the best show of your life and… SOLD OUT. All of that for nothing. Now all you can do is hope and pray that someone sells theirs for a decent price or more tickets become available. But you can’t depend on that unless you want to be disappointed. So, what are your options?
Where to start
Ticket buying for concerts is a game and you have to know how to play it. First, you have to know that a lot of the time, less than half of the actual tickets are available to the general public. The first people that get access to the tickets during the pre-sale are the artist themselves so they can give them out to whomever. Then, you have staff, journalists, PR, other celebrities, fan clubs, radio stations, etc. Really anyone who could offer press for the artist or are family/friends get choice of pre-sale tickets. Knowing this, it’s important to always have a plan B in case Ticketmaster sells out before you can get access.
There’s no use in worrying however, you just have to understand how the ticket market works. To break it down, there are two parties. The primary ticket market, which consists of agents that sell to the public like Ticketmaster. Then, you have the secondary ticket market or resellers. These people resell tickets that insiders choose not to use. Primary ticket prices never change but secondary sellers price tickets very high at first but get cheaper as the event gets closer. So, if you can’t get primary tickets, you can most likely get them from a secondary seller. Secondary sellers usually sell their tickets through social media, especially Twitter. The best time to get secondary tickets is the day before or the day of the event. Isn’t this risky? Yes, but it’s not your last-hope option.
ABOUT THE BOX OFFICE
If getting a secondary ticket is hopeless, there’s one last chance you may have to get tickets. That’s by sitting outside the box office the day of. Every box office is different, but this is typically how they work…
- Courtesy from/for the venue, a specific number of tickets are typically held to sell at the door the day of the show. For example, for the 2021 Harry Styles Love on Tour show, the Gila River Arena box office held about 50 tickets to sell the day of. They also released more tickets throughout the day as cancelations were made.
- The majority of people buy tickets electronically now. However, there are always hard copy tickets available at the box office via promoters.
- The box office is authorized to sell all refunds/cancelations at the door. Because of COVID-19 this happens often and sometimes very last minute. So, even if the box office sells out early in the day, they may potentially have more available later in the day.
What to expect
Getting tickets at the box office isn’t easy because a lot of fans can tend to take on a bit of a mob mentality. This isn’t the case for every box office, every show or every fan group though. There are some things you need to know and expect going into it.
How to prepare
- Before you go to the venue, pull up their website and look at their rules for the box office. Typically, every venue website has them. Make sure you know their rules, so you aren’t breaking any and risk being asked to leave.
- Get to the venue early, a few hours before the box office opens. If it’s for someone popular, get there around 4-5am or maybe even camp out the night before. Twitter and Tik Tok are the best places to go to find out what other people are doing.
- Dress appropriately for the weather and bring food and water. You will be standing and waiting for a while, multiple hours. Go prepared and bring things to sustain your energy… you may have to push your way through a crowd.
- Make sure your electronics are charged and maybe even bring a portable charger. Some box offices require you to confirm through an email or text that you got the ticket. A lot of them will also send the ticket digitally so it’s in your apple wallet rather than giving you a physical ticket.
- Make sure to bring a credit/debit because most venues won’t take cash. You also need to have an ID with you as well as either a vaccine card or negative covid test. Not all require this, but most do so it’s better safe than sorry.
What to do when you get to the venue/how it works
- When you get to the venue, park your car as close to where you will be sitting as possible. Some venues won’t allow you to just be waiting around outside until a certain time. For example, Gila River Arena won’t let you wait outside until 9am. Instead of lining up, people will wait in their cars. But you want to be close to the box office so when it’s time to get in line, you’re ahead of everyone else.
- When you go to wait in line, you want to have everything you need with you. If you go back and forth to your car to get things, you risk losing your spot in line.
- Talk to the security guards and ask them how getting tickets will work and how they are planning to control the crowd. Even though the venue has rules and expectations for box office crowds, it doesn’t always go that way so always ask security about the process.
- What will probably happen as soon as the box office opens is the crowd of people waiting will all run to the front to try and get first in line. So, you have to run like your life depends on it if this ends up happening. Box office crowds are chaotic, especially if it’s for a popular artist like Taylor Swift or BTS. Embrace the chaotic and get to the front!
- Be kind to people and make friends! Sharing an interest in the same music artist is such a cool way to bond with people. Since everyone in the crowd with you is there to see the same artist, you probably have more in common than you think. So, make friends, play games with them in line and have fun!
IT’S WORTH IT…TRUST ME
Not getting tickets to a show you want to see sucks… especially when artists like Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, Ashe, Role Model, Elton John, Olivia Rodrigo, Mitski, Billie Eilish, Wallows, Hippo Campus, Conan Gray, Girl in Red, Shawn Mendes, etc. will all be in Arizona in the coming months.
Finding tickets to a sold-out show isn’t easy. It takes time, patience, and research. But it’s 100% possible. Plus, the tickets that box offices hold are usually pit tickets or really good seats close to the stage. So don’t let “SOLD OUT” get you down… test your luck and go get those tickets! It’ll be worth it:)