At the beginning of 2019, the last friend I met when I moved to New Orleans back in 2003 died from cancer. Like so many older Millennials, I’d already lost so many people to wars, AIDS, suicide, drug addiction, and underlying health conditions. I’m not the only person I know with this experience, but it was fundamentally surreal to be 34 and the only one left of a group of kids so full of potential.
When I finished feeling sorry for myself, I knew I had three options: I could sit around wondering about the meaning behind all this loss to the point where I slipped into a deep depression, I could participate in destructive behavior involving substance abuse and other bad decisions, or I could find a positive outlet where I could celebrate the life my friends could no longer live. I didn’t know what that would be, or where to start, but it found me.
It started on Bourbon Street
One day, I was bored out of my mind at my bartending job on Bourbon Street. I was deciding whether to get a drink at a locals bar in the French Quarter after work (or to go straight home) when I got an email from Ticketmaster. I had long been on their email list but never bothered opening them.
The email was about discounted tickets to Cher’s “final” farewell tour at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum. I had never seen Cher Live nor had I left New Orleans proper in over a year.
I thought, “Why not?”
I’m a gay man of a certain age who will never forget how 1999 was the year of believing in life after love.
I sipped my Diet Coke, and poured over seating diagrams and pricing charts for 2.5 hours until I clocked out. I found front-floor seats that were originally $180 + fees for $50.
Fifty dollars? Were tickets always available this cheap? Could I have gone to all the past shows I thought I couldn’t afford?
My mission was clear. I bought a ticket and embarked on a research-fueled journey to 53 world-class events for less than $1800 by the end of 2019.
I saw everything from P!nk, Paul McCartney, George Clinton, Evanescence, and Melissa Etheridge to Hamilton, Kinky Boots, and multiple NBA and NFL games. I never sat in the nosebleeds. I got front floor seats a majority of the time.
These are tips and best practices I learned about finding event tickets and how you too can create a system that gets you out of the house and into the front row of your favorite concerts and live events once the plague passes.
Know Thy enemy
The most fundamental thing to understand when looking for event tickets is: the ticket game is not fair. Things can get incredibly rough out there when you’re fighting with a company like Live Nation, other fans, and professional ticket scalpers for the same finite number of seats at any given venue.
Live entertainment in the US is dominated by what’s essentially a monopoly held by Live Nation. Live Nation owns:
- Ticketmaster — predominately the only way to purchase tickets at face value from major venues.
- The promotion and underwriting rights to over 90% of all major concert tours and sporting events. This is true for everything from major pop, rap, and rock concerts to NFL, NBA, and MLB games.
You are also fighting against the multi-billion dollar industry of professional ticket scalpers. They swoop in to buy massive banks of tickets right when they’re released to resell them for massive profits (sometimes over 1000%) on sites like Stubhub and VividSeats.
While this might initially seem incredibly unfair (trust me, it is), the good news is that capitalism works both ways.
The ticket market works very similarly to the stock market in terms of valuation and supply vs. demand. The difference between the stock market and ticket market is that with the latter there is always a built-in crash that happens within the final days before an event.
Timing is everything
I’ve seen way too many people get roped in by fancy advertising and Facebook ads announcing on-sale dates for tickets. Ticket merchants have all the incentives to make you believe tickets are selling fast, are limited in number , or will be hard to find if you don’t buy them right when sales open. These are things to keep in mind when thinking about attending events:
- Except in very rare instances, tickets are NEVER sold out. Sure, the venue itself might not have tickets to sell, but the resale market will almost always have tickets available right up until the hour before the show.
- While it’s a good idea to look around just to see the health of the market/resale values, it’s rarely ever a good idea to purchase tickets more than 14 days before the event. Prices fluctuate and are determined on current demand which can change dramatically in the days leading up to the show. There are several layers to what constitutes and contributes to “demand”, but that is for part two of the series.
- Resale agents become more realistic about markup as the event gets closer and life events happen to people who bought tickets with every intention of showing up but can’t at the last minute.
- Finding a good deal is all about being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes it’s prudent to check multiple times per day to see current prices. I’ve seen $200 tickets go down to $45 and back up to $220 within the same day. If the grifters see an opportunity they will jack those prices to the roof.
Work your connections and look for those discounts
Another key to finding great seats is knowing how to find discounts and, yes, free tickets to your favorite shows. You should consider the following when looking for discounts:
- You might already know someone who can either get you in for free or for a discounted rate. While you should use this avenue sparingly as to not become a nuisance, calling your friend who bartends at your favorite music venue or does online marketing for your local NBA team is one of the easiest ways to ensure you get on “the list” and the only cost to you will be a couple of drinks the next time y’all go out to dinner.
- PROMO CODES ARE EVERYWHERE. You can find these by signing up for marketing emails from Live Nation, resale sites like Stubhub, and artist websites. Following venues, teams, and artists on social media is also another valuable resource for finding these discounts. Just remember to check on these avenues as the event draws closer. Promoters have a keen interest in making sure that venues are full of people willing to buy $12 beers, $60 t-shirts, and $20 chicken tenders — so giving you a 20–50% discount on tickets isn’t that big of a deal to them.
- Discount sites like Groupon are also a great place to find steep discounts on events and determine the health of the ticket market. If you see tickets to a concert or sporting event on Groupon, you can assume that ticket sales are lagging and the promoter is pulling out all the stops in order to get as many people to show up as they can.
Always read the fine print
You should think of buying tickets like signing a formal contract with a business. Once you click “buy” on that website you are agreeing to certain irrevocable terms and conditions. The common fine print includes:
- The refund policy
- The fee schedule associated with different price levels
- Whether the ticket offers you rolling or single entry
- What happens in the event of a cancellation or rescheduling
- Additional required purchases such as drink minimums
- Your ability to legally resell or transfer the tickets to other people
- If you purchase ticket insurance (something I would never recommend) you need to know what is and isn’t covered by the policy, how much of a refund you’re entitled to in the event of a cancellation, and how/when your refund will be processed
Pay attention to what you’re purchasing with your ticket and what you can expect from the event upon arrival or if something comes up.
Conclusion
As you can see, finding tickets to your favorite events can be a somewhat complex process. But if you create a strategy using these best practices, you will find great seats at cheaper prices and be able to see more things you love for the same amount of money you would normally spend on going out to happy hour or dinner. It takes some perseverance, research, and an ability to deal with the many grifters involved with live event promotion, but when you’re sitting in the front row it will all be worth it.
