Do ya miss....

[spucketts]

......the days of having to go to a ticketmaster outlet to get tickets? I kinda do. Sure it's convient to just go on line, order and print tickets but I sure do miss going to Publix, that's where our ticketmaster outlet is located, and seeing the same people year after year, putting some JB on the boombox, hanging out till the lottery would start, playing "Publix shopper or Parrothead" as people walked toward the store, anticipating 10:00, the thrill of getting your number called and getting tickets before their computers crashed or tickets sold out.....OK maybe I don't miss it as much as I thought.

[bravedave]

Yeah. I actually enjoyed the cameraderie (sp?) of standing around in the pre-dawn hours with a beverage in hand and that "not-quite awake-but-not sleepy-either" feeling.

[popcornjack]

Ticketron. (Eventually bought out by ticketmaster.) Second floor of the JCPenny store at the Westfarms mall.

Incidentally, last time I bought JB tickets at an outlet was for Jones Beach a number of years ago at the Tower Records in Greenwich Village. I was fourth in line. The three people in front of me? All scalpers.

[dnw]

Never experienced standing in line to buy tickets.

[tigzoe]

Those were the good ole days. Nothing like being 17-18, camping out in a city with a bunch of friends from high school to score tickets!

[tigzoe]

Ticketron. (Eventually bought out by ticketmaster.) Second floor of the JCPenny store at the Westfarms mall.

Incidentally, last time I bought JB tickets at an outlet was for Jones Beach a number of years ago at the Tower Records in Greenwich Village. I was fourth in line. The three people in front of me? All scalpers.

Still one of my favorite malls. My friend and I stalked Ken Ober before we got the nerve to ask for his autograph.

[ph4ever]

Last time I went and got tickets at an outlet, well let's just say a broker was there and I was not happy......

[springparrot]

Last time I bought tickets at an outlet was Kroger. I got my tickets and they guy behind me---nope, all sold out
I was very very very lucky

The next time I tried to go to an outlet, I got to the front on the line and nothing but lawn was available.....

[spucketts]

When the lottery method started we'd watch for those that got low number and then friendly-up to them to see what they were getting. If they were getting what you were getting you'd pool money up to the ticket limit.

[jbfinscj]

What's this "standing in line" you ol' folk speak of. Never heard of such a thing

[sonofabeach]

I used to go to the FYE in the mall and it would be me and a couple of parrotheads.
Never much of a line, well except when U2 tickets went on sale at the same time.

[surfpirate]

I miss TicketMaster. There I said it.

Live Nation has zero brick-and-mortar retail outlets for tickets (last year they had BlockBuster but no more).

Means the only option for first point of sales is
venue box office (lottery),
online with tens of thousands of others,
on the phone with tens of thousands of others.

I've always camped out in March ... some years as many as 24+ hours in advance
to be #1 in line and always
got good seats,
sometimes great front rows seats.

Not this year.

Sux. Camping out was always a parrothead party in itself.

[tigzoe]

I think the last time I camped out for tickets was for Def Leppard/Tesla. It was the Hysteria tour. It was a darn good show! I think I still have the TV shirt kicking around somewhere.

[LIPH]

I never camped out and only went to TM outlets in the days before the internet. Since we've had the option of buying tickets online, that's all I've ever done. Sometimes got great seats, sometimes got not so great seats but never got shut out. And that's buying anywhere from 1 to 8 tickets.

[surfpirate]

I never camped out and only went to TM outlets in the days before the internet. Since we've had the option of buying tickets online, that's all I've ever done. Sometimes got great seats, sometimes got not so great seats but never got shut out. And that's buying anywhere from 1 to 8 tickets.

Getting tickets has never been the problem.
What I have always wanted year in year out are GREAT tickets ... front row(s).

My formula for doing that for decades has always been to be first in line
at a brick-and-mortar retail outlet,
and getting only two (2) tickets.

More often than not I have been in the orchestra pits.

Multiple occasions I have been first row(s), twice dead center front row.

Competing online with tens of thousands of you at the same time
has never been my cup of tea.

Plus as I said earlier ... I loved camping out and being #1 in line. I did my homework,
found a location that didn't do a lottery, befriended the staff in the days leading to the ticklets sales,
kept a list of the first 30 or so in line and got their ticket orders choices
for the ease of the ticket staff (no wasted time asking what each of the first 30 wanted),
made sure everyone was paying via CASH and not slowing the process via credit cards,
and did a roll call all night every 2 hours,
if you weren't there for roll call ... your name went to the bottom of the list.

I was a control freak ... sure, but it worked.

[tigzoe]

I never camped out and only went to TM outlets in the days before the internet. Since we've had the option of buying tickets online, that's all I've ever done. Sometimes got great seats, sometimes got not so great seats but never got shut out. And that's buying anywhere from 1 to 8 tickets.

But did you ever want tickets for a show so bad that you wanted to yell at the poor TM worker to type faster?!

[Richard]

Funny! I was just trying to explain the old lottery system. We would go into Kroger and buy some Krispy Kremes, then ask people if they were shoppong or if they were getting tickets. If not, we bribed them with doughnuts to get us another lottery ticket. We tried to have atleast 1 out of every 4 tickets because if you were too spaced out, you might not get tickets.

[tigzoe]

Dang! If I had the option to get Krispy Kreme's while I was waiting, I might have camped out more often. Not so much an option in NE.

[JollyMon66]

Ticketron...second floor at the Gimbels store at the Park City Mall in Lanacaster PA. This was a great example of evolution in action. Only the strongest and fastest survived. We would line up outside the store. Once security opened the doors it was a mad dash to the second floor customer service area. A good trick was to run up the down escalator because no one did that and it was closer to customer service. Once upstairs you fought your way into a line at the machine. I don't remember any lottery system...first there - first served! That was rush....damn I miss those days

[LIPH]

I never camped out and only went to TM outlets in the days before the internet. Since we've had the option of buying tickets online, that's all I've ever done. Sometimes got great seats, sometimes got not so great seats but never got shut out. And that's buying anywhere from 1 to 8 tickets.

But did you ever want tickets for a show so bad that you wanted to yell at the poor TM worker to type faster?!

No, it's only a concert.