how do you buy your tickets?

[jeevey]

When that next tour comes around, what's the best way to get tickets? I gather that there are all sorts, from the "wait 2 days in the rain" to ticketmaster. What are your successful and unsuccessful strategies?

 

[Galeongirl]

Eh, nobody waits in the rain anymore. it's a digital queue now. Best suggestion is use multiple connections, a computer with a hard wire, a laptop with wireless, perhaps a phone... and try your luck.

U2.com subscriptions help. And so do U2 fans. If you can buy tickets for one show and want to go to another too, buy an extra pair to your show. There's always people who do the same and want to trade with you!

 

[Moony]

I haven't stood in line for tickets since the '90s. It's nest to just keep ticketmaster open five minutes before they go on sale and make sure you are logged in and have your credit card info up to date. Try to have two or three tabs on ticketmaster too. When there is one minute left, just refresh the first tab until it says they are on sale.

Another helpful tip is that you don't need to spell the second word in the security check correctly. Only the first word counts, or at least that's how it used to be. If you don't like the tickets you got, don't close the window, open a new tab and try the process again. If all else fails it is relatively easy to sell and buy tickets on craigslist or ebay.

I've been to many U2 concerts through General Admission and I've never had a problem getting tickets.

 

[gman]

I preffered the days when you physically bought your tix over a counter. I think POPMART was the last tour i walked off the street to buy tix. been done over the internet since Elevation tour

 

[djparky]

Vertigo tour was a bit stressful but eventually Ticketbastard website worked and we got what we wanted on the pre-sales and then did swaps with other fans to get Dublin tickets

for 360 Tour it was easy- 5 mins on-line in the morning and it was all done- we were/are members of u2.com so did it all via pre-sale.

I don't recall any problems in general sales either even for Dublin 3. We also made use of friends and family ticketmaster accounts

I'm sure we'll use the same approach next time round

I remember my brother ringing me up from Wembley box office when Madonna#s Confessions Tour went on sale- in the end I had to stop him calling me as I was spending a small fortune on tickets as new shows got added and he kept getting offered front 3 rows...great tour though

 

[Galeongirl]

Dublin was really easy indeed, though Brussels and UK/Irish gigs have a bit of a note for people from other countries. Don't expect your tickets soon.

 

[Rhiannon64]

Ah, yes the days of waiting on line in the rain to get wristbands and tickets. I think I did that for the Who in 1982. I get my tickets on line. I also find it easy to go to another city where the tickets are not sold out. In 2010 my husband and I planned part of a summer vacation around Paul McCartney Tickets in Pittsburgh. We wound up with awesome seats. I recall getting an email regarding U2 tickets from Ticketmaster in 2011 a few weeks before they played Pittsburgh. The seats were to the side of the stage. I didn't go because I didn't want to go to a stadium gig. OK, stupid, I know! I won't be making that mistake twice, that's for sure. So, I will travel if need be.

 

[trevgreg]

If I'm a member of the fan club a band has going for it (like this one), I'll usually try to use it for tickets. I've also used Ticketmaster, Ebay, and StubHub when needed. If it's a GA gig, Stubhub has shown that they're beyond reasonable regarding prices most of the time.

 

[jeevey]

Are prices different though U2.com or just more reliable? I know it won't be soon, just thinking wishfully. Don't know about where you all are, but where I am the last bit of winter makes for lots of wishful thinking.

 

[Rachel D.]

Join the fan club, get a Ticketmaster account, be online right when the tickets you want go on sale. Do not buy on eBay.

Are prices different though U2.com or just more reliable? I know it won't be soon, just thinking wishfully. Don't know about where you all are, but where I am the last bit of winter makes for lots of wishful thinking.

The prices aren't different (at least for the 360 Tour), but you get presale codes from U2.com and can buy tickets before they are available to the rest of the public.

 

[trojanchick99]

Are prices different though U2.com or just more reliable? I know it won't be soon, just thinking wishfully. Don't know about where you all are, but where I am the last bit of winter makes for lots of wishful thinking.

Given U2's relationship with Live Nation, the fan club Presale will be on Ticketmaster/Live Nation unless the venue uses a different platform.

I highly recommend paying for the fan club, as it will be the easiest on sale, especially if U2 goes back to arenas.

 

[Wowy23]

I prefer to wait in line, here where I live in FL, the lines are not that long. While in line, I'll have a buddy buying tickets online just in case I cannot get what I'm looking for. I still haven't found, you know...

 

[Galeongirl]

Yeah the price difference is only the membership fee, and that nets you a good gift too. So if you want to go to multiple shows, it's definitely worth it.

 

[Nick66]

I bought my tickets online for my two 360 shows three and seven days before the concert respectively.

For Popmart the local radio station was pretty much giving them away to anyone who showed up at the station (this was in North America), and I decided to go at the last minute (picked them up day of).

I think for my other U2 concerts (including a cancelled Vertigo Auckland show) I bought them much further in advance.

 

[jeevey]

Poor Popmart!

 

[lov12113]

The U2 presale code you get when you're a member of U2.com lets you get online earlier than the public to get your tickets. That way, you're pretty much guaranteed to get tickets. If you take the chance and wait for the general public "on-sale," you may have a much harder time getting the sections you want, and in some cases, the tickets will be sold out rather quickly. I went to the Rose Bowl show that was filmed for the 360 tour dvd, and the general public on-sale sold out the remaining tickets in 8 hours. (Remember, that's for 96,000 people, so 8 hours was pretty quick). I ran into the "no pre-sale code, and all tickets sold out" problem on the Vertigo tour, and had to buy a ticket from a ticket broker (a company that buys and re-sells tickets). Had to pya three times the ticket price for that ticket. I wouldn't recommend using a ticket broker, but if you miss the window when the tickets are on sale and not yet sold out, that may be your only option.

 

[digitize]

The U2 presale code you get when you're a member of U2.com lets you get online earlier than the public to get your tickets. That way, you're pretty much guaranteed to get tickets. If you take the chance and wait for the general public "on-sale," you may have a much harder time getting the sections you want, and in some cases, the tickets will be sold out rather quickly. I went to the Rose Bowl show that was filmed for the 360 tour dvd, and the general public on-sale sold out the remaining tickets in 8 hours. (Remember, that's for 96,000 people, so 8 hours was pretty quick). I ran into the "no pre-sale code, and all tickets sold out" problem on the Vertigo tour, and had to buy a ticket from a ticket broker (a company that buys and re-sells tickets). Had to pya three times the ticket price for that ticket. I wouldn't recommend using a ticket broker, but if you miss the window when the tickets are on sale and not yet sold out, that may be your only option.

That makes it sound tempting to invest in a dozen extra U2.com accounts, scoop up excellent $250 seats in prime U2 markets with then, and resell them for $500 each.

 

[jeevey]

Do you have preferred sections? It's been a LONG time since I was at a stadium or arena show.

 

[Galeongirl]

GA is the obvious section there..

 

[cartoonworld]

I have a question regarding tickets too - if you buy tickets online for, say, a show somewhere in Spain and you live somewhere else in Europe, how do you get the tickets? Do they send them to you or can you pick them up when you arrive at the location of the show?

 

[trojanchick99]

Do you have preferred sections? It's been a LONG time since I was at a stadium or arena show.

GA for me. Not only is it the closest you can get to the stage, it's also cheaper than the "douchebag" or good seats. And in LA, you really want to avoid the DB seats.

 

[Galeongirl]

I always have them mailed, or you can do the print out option. I think some ticket sales do Will Call as well(picking them up at the stadium), but if you want to line up early that's not quite convenient.

 

[jeevey]

Douchebag seats! I love it.

How early do you need to plan on being there for GA tickets?

 

[lov12113]

Do you have preferred sections? It's been a LONG time since I was at a stadium or arena show.

I had GA for both shows I went to on the 360 tour. GA was great because of the closeness to the stage, but I admit that my feet hurt pretty badly after standing all the way through the opening act and U2. I think next time I'm just going for seats because if my feet start hurting after several hours, I can sit down for a sec. Plus getting to the restroom is much easier if you need it. Nobody can take your spot when you come back. However, the GA experience is pretty awesome so I'd recommend that too.

 

[lov12113]

I had GA for both shows I went to on the 360 tour. GA was great because of the closeness to the stage, but I admit that my feet hurt pretty badly after standing all the way through the opening act and U2. I think next time I'm just going for seats because if my feet start hurting after several hours, I can sit down for a sec. Plus getting to the restroom is much easier if you need it. Nobody can take your spot when you come back. However, the GA experience is pretty awesome so I'd recommend that too.

Damn, I sound like an old man with all the "feet hurt" and "need clear access to the restroom" stuff. Screw that. I'm going GA again next time. I'm not an old man dammit!

 

[lov12113]

Douchebag seats! I love it.

How early do you need to plan on being there for GA tickets?

If you mean: how early should you get to the show if you have GA tickets, that depends on whether you want to be close enough to the stage that you get inside the inner "circle" or "heart" or whatever inner area they use for the next tour. On the last 3 tours, they've had an inner area where some GA people could stand between the main stage and the outer walkway that Bono runs around on. On the 360 tour at the Rose Bowl and Anaheim shows I went to, people with GA tickets started lining up in the morning and waited all day, just so they could be in the first 3 thousand GA inside when they opened the doors so they could get in the inner circle. The rest of the GA folks who came later (like at a sane time), could still get fairly close to the outer walkway and had a good view, but couldn't get in the inner circle. Personally, I preferred being outside the outer walkway so I had a great view of both the band, and the huge screen on the claw.

If you mean: how early should you try to buy GA tickets, I'd say as soon as they go on sale, as they are really popular with the diehard U2 fans who will probably be logging on with their presale codes.

 

[Rachel D.]

In Winnipeg, I camped out all day and was number 152. In the inner circle, I was standing next to some 400s and 800s that still made it in there. That made me feel like I spent all day in the parking lot for nothing! It was still fun, though.

So if you do GA, you can camp out all day to get close to the stage, or come late and say "excuse me, sorry" a thousand times and squeeze your way in. It depends on the experience you want to have and whether or not you have a forceful personality, I guess.

 

[Rhiannon64]

Do you have preferred sections? It's been a LONG time since I was at a stadium or arena show.

These days I prefer seats. When I go to concerts I look for seats right on the sides of the stage. When/Why did the band do away with the reserved seats in front and go with GA tickets?

 

[djparky]

I have a question regarding tickets too - if you buy tickets online for, say, a show somewhere in Spain and you live somewhere else in Europe, how do you get the tickets? Do they send them to you or can you pick them up when you arrive at the location of the show?

you seem to have a choice- we went to multiple Euro shows last tour (we're in the UK) and the tickets were posted to us months in advance (almost a year for Paris 2010)

we always go GA and last time ended up in the gold circle every time except the first Brussels show. Once in the GC we used to sit around the side against the barrier and just admire The Claw

as for GC access- we got to Rome about half an hour before the gates opened and comfortably got in to the GC, with Dublin you're normally ok to rock up at about 5pm. Paris & Brussels we got there just before gates opened and were ok.

The only place that would have been more challenging seemed to be Barcelona where folk were camped out over night and there was a very long queue early the following morning

I always prefer GA to seats and for some bands I don;t mind queueing for gold circle- if you go prepared- something to read, food, drink it's not too bad

 

[LadySpinHead]

I'm going to the Muse show tonight, which reminds me of how they did their fan club presale - it was done through their website and didn't involve TM. Our only choice is it pick tickets up at will call, and we have to bring the email confirmation, photo ID and the credit card that the tickets were purchased with. No name changes allowed. A way of thwarting scalpers, I guess. I think the general public sale through TM was standard, tickets sent in the mail or printed out. I wonder if more bands will go this way- seems more fair, at least your not fighting with scalpers for the presale, and the best seats/sections will go to real fans. Will have to see how smoothly ticket pick-up goes tonight.