Gabriel, if I had any money, I'd pay it ALL, no questions asked. Of course it's worth it to me to spend a lot more for this show, but I have nothing left to spend. And believe me, I've gone over my house about ten times trying to think of something I could sell, but I already sold half my stuff and I can't sell my bed or my computer. So I'm panicking b/c I'm losing all the eBay auctions Phil can afford and I've got $49 in my bank account (but I do get paid via direct deposit on Dec. 9 so I will have like $100 after my bills go through to spend on a ticket).
A year before the tour was even announced I kinda made a list in my mind of where I'd like to go and where I'd be willing to go and Cleveland has always been at the top of my list (along with Chicago and then Detroit). Mostly b/c I love Cleveland, and because that's close to where my friend (who's been gone so long) is from, so I knew we'd go together. When we became friends years ago we swore to each other no matter what happened or where we ended up, we'd see U2 in Cleveland together. Of course, 4 years ago I couldn't have forseen going w/ Phil since I didn't know him yet, but after dealing w/ his crappy job and my crappy school schedule working around his unforeseen seziure disorder, it would be lovely just to go to the frickin concert.
Out of all the TicketMaster sales, the ONLY tickets I've been able to pull up (and all the people trying on my behalf) were two seats for Chicago, Sept. 21 (which I did buy and sell to get GAs). Unfortunately, the only ticket I've paid face value for so far was my Pittsburgh GA from Kevin. I won't even admit what I paid for the Chicago shows we saw. I added quite a bit of money to the borrowed principle of a student loan for my summer course, if that's any indication. And Kevin has ETS GAs for Cleveland that according to Miroslava he might not need and could sell me, but I can't even afford to buy groceries this week, let alone pay for ETS GAs that are almost 4 times face value (even though I'm infinately grateful).
I don't want this to be a pity party b/c I'm a poor college student - that's my own problem - but yes, I've wanted to go to a U2 concert in Cleveland since I became a fan (right after Elevation). Thus far, I've gotten lucky with being able to afford scalped tickets (sold a bunch of things, took on two additional jobs over the summer, the extra student loan, etc, etc). There are so many shows I'd take back just for the chance to go to Cleveland...
For me it's a matter of what's right, period, and not the lesser of two evils. It's just a stressful time for me and I'm in a permanent bad mood and I'm pissed b/c of how the ticket sales were handled, in general. I waited in line for tickets for hours at TM outlets, had 6 people trying online at the same time, and all but once we were completely shut out. So I guess I can agree I'm glad ETS is there for people like you and a lot of other Interferencers, but it sucks that we've all been forced to go that route in the first place.
Hell, I'd rather have random ads selling Old Navy, "free" iPods, or some other crap.
