The Concert Ticket Game

I just returned from the library where I printed out a ticket to tonight's U2 concert.  I went on Stubhub, saw that one ticket was going from $59+, saw that with fees the total comes to less than $75 ... and after using half of my five-minute allotted time, I bit the bullet and charged it to my credit card.

And yet, from the time I started looking online for U2 tickets right through the moment I bought it till now, I wonder if I should have gone the scalping route.  Whenever I look for a ticket, be it for a big concert or a big game, I torture myself with the question: Should I buy it online or on the street?  I have two competing interests in that choice -- getting in while getting in as cheaply as possible.  If I buy through Stubhub or SeatgGek or any other scalper site, I risk buying a ticket for much more than could be available just outside U.S. Bank Stadium.  On the other hand, if I don't buy on the Internet, there's a chance that the tickets I get on the street will be more expensive -- or I risk not seeing anyone selling any tickets at all.

For the past week or so I've been monitoring the prices for the U2 concert on both Stubhub and SeatGeek.  There wasn't any rhyme or reason to them other than the fact that the cheapest seats (the ones I was looking for) was falling in price, but slowly, like a feather hitting the ground.  That makes me think that there would be tickets available on the street.  I could have waited another hour or two and purchased them cheaper online, maybe.

And yet I remember a case where I hesitated and I lost, and where I did not hesitate and I did not lose.  It was early August when US Bank (pronounced "oooos-bahnk") Stadium opened, and the first-ever event was an International Champions Cup friendly between Chelsea and AC Milan.  I wax long about it here, but in summary, I saw decent prices, thought I could get a ticket for dirt cheap through a scalper, went, saw only one selling one ticket for $300, then quickly went to the library where 600 reasonably-priced seats vanished at both scalpers sites.  To this day I still can't comprehend how in the heck that happened.

I remembered that when the Ryder Cup rolled around in early October.  I don't remember the timeline, but at some point before the week of the tournament I bit the bullet and bought a Grounds Pass for the Sunday singles.  The price was kind of floating down, but at $200 I purchased one.  The week of the Ryder Cup those tickets were going for $300, and I tweeted with a local sportscaster who said his friends were seeing tickets for that price as well, thus they couldn't go.

I don't remember the last time I bought a ticket on the street.  It may have been a college hockey tournament game the spring of last year.  But the experiences trying to buy tickets for both that soccer friendly and the Ryder Cup may have steered me into buying tickets exclusively online.  I may now be gun-shy, though, and I sometimes wonder if I'm just a sheep going along, taking the safe route when I could get as good of a ticket (the one I bought is to the side of the stage, and is partially obstructed) for cheaper if I were more patient and haggled with a scalper.

In the end, my love of U2 and of The Joshua Tree album (which they will perform in full) convinced me that I would regret not seeing them (and opener Beck, which is a factor) more than overpaying.  I still won't like it if I see a bunch of scalpers with fists full of tickets in their hands, and if I hear a "$60?  Sold!" I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears and run towards the security line.  But, well, it's too late.  I bought it, and so I'm going to the concert.

By the way, I saw U2 the last time they blew through here, at TCF Bank Stadium in late July, 2011.  Then, I was determined to get a ticket from a scalper.  And there were many tickets available on the road up to the stadium.  And so I got an OK floor ticket for $40.  Does a U2 ticket on the street double in price in six years?  For my sanity, I have to hope so.