| December 7th, 2005 04:26 PM |
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| Dan |
I have tons of scattered notes about all my various adventures but I was able to turn these ones into something semi-cohesive.;
I ended up not lighting the ticket on fire though it was still being considered as late as Friday night.
A quick recap - bought the ticket in June, the only ticket I bought in an onsale (until the Forum). Didn't want to buy one for the Hollywood Bowl and didn't feel it necessary to buy one for a stadium gig. Wanted some form of insurance because I would rather see them in arena than any other type of venue. I should have looked at a map first because Fresno was a lot farther away than I had realized.
Changed my mind later on and decided I wanted to just sell the ticket. In spite of its "sold out" status on Ticketmaster there was no interest in it whatsoever. Someone on Craigslist said he was interested but he lived in Fresno and only wanted to do the exchange in person. I even offered it to the guy at the Hollywood Bowl making a spectacle of himself looking for a free ticket. He said he didn't want to go to Fresno to see them. So it became the ticket I couldn't even give away (offered it for free to a few Stones fans around here - they didn't want it either.)
Had a friend lined up ready to make a film of me lighting the ticket on fire. Even had 3 possible scripts to choose from.
I was continually surfing Ebay to see how other tickets were doing. Not much was selling. But in the week before the show a single in the same section, one row ahead, turned up. I was playing chicken on Ebay, thinking I was likely going to make somebody pay more. I sure didn't want it but was willing to burn another $30 just in case. Ended up the highest bidder. Paid $32.05 after shipping.
When I got it in the mail it was directly in front of my single with the same seat number. No one was the least bit interested in upper deck side view singles. Least of all me. But maybe someone would at least be interested in a pair. No time to play around with any futile "Face or best offer" attempts at this stage in the game.
Jim from San Luis Obispo responded to my offer of $80 for the pair. He took his son to see a SBC show and now wanted to take his daughter who is going to school in the area. I went ahead and booked Greyhound (THEN an offer from L.A. came in, oh well, another lesson against making rash decisions when dealing with tickets).
Jim even picked me up at the Greyhound station and drove me to the venue to stop by the box office. We got there in time to see a Sheriff's deputy leading dogs down the ramp into the subterranean entrance. Possible reaction to the Charlottesville incident though McCartney had sweeps in his rider on the 2002 tour.
Then it was on to the Shidoobee party. It was at Tony Romas. There was a raffle of Cds and other stuff. Jim had just joined Shidoobee and met his daughter at Tony Romas.
They were very nice people, they really enjoyed the party and really looking forward to the show. It was a fullfilling end to the ongoing ticket saga to sell the tickets to two people truly excited to see the show. And it was a master stroke of ticket luck to make a pair like that. But since I was in town for the next 7 hours there was the still the pending matter of my own ticket.
Made a runner from the party to the venue to assess the scene. A lot more sellers than buyers but everyone wanted to hold out for close to what they paid, or other unimaginable scenarios like "We paid $800 but will sell you the pair for $500". Scalpers were present and actively buying extras but nowhere near as many as at the Hollywood Bowl. A very comforting safety net was the abundance of "side limited view" lowers, Keith's side, for $96.75 at the box office.
Employed a typical method of operation for tier pricing concerts - tell people with uppers that I am looking for something better but can give them $20 for it anyway. People with $350's, I immedietly tell them I have nowhere near that kind of money. With so many tickets around, eventually the two ends will meet somewhere in the middle. But I also had no problem telling anyone trying to sell tickets that I just sold a pair for half of face because it was the best I could get. I think its wicked fun intimidating amateur sellers like that.
Actually some of the ones being sold on Shidoobee seemed very tempting even at face but I couldn't commit til I had the cash in hand for the other tickets. There were still a few floating around at the party with full knowledge of market conditions and re-priced accordingly, but I preferred to follow my instincts and it just didn't seem right to jump on those.
At one point some guy starts talking to me. "Seen the Stones before this tour?" "Yeah..." "What ones"... Unfortunately this guy wants to yap about all the dozens of gigs he went to through the decades. NICE, but if I wanted to kick back and talk Stones while tickets traded hands without me, I would still be at the Shidoobee Party with my friends. I did ascertain that he was also ticket shopping and he even said to let him know if I saw anybody with 2. Then he kept chattering about his various Stones experience. Some good ones, with theatre gigs, but under the circumstances it became annoying real quick.
Asked him if he was on Shidoobee, Rocks Off or Undercover. Negative. If it wasn't bad enough that he just wanted to jabber at me while the ticket trading occured around me without my participation, he also tried to interject himself into a deal I was working on.
Someone with a seating chart showed me a side stage ticket on Keith's side similiar to what the box office had available, $90something "or best offer." I offered $40 for 1. He said he had a pair. My shadow piped in on that, so the guy with the tickets suddenly said "how about $90 for the pair?" Not a bad price, but I make my own deals and I am looking for a SINGLE. And if tickets are already going for half price over an hour before the opener takes the stage, I can head back to the party without any worries.
Showed up and found out I won a CD in the raffle. Jim and his daughter each won discs too. And the disc I won was actually one I didn't even have, a remix and outtake collection with a few gems I never even heard.
Ran into Laura, Lori and Diane on the way back to Save Mart. Escorted them back to Tony Romas. Finally hit SaveMart again, downing 2 cans of Sparks on the way.
Many more tickets floatnig around, and some of the same faces with a look of growing desperation. Saw some scalpers at the parking lot entrance waving handfuls of tickets at the cars. A great sign, if it was a tight ticket scene the scalpers would be more interested in buying. Still the same tickets at the box office along with continued adamant proclamations that there were never any low priced floor tickets.
Scalpers were also swarming around me which rarely happens in L.A. where we tend to ignore each other unless someone I have some repoir with wants to help me out. "You want a cheap one just to get in? Gimme $75." Told him it was right next to the pair I just ditched for $80. Said I had plenty of time and I am just going to hang out and see what happens. Also was offered a cheap $350 in row X somewhere that I had zero interest in.
Another scalper shows me a $350 ticket in Section 121 row P and I give the line but he says "I will give it to you cheap." He was quite persistant. I wasn't sure I really wanted it, and am usually resistant to high pressure tactics. However, if I made it in with plenty of time to spare I could meet someone inside for additional party favors and have time to grab another beer as well as a proper pit stop.
So, I told myself to quit being so cheap, you can afford it, just buy the stupid ticket and go inside. The $90 price (lowest I could talk him down to) made it all the more enticing. Even though I totally enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and wanted to goof around some more as well as spend less, it was a good thing I bought that ticket. We made the deal between between some cars and the scalper asked me if I had any weed. Couldn't help him there.
Found my seat. WOW. I was probably closer in Fresno than I was onstage in San Diego. It was on Ronnie's side. Looking straight ahead to the floor I was parallel with the 2nd row. Perfect view of the stage which seemed much smaller in size and scope than I remember any previous Stones arena stage.
The guy next to me asked me what I paid for the ticket. I told him, then asked him what he sold it to the scalper for. He said $65. In a major faux pas I said "Then it worked out well for both us!" Hell yeah the scalper deserved the $25 for putting me in that seat. I feel better giving him the money than forking over a hundred dollars to the fan club for the "privelege" of getting an alleged first crack at a prime seat. I almost always do better when I don't panic and take the last shot at tickets still available before showtime. Oh - and I also noticed a "FANUP" code on the top of the ticket! Maybe I should reprice it my mind as "$65 plus $25 in resale fees." Slightly recovered when I said I sold a pair at a "major loss."
Maybe an actual show review will follow. Or not. |
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