It’s about closing time as my friend and I arrive. Most of the guests hanging around inside the CNN Center start to glance over at us. We must look a little suspicious to them because of our full book bags, pillows toted in hand, and our crafty movements (not forgetting our watchful eye) as we head toward our destination. As we walk towards the Braves Clubhouse store, which provides a Ticket Master inside, on the first floor near the entrance of the Omni Hotel, my friend and I stake out the location before committing to a seat.
We have all the necessities to keep us occupied and interested for the long night ahead. Playing cards, CD player equipped with extra batteries and a wide variety of CDs, homework (in case we get really desperate), reading books, and snacks. Flashbacks of a scene from the movie “Far and Away” come into my mind when Tom Cruise places his flag in the land that became his territory; just like that we secure our spot on the floor directly next to the store’s opening and claim being the first in line. Ticket Master will open sharply at 10AM the next morning and we are the first to be served from this location.
Anticipation sets in as we arrive in front of the Ticket Master preparing ourselves for what we are up against. To get the best seats possible for concerts is like fighting a war in some cases. However, the fight for purchasing any seat for a concert is nothing like the fight we are about to participate in. For us, camping out was the only way to guarantee a seat at all. However, our determination for getting the best seats possible leads us to fight in this war against the scalpers, top business corporations who have connections, and the most difficult and ordinary is the fight against other fans. Sometimes the fight begins before Ticket Master even opens.
As we sat in our secured spot on the floor, our place in line, a security guard reminds us politely that CNN is closing and that everyone must leave the premises. My friend and I regroup at the Omni Hotel that is attached to the CNN center and happens to never close because it is a hotel. This is where we form our plan to reclaim our first in line status. This kind of determination is needed to succeed in obtaining the best seats possible for concerts that are bound to sell-out quickly.
With all ticket locations offering the sell of tickets for a certain concert at the exact same time, fans have to be prepared with plans and backup plans. Fans are the best experts on how to get the best tickets because they have experienced it all. Committed music fan Allison Whiting claims that, “Every time I have called for tickets they have not been good. I think you get a better selection of tickets when you are there and get first choice instead of calling and being behind so many other people and spending time on the phone trying to get through.”
Elton John and Billy Joel performed two nights ago to a sold out audience at Philips Arena. Fans were accumulating outside waiting for the doors to open. An older crowd meandered in the arena anticipating the relaxing evening of music from their favorite performers. Some special fans, who knew someone in the band or had met someone just before the concert, had VIP passes to go for a pre-concert and post concert backstage tour.
One of Billy Joel’s fans, a woman in her forties, had never had VIP passes before and she was about as excited as I imagine a twelve year old, who was about to meet Justin Timberlake from *Nsync, would be. With her less ecstatic yet along for the ride friend next to her, the fan explained about purchasing the twenty-dollar program and obtaining a permanent marker just in case Joel would autograph it. They had met the saxophonist the night before while staking out Elton John and Billy Joel’s hotel, the Four Seasons, and he gave them the passes. They didn’t get to meet the stars at the hotel, but their hopes were still intact for the VIP tour before the concert.
Music lovers will do anything to get the best seats for their favorite concerts. No matter what age the fan is, the key to getting the best seats is all dependent on how big of a fan they are. Typically the title “camping out” has been reserved for the younger fans of boy-bands or pop princesses, but some older fans of Cher and Madonna are caught in the early morning hours waiting for ticket windows to open. Jimmy Buffet and Widespread Panic fans are known for congregating outside venues hours before tickets go on sale because they know have that the show will be sold out within minutes. Even if you think you are “too old” to camp out, arriving hours before the venue starts selling the tickets is still considered a type of camping out.
Bruce Springsteen is one of the major upcoming artists at the Philips Arena this year. His tour hits Atlanta in December and is expected to sell out quickly. Along with other big concerts that hit Atlanta this year such as Elton John and Billy Joel, Cher, and Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen fans will need to act fast to get the best seats. If buying tickets in person, another hint would be to purchase them from the venue itself, instead of going through Ticket Master. Dedicated fan Kate Andres states, “At the venue you don’t pay those awful fees. Tickets are expensive enough.”
The CNN Center was to reopen at 6AM, so we sat in the Omni Hotel Lobby and discussed our quickest route options to beat the others. We already began to see traces of these “others.” You can spot another fan of your favorite group a mile away. Whether it is a t-shirt they may be wearing (either of the band themselves, or linked in a specific way that only another fan would recognize), or just the way they stare at you when they enter the room and see you sitting anxiously waiting for dawn to arrive just like themselves.
As the morning sun starts to peak out of the sky outside, we realize it is time to start inching our way towards the store. We begin to notice more fans coming towards the outside of the CNN center and while they searched for signs of opening we were already inside and ready to stake our deserved spot in front. As the CNN staff came towards the doors to unlock them, we began our trek. We were forced to run after noticing three fans coming from the opposite direction. We made it to the store first. Two seconds later and we would have been fifth in line, but we succeeded and earned our spot. The difference between first and fifth in line could very well be getting floor seats or section 200 (second floor of the building) seats at Philips Arena.
The hardest part is now over. Most of what lies ahead is out of your control. Securing your place in line is the most important because you have more control, unlike calling Ticket Master or waiting online to order tickets, you don’t have to deal with technological problems and it’s instant gratification of knowing you will get good tickets. Andres states that, “Obviously people were able to get good seats online, but I feel like I have more control over things when I am actually at the venue.”
Other benefits of camping out include the chance to interact with other fans. Even though they seem to be the enemy, other fans are just like you in many ways. You find that you have many similarities within the music realm and find new friends to converse with while you wait for the ticket sales to begin. Of course this is after you secure your place in line, so there is no need to be evil to the fans next to you in line since you have no more control over the tickets you receive.
As the Ticket Master agent began to open for business, my friend and I prepare ourselves for the purchase and pray that we won’t have to participate in a lottery. Some Ticket Master locations mandate a lottery for ticket sales particularly for big concerts to prevent camping out, which negates from the “first come, first serve” policy that is nice to abide by. In a lottery system, all the people in line would pick a number and have an equal chance of being first. Andres said, “I think the most persistent people, the ones who are willing to freeze and forego sleep and all that, do deserve to have first dibs at tickets.”
In trying to prevent camping out at venues and Ticket Master locations, agents of Ticket Master claim that the best way for consumers to obtain the best tickets is to call or order online. Ticket Master agent Denise stated, “The best way to get tickets is to call a couple minutes before the time of sell or get online about five minutes beforehand to order the tickets.” Denise also mentioned that sometimes extra tickets are released the day of a particular event, as for a certain promotion or if there had been a previous cancellation for that event. But do not depend on that alone. If you wait until the day of the event to purchase tickets to an already sold-out event, you may risk not getting any tickets at all or have to deal with outrageous ticket prices from scalpers. It is better to get tickets to your favorite concert early than to wait and rish having none at all.
This particular Ticket master location did not do a lottery. We were lucky. Because it was just two of us, we had a better chance of getting the best seats possible. The less people buying tickets together, the better seats available. The agent began to print our tickets and as we leaned over the window to see the seat number, we gasped in sync. In bold black capital letters we saw the word floor. Printed before us were two tickets for Section 1, Row G (7th row), Seats 1 and 2. The people directly behind us were not as fortunate. Their tickets were two sections behind us and many rows back. It was a long night, but definitely worth it. We might have to wait four months until the actual concert, but the experience of obtaining the tickets was a rush in itself. We won the war, at least for that concert. Now when is their next tour date?