Monday 2 February 2009

Gig tickets and how to get them first!

It can be very annoying when you know that there is a gig on that you want to go to, but by the time you go to buy tickets they have all sold out. I hope to give you some tips (some obvious, some not so obvious) on how to make sure you don’t miss out!

Ticketmaster has some useful tools to make sure that you don’t miss any of your favourite gigs. If you create an account you can choose a list of your favourite bands, and Ticketmaster will keep information of upcoming gigs and (if you wish) send you an email when local gig tickets are about to go on sale. You can also do the same for your local venues, and they will send you an alert every time a new gig is added to that venue. Even without signing up, if you keep checking back to Ticketmaster regularly they have an “On Sale Soon” section which means you can be prepared for when the tickets are going to go on sale. The latest addition to Ticketmaster’s ticket alerts is a Facebook application which lets you know when your favourite band’s gig tickets are about to go on sale.

o2 are quickly becoming as well known for music as they are for phones. If you have an o2 mobile phone you can sign up for something called o2 blueroom, which means that you can buy tickets up to 48 hours before they go on sale to the general public. This is even better than just knowing about the tickets in advance! It is not only just for music – you can get sports and theatre tickets as well. And once you’ve got your tickets, o2 offer you extra perks such as queue jumping and VIP lounge entry.

A lot of radio stations are starting to jump on the gig ticket bandwagon as well. XFM have linked up with SeeTickets and now have a ticket shop on their website. They also have regular competitions to win sold out tickets, and hold their own “Exclusive” gigs for listeners and competition winners. It is definitely worth tuning in to your local radio station, or checking out their website, to see if they are running any ticket competitions or have exclusive ticket news. Radio 1 are also very good at ticket competitions nationally, as well as putting on their own gigs and being first to announce tour dates.

Check back soon for more gig ticket tips!

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