Breaking Down the Concert Experience
Fans across the world have fallen victim to ticket scalpers: those that buy mass numbers of tickets to resell at a higher price– preventing genuine fans from being able to purchase them. There’s not much one can do to prevent this, but the closer the concert day arrives, the more frantic scalpers become to sell their ticket. This can often lead to a drop in pricing, so check Ticketmaster frequently the day of the concert for the best chance at getting cheap tickets. If you're planning on getting tickets at face value, sign-in before the pre-sale begins and make sure your payment plan is already set up. Then, join the queue at least ten minutes before the tickets go on sale. The line queue is randomized, so it honestly doesn't matter how early you get in before they actually go on sale. From my experience, if there’s 2000+ people ahead of you in line, it’s not very likely you’ll secure tickets. However, if you're somewhere random like 1789 there’s a good chance you will.
Depending on if you get seats or general admission, the experience can be very different. With seats, it doesn’t matter what time you arrive at the venue. You could even come after the openers and still have enough time to get food or merch and enjoy the concert.
“I was so stressed out before because I thought I had to be there right away for the Harry Styles concert. Obviously I still do that, but I had gotten there like three hours early, and if you’re not in the pit, you do not need to do that,” Violet Burrit, 10, said.
General admission is a whole other league. If you're trying to get barricade, most people camp out at the venue. Campers will wait in line the day before, and the next morning, they’re handed a ticket with a number on it. The number determines your spot in line so that people are able to leave the venue to get ready and come back when the doors open. For those that don’t care about getting barricade, camping isn’t necessary. Though it’s still a good idea to arrive early because lines for security can take a while.
In terms of standing in general admission, the biggest advice I could give is to be aware of who you’re surrounded by. If it’s a bunch of burly dudes without shirts, holding beers, and wearing backwards hats, you’re most likely going to get caught in the mosh pit and suffer some variation of an injury. If that’s not what you’re looking for, surround yourself with the people drinking water or the guys that have girlfriends– they’ll likely act as a barrier to prevent anyone getting dragged in. Crowd surfing, another popular activity in the pit, isn’t recommended unless you want to get groped by random people and then fall on to concrete when they inevitably let go of you. This isn’t always the case, though, so if you’re willing to take the risk, by all means do it.
Another no go in the pit is shoving people to get closer. There will be opportunities to move closer during breaks between sets so don’t worry if you can’t see at the moment. Whatever you do, don’t resort to sitting on someone’s shoulders. It’s not worth the glares you’ll receive from the people behind you for the rest of the night. General admission is only recommended if you’re absolutely in love with the artist. If not, save yourself from the exhaustion and get seats. You may not be as close, but it’s better than having aching feet covered in blisters.
Going to a concert can be intimidating, but as long as you’re aware of your surroundings, and don’t act rude to those around, there shouldn’t be many issues. Just having everything set up before purchasing tickets improves your chances so don’t let scalpers ruin the opportunity to see your favorite artist. A concert can elevate appreciation for an artist entirely– it’s something everyone should experience at least once in their life.