Sunday, March 8, 2015

Es-Say #21- "Out There UK\Europe 2015" Pt 1- PreSale Hell Success

In the last post(#20), I said "I just want a decent ticket before 2016". Happily, I can report I got my wish during the pre-sale time on March 7 for the O2 concert on May 23rd. I think I might have gotten a ticket where I can see the actual front of the stage but this is not something to celebrate. The celebratory part is that I didn't break my computer.
Firstly, I spent several hours(yep, I'm an idiot) coming up with a buying strategy the night before. I actually wrote NOTES. I was ready with various methods to legally crack into the official pre-sale websites. This preparation was serious business. Anyone who tells you Paul McCartney is not popular anymore in the UK is a bigger idiot than I am...read on!
Pre-sale Saturday rolls around and I was awake two hours before to get the websites loaded on to the computer. I had another tablet device ready for reference use only and someone I live with was ready to surrender all computer use and disappear(probably in fear) for awhile.
Thirty minutes before the sale time, my internet service wasn't working. Perfect timing for modern technology to decide to be useless. It resolved itself in ten minutes and I stopped cussing long enough to stay focused.
When fans have to buy tickets, there is a slight problem- Supply and Demand. Supply(amount available) to purchase of tickets is actually lower than most of us think. I'm not going to get into the extent of this, but the Demand(customers) never usually matches availability in Arenas, especially with Paul. I don't know how open air festivals differ, but my choice to try for the 02 was the usually fair, but unbelievable, lottery system. I knew that 02 Employees, Band guests, Press, Industry people, Scalpers(?), and VIP Experience reserves would cut down this "supply". My realistic goal was for any ticket- nothing more, nothing less.

At the pre-sale times, I managed to not understand the official Paul McCartney website ordering page and clicked out of the entire process. When I got back in after a minute or two, I was offered row U in the first tier next to the stage. Meanwhile, I was on another popular pre-sale website which was quickly counting down another first tier seat that was not 21 rows up from the floor but further back. Decisions, Decisions...it felt like "Beat The Clock" (note: game show reference) where you have a very limited amount of time to get something right.
In the end, I went with what I considered a better view for money. I posted on the official message board where people were discussing which tickets they had gotten. I could understand the frustration of others gaining not great or odd seats in a presale. In 2009, I was unable to get any pre-sale tickets. I didn't understand it was the same as a General Public sale date and tried too late. I managed to get my ticket with General Sale, and sat in the back of the top tier(Paul looked more like an Ant than a Beatle).
I'd love to hear how this current General Sale goes, but its still a shock to be successful purchasing a ticket to one of his shows. It really is impressive to sell tickets out so quickly but improvements with the allocation need to be forthcoming. I really can take another reason to start cussing!