To hate the process for buying concert tickets☹️

It’s so frustrating! Often tickets are announced a week or so in advance- rarely around payday.
Tickets are released during working hours so it’s hard to get online. Websites crash as soon as so many people are trying to access at the same time.

I do miss going to the box office and getting a physical ticket at a reasonable price.

I’d listen to this tbh. Just experienced Ticketmaster releasing more lady gaga tickets for her gig that was apparently sold out for the last few months. Absolute scores of rows that weren’t there before (albeit horrendously expensive) and no one said nothing , they were silently dropped

I didn’t say they couldn’t. I’ve said a few times that raffling or balloting would be a fairer system. I do think though that increased accessibility is overall a good thing – that doesn’t mean the ticket buying processes itself is good, and nowhere have I said that.

No, it’s not just down to smart phone use, though that is a significant part. Demand is increased due to many reasons – wider marketing and viewership of that marketing. Today, thanks to social media, streaming platforms, mailing lists and instant alerts, almost every fan worldwide knows the second tickets go on sale. More disposable income. More willingness to spend on experiences (as you mentioned). That more people more willingly travel. More people with disabilities are able to attend. Fan bases more global – streaming has exploded artists‘ reach. More people hear about gigs, more people can afford to try, and more people can join the queue at the click of a button.

Nowhere did I argue that the process of getting tickets is a good one. Nowhere did I argue it’s affordable. I’ve said it’s harder and it’s more expensive. What I have said is that the increases accessibility to demand is a good thing. What I’ve also said is that raffling or balloting would be a fairer system.

We’ll have to disagree on travel improvements. But there we go.

They should refuse to allow people into gigs who have bought marked up tickets from places such as Viagogo. The only time I’ve seen it actually put in to action was at an Ed Sheeran gig a few years when people with Viagogo tickets being turned away. Lots of ‘sad face’ photos in the local media the following day but people buying those tickets are part of the problem. If no one bought them there wouldn’t be a market for them.

I thought Ticketmaster did cancel tickets for the Oasis gigs bought though third party sites too so it can be done.

I remember getting Red Hot Chilli pepper tickets by phone in the 90s. It was the evening, it was direct to the box office, I got “you are number 10 in the queue” type of message, I hung on, I spoke to a human, paid by card over the phone and that was that, tickets sent by post to my home address. Result: I had 4 tickets at face value, direct from the box office, no messing, no hassle. Or you could turn up in person and get them if you lived close enough.

come on, they are all in on it now, everyone involved in the industry . They CAN do it a different way, they just choose not to cos it’s a big money spinner. They can go back to that way. They can start ticket sales from 6pm or something so that most people can try to get them. No online tickets, just the old fashioned way.

DH and DD are massive Radiohead fans. Four of us registered to try and get a code, but none of us did. Gutted. Then it turned into an utter shitshow for those who actually got codes and tried to buy tickets. Outright carnage.

DH has ended up paying £700 for a ticket from Viagogo. So much for Radiohead wanting to keep it fair and equal for their fans.

I completely agree. I pretty much only attend smaller gigs by less well known / popular acts these days - I also tend to enjoy them more, as you can actually see the act, hear it better, in a generally better atmosphere. You also don’t have to plan getting tickets like some kind of military operation.

I adore Radiohead, my favourite band. Didn’t get a code either. Thankfully I’ve seen them four times before, but would’ve been great to see them again.

I could scrat about looking for resale tickets but I can’t be arsed.

Yes, if by greater accessibility you mean access to trying to buy tickets anywhere and everywhere, then yes, obviously that's easier. Actually getting your hands on them - not so accessible. I think it's absurd to argue that there are swathes of people buying tickets now just because they can do with a smartphone - even if it takes hours and numerous attempts - who just wouldn't have bothered in the 90s because waiting to get home to use a landline was too effortful.

It makes far more sense that this is largely down to the resale market, as well as what at least one pp has referred to above - increased willingness to spend on experiences over stuff in younger generations.

I also don't recognise your depiction of travel, which sound more like shifts in travel over the last 50 years rather than the last 20-30. I was talking about the late 90s to 2000s, and I really have not noticed train or plane travel getting easier since then. Quite the reverse. Yes, being able to buy a train ticket with an app is handy. Really hasn't made the difference in choosing to travel by train, though, and the experience as a whole has not improved.

Similar experience to me.
But I also think there are companies/bots buying up multiples of tickets at a time as well.
Back in the 90s when you had to call or turn up in person (im not convinced that fewer people had access to a landlines in those days, than have a mobile now...didnt all/ majority of homes have landlines then..?) they often had a limit of 6 tickets per transaction - presumably to stop touts (although there always were some around the stadium)

I had a presale code for Florence and the machine tickets by buying the album. But that was a waste as presale tickets sold out. Then waited for general release and same thing. Yet minutes later they go on resale for 2 times or 3 times the original price.

But if these artists really cared about their fans they would encourage tickets selling companies to do something about it.

I won't attempt to buy at stupid prices and just accept that once again il not get to see an artist I've really wanted to see.

I got tickets for Coldplay back in 2021 to see them at Wembley in 2022 and it was NOTHING like the last release of tickets . I forgot to log on and didn’t expect to get tickets but I walked into the online waiting room and only waited a few minutes and purchased tickets no stress … then Coldplay hit Tik Tok and Jesus Christ concerts have gone crazy . Everyone and their dogs wants to get tickets to see Coldplay now ! I tried this time round and think there was 300,000 + waiting to get tickets !

Same with Ed Sheeran . 2021 my partners sister rang my dp and said I’ve just got tickets for Ed Sheeran so we came off the phone and it was about 11am and there was absolutely no stress , we just bought the tickets .

I honestly think it’s the internet and everyone gets FOMO now if they don’t get to go to the latest big concert .

It’s an easy law to bring in… I assume Viagogo and their ilk must spend a lot on lobbying against it

And I agree - they need to do balloting like the Wimbledon or the Proms. Choose your date, seat or standing and highest price you’ll pay and have a low maximum number of tickets - like 2 or 4, and just do a ballot. Wimbledon check id too, but that’s probably too much faff at the arenas.

I've been saying for years everyone should just refuse to buy at marked-up prices; but no-one's prepared to do that.

We were lucky and got tickets for Oasis but failed for Coldplay and Radiohead and Florence. So frustrating. I search Twickets semi-regularly but no joy there other than for selling. Plus AXS thinks my laptop is a bot so I have to use my phone with WiFi turned off, which is a pain… first world problems

It’s more ‘exclusive’ now due to price – which again, I haven’t argued with.

Nowhere did I say that better accessibility has made it easier. I said better accessibility has made availability worse.

Raffling and balloting are probably a much fairer system. Similar to Wimbledon ticketing.

I disagree affordability has been the focus of the thread. The focus of the OP is clearly the process, which is what my posts have been about. If you want to discuss affordability, I have already said that price and resale is a huge issue, so there’s nothing to disagree on there.

I didn’t say travel was cheaper than it was 20 years ago (and I actually was referring to 30 years ago in my post), I said it was more accessible – again, which cannot only be determined in terms of price.

There are more services (as in trains and flights running), there is better disability access, ticket buying and travel planning are more convenient and infrastructure and technology has improved – but then I’ve already said all that.

I also went for Radiohead tickets. Guess I'm on the waiting list...

One of my dds is a huge Taylor Swift fan and did manage to see her. As did a friend's dd. TS possibly did more dates in the UK??

Am going to a much smaller gig in a few weeks, much easier to get.

As I mentioned, I could get decent tickets for most things by calling even if that was days or weeks after they went on sale. Painless. Now we have a crazy system where people are tethered to phones in interminable queues without any guarantee they'll get anything at the end.

And as I mentioned, that’s due to volume of people now trying because of greater accessibility. Better access means worse availability.

I have seen Coldplay a couple of times, probably 5-10 years ago and I can't recall it was as hard to get tickets, it's definitely got worse since Covid, I'm sure its because a lot of them only sell through Ticketmaster, whereas in the past there were a few different sellers, we often go to Birmingham Arena so have bought tickets through The Ticket Factory in the past which seems to be AXS now.

DS gets tickets to Glastonbury each year, I don't know how and doesn't go to individual gigs as they are too expensive.

The fact that you got a deal on flights to Barcelona and paid £29 proves the point. A deal on Barcelona flights back in the day would have been £5 or even less. So even “cheap” flights are now multiple times more expensive than cheap flights used to.

I disagree regarding the accessibility issue . Yes most ppl have a mobile phone wherever they are. But if you're not able to log on at the exact time then you lose out. As a PP said lots of people don't have the flexibility to be on their phone for up to half an hour due to being at work/ other commitments whereas in the 90s you might not be at home. But you could phone the ticket line when you got home. Most people had a home phone. There wasn't the "urgency" about it.
I'd say now it's more "exclusive/elitist " due to a) the inflated prices b) the need to be tech savvy and c) have the flexibility to be able to be online at whenever the magic hour is.

Yes, I am talking about affordability. Which has been the focus of the thread. It was absolutely not the case that flights and train fares were more expensive in the 2000s when people were snapping up Oasis tickets for £40 and the like. And what improvement? The service on budget airlines has got WORSE in my experience. They’ve stripped everything back. A tiny backpack was all I could get onto a recent flight without paying extra for CARRY-ON luggage. That didn’t used to be the case when the fare was £6.99 a mere 15-20 years ago.
I used to catch Virgin trains as a student in the 2000s - again, a far FAR superior experience than Avanti in 2025. But guess what? I’m charged 4x more for the train ticket than back then, even accounting for young person railcard discount.
How anyone could argue that travel is better and cheaper than 20 years ago is beyond me. We must inhabit different universes.