How did people book tickets for concerts and so on before the internet?

[Headphonesin]

I’m not even young, before I get a load of MNetters scorning my lack of knowledge, I just didn’t go to a concert until I was 35!

Even things like shows at the theatre, events on for kids - I hear about them all through social media and through websites, so wondering how people would go about it before good old google and Facebook?

Box office in the student's union and theatre / hall. Queue overnight for big gigs, I never did that.

First big gig I went to I queued on the phone for ages, having borrowed a housemate's credit card - I gave her a cheque immediately. But before I bought the tickets I'd had to check if my boyfriend (now husband) could go - this involved phoning the landline on his uni halls corridor, a kind random person answering the phone and writing a message on the notepad fixed to the outside of DH's bedroom door, and him going back to his room, finding the message and ringing me at my university house which fortunately had a landline. No internet or mobile phones, such a different way of communicating!

Pre-internet, by phone.
Pre-phone, queuing at the box office.
Somewhere along the way, a kiosk in HMV.
First gig, David Cassidy at Belle Vue Manchester, 15 March 1973.
Coming up to my 50th anniversary.

I used to get the NME and Melody Maker to know what was going on.

HMV for festival tickets - I remember we made a whole day out of buying our festival tickets one year, it was an event in itself. Excellent times 😃

Local record shop for local tickets, I think they would do coach packages for further afield stuff.

I also remember that DM used to be on the mailing list of lots of theatres and would get their upcoming Spring/Autumn programme booklet through twice a year. You'd fill in the form on the back and send it off with a cheque for all the shows you wanted to see, and they'd send you your tickets back.

You also used to be able to ring up theatres and buy tickets over the telephone. I remember there being two distinct queues when you went in - one for box office, the other for people who had their physical tickets with them.

You know how now, if you want a doctors appointment, you have to redial about a hundred times for someone to answer instead of the engaged tone but when they do there's nothing left.

It was like that.

Phone lines - dialling when the lines opened at 9am, getting the engaged tone & hitting redial until I got through.
I was stunned whenever I actually got through - did the redial thing for 40mins to see Bon Jovi...

I remember stumbling into an overnight queue for U2 in central London.
A friend & I were leaving a club, mildly inebriated and walking to the night bus when we noticed a very long queue.
We talked to some blokes who told us what it was. We shared our kebabs with them & ended up midway in the queue which I'm sure pissed off a lot of people

We went to see INXS in a tour they did of small venues in 1993 - the "get out of the house" tour. They had been playing stadiums in previous tours. We had to queue at the record shop overnight to get the tickets when they opened in the morning.

A music shop and record shop In my town used to sell them .

In America they had a Box Office in shopping malls that sold concert and sports tickets. They may still have them.

I remember looking at holidays on Teletext!

Coach companies used to run trips. You’d pay a fee to cover transport and tickets.

They’d hand the tickets out on the bus. It was great fun, the atmosphere on the coach full of fans was usually good, and the driver would play tapes of the band all the way there and back.

God I’m old.

I was thinking today how when I was first with my dh - 1995 onwards we'd go to the video rental shop to pick a video or latterly dvd to watch...seems bonkers now - and it's not that long ago...then went onto dvds by post on subscription with I think "easydvd" (like easyJet) and now we have Netflix and sky cinema etc! Crazy

You ran up and they took payment over the phone and posted them (or put them in an envelope for you to collect on the day, or you sent off a cheque, or you dropped in when shopping, or went to a concession that sold for them (record shop or tourist office etc depending what it was). It sounds way way more awkward than it seemed.

RANG up

Record shops would put up sign in the window saying tickets for X will go on sale at 9am on a certain day. And you would queue up (sometimes overnight) to get tickets.

We had a really cool independent record shop in our town who used to sell trips to concerts, including coach. I remember looking at the board in the window, like at a travel agent, so see who we would go to see. Happy days.

Loved booking teletext holidays we got a week in France for £'99 first time I had been abroad.

In Stoke there was a music shop called music mania and you had to go and queue there for theatre tickets, concert tickets, local tickets etc. 🤣

For my very first concert in 1985 I got the tickets via the fan club. Filled in a form and sent a cheque. I was only 12 and it was for Howard Jones. A few rows back, great seats. Wonderful. My lovely Dad took me along.

When my Mum got Neil Diamond tickets in 1984 she spents hours on the phone have to redial. I bought tickets from a record shop

No, you were smart.

50s Londoner. I used to go to the Box Office. I've even to Box Offices all over London, Hammersmith Odeon, Hammersmith Palais, Lyceum, Wembley Arena etc

Even=been

Wow I feel so old!!! We used to queue at our nearest record shop. So much fairer- you actually had a chance of getting tickets!! The system nowadays is so sad, a free for all for ticket touts

I’m s funnest night out- we went out on the piss then joined a queue to try and get tickets for u2 at 3 o clock in the morning. They sold out at 8 and people started running to get taxis/buses to try other places. Was like something from a film!