Buying concert tickets back in the day.

[CheeseCakeSunflowers]

I've been following some of the threads on buying Oasis tickets which has led to a chat with ds about buying tickets in pre internet days. Back in the 70's and 80's I went to a lot of local gigs where I either paid cash on the door or bought a paper ticket from the local record shop a few days before. I did go to some big events seeing Queen twice at Milton Keynes and Knebworth and The Who at Wembley but I've forgotten the procedure for getting tickets. Did we phone up or maybe post a cheque somewhere, anyone remember?

I used the local travel agent to get a coach trip to Glastonbury in the 80s, concert tickets were either from the record shop, on the door, by post or by phone. I bought the NME or Melody Maker to see what was on

back in the late 70's early 80's my then boyfriend would just go a queue somewhere. like you@CheeseCakeSunflowers we saw bands at wembley. Bowie at milton keynes. and lots of bands at places like Guildford Civic hall.

I remember going into the Apollo in Glasgow to buy tickets. Went to loads of gigs there in the 70s.

I sat on a wet grass verge overnight to get tickets to see Bros as a 14 year old.

My mum thought I was having my tea and sleepover at a friends house.

Queued up outside the theatre when I started going to concerts in 1979.
Remember my Ddad dropping me off on his way into work and being first in the queue for one.

Went to MK Bowl in the 80's but can't for the life of me remember how I got the ticket?

I've also been racking my brain trying to remember what we used to do. Living in a part of the country which doesn't have any big venues, I suppose we must have phoned up. Hearing about all the woes with Ticketmaster, I'm really glad I'm of an age where I no longer have any desire to go to a big name concert. Just one of many reasons why I'm glad I'm the age I am.

I’m pretty sure that my mum or sister went and queued at Wembley box office for our Live Aid tickets and possibly also the Queen Magic tour . The rest we did on the phone I think .

I got Oasis Knebworth tickets by sitting on hold on the house phone for 4 hours one Sunday morning, my mum was badgering me to hang up in case anyone else needed to call!
Record stores always had tickets too, or little independent record stores for raves etc.
I also queued at the Wembley box office for Oasis (year 2000)

I remember queuing for hours in the 90's for blur tickets at Rock City, queue was down the road and round the corner and then halfway down that road. Was worth it though! Brilliant gig!

I spent many happy hours going through the second hand CDs in Selectadisc buying loads of brilliant albums 😁

I used to go to a lot of gigs in the 90s. I don’t think I ever queued up overnight. We used to buy them from our local HMV on the way home from school - or use a parents credit card and buy them from ticket master or Star Green and wait for them to be delivered by post (or collect from the box office). I remember waiting in a phone queue for a while to get tickets sometimes but I’m fairly certain we were usually able to get tickets to most things we wanted.

We went to Glastonbury 94 and didn’t get tickets until 2 weeks before. I remember there being a 2 page spread in NME or Melody Maker of places that still had tickets available. Most of them had sold out when we rang but we ended up getting them from a place called Gothic Image which I think was in Glastonbury itself.

In 1983 my friend and I bought Duran Duran tickets for Wembley, via an ad in one of the music magazine’s( i think)

They weren’t great seats so we took a day off from our YTS job (might even have thrown a sickie) and trawled the Cambridge Circus/Leicester Square area of London that used to have lots of record/ticket shops that advertised details of concerts (and the available seats) posted outside- eg 2x Duran Duran Wembley Row F

We bought several pairs from different shops, each time getting closer and closer to the stage.
Had 4 pairs in the end.

My neighbour’s daughter had one pair and we sold the other two by placing a notice on the staff notice board.

Also remember queuing up at Wembley at silly oclock for Prince tickets -this would have been his 1986 tour. Remember phoning my friend from a call box, to say i'd got them and then being super smiley as i rode home on the tube knowing we were going to see Prince.

I don’t go to concerts much any more, and certainly not the really big gigs. Hence haven’t much experience of the ‘you are 35000th in the queue’ a PP mentioned.

There were always touts but the way it is now- reselling a £150 face value ticket for £6000, is ridiculous.

I remember spending hours on the phone to get oasis tickets for Knebworth in 1996. But mainly bought paper tickets from record shops in the 90s. Including for Glastonbury, when you could just decide a couple of weeks before to go. Got Nirvana tickets the week before from a record shop too (1991). In the 80s I remember calling up for Madonna and George Michael tickets. Sometimes we’d go by coach and those were advertised in the local paper. It was all much less stressful. I did fail to get tickets for Wham the Final over the phone though (very sad).

I can't recall it being stressful getting tickets and went to some big concerts, Bowie at MK, Queen at Knebworth, Springsteen at Wembley in the 80s.

I remember not long after me and DH got together in 2003 I saw a poster for Leeds festival and this would have been about 2 months before. I said to him shall we go. I called up that evening and got two tickets straightaway.

I went to see Tom Waits in the 80s and I think that was a bit harder to get tickets for as he didn't play many venues, I must have got them on the phone, I can remember being very glad I got them.

You would go to the venue early and buy them. Cash, cheque or later cc. Maybe an overnight queue for a name act like The Who or Stones. There wasn't the demand for tickets like there seems to be now. No big venues except Wembley arena or Earls Court then later NEC. Stadium gigs were fewer. You would send off a cheque and an sae and hope you were lucky. Local record shops had allocations of tickets and would charge a small booking fee. What triggered this madness was Ticketmaster who were able to promise higher money for bands but TM made money on the booking fees and took over box offices.

I'm loving hearing about all the bands people remember seeing. I think being in a physical queue for the tickets was all part of the experience, I can't imagine people reminiscing fondly about seating in a virtual queue in 40 years time.

I went to see Take That when they were huge and pre internet. I think you had to pay over the phone direct to Wembley Arena.

This. I used to call the number on the back of the NME mag. God I miss that mag!

Queen, Night at the Opera tour 1976. 2 x shows at Manchester Free Trade Hall. 6pm and 9pm. I went and got some school friends tickets for the 6pm show. Walked up bought 4 went to school. Mad there were 2 shows the same night. Just less demand for tickets. No internet or SM to drive people into a frenzy.

Back in 1999 my Mum went in to hmv on her lunch break to buy me Glastonbury tickets. They cost less than £100, I think around £70 or £80 including the coach fayre! That was the famous Bowie year.

I went to see lots of bands in my youth. For most small or medium sized gigs you would go to the venue box office or the local record store. We would also scour the music press and turn up on the night. I don't think there was the hype and demand there is now. The only person I remember it being difficult to get tickets for was James Brown.

Nothing was hyped up unless it was in NME or Melody Maker. Maybe the newspapers saying The Stones Could this be the last time? Of course the acts had agents who fed the press these stories. There were just less people buying tickets.

Phone, 10am on the dot

I phoned for Michael Jackson, U2, Simple Minds

All stadium gigs in the 80's