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?

As people have said coach companies ran concert coaches. Left your town, went to the venue and brought you back. Ticket included. Saw Rod Stewart and Pink Floyd at Stafford that way. All standing gigs.

Saw a few concerts at (old) Wembley back in the 80s. Really can’t remember how we brought them. I imagine we sent off a cheque to get them. I don’t recall it being a lottery (apart from maybe Live Aid) - you assumed if you applied you got a ticket.

Ah, I remember going to Virgin Records in Bristol and buying tickets for Glastonbury for £25. (1989).

Yes me too!

You certainly didn't get to the ticket office and find they had whacked the price up more than two fold because of demand.

I bought most gig tickets at Our Price in Slough.

Saw Oasis at Earl’s Court & Knebworth, can’t recall how I bought the tickets but don’t remember it being difficult.

I think it has become more difficult since going to gigs became popular with people who like to buy tickets then chat through the whole thing 😂, but maybe I’m just of an age where we went to pay attention to what the artist was doing.

I think I queued at the venue in the 90s. Smaller London venues like the Astoria or Brixton Academy.

I also remember buying a ticket to see Pulp from a tout (listed in the back of the NME I think) and being horrified that it cost £35!! Face price was about £10. Those were the days…

I was the person on the other end of the phone.

the phone lines opened at either 9am or 10am but we began to serve the queue an hour before.

Agents were given an allocation, usually they were sold via local record shops and coach companies. Ticketmaster was just starting to become a thing but venues controlled the majority of ticket sales.

we posted tickets out but standing tickets either had to be sent recorded delivery or you could collect on the door.

I think I bought the odd ticket at Virgin Megastore - I'd totally forgotten about that until someone posted about it online somewhere recently.

Or waiting by the phone to order from Ticketmaster. I remember doing that for Nirvana's tour... only Kurt Cobain killed himself before it happened 😔. I sold 3 of the tickets a year or so later as mementos to fans and kept one which I later lost.

Otherwise for small gigs we tended to just turn up, but now and then they would sell out before we got to the front.

I rang the NEC in Birmingham enough to recognise some of the box office staff and we would talk whilst the booking was being made. 2 x tickets for ?, what have you got? Talk about floor or side, this block or that. Thanks. Confirmed. Will be in the post. Saw a lot of big names that way. Whitney, Don Henley, Tina Turner and a lot of rock acts.

Those concerts were before my time but yes, there were some patrons who were regulars.

Ring. And get the engaged tone. And ring and ring and ring and ring.
I saw Pink Floyd at Wembley.

I think you used to queue up in person at the venue or record shop or on the phone line.
People now have much more disposable income. People think they don’t, but in general most do.
People also want to go to big gigs for insta and showing off online. Before social media you went and just verbally told people about it. Now it’s all splashed online with photos etc to brag or make others envious / think your great.

Same. Mid 90s?

I'd just go to the box office at Wembley or Hammersmith apollo etc. I live in London, so it was simple, no booking fee either as I went in person. I miss those days 😞

My local newsagent sold tickets for concerts and gigs and even for theatre shows in London. There was a little record shop in town that sold tickets for local and national concerts and gigs. There was also a tourist information shop and a separate tourist information kiosk where you could buy national and local tickets for concerts and the theatre anywhere in the country and for the local arts venues and theatres. It was a lot easier, a lot cheaper and much more democratic. Nowadays it's a rip-pff and too much stress.

Oh, and at my local arts centre you could just turn up and buy tickets on the door. Now you have to book ahead, even for the cinema.

I think the real issue now is that gigs and festivals are not just a gig that music fans go to, they are an 'event' that everyone wants to go to because of 'fomo'. I noticed a big change around the mid 00's when I would go to festivals and instead of it being me and a few friends really into bands going, it was everyone and their cousin from our town going for a piss up. And Ticketmaster are rubbing their hands together.

Spoke about this with my eldest today too. For big gigs we used to all book with whoever’s parent had a visa card or whatever it was 🤣

Grew up in London, if we saw a gig we would just pay on the door. Or someone had a ticket spare and you’d give them the cash. Or there was the gig listings in the paper and you’d call up.

I remember for the theatre we would call a booking agent with those little business cards that had cheaper offers on them. Or the ticket offices in central.

Didn't go to many as a teenager living in a small town without much in the way of spare cash, but I know the independent record shop sold tickets, or you could phone up to book coach trips to gigs.
At university there were lots of bands on their first hit single doing campus tours. I think we mostly paid on the night, and got front row by virtue of being punctual/not filling up my weak bladder with Union Bar lager beforehand.

Yep…. Phone phone and phone again until you get through, and speak to a real person! We didn’t have a redial button on our phone so I had to literally dial the number… it was stressful but at least it didn’t kick you out! Or I hate the thing now where you get put in a waiting room and then randomly allocated a place in the queue, same as someone who joined just before… that’s not fair! I want commitment people, commitment!!!

I queued over night for U2 tickets at the secc in Glasgow in the 90's

Yes, the people who spend the entire time going back and forth to the bar and miss most of the band/comedian. They spend hundreds of pounds on tickets and then don't watch anything.

I remember spending hours redialling for Kylie, early 2000s maybe. Paid with a card and tickets were posted.

This thread’s reminded me about local coach firms offering tickets and travel packages! Calling up spontaneously having seen an ad in the Sunday paper, forgot that too. And the huge local HMV that had a ticket desk.

The first show I bought online was Take That when they reformed. But from the venue directly, not Ticketmaster.

Merch was not a big thing. Maybe a tour programme(do they even exist now?!), a poster or a knock off t shirt from a street seller after the gig but never the pricy official stuff. Good times!

Standing in line at the ticket booth the day tickets went on sale. For a big show getting there super early in the morning.

The absolute biggest concert of my childhood was Michael Jackson. For that one they held a lottery. You submitted your entry in the mail. If your name was drawn you got to buy 4 tickets. I remember my parents won and I didn’t get to go because I was at scout camp that week and they wouldn’t let me cancel.