Much ink has been spilled over how impossible or exclusive buying tickets for events seems nowadays. As somebody who has gone to a bunch of music, comedy, and theatre events in just the past two years, I think there is a way to do it that is stress-free, low-cost, and even enjoyable. From my experience, these are your best practices for finding out about events, getting the best tickets, and not cheating yourself out of the best option.

As a note, I’ll be talking about Ticketmaster a lot. Of course that is not the only resource for tickets. Seeing as the FTC hasn’t yet burst the Ticketmaster monopoly, we are stuck with them for the foreseeable future.

1.     Sign Up for Mailing Lists

This is by far the easiest and simplest way to get tickets for the people you want to see. It might seem a little arduous, but the minute I think I might want to see an artist in concert, I search to see if they have a website and enter in my email. Also: their emails can be a little annoying, but the websites Bandsintown and Seated are another good resource for this. You click on which artists you are interested in, and then if they announce a show near you, you get an email notification. That way, you don’t have to rely on an artist’s mailing list or social media pages to let you know about their tour dates.

2.     Presale IS the Sale

This might seem like an afterthought to seasoned Gen-Z ticket buyers, but I’m not sure about the awareness among the wider public. I rarely see a high-demand event that isn’t either sold out or only resale tickets by the general on-sale date. If you want to go, do the presale. I know this brings up the pain of presale codes, and there’s no easy trick for finding them, but checking the social media of the artist AND the venue, as well as any emails you receive from either source, usually gets you there.

3.     Get in 30 minutes early

This one is non-negotiable: get in the digital line early. Ticketmaster likes to play a lot of tricks and make things difficult. They will ask you once in a while to verify your phone number with a text, or your email. And sometimes they will ask you this while you are about to exit the line and buy tickets. As a good rule, log in to Ticketmaster (or whatever ticket service you’re using) at least 30 minutes early, with the expectation that something will go wrong (because, at some point, it will). Also—never check out as a guest, always have an account. They’ll have your credit card information saved so the purchase can go through as fast as possible.

4.     My Secret Trick

This is a trick not many people may know about. If you find yourself trying to buy 2 tickets in a section with only 3 tickets left, you might get a message that says “You can’t leave a single seat open.” How do you solve this? Simply open an incognito tab and click on the single seat: the site you’re using will interpret that as a purchase (even though it hasn’t fully gone through). Then refresh and use the main tab to purchase however many seats you want. I’ve used this mostly for theatre events, since as you can imagine it is hard to do if you are in a more high-pressure ticket buying situation (like for a concert).

5.     Know Your Limits

Before you even enter the queue, make a point to set a price limit—how much are you willing to pay to see this artist? I often see articles online bemoaning the lack of affordable ticket options. I certainly agree that they have gotten out of hand, and that Ticketmaster is part of the problem, but I think it should come with an asterisk: that excessive pricing is a problem, largely, for big-name artists.

A big part of it is Dynamic Pricing. Basically, it gives the artist the ability to upcharge into infinity depending on how many people are requesting tickets (for instance, Dynamic Pricing might take a $50 ticket and, by the time you get to the buying stage, it’s $300 from the high demand). I was sad to find out that Sabrina Carpenter was using Dynamic Pricing on all her tour dates, so I didn’t bother trying to go. Other artists like Bruce Springsteen and Oasis have used it, with similar backlash.

I won’t speak for anyone else, but I won’t buy tickets to an event if I learn it has Dynamic Pricing. I know they’ll just be jamming the price up to whatever they want, and admittedly I feel like I’m contributing to that if I buy a ticket. This is why I also never buy resale. Of course, each person has their own limits, and that includes ticket pricing types. But what I find is, on a student budget, Dynamic Pricing and resale is not in my best interest.

Final Thoughts

I paid $23 to see the great chamber pop artist Weyes Blood, $27 for the rock band Geese, and $30 for my favorite group, The Lemon Twigs. If you dig beyond who is playing at TD Garden or the XL Center (and I love those artists too!), you can find relatively cheap tickets in intimate venues.

If you’re looking for events in the Boston area, I’d recommend checking out Roadrunner, Paradise Rock Club, and the Crystal Ballroom for more options. (And if you’re into comedy, look at The Wilbur.) And right here in Worcester, we have The Palladium. Since they are independent venues (albeit still using Ticketmaster), you can see a list of all the events they have coming up. 

All this to say, I don’t think ticket buying is as impossible as people make it out to be. If you set your standards, get there early, and pick quickly, you’ll get whatever tickets your heart desires. That is, until your next favorite artist announces a tour.