5 Ways to score concert tickets

By Melissa Green

For music fans, seeing your favorite artist live can go down in history as the best day ever. Adversely, watching your coveted concert sell out in minutes can turn into the worst heartbreak of your life. Unfortunately, the bigger the artist, the harder it can be to get tickets. According to Rolling Stone, 10 million people tried to purchase tickets to see Adele, and there were only 100,000 available!

The good news is there are ways to improve your chances on how to get concert tickets and making memories that can last a lifetime. Consider these five tips the next time your favorite artist is in town.

Buying tickets presale is a great way to make sure you’re not left disappointed. Concert venues and ticket merchants often have a presale period where they give access to specific groups of people before the general public has the opportunity to buy tickets. If you know your concert is going to sell out, presale is your new best friend.

There are a few ways to get access to the coveted presale group:

• Join a fan club. As cheesy as a fan club might sound, artists often offer presale access as a perk. You’ll also be the first to know when concert dates are announced.
• Check your credit card perks. Concert venues and ticket merchants often partner with credit card companies to offer presale benefits to their cardholders.
• Google it. Every venue is different, so it may take a little research to find out what you need to do to become a presale VIP.

In the ticket-buying game, timing is everything. Save yourself time at checkout by creating your account in advance. By the time you create a password, enter your credit card information, pick a unique username, and prove you’re not a robot, you may be too late.

Pro tip: Make sure your Wi-Fi connection is secure, and your personal information protected.

If you’re planning to rock out with a few friends, it’s important to make sure everyone is aware of the ticket-buying procedure. For large groups, it may be difficult to sit together: the site might think you’re a bot if you try to buy 10 or more tickets at a time. To save time, scout out your seats in advance — it might be easier to sit in twos instead of as a larger group.

The day tickets go on sale, it’s important to have reliable Wi-Fi so nothing is standing in your way of an epic time. Log in to the account you created in advance, at least 15 minutes before the sale is scheduled to start. There’s strength in numbers, so have your concert buddies on different devices purchasing tickets as well. You can resell the tickets you don’t use online; just make sure you’re using a verifiable site.

If you’re still left without a ticket to a sold-out show, there are usually people reselling tickets all over the internet. It’s extremely important to make sure you’re shopping from a credible source. There are countless stories of people buying fake tickets, or being scammed out of their hard earned money. Shop verifiable marketplaces. The random guy outside the show is not a credible sales person. Try reputable sites like Ticketmaster or StubHub that guarantee your purchase. You may end up paying more than face value, but sometimes you get lucky. Shop around.

Even if you don’t get to buy the tickets you wanted, there are other ways to see your favorite artists live. Consider taking a road trip if there are seats available in a nearby town. Alternatively, you can tune into your local radio station (yes, they still exist) as they may be running contests and giveaways. Buying tickets can be costly, so be sure to set a budget and stick to it. You don’t want to regret overspending.

If you're a Citizens credit or debit card holder, you can take advantage of the Citizens Bank Live perks at these iconic Boston venues:

• Brighton Music Hall presented by Citizens,
• Paradise Rock Club presented by Citizen,
• Orpheum Theatre presented by Citizens, and
• Citizens Bank Opera House (formerly known as the Boston Opera House)

The benefits include access to presales, skip-the-line perks, and more to come. See you there!