I want to get some tickets to a couple of the Van Halen shows. Las Vegas goes on sale on 4/3/04 according to the VH site.

Ticket master does not have this up yet. But I noticed for the dates they have listed there is an pre- ale date.

http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/772490

When I click for info it says-

Internet Presale Info

So do you have to be an AOL member to get these? Anyone ever done this for another show?

Any details would be cool

more than likely you probably just need the password (it'll probably pop up on the message boards sometime soon).

Most of the time they don't cross check to make sure you are a member.

But you have to remember only a small % of tickets usually get released for "presales".
I've ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS gotten better tickets at the regular onsale or 24-48 hours before curtain time (including front 5 rows MOST of the time).

If you think it's a show that is going to "sell out QUICK" and you just want tickets, any tickets in the house, then you can use the presale to better your odds of getting any tickets.

ok what about advice about how to get teh best shot at good tickets?

I want Las Vegas and Los Angeles

It really has become an "art" to get great seats.

If you find out which ticketmaster outlets have access that could help (eg. here in Albany about 3 hours north of NYC we have access to some shows, and sometimes they don't for the initial onsale).
If you are decent amount away from the venue and there isn't another big show local to you, you can be first in line at a local outlet. (but even if 5 people show up, and they have a "lottery" for your spot it line it can suck).

You can also try calling Ticketmaster's OTHER THAN the local phone number. (eg. for the LA show, call the Arizona ticketmaster phone number or something; just make sure there isn't a big show going onsale at that number at that time).

With that said, lately (last 2-5 years) I've been buying mostly online.
If you have a fast connection you can luck out. Choose "best available", and here is one key.
If you DON'T LIKE what you are offered DON'T BUY THEM. Many people will just buy whatever pops up first, and you might want to if you like the seats.
But about 95% of the time I usually Don't buy what is offered at first, and then get offered better seats when I keep searching.

Sometimes I strike out, and end up getting worse, and decide not to buy on the day they go onsale.

What I do in this case is I keep checking Ticketmaster every few days. Sometimes you'll get great seats later in the day on the onsale or the day or two after (after rejected orders get cleared up). BUt over time I've found the best chance for GREAT SEATS is 0-48 hours before the show.
They release "vip holds" and "technical release tickets" (technical releases are tickets that they don't sell a block of tickets right on the side of stage because they don't know which seats will be BLOCKED by speakers and stage setup untill it's actually setup the day or two before the show).
Getting tickets this way has really paid off for me. The only thing is you have to have the time, the few seconds it takes, to keep checking Ticketmaster frequently.

I've also found out early am (8am-11am) the day off and the day before are great times.

Ofcourse, you have to be able to take the chance of waiting that long for tickets too! Sometimes I've bought "ok seats" and upgraded to GREAT seats by this route, and just sold the ok tickets outside the venue.

Which brings me to the final method.
Usually you can get good seats to even SOLD OUT shows for BELOW COST outside the venue the night of the show. I've been to shows that were SOLD OUT, and had been selling for 5x-10x face on EBAY, and saw the same equivalent tickets for about 75% of FACE VALUE outside the venue ALL THE TIME!

So the actual best method is really a personal choice/gamble.
you can try multiple methods with multiple people if you have the time.

(another slightly more sleazy way, is to check other onsales, when they go onsale, if you get lucky once or twice with a few FRONT FLOOR TICKETS, you can Ebay them, and just use all the profit to buy equivalent ones to your show).

With all that said, I've gone to 100's of shows in small theaters to big stadiums over the last few years and can't remember a time where I sat more than 10 rows back.

I've been front row for Pearl Jam, Guster, Dave Matthews, Stone Temple Pilots, Red HOt Chili Peppers, Toby Keith, Barenaked Ladies, Tool, and in the first few rows for many many others.

also there will PROBABLY be a lot of "holdbacks" for the Las Vegas show since it's at Mandalay.
They'll have quite a few for VIPs and high rollers.

SO it's just a matter of right timing for getting a pair that goes unwanted/unclaimed when it gets released back to the general pool.

With the casinos I'd imagine it being MUCH closer to curtain time on the day of the show before they decide the high roller doesn't need the tickets. (maybe 1 hour before?), hang out by the box office even if you have ok tickets the night of the show, and you might score those GREAT seats.

On the spur of the moment last time in Las Vegas (I flew out to meet my dad, but got there the evening before him) I was in MGM and saw Carrot Top was there and it was "sold out".
I looked at my watch and it was about 20 minutes before the show.
I walked in jeans and a t-shirt and back-pack asked for a ticket.
Got in the first batch of booths center stage, with a bunch of VIPS that kept ordering drinks for everyone around us!!!

Waiting in line for tickets, Ick I would never do that. My past concert experience here is what I bagged during the first couple public sales over the internet the last 2 years through ticketmaster.com

Rush 1st Row
Rush 3rd Row
Rush 6th Row
Blue man group 6th Row
Blue man group 2nd Row


I just get to the ticket page and keep on hitting refresh until the ticket section comes up then I order my tickets.

It also helps to have buddies trying to get tickets. I usually call my friend on the phone (We both have broadband) and we try to get tickets the first person to get good seats is the person that buys them.

Log in to your account on Ticketmaster BEFORE the tickets go on sale because the servers tend to slow down when getting hit hard.

Everything briank said plus what Lateralus said about having a friend log on at the same time. Those are methods I have used the last several years to score great seats. I have literally become spoiled in that if I am further than 10 rows back I get bummed out (for years I could only dream of being in the first 10 rows!). Pre-sales used to be a cool thing (got 2nd row for Kiss and 5th for the RHCP/Foo Fighters in 2000) but I have noticed that usually the best seats are not released during that time. If you can't get good seats during the first minutes of the initial on sale then I would advise waiting until the days leading up to the show.

I got 4 in the "first 20 rows" off presales from the VanHalen website. They were $195 each but come with laminated access pass and a free shirt.

These were pretty tough though. The site just keep timing out. It took about an hour to get through.

I have the confirmation but still no indication of where the seats are

So I sent an email asking but may just have to wait and see.

I just got pit tickets for Incubus through a presale. But it wasn't the typical one password for everyone deal. You had to log in to their site with their new cd, and got a unique password e-mailed to you.

It still didn't stop people from stealing them, as my password was used before I tried it, but I e-mailed them and got a new one and still got the tickets I wanted so it was all good. Hopefully they cancelled orders of people that had used other's passwords.

how much does everyone pay for great seats? I paid $204 with all charges to be in the 217 section for Prince. If I wanted floor seats how much would it set me back?

Like Briank I have scored all my best tickets within 24 hours of a show. Definitely use online Ticketmaster and just keep checking. However, there are times TM pulls the tickets off line...so at least check a day before and on and on and on. This also works well with sporting events as well.

Again as B said...don't take the 1st ones that show up...unless they are exactly what you want. Many times better seats show up by looking again.

Try the presale and if nothing comes up that you want just wait as described already. Passwords I thhought for VH were posted on their web site.

Lateralus...I do not think you can keep hitting refresh anymore. I always have to go back to the main page for the last year I think.

What ever the price of the tickets are for that show plus TM fees.

anyone ever buy tickets through TM with an AMEX gold card? I heard that they buy up blocks of seats for some events for their cardholders.

I have not bought tickets since March, and I could still do it then; I'll guess I'll find out when I buy my Garbage tickets.

I paid $176 total for two 6th row tickets to Prince. I kept checking TM and 48 hours before the show the 6th, 7th, and 8th rows on one side of the stage were made available.

You are going to the American Idol concert?

As for March , I would have said earlier than that. I will try it out sometime this week...maybe I was just doing it wrong last time.

Yesterday I checked for Madonna tickets for todays show just to see what was available (I would never actually go). They had 3rd row, almost center. She wants $300 a ticket !!!!! Holy Sh**

briank...thanks for your post. Interesting techniques.

I'm glad they haven't opted for the pay more get more method here in Europe. But I guess as the dollar/euro signs start popping up in their greedy eyes it will soon become reality.

Concerts will lose their novelty if this goes on. Think about the people who stand outside the venue all night to obtain a ticket, and sleep outside the venue to get the best spot in the house, and they're rewarded with that, because they give a sh*t, not because they've got more money to spread around.

I beleive it's down to the bands and their managers, I don't beleive we'll ever see Metallica, Radiohead or such bands degrading themselves in that way, say what you will about these bands, maybe even their business antics, but they really do care about their loyal fans.
The Metclub, yes I am a member, costs me money, I get enough in return for what I paid for, and guess what, to run the Metclub it costs the members of Metallica $200.000 a year. I'm well aware that's small change to them, but they're not forced to do so.

So when is Ticketbasterd starting their "good seat" auctions? What a bunch of BS that is.

This happened for Wednesday's RUSH show in Irvine. All of a sudden the ticket page wouldn't come up because they pulled it.
From what we heard Irvine/Verizon Wireless Amp has one big broker that buys all the tickets and hordes them so releases were tough. We went and stood in line at venue around 4 and checked the ticket booth for releases for the 7:30 show. Nothing was coming up so we went to eat and came back around 30 minutes later and we were about 15th in line. Suddenly they released 4 loge tickets and that was it. Everyone was stuck buying either crappy Terrace 13 seats fo $70 + or decent Lawns for $40.

We got Lawns and they were good.

Yup...that can happen. That's why it's good to check a bit (day or 2) before instead of the last minute. It's not perfect but it usually works out more than not. Better than paying scalper prices.

Well we were checking until TM pulled the RUSH ticket page on the day of the show.

For BJORK last year at the Hollywood Bowl TM released kickass box seats a week or 2 before the show and almost everyone in our section got their tix the week before. We all thought were oughta luck until that time.