With summer only a few months away, the recent announcements of upcoming tours and festivals have been glorious. However, as lots of us have experienced, trying to beat the crowd when it comes to getting tickets before they all sell out can be pretty arduous. I was about to get a ticket to this year’s Lollapalooza after five years of trying, but to no avail.
After four attempts with my fingers, toes and entire bone structure crossed only led to a sold out screen, I picked up a few pointers from my fellow competitors. Here are a few tips that will lead you to the checkout page in no time.
1. Set a Reminder
Three times out of five I never even attempted to get a Lollapalooza ticket because I had forgotten the time they went on sale. There’s nothing worse than checking your feed after breakfast to see that almost all of your friends got tickets to the concert you’re going to now be watching at home via Instagram. Set an alarm for the show’s beginning sale time and keep your phone or computer on standby.
2. Multiple Tabs
With high traffic on the site, chances are you’ll be put on a loading screen for quite a while. You’d think the system would be set up to accept who is next in order of who got to the site first, but there’s actually a lot of factors that play in who will be selected next like internet connection, location and speed of your device. I’ve found that going to the purchase page on multiple devices with decent Wi-Fi was just as effective as opening the purchase page on multiple tabs to give you a higher chance of being selected to continue with the purchase process before all of the tickets are gone.
3. Have the funds to have the fun
Saving money if you think a show might get announced soon is always a good move. As summer approaches, I’m always sure to have a nice amount mula saved up for annual shows or if I just have a feeling something good is coming. One thing my endless history of concerts has confirmed is that if an album was just released, the artist is definitely going to tour. Make sure you have everything financially situated before you go to get the tickets. The amount of time you’d use by then looking for someone to borrow from or selling an organ on the black market is only less time you have to get yourself that ticket.
4. Make your purchase account early
With every ticket selling site requiring you to now sign up to make a purchase, it’s best to be early. Adding your name, address, and payment info isn’t the best thing to do 10 minutes after the sale time. It can be a pretty annoying process when the venue usually sells out in minutes. I ended up missing The 1975’s 2013 tour due to this, but was able to make the show this year by having a pre-made account to slip to checkout just in time, seeing as the show sold out in 10 minutes. The early bird gets the worm after all.
5. Check social media
With every artist on social media, the best way to know when a show is going to be in my city is via Facebook or Instagram. Those concert apps can’t beat a post directly from the artist. You can know the location, lineup, and date of the show all from following their page. It’s not like you aren’t already looking at memes and life hack videos on your timeline. A scroll before you leave out for the day, and you might see your favorite band’s going to be playing a local show soon.
