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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

I haven't felt so incredibly stupid in a long time.

Earlier today, I purchased two lawn tickets for tomorrow night's Van Halen show in Camden for a total of $57.99. I thought this was a good deal! Lawn tix were going for over $50 via Live Nation, and in the low to mid $40s each on StubHub as late as yesterday night. But as it turns out, I purchased these tickets about––oh, I don't know––five minutes too soon.

Immediately after my purchase, I rechecked StubHub and saw that tickets were going for around $15 a pop. WTF!? I just checked again and, well, take a look at that screengrab above. I am so irked right now!

I've been going through some financial difficulties of late which really made this is an "injury → insult" type situation, I feel. I pounced on the ~$28 tickets because I had no idea how the market for this concert was shaping up. On Monday, there were some lawns on StubHub in the $30s but then they went up––like I stated earlier––by an average of ~$10 last night. It felt like the right decision to go ahead and grab them since––using the logic I've gleaned from seeing dozens and dozens of rock shows over the years––at worst, I'd have overpaid by a few bucks or so.

I realize what a boring blog post this is, and who cares about getting hosed out of ~$40, but it's really the principle of the matter. Never in my life have I felt like a less informed consumer. I felt like I had checked all the appropriate outlets and that getting these tickets for almost half of face value was a really good deal. I don't think I've ever paid 3-4x market value for anything, and it's not a good feeling.

Another query raised by this debacle is: Jesus Christ, there is no demand for this concert! Is it gonna suck? It would blow if the concert was an under-attended, lackluster affair. I'm OK with the performance being a trainwreck so long as the crowd is having a good time. But these arena/amphitheater shows are tricky. They're all about energy. And by the looks of it, they'll be paying fans to get inside the building when it's all said and done.

What I am trying to say is that yes I will be sneaking in 12-16oz of vodka in a 'sealed' water bottle. Who's the fool now???

UPDATE: I figured out why dirt cheap tickets started popping up at random on StubHub. VH/Live Nation offered fans complimentary lawn tix in addition to a full refund for the canceled Hershey Park gig earlier in the week. They (the smart ones) obviously put these up at any $$ amount. It was basically free money.

I will say that the show was probably way more packed than it would have been otherwise because of this. DLR even noted that it was a huge crowd when they took the stage. I'm still P.O.'d I didn't get tickets for $5.90 (the lowest I saw them at), but at least I know it was just bad timing and not a tactical error on my part!