The 2026 Guide To Buying Concert Tickets: Navigating Ticketmaster, presales and resales. (Introduction)

 ***NEVER BUY TICKETS OFF THE FIRST GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS*** 

I just had to put that first and I will explain why in a future chapter. 

NO AI WAS USED IN CRAFTING ANY OF THIS TEXT

This is an introduction / pre introduction to a book project I abandoned last fall. 

This started out as a collaborate commercial endeavor late last year. The gaps were going to be filled in by an English major at Berkeley with a little assistance from her sister. They both still fight and usually win the Ticketmaster wars for the major touring acts who instantly sell out. We're talking Ariana Grande and BTS. This is my weakest point as I no longer engage in that activity, and also would take it as a personal failure if I charged someone "less than the cost of a Ticketmaster service fee" and the customer still didn't get Metallica Sphere tickets.

Unfortunately she was pulled off the project by her mother who said "I will just help," and that help of course never materialized. Turns out I unwittingly waded into family drama I want no part of. I was going to advance her a minimum of $1000 for her input, likely a few hours of work and to maybe assist with some of the administrative details that don't involve content creation. My former roommate also pointed out she would get college credit too. 

So I am just going to share everything I know about obtaining tickets from years of attending hundreds of concerts a year and thousands since I saw Journey and Bryan Adams at the Forum in 1983. Will also dig a bit into my former career as a ticket broker and how that experience might help you find the best deals and not get scalped.  But this is not a resale guide. As a matter of fact I recommend never buying more tickets than you will personally use and donate any you're not using to friends or VetTix. 

The ticket sphere is evolving, and that process is speeding up with new legislation is being passed and proposed. In my opinion, no law can compensate for being an educated and disciplined consumer. Seems people will spend hours researching a toaster yet over and over again I see accounts of people putting a grand worth of concert tickets on the credit card and then wonder what is they just bought and who they bought it from. I hope this guide will help inform you when making purchasing decisions. 

For anyone with interest in ticketing as a whole, I would recommend the book Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped by Dean Budnik and Josh Baron. It's 15 years old now but still very relevant today. 

If you see any value in what I post, please consider donating a few bucks to fund any future endeavors. I was originally going to try to price under $10 but since it's lacking the most valuable data such as buying in the heat of the onsale I am not sure it's worth that much in it's present form. I will add the donation link once more substantive data is posted. 

I am always catastrophizing and I think the Iran War and fuel costs will seriously going to disrupt live events. So I get the feeling this could be a little too late which so any peak value may have passed. I had actually set a deadline of January 18 but it unraveled around Christmas. 

But always remember, ***NEVER BUY TICKETS OFF THE FIRST GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS***

I will be going into this more in the near future and also when and how to buy, how to figure out if you are buying from the right place, why you should never buy off social media, how to get the best prices, the difference between Ticketmaster Resale and Verified Resale and anything else I think of which could be of use.  I will do my best to help you in high demand onsales but I always prefer to buy last minute at the lowest possible price as queues and waiting rooms are a waste of my time. 

I will do my best to make the pleasing on the eyes and perhaps record and film faceless content in the near future but I am a slow learner with raging ADHD and just typing away is what I am best at. I also included my thoughts on the phenomenon of blue dot fever afflicting the concert industry. 

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