Webmaster Planned Attendance Schedule (subject to change! European dates possible...)
On the first leg of the Vapor Trails tour 2 years ago I got totally hosed as far as getting tickets to the shows I wanted to attend
on the online on-sale dates. Either the tickets were totally aweful and I declined them, or as was the case most times, I didn't even
get assigned a seat even though I was online at the exact moment the tix went on sale. "Sorry, the tickets
you have requested or the quantity requested is not available...." blah-blah-blah. Today was a little bit
different. Thank god. Which makes me think a little bit.
I got two tickets for the Kansas show in row N of section 2. That's about 15 rows back. It's a bit off to the side
for my liking on Geddy's side, but what the heck. At least it's pretty close. I got up at 6 a.m. to
get in to work to use the fast computer connection and also to make up for the two hour time difference.
10 a.m. MO time is 8 a.m. CA time don't you know. So that wasn't too bad. On these pre-sale days,
I wish the band only knew how many people from across the country sacrifice breakfast and risk getting
fired using the work computer to buy Rush tickets. 1001-001-SOS. It's going to send the country into a recession and the
GDP number is going to be down for six months because of lost productivity.
Then since I had some luck with the Bonner show, I decided to go ahead and try for some tickets for the
home town show in San Diego which was on presale 10 a.m. local time. Same drill...except I would classify the tickets as being pretty damn good. Section
102 row G. Those are good dead center section seats, probably about 30 rows back, but for this venue
that's a great view. So I bought them either to use, to sell to a friend in need or if better ones come along
at some point put them up for sale right here at cost. But it was an improvement over the Bonner seats. A BIG
improvement. Therein lies the problem. I think.
Which got me to wondering. This was NOT sold through TICKETFUCKERBASTARDS.COM. I'm done with those idiots.
On the receipt it says contact musictoday.com or sro-anthem.com email addresses for problems. On the presale you had to type in your email address. I'm wondering what that is for. Maybe
for confirmation? Transaction record in case something goes wrong? But being a thinking kind of Working Man, I'm wondering maybe if typing that email address
had something else associated with it. Something more than just a surface meaning. That's what
the band is all about, right? Sometimes. Sometimes not.
Like, maybe there is some sort of "tag" that goes along with your email address. Preferred fan? Tickets assigned
in some type of geographical order or preference? In other words, I might have been a lower priority for the Bonner, KS tickets and
got that stage-right seat. But I got a seat because I was tagged a Preferred Email Address and might have been
higher on the list than other people? Then I buy tickets for my local show
and come up with center section tickets. See, the theory isn't sound in this regard because I had a friend in St. Louis
also online at the moment the tickets went on sale, and she got completely skunked. Zero. So that might eliminate the
geographical preference thingy, but not a Preferred Email Address matchup. But if you look at my success with
the San Diego show, Preferred Email plus Preferred Geography Equals Good Tickets. Maybe I'm just taking it
too far and it's all random. But I refuse to believe that.
And then the actual speed in which the tickets were dispensed and then disappeared was utterly amazing. Like
there were very few tickets for this presale event, and maybe even pre-assigned by section? I had someone else here in the
office helping me try to get tickets. I got the center section and yelled out that I got them and not two seconds
later the other person here got skunked. Using a different email address. Zero. Got the error message. "The number of tickets you have requested
is not available...." That's kind of a hard fact to ignore.
Has anyone else experienced delusions of grandeur such as I, or is this just all my imagination running wild
like some dream, tickets swept away like voices in a hurricane or washed away like footprints in the rain? Is it a mistaken
case of pre-determination?
Or maybe it's just that I got lucky.
- jman2112
June 12: Maryland Heights, Mo. (UMB Bank Pavilion)
June 13: Bonner Springs, Kan. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
July 6: Hollywood, Calif. (Hollywood Bowl)
July 7: Chula Vista, Calif. (Coors Amphitheater)
July 14: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
July 16: Phoenix (Cricket Pavilion)
July 17: Las Vegas (MGM Grand Garden Arena)