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Again, like always, we are all crazy about getting tickets to the Rolling Stones concerts. We all want front row, cheap, and may be backstage passes... Well, to be honest, tickets to the large venues should not be too much of a problem. When 50,000 or so people gather, there is always plenty that would rather sell their ticket at a good price.
Sprint is the main sponsor of the 1997 Stones tour in America. They added some 5 Million US dollars into the tour budget, making it possible for the Stones to roll out their great tour! In return, they get easy and advance access to ticket sales. They have access to many good tickets. By switching from AT&T or MCI into Sprint telephone services, they are giving you good tickets.
Sprint is selling tickets in advance of Ticketmaster in the USA. See the exact dates of the tour list, of Ticketmaster sales, and when sales through Sprint are available. Sprint normally have about one week to take old and new customers into ticket purchasing before Ticketmaster run the sales all alone. By then half of the Stadium may have gone through Sprint. THe number to call is 1 (888)-325-5868. The number is for the "Sprint Presents the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babyon Line." You have to wait throught the options to get to an operator. (May take a few tries). Once you get an operator you must give your Sprint account number or convert your long distance telephone calls to Sprint. Once completed you will be transfered to a special ticketmaster number to order tickets. PS. The phone number for the Sprint offer is advertised as 1-888-FALL-TOUR. In America, they have letters on each key of the phone to ease remembering numbers. The "R" is just a dummy filler; the significant phone number is actually 1-888-FALL-TOU, equal to the one above...
Also, there is a Sprint Stones web page.
See the Message from Sprint, as sent out by Sprint, to customers and interested Stones fans!
PS. Not everyone is totally amazed by the way Sprint is getting payback for their sponsor money. See the Boycott Sprint web page. But it seems most people get what they need!
Ticketmaster
The best way of getting tickets next to the Sprint option),
is to buy them from Ticketmaster.
With a credit card in your hand, you can call from anywhere in the world to
Ticketmaster USA, to order your tickets. They will hold your tickets for you,
to be picket up at the day of the concert. You don’t have to call
Ticketmaster Chicago to get tickets for Chicago. Some times other offices
are easier to access, but it seems you need to call within the same area, not
really possible to call country-wide anymore...
See the
Live Daily
web page on the Stones Tour, about when tickets go on sale etc.
These are some Ticketmaster phone numbers:
The first tickets went on sale on Aug. 23. Chicago Sept. 23 sold out in no time, and the 25th went on sale. Other venues are going on sale too these days. Call Ticketmaster, or check their web pages:
Once a show is sold out, the scalpers (touts) are getting god money for
tickets from people in panic. Remember, there are usually plenty of tickets
in circulation. Closer to the day of the concert, prices will normally drop.
Also, when the stage is ready and built, they often sell some extra,
front row tickets, on the day of the concert, as they know about left space.
Ticketmaster on good and bad seats sales:
Seating releases a caused by a couple of factors. One is that during an on
sale, lots of people are calling and at ticket outlets and making a
decision about whether to buy seats in a particular location. If they
decide not to buy them, the seats become available on the system again.
This can make a better set of seats available a few minutes after your
first check.
Another thing is declined credit cards. In most cases, the bank responds
within minutes after the sale. If the bank declines the credit card,
usually a customer service rep gets a report and tries to contact the
customer to get another card number. If the customer has no other card, the
seats are released. In this case, the release happens several hours after
the initial sale. This can make better seats available hours after your
first check.
Yet another thing is that the box office may release sections or rows of
seats later in the day. One variation of this happened on Bruce
Springsteen's 1985 tour. A Springsteen representative had the box office
place a large number of rows in various different holds before the show
went on sale. As the seat selection in the venue reached the rear sections,
he'd direct the box office to release the next batch of holds and available
seats would jump down to the front of the stage again. They'd do this in
about five waves per show. What it accomplished was that the first few
people in line got great seats, then the 30th or so people got great seats
again, then the 50th, then the 80th and so on.
Sometimes an artist or venue will also decide to just release extra seats
after the main rush of sales is over. This is done mainly to trip up
scalpers who concentrate on the first hour or so. The thinking is that by
dumping seats later, more real fans will get them. This can make better
seats available hours and even days after your first check.
With stadium shows, there are almost always seat releases in the days and
weeks before the show as well. The reason for this is that when they put
the show on sale, they are working mostly with a drawing of how the stage
will be set up and estimates of what seats will be blocked by staging and
light towers and such. As the actual show hits the road, many questions are
answered about what will actually be blocked. This can free up entire
sections.
Then, as the stage is actually being built in the venue, they can usually
release even more seats once they know exactly how everything fits.
Winnipeg tickets
The Winnipeg tickets are not sold by Ticketmaster, but through
Select-A-Seat, phone number (204) 780-7328.
Complete travel packages
Dash Tours, Canada: Specialist in travel to Canadian dates and
Seattle. Call 1-306-352-2222 or 1-800-265-0000.
Web-site: Dash Tours.
Event Travel: UK concert traveller cooperating with IORR.
See separate info. Due out as soon as the MSG dates in New York are
made official, hopefully within one week!
Excite Travel: USA based internet travel agency
who also do a lottery of free Stones tickets!
Web-site:
Excite Travel.
Ticket agencies
Front Row Center (LA area tickets): Phone: 310 478-0848.
Web-site: Front Row Center.
Ticket Plus: Phone: (860) 875-0060. Fax: (860) 875-6238.
Web-site: Tickets Plus.
Northern Ticket Service Inc - Vancouver/Seattle area -
Tel: (604) 683-3515 - Fax: (604) 669-8422.
Web-site: Northern Ticket Service.
WebTickets: Phone 404.815.1888.
Web-site: WebTickets
Limited number of tickets per person!
Credit cards!
If you order tickets by credit card from outside USA, Ticketmaster USA
will charge your card, and you can pick up the ticket outside
the venue, on the day of the concert, at a box office there,
no problem.
If you order tickets from Ticketmaster Canada, and you live outside,
they may send (by post) the tickets to you.
Travel insurance
Like when Keith cut his finger by a broken guitar string in
Glasgow, summer of 1990, the finger got infected,
and they cancelled (re-scheduled) 2 x Wembley and changed Cardiff
to the week after..
But, in 30+ years, I think they have cancelled may be 2 times in all,
so don't worry at all, this is just for you to keep in mind...
Don't delay! - Send your email
today, if you have some feedback. I'm waiting on a friend...
Don’t you panic, don’t you panic,
give it one more try! No reason to worry about tickets.
Be patient!
Albuquerque tickets: Sold by PROTIX,
phone 505-851-5050 or 1-800-905-3315,
Quebec City tickets: (418) 691-7211,
or toll-free 1-800-900-SHOW.
Seating chart - The stage is at the north side.
Montreal tickets: Phone (514) 790-1245.
If you need to travel, it may be cheaper and convenient to buy a
complete package of tickets, travel and hotel room. Such are offered by
companies such as:
Then there are companies who make their living from buying and
selling good tickets - they normally change extra.
If you have bad or good experiences, please let me know.
I can take these off the list, if they are bad,
as experienced by you. If they are good, then please
let me know, and I will add some stars to the companies,
to show quality, reliability and value.
I have tried to avoid names and companies that have
been said to be unreliable. These should all be fine:
When you plan to buy tickets for yourself and friends,
be aware of the fact that there is a maximum number of tickets
allowed per transaction/customer. The reason is mainly to spread tickets
out to more people, so that nobody can take a block of 100 front row
seats, and make big money later on. This time around, the limit seems to
be 12 per person, then they reduce to 6, and also to 4.
If you plan to buy 8, and the limit is 4, I would suggest you have
more than one credit card available when phoning.
If you are planning to travel to USA and/or Canada for Stones concerts,
and may be order tickets per phone etc, then you need a credit card.
This could be VISA, Mastercard, Eurocard or American Express.
All these are international credit cards, valid as payment method all
over the world, at least in the sivilized parts. Just call
ticketmaster, keep your credit card handy, and give them your
card type, number, expiraction date and your name. That's it.
It's a safe transaction. Nobody can charge your card unless you agree.
You can even denie a credit card payment later on, say if somebody
added a tip, or did an error (it rarely happens).
If you plan to spend a lot of money going from Europe to New York,
Los Angeles, Chicago or other places in USA, and do this not mainly
for the holiday and the days off, but most of all for the Stones concerts,
then please don't forget that things may happen. You would of course
need the traditional travel insurance. But also, you may get cancellation
insurance from some companies, to protect you from cancelled shows.
Not that the Stones do cancel shows too often, but if you are short of money,
and look forward to seing the Stones, then may be New York or Los Angeles
would not be as exiting without the Stones as with.