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The Rolling Stones Fan Club of Europe
It's Only Rock'n Roll

How to get Rolling Stones tickets
On Stage world tour 2005 - 2006

Updated June 9, 2005

These are the latest Rolling Stones news and updates for you! IORR is a non profit fan club run by fans for fans. All parts of the It's Only Rock'n Roll web site is copyright of The Rolling Stones Fan Club. When using information from this site, please include a reference to IORR and the main web address www.iorr.org.
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19th Nervous Breakdown

Let's face the facts. People are going crazy for Stones tickets these days. Still, don't panic, as many tickets are being purchased "just in case", for friends, for trades, and by travel companies. Some shows are sold out as per now. Others are still on sale. More shows will be added, see the list of rumoured shows in the IORR tour dates pages.

If you have the nerve to wait until show day, or some days before that, you will probably be able to get tickets to most of the shows, either from the box office, as they get returns and extra tickets, or through buying from people who have spare tickets, scalpers and whoever that do have extra tickets. The going price on show day will probably be close to face value for all tickets in the $150 range and above.

If you don't have the nerve to wait for tickets, you have several options. This page will tell you how to get tickets, based on experience, feedback from other fans and the way tickets are sold for this tour.

Ticket and travel questions and feedback

Please note that It's Only Rock'n Roll is a non-profit fan club. IORR is unable to handle individual travel queries or ticket needs. Please use the information given on these pages. If you have feedback or comments regarding Stones tickets, travel, or The Rolling Stones in general please send e-mail to [email protected].

Ticket prices

Tickets at venues in USA and Canada are priced at approx. $50, $100, $150, $300 and $450 plus handling fees. Prices may vary across venues. For venue maps see the IORR tour dates pages.

RollingStones.com

RollingStones.com is the official Rolling Stones web site. This web site is making tickets available for fans based on a pre- and post-sales system. This mean you can buy tickets for shows before and after they go on public sale. You have to pay a fee of approx. $100. This RollingStones.com fan club membership fee gives you exclusive right to buy a set of tickets for one specific venue of your choice. If you are worried about getting tickets, this is the best way of getting tickets. You order a membership from RollingStones.com. Then you go to their Tickets web page, check for availability, and order a special code on RollingStones.com, to be used when buying tickets before or after they go on public sale. The sooner you get the membership the better. Do not delay if an advantage is important for you. Access to pre/post sales queues may be organized in more than one queue, and that queue may be defined by the date you ordered your membership, like before/after a certain date/announcement.

Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster in USA and Canada are doing most of the regular sales of Rolling Stones tickets to end users. If you want to buy your Stones tickets through the best price and recommended channel then Ticketmaster is the one to recommend. Tickets may be purchased for pick-up at the venue. Just make sure you use a valid credit card, bring the card with you, and pick up the tickets at the venue box office Will Call section on the day of the show.

VIP packages

Fanasylum is the official source of special VIP packages. These packages are usually front row or very good tickets, club tickets and other hard to get show tickets. They are sold with additional services like hotel rooms, party packages, free drinks, free parking etc. The prices are usually high, but fans who have used these packages on the previous LICKS tour said that Fanasylym is giving great service and seats. If you can afford it then they are recommended!

IORR Ticket Trader

Use the IORR Ticket Trade pages to trade tickets with other fans. Many tickets are changing hands here, from fan to fan.

Ticket and travel agencies

Ticket agencies and travel companies are re-selling tickets with an additional cost, and they do usually offer commision to those who promote their offers. IORR is non profit, have never accepted paid advertising, and never will. No paid links, no paid entries. The commercial companies listed here are based on a random selection. Most have been around since the 1997 Bridges to Babylon tour, and should be fine.

Concert travel packages

There are many companies offering travel packages with flights, hotels and tickets. If you live in the city where the Stones play, this is probably not so interesting, but if you travel from out of town, you would need a place to stay anyway.

Ticket agencies

There are companies who make their living from buying and selling tickets. They buy tickets, and re-sell with an uplift in price. This is a random list. IORR is non-profit, and do not accept paid ads or links.

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.

IORR on ticket sales strategies

The sales of tickets for a major tour is an art in itself. The promoter is in charge of a big budget, and they have to make sure no venues are half-empty, while they want to sell out as many venues and as many shows as possible in order to pay off the tour economies. Good examples are sales of tickets to shows in major cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston. And venues near these cities. First they announce the safe sales. The big stadiums in big markets. Then they add arena shows if the speed of the ticket sales indicates the need for more tickets. If a city is selling "slow" then they might even change a planned show from one city to another, like they did with the planned yet never announced 2nd Washington D.C. show during the LICKS tour, date re-allocated to Hartford. Or the NJ/NY sales of Giants/MSG, more MSG shows to be expected this winter. Club shows are low priced tickets and fast sales so they can be sold at any time in minutes. Follow the IORR tour dates pages for updates of confirmed and rumoured shows.

IORR.org

Important! Please do not mix up RollingStones.com with IORR.org. Both are fan clubs. IORR.org is a non-profit Stones fan club since 1980. When you read this then you are now on IORR.org. IORR also publish a Rolling Stones fan club magazine - It's Only Rock'n Roll. IORR is not connected or related to RollingStones.com - "RS.com". To get pre-and post sales codes and special access to tickets you need a membership in RollingStones.com. If you want to get the It's Only Rock'n Roll magazine, with the latest updates and information, then please use the IORR membership pages.

The IORR magazine

It's Only Rock'n Roll: See a sample of the magazine - IORR 55 - the best Rolling Stones reports, pictures and updates.

Contact and info please!

If you have information, corrections, additions or comments, please send email. Thanks!

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