To state the obvious, before going to a concert you have to buy tickets. Depending on the performer, this can be a very stressful step. The primary website for buying concert tickets is Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster merged with the concert promoter Live Nation, and depending on the concert and/or venue, you may be redirected to Live Nation to purchase your tickets. VIP Nation is also a company under Live Nation. That is the place to buy any VIP packages or premium tickets being offered for a tour. 

For many concerts, there is some sort of presale. A presale is a sale that happens before the tickets go on sale to the general public. For some tours there are presales that are available to people who have certain credit cards, like American Express or Citi. A lot of artists also do fan presales though, which can require several different things. You may have to sign up for their mailing list, or select a certain show date and give your email, or provide your phone number. In these cases, you will get a presale code sent to you the night before or the morning of, and you can then enter that code when the presale starts. I usually try to get tickets during the presale because chances are less people know about it, so you will have less competition. Presale is also a method that tries to minimize ticket scalpers who buy tons of tickets at face value then resell them for insane prices.

I’m that person who always wants to try to get concert tickets right when they go on sale, while some of my friends prefer to wait and get them cheaper from a resale site. Here are a few tips for trying to buy tickets on Ticketmaster right when they go on sale. First, make sure you have a Ticketmaster account and have your card information already stored on your account. This will make it faster to checkout once you have tickets in your cart. Second, you should have the page open at least 5 minutes before they go on sale. If it doesn’t automatically refresh, refresh the page when it hits the on-sale time. Third, if you care about where your seats are or how close to the stage you will be, I recommend doing a little research on the venue ahead of time. Be familiar with the seating chart and the views. It can be helpful to have the seating chart open in another window or on your phone so you know where your seats are. One last tip I have is to try to buy tickets on a computer rather than on a phone. I’m not saying it’s impossible to do it on your phone with the Ticketmaster app, I’ve done it before, but I’ve found it to be a whole lot easier on a computer.

What happens if I don’t get tickets? A question you may be asking yourself, or for the sake of this post, I will pretend that you’re asking yourself. There are several resale sites out there, but I don’t really trust any of them except for StubHub. You can sell and buy tickets on StubHub. Right after a concert goes on sale or sells out though, they will likely be up to 4x the face value amount. The only time I use StubHub is if I’m not able to get tickets or I can’t afford them on the day they go on sale. The trick to using StubHub is to not buy the tickets until at least two weeks before the show, or even closer if possible. Starting around that time period, the remaining tickets usually drop drastically in price. So, if you’re able to do a last-minute ticket buy, sometimes StubHub is the way to go. 

Buying tickets can be the most stressful part of a concert. Sometimes it can go very right, but sometimes it can go wrong. If the tickets sell out, if you don’t get the seats you wanted, or if they end up being out of your price range, it can be discouraging. However, if you want it enough, the key is to keep checking both Ticketmaster and resale sites and hope you can find some that will work for you!