We all just went to the Hilary Duff concert on Monday August 6th. We had high expectations going in. The concert was great. Turned out better than we could have expected. Read on...
Day before tickets go on sale: Debby had found us an early-access entry into TicketMaster the days the tickets went on sale. This allowed certain individuals to purchase tickets early, before the general public. When: June 20, 10am.
June 20: at 9:58am, I was poised at my PC. My goal: to score the most excellent tickets to this concert for my daughter! I was looking for the best mid-range cost tickets (off-floor), and by 9:59.59am, I was refreshing my browser like a madman waiting for the "gates" to open...
10:01: Scored excellent seats just left to stadium. Stadium seat diagram showed us at about a 45 degree viewing angle. Perfect! Off the floor, and only 13 rows up. Not to far back. I was content.
Day of concert:
We go to our designated Section. Section 18. As we walk the aisle down, into the arena, where we can see the stage, and how it's oriented with the seating sections, it quickly becomes apparent that Section 18, our section, is at a right angle to the stage, whereas Section 19 is the desireable 45 degree viewing angle I thought I had bought into! You see, sitting right angle (or parallel) to the stage means you see 30% performers, 70% speaker stack equipment. Probably close to the worse seats possible. Typically performers will walk to the far corners of the stage during a performance to give you a "mercy view" of their performance for a fragment of a minute. Not good. But it was worse than that...
As I mentioned, we were in row 13 of the now-not-so-delectable Section 18. Well, Section 18 only has 12 rows. Guess what row #13 is? Its not a row of seats as well... instead its a cement platform for handicapped wheelchairs folks to position themselves. So, my killer tickets soon were not so much. I looked at the person working the aisle, and he immediately took us to the front ticket office...
At the ticket office:
Gal working this area is explained the situation, and attempts to accommodate the mix-up. I'm thinking the worse... "We have tickets available at the back of the building. Would you like those?" is what I was expecting...
Her first offer was row 4 on the floor. Most people would go "Hell Yeah!", but I was "Ehhh", tell you why: You sit on the floor, everyone stands. If you are a shy 5' like my daughter, it can be challenging if not frustrating to see a concert above taller people. For a father, the feeling is mutual. You want your family (Debby/Takira) to enjoy the concert, not shift left or right for "peepholes" into the action. So I said "Nawww, those don't work so hot..."
Her second offer was "Front row tickets?". Sold! She had been sandbagging on us! (Though I have never b
een in the front row, it sounded good to me!) We took the tickets. We later found out the first row (only) can approach the very base of the stage during the concert. We spent the next 75 minutes watching Hilary and company from 5 feet away at times. She made eye contact with Takira several times, and we were close enough that she reached out and touched several of us (including Takira) during her performance.
Day before tickets go on sale: Debby had found us an early-access entry into TicketMaster the days the tickets went on sale. This allowed certain individuals to purchase tickets early, before the general public. When: June 20, 10am.
June 20: at 9:58am, I was poised at my PC. My goal: to score the most excellent tickets to this concert for my daughter! I was looking for the best mid-range cost tickets (off-floor), and by 9:59.59am, I was refreshing my browser like a madman waiting for the "gates" to open...
10:01: Scored excellent seats just left to stadium. Stadium seat diagram showed us at about a 45 degree viewing angle. Perfect! Off the floor, and only 13 rows up. Not to far back. I was content.
Day of concert:
We go to our designated Section. Section 18. As we walk the aisle down, into the arena, where we can see the stage, and how it's oriented with the seating sections, it quickly becomes apparent that Section 18, our section, is at a right angle to the stage, whereas Section 19 is the desireable 45 degree viewing angle I thought I had bought into! You see, sitting right angle (or parallel) to the stage means you see 30% performers, 70% speaker stack equipment. Probably close to the worse seats possible. Typically performers will walk to the far corners of the stage during a performance to give you a "mercy view" of their performance for a fragment of a minute. Not good. But it was worse than that...
As I mentioned, we were in row 13 of the now-not-so-delectable Section 18. Well, Section 18 only has 12 rows. Guess what row #13 is? Its not a row of seats as well... instead its a cement platform for handicapped wheelchairs folks to position themselves. So, my killer tickets soon were not so much. I looked at the person working the aisle, and he immediately took us to the front ticket office...
At the ticket office:
Gal working this area is explained the situation, and attempts to accommodate the mix-up. I'm thinking the worse... "We have tickets available at the back of the building. Would you like those?" is what I was expecting...
Her first offer was row 4 on the floor. Most people would go "Hell Yeah!", but I was "Ehhh", tell you why: You sit on the floor, everyone stands. If you are a shy 5' like my daughter, it can be challenging if not frustrating to see a concert above taller people. For a father, the feeling is mutual. You want your family (Debby/Takira) to enjoy the concert, not shift left or right for "peepholes" into the action. So I said "Nawww, those don't work so hot..."
Her second offer was "Front row tickets?". Sold! She had been sandbagging on us! (Though I have never b
een in the front row, it sounded good to me!) We took the tickets. We later found out the first row (only) can approach the very base of the stage during the concert. We spent the next 75 minutes watching Hilary and company from 5 feet away at times. She made eye contact with Takira several times, and we were close enough that she reached out and touched several of us (including Takira) during her performance.The hand that Hilary touched!
Upside:
1) Seating turned out fantastic!!!
2) We all had a great time! Debby danced a lot. Takira was head banging a little, throwing hands upward at times. I myself loved the new dance beats off Duff's new album. A nice de
parture from her previous stuff.3) I was not thrown out for using my cheapo digital camera (even though cell phone cameras, some most likely better then my dedicated camera, were allowed to be used)
4) When confronted on the camera, I was not thrown out for putting my cheapo digital camera to my ear to "fake" a cell phone call, as if it was in fact really a cell phone. (Mental note: Concert bouncers have a) no sense for humor, and 2) no understanding of the electronic evolution)
5) The overwhelming halitosis of the teenager girl to my left subsided halfway through the concert. Trust me, I was concerned up to that point. She was a sweetheart actually, but a little brushing prior to the concert would have gone a long way.
Sean
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