The Police

I missed the opening act that The Police put on at the Grammys and was pretty excited the next day when they announced that they were going on tour. I pretty much made up my mind that I was going to their concert regardless of the cost. I didn't pay attention to the details, which I always preach to my students, and missed when the tickets went on sale in Dallas. They sold out 2 shows and that left looking for tickets online thru www.stubhub.com or similar ticket outlets. The $50 tickets way far away were selling for a minimum of $70-$100 each.

I contacted my good friend BillyV and we agreed on going to the June 26th concert in Dallas and that I'd probably get the cheapest seats available. I still didn't commit before leaving on Spring Break.

I arrived in St. Louis yesterday and by chance found out that The Police tickets went on sale at 10am and the time was currently 1pm. If only I had stumbled across this earlier I would have better choice in ticket selection.

Before I committed to buying tickets for the St. Louis show I needed to consider a few things. First, if the July 2nd day was okay for BillyV. Second, it would involve actually traveling to St. Louis for that week which shouldn't be a problem. I finally reached BillyV and he said the July 2nd show would actually work better for him AND the drive would be about 3 hours less. Problem was I was never able to get in contact with my wife to see if it would work out for us.

That said I bought tickets at www.ticketmaster.com after searching tirelessly for the right tickets. Each search involved typing in the quantity and the price range, followed by a screen with the crazy figured code you had to decipher and then type in and finally the section with the seat numbers would show up. Section 324, row B, seats 4 and 5. I got my credit card and got ready. After trying to figure out my password I ended up taking too long and lost those seats. I then kept getting the same section, rows D or E, with middle of the row seats so I kept searching until finally it popped up. Section 324, Row F, seats 1 and 2. I bought them. Seats on the aisle have always been a big thing for me, especially at movies and entertainment events, since I have a bladder about the size of a peanut.

All said each ticket cost $50, plus a $2.50 facility charge, plus $8.55 convenience charge, plus a $3.50 processing fee. Total bill for $100 seats worth of tickets ended up being $128. What a scam.