How to go to concerts for cheap

A beam of light shines through the floating confetti while Harry Styles performs “Kiwi” as the last song. I’m amazed at the fact that I’m finally seeing Harry Styles but also that I’m only seeing him for $20, tax included.

I’ve seen countless artists live and most times wouldn’t mind paying for close stage seats like when I saw Justin Bieber on his Purpose Tour at Prudential Center. However, after the concert, my savings account did not appreciate the splurge. I quickly learned that to sustain my hobby, I had to figure out how to get concert tickets for cheap.

I never pay more than $150 when seeing an artist and it’s truly a blessing. I’ve paid $90 to see and meet the “Love Galore” singer SZA at the Orpheum in Tampa. I’ve seen The 1975 about five times in different venues in New York for only $30. Now, I consider myself a pro and today I will tell you a few ways to get good seats with an inexpensive ticket.

Going to a small venue

Artists can perform anywhere they want. However, the most common types of venues I’ve been to are festivals, amphitheaters, bars/nightclubs, arenas, and stadiums. Usually, if the venue is bigger the tickets are more expensive since they need to make more profit to cover the costs.

To get the cheapest possible ticket, go to concerts at night clubs or bars. The smaller the venue the better. Also, a lot of big artists still perform at small venues even when they can sell out arenas. So, don’t worry you’ll still have a chance of seeing a big musician.

Pre-Sale Tickets

It’s harder to get concert tickets through presale since the number of tickets released are capped, however, the feeling of receiving them before the general public is very satisfying. I’ve learned through the years though that you should only really buy presale if you really want to see that artist and/or they’re big, i.e., someone like Ariana Grande. If not, wait. Pre-Sale is only good for buying tickets at face value and not getting swindled through secondary ticket markets.

Secondary ticket markets

“Wait, but you just said I can get swindled through secondary ticket markets?” Yes, you can. However, if you wait a week or two before the actual concert you can get extremely cheap tickets. In fact, in the summer of 2018, when Harry Styles went on tour I only paid $20 for tickets, when originally my seats were $154. How? I waited four days before the concert and bought them off of Vivid Seats, a secondary ticket market website.

On secondary ticket websites, otherwise known as resale websites, concert tickets are more

expensive the further the date is. If I were to buy those Harry Styles tickets two months ago they probably would have been around $300. Reseller knows people are going to want tickets to a concert that’s sold out and are going to upcharge if the concert is not until a couple of weeks or months. When its a couple of days before the event, that’s another story. The resellers want to make something, even if it’s only $20.

I’m now at a Doja Cat concert with confetti flying in the air. Guess how much I paid to be in the second row of the barricade? Only $20 again.