Tips for getting good seats at a Dream Theater show

[jjfumbly]

Hey there,

Dream Theater recently announced a second North American leg, and will be hitting a town close to my own as the last show. Any of you seasoned DT vets know how to get to the front row? It will be my third time and I really want to experience AWE whilst looking straight at JP.

Thanks!

[KevShmev]

Front row is extremely difficult to pull off, but I would recommend having your browser ready to go the second tickets go on sale and put your order in right away.  Odds are good that you can score tickets in the first 10-15 rows at worst if you do that. 

If your show is already having a pre-sale (check right away), go there now, see if the password code PROG works, and get  your tickets.

[geeeemo]

Getting the VIP usually  has great seats. Comb the venue, the DT website, the vendor selling tickets (Ticketmaster for ex.)Look fir presales. Other than that, be ready when it starts.
I went on the website yesterday and clicked on VIP. Surprisingly it was open already for buying. I got front row I center right.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Best advice:  spend $$$$

Most front row seats are reserved for VIP meet and greet packages, which cost about $330 (including fees) although prices may vary with venue. 

I purchased front row for Riverside yesterday.  VIP on sale dates do not coincide with Ticketmaster and other major ticketing agency on sale dates.  As soon as second leg was announced, I checked the bands website for the Sound Rink link in the touring page. 

Ticketmaster is now offering a new feature called Official Platinum seats.  These are highly priced premium seats that are included in the pre-sale window.  Yesterday two front row seats for $290 (plus fees) were available for purchase via the Live Nation site - just click "more info" to access the seating chart.  They've sold by now.

Mailing lists.  I endure mountains of spam from ticketing and booking companies so that when DT eventually announces a tour I will have immediate access to pre-sale passwords.  Sign up and make sure they don't get filtered into junk mail.  Ticketmaster's presale starts today:  DISTANCE.  Live Nation's presale starts tomorrow:  AMPLIFY. 

[Honestly, I rather not compete with more people for premium seats, so I'm not sure why I'm sharing my trade secrets. ] 

[jingle.boy]

I sat front row for DT once.  Bought the ticket 4 days before the show.  Depending on your market, the promoter/band might be setting aside a bunch of seats 'not available' through normal purchase means.  Then, just before the show, they dump those back to the venue, and voila... excellent seats show up.  If you're willing to chance it (ie, the venue is not going to 100% sell out), then you can always wait.  The risk is you might end up with a mediocre seat; you might end up with the best seat.  Buying a standard ticket on the day of sale likely means a good/decent seat.

[jjfumbly]

Thanks to everyone. I scored BB in the orchestra by shelling out the money on the official website.

Overall, I am happy with the purchase and am very excited to meet the band and see the show!

[gmillerdrake]

For the St. Louis show I just picked up tix last night. Bought first Row 'A' of the first Mezzanine because this will be my 9 year olds first concert. Wanted to make sure that he could see everything with no one in front of him.

I was texting with Kev yesterday and was describing how it's REALLY cool that my three boys are  in to bands like DT and Haken....like legit like them....but, at the same time my concert expenses just tripled!     Whereas in the past I could shell out some $$ to get up close I'm now regulated to either first row balcony or just further back on the floor. Even the tix for this show ended up at $74.50 a piece after all fees.   

[mikeyd23]

I sat front row for DT once.  Bought the ticket 4 days before the show.  Depending on your market, the promoter/band might be setting aside a bunch of seats 'not available' through normal purchase means.  Then, just before the show, they dump those back to the venue, and voila... excellent seats show up.  If you're willing to chance it (ie, the venue is not going to 100% sell out), then you can always wait.  The risk is you might end up with a mediocre seat; you might end up with the best seat.  Buying a standard ticket on the day of sale likely means a good/decent seat.

This happened to me too. The first time I saw the band live, on the SC tour. Me and a couple buddies decided to go to a show like 3 hours away about a week before the show. I went online and totally lucked out, the venue or the promoter or whoever must have just released 4 or 5 front row seats, right in front of JP. Couldn't have had a better seat for my first DT show ever. So cool.

[CrimsonSunrise]

I've seen DT a dozen times.  10 of those were in the first 3 rows center.  Out of those 10 times I think I got extremely lucky once when tickets were re-released through ticketmaster a few days before the show.  3 times were Meet and Greets where you got a ticket in rows 1-5 (Never got worse than 3).  The other 6 times I had to pay through a secondary agency like stubhub.  Usually in the $150-$300 range.  That's here in Los Angeles.  Not sure how other areas of the nation/world fare.  Best of luck!!!!

[Dublagent66]

I bought my VIP tickets through Sound Rink from the DT website on Tuesday.  Meet and greet with middle front row seats on the aisle.  Any other way, you would have to get extremely lucky and without a VIP package it would only be about 50 bucks cheaper if you actually managed to get front row.

[roa71]

I bought directly from the DT site via Sound Rink yesterday as well.  15th row for Chattanooga.  I did not do the VIP, just pre-sale.  15th row was best I could do without doing VIP.  Seem like good seats.

I wonder how this works compared to TicketMaster.  Does the band just set aside x number of tickets to sell directly.  I still had to pay a $10 service fee per ticket.  Ticketmaster was doing a Citibank presale that required a code.  In the end, I just bought directly since I did not have a code.

Rick

[cramx3]

I sat front row once for DT and like others have said, it was because of a release of tickets before the show.  I was refreshing ticketmaster often the day of the show and at one point one single front row ticket popped up for sale and I scooped it up.  It was an awesome experience, but that's the cheap and risky way to get up front.  The safe and therefore expensive way, is to get them the moment on sale with some luck and cash.

[krands85]

I got lucky the last time they were in Scotland for the I&W and Beyond tour. I wanted to buy from the venue's website, so that I didn't have to use Ticketmaster, but the site didn't release tickets at the time they said they would, so I ended up buying from TM. The TM ticket was for the 8th row and I didn't want to wait too long and end up with a seat further back. I happened to check the venue's site again a couple hours later and managed to get a ticket in the second row and it was also £5 cheaper than the TM ticket! Ended up giving the spare ticket to my mate.

[KevShmev]

For the St. Louis show I just picked up tix last night. Bought first Row 'A' of the first Mezzanine because this will be my 9 year olds first concert. Wanted to make sure that he could see everything with no one in front of him.

I was texting with Kev yesterday and was describing how it's REALLY cool that my three boys are  in to bands like DT and Haken....like legit like them....but, at the same time my concert expenses just tripled!     Whereas in the past I could shell out some $$ to get up close I'm now regulated to either first row balcony or just further back on the floor. Even the tix for this show ended up at $74.50 a piece after all fees. 

Money comes and goes, but those life experiences with your kids will last a long time. 

[SwedishGoose]

I have seen them live 12 times. Nine of those times were GA so all I had to do was show up early to get a good spot.

Saw The Astonishing twice in Stockholm. The first concert I bought tickets on presale.... never again. I mean they were quite alright but first row mezzanine or so. Then another show was announced the day before and I did my usual routine of hanging on the lock. Got tickets on the forth row.

Images and Words and beyond was the other tour I saw twice. Once in Stockholm and once on a work trip to Katowice.
Stockholm was GA but with a fricking "Golden Circle". My friends did not want to pay extra so I too stayed behind the fence some meters from the stage.
In Katowice the tickets were bought and payed for by the company (we had our polish subcontractor with us too) so we sat quite a bit back.

[Lonk]

I have seen them live 12 times. Nine of those times were GA so all I had to do was show up early to get a good spot.

Saw The Astonishing twice in Stockholm. The first concert I bought tickets on presale.... never again. I mean they were quite alright but first row mezzanine or so. Then another show was announced the day before and I did my usual routine of hanging on the lock. Got tickets on the forth row.

Images and Words and beyond was the other tour I saw twice. Once in Stockholm and once on a work trip to Katowice.
Stockholm was GA but with a fricking "Golden Circle". My friends did not want to pay extra so I too stayed behind the fence some meters from the stage.
In Katowice the tickets were bought and payed for by the company (we had our polish subcontractor with us too) so we sat quite a bit back.

What do I have to do to get my employer to pay for concerts I want to go to?

[SwedishGoose]

What do I have to do to get my employer to pay for concerts I want to go to?

I don't know.... all I had to do was say "isn't it time we visit our subcontractors? If we do we can book a show at the Spodek.

[JayOctavarium]

What do I have to do to get my employer to pay for concerts I want to go to?

I mean... I have a company credit card... so I could just buy myself tickets and hope they don't notice

(They'd notice)