Concert Tickets 101: Your guide to securing top event tickets in the Twin Cities
MINNEAPOLIS — Many of Sunday's Grammy winners may be hitting the road this year for big tours. If we've learned anything recently from big concerts in the Twin Cities, getting tickets won't be easy.
The challenge is not just the cost of the ticket, which of course has gotten very expensive, but it's how to get those tickets at face value before the resale market.
There are tears of joy from the Shapiro sisters, but the screams for Taylor Swift were also shouts of relief.
"It was totally relief. The journey we took to get there was crazy. And everyone has their own story of what they went through to get tickets, so it almost felt like it was earned," Sophie Shapiro said.
Swift brought her Eras Tour to the Twin Cities last June. Tickets went on sale seven months earlier. Carli and Sophie, along with several friends, registered for verified sale codes and then spent many hours on many screens.
"We logged on a 9:30 in the morning and we have tickets at 5:30 p.m. that night," Carli Shapiro said. "I think the hardest part is that none of it makes sense."
And it's not just for Swift, either.
"We got tickets to the Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks concert that was here a couple months ago and I remember we were going to celebrate my dad's birthday and I was on the phone with him and he said, 'I'll just get tickets.' And I said, 'No, that's not how it works anymore," Carli Shapiro said.
She's got that right — gone are the days people camp out to be first in line.
Andy Kahn writes for JamBase, a database tracking thousands of live acts and music tours across the country.
"Because everything has gone digital, no longer do you have a home field advantage," Investigative Reporter Jonah Kaplan said.
"Correct, and you're also going up against people who are going to be trying to buy the ticket for the sole purpose of reselling it," Kahn said. "A lot of it right now comes down to access. It's not being first, but how do you get access to being first. Taking that out of the equation means that a person in Minneapolis or a person in Miami can be vying for the same ticket at the exact same time. Trying to get access before that person in Miami is the real game here."
Winning the game, then, is more like winning the lottery — but Kahn says you can increase your odds a few different ways.
"Credit cards, fan clubs, newsletters. If you follow a band on Spotify, sometimes they'll give you a presale code to get tickets," Kahn said.
So while the bigger acts may seem out of reach, seeing live music isn't.
JamBase lists 150 shows just this month in venues across the Twin Cities — a music scene everyone can embrace.
"The live music experience will continuously provide memorable opportunities and experiences to people who go, whether it's Taylor Swift or a Taylor Swift cover band," Kahn said.
Experiences and memories shared for a lifetime, just ask the Shapiro girls.
"It's 100% the music, it's the atmosphere, it's the people around you," Sophie Shapiro said.
As for the prices of tickets — yes, they're going up. But JamBase says one of the reasons is because of the cost of the productions. Ed Sheeran might be just a man with a guitar on a stage, but the crews, the transportation, the sound and lighting equipment all add up.