A couple weeks ago Hannah Montana announced her concert tour dates.  Now, I'm not a big fan, but my kids are.  The tickets went on sale at noon, and I was logged on to Ticket Master and was ready to go.  All I wanted were 4 tickets for the best available seats.  I didn't get too specific, so that I wouldn't limit myself.  So at 12:00:01 I hit the search button to acquire my tickets.  "None available, please try again."  Huh!  Nothing available, nothing at all?  Not even some crappy seats all the way at the very top of the amphitheater? 

I kept trying, thinking someone ahead of me may have had tickets on hold and would release them.  After 30 minutes of futility I gave up.  I then tried StubHub.com.  How about $128 per ticket?  The most expensive face value is $64.  I was in a world of hurt.  I love my kids, but 4 tickets plus parking and food would make that a $600 outing.  Sorry kids. 

But wait, Ticket Master has a service called Ticket Exchange.  Maybe they have tickets?  As a matter of fact, they do.  The cheapest one is $353.  I smell something bad here.

What does it take to get tickets? 

Now I see that my favorite band, Rush, will announce concert dates on April, 2008.  I will see them.  But what's it going to take? 

It's one thing to pay these outrageous fees to Ticket Master just so I can buy a ticket.  What do they call them, convenience fees?  But how come a scalper like StubHub can get tickets and I can't?  Why don't they have to wait in line like I do?  Why should they be able to buy any tickets at all?  It's obvious the public wants them.  If someone buys the tickets then decides they can't use them, then they should sell them to StubHub. 

I have a better idea.  Last weekend I saw one of the best concerts ever.  I was in the front row for Elevation, a U2 tribute band.  They rocked for almost 3 hours.  It was easily the best $7 I ever spent on a show.  And that is about half of the "convenience fee" that Ticket Master charges!

I'm going to look for a Hannah Montana tribute band as well as a Rush tribute band.  Yeah, that's the ticket.