Hannah Montana fans get on marks for final ticket try
Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
As today’s noon hour approaches, Beau Stricklin and his wife will be poised at two computers, phones in hand, hoping to snag newly available Hannah Montana tickets.
“We’re going to give it another whirl,” Stricklin said Monday. He still hopes his wife and children will find a way into the sold-out Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds concert set for Dec. 1 at Alltel Arena.
“We thought about enlisting other people to help, but we were afraid that then we might end up with 16 tickets.”
On Friday, Alltel Arena officials announced that a “limited number” of tickets — for seats added after organizers settled on a layout for the show —will go on sale at noon today. Purchases must be made online at www. Ticketmaster. com or by phone at (501 ) 975-7575. None will be sold at the box office or other outlets.
Arena Marketing Director Jana DeGeorge said she didn’t know how many additional tickets will be available, but estimated they will likely cost $ 26 to $ 56 each. She also didn’t know how many tickets have already been sold for the concert, she added, explaining that while the arena seats up to 18, 000 people, most concerts seat fewer than that because of stage configurations.
The initial Sept. 15 sale left thousands of Arkansans seething when tickets sold out within 15 minutes — the fastest time ever for a show at the venue, according to arena officials.
Many would-be purchasers said they were unable to log onto Ticketmaster’s Web site. Others had equally poor luck trying to buy via phone. Those who went to the box office drew numbers for a place in the ticket line. About 550 people made it into the designated line, where all but 50 were able to buy tickets.
In other cases, moms and dads were able to buy only one ticket by phone or online, which, given that most have children who must be escorted to concerts, proved worthless.
What really infuriated parents and grandparents, however, was the discovery that out-of-state online companies had somehow procured tickets to the Arkansas concert and continue to offer them on Web sites for hundreds of dollars over face value.
The state attorney general’s office received 30 complaints.
In early October, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced he would investigate five companies: ticketliquidator. com, tickets-for-events. com, ticketsnow. com, gotickets. com and stubhub. com.
The investigation is ongoing, spokesman Gabe Holmstrom said Monday. “We’re still gathering documents from Ticketmaster and the re-sellers.”
As of Monday, tickets on these Web sites ranged from about $ 230 for a Section 219, Row 8 ticket to $ 938 for a Main Floor, Row 3, ticket.
Many parents knew before the first sale that getting tickets might be difficult, given Hannah Montana’s huge following.
The teenage singer and actress, who stars in a show in which her character leads a double life — student by day, performer by night — is now in the midst of a concert tour that’s considered a must-see by preteen girls.
Pam Wallace of Cabot, the mother of an 8-year-old daughter, thought she had scored tickets on Sept. 15 after securing two seats on Ticketmaster’s phone system.
“I had Section 117, Row 6,” she said. “They took my credit card number, and I did a little victory dance.”
After holding for 45 minutes, however — due to what Ticketmaster called technical difficulties — an agent told her the tickets had been canceled and the concert was sold out.
The mother of her daughter’s friend got four tickets at the box office, Wallace said, and she bought two from her.
“They’re way up in the nosebleed section,” she said, adding that she plans to try again today for better ones with the assurance she has two already in hand.
“That whole thing was such a fiasco, but I’ll roll the dice again,” she said. “I feel fairly certain they would have the problem rectified by now.”
Besides, she added, it’s the worth the trouble. “My daughter was Hannah Montana for Halloween. This is a really big deal. So I’ll say a few prayers and make that phone call at noon sharp.”
Stricklin, disgusted by those who resell tickets for higher sums, said he was briefly tempted to forgo another try. “I don’t know how much I even want to support all that,” he said, describing the frenzy and resale prices as “crazy and incredible.”
He also remains skeptical of allowing more online and telephone sales, saying, “I think it should be box office only. It’s too easy for people wanting to make a profit to buy [tickets ].”
Since the first sale, several area businesses have offered their customers opportunities to register for free tickets from Radio Disney, which will draw two names Nov. 30.
“Our box is getting full,” said Shan Russell, general manager of Russell Honda in Sherwood. “My daughter’s 11, so I knew this would be really popular.”
Russell said he lucked into getting tickets for his daughter because his uncle participates in Alltel Arena’s Save Your Seat program. “I have a friend in the radio business and even she couldn’t get them.”
Those trying to buy tickets today will be limited to four per person, according to an arena news release.
Wallace and many other parents will consider themselves lucky to get two. Information for this report was contributed by Andrew Davis of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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