Dylan genius, Ticketek/TSB Arena/Chugg Entertainment not

7 June 2007

• 9:00am - Bob Dylan tickets go on sale
• 9:19am - 'Bronze Reserve' Bob Dylan tickets purchased for myself and four friends
  

10 August 2007

• 7:30pm - Arrive at TSB Arena, keep walking walking walking down the side to our block of seats
• 7:35pm - Locate seats, sit down. "Wait a minute, we're actually behind the banks of PA speakers"
• 8:30pm-10:00pm - listen to the genius of Bob Dylan, well at least his band because could hardly hear a word the man sung. Naturally he has reverb on his vocal channel, but by the time this bounces of the back and corners of the Arena and gets back up front to our ears, the vocals are just one big muddle. Great view though!

Take-home lessons for the kids out there

• Concert promoters, ticketing agencies, venue management will ALWAYS screw you wherever they can (in this case by selling tickets that did not so much require a 'restricted viewing' warning but rather a 'restricted listening' warning...none was forthcoming at purchase time and some would say the listening is quite an important part of music)
• Never, ever, skimp on important concert tickets. Get the second-cheapest or higher. Don't expect the cheapest seats to actually really be part of the same concert experience as the rest.