the "twenty dollar or under" concert rule: muse, las vegas 2010

{all i had was my camera phone--my apologies for not being worth my blogger-salt}

last saturday night was an experiment. and it worked out in the most SPLENDID way possible--i am still wearing my huge grin from the positive testing of the "twenty dollar or under" concert rule.


we first caught wind of the tdoucr when we scalped tickets for the depeche mode concert at the pearl theater in las vegas in august--

we were desperately trying to buy tickets at face value or under ($175 that night--ouch!) and had asked nearly every ticket seller within a billion mile radius if they would sell their tickets on the cheap. (you can imagine how well THAT went over.) the concert was nearing start time, & we were moving into full-panic mode when we noticed a thin, well-dressed man in his 50's standing against the wall, talking to one of the scalpers.

we walked over and asked him if he was selling--he replied that no, he was actually trying to BUY a ticket as well, and were WE selling? we told him that, alas, we were not--but that we were willing to drop a good chunk of change on one of the general admission tickets. he then informed us that his budget for the concert was 20 dollars. or under. preferably FREE.

he must be joking! we laughed and said, "yeah, good luck with that one!"

but he then proceeded to tell us that he lived in las vegas, and had been to thirty plus concerts in the past two years, all for either verrrrrrrryyyyy cheap (hence the 20 dollars and under tag) or completely free. and then he let us in on his secret: if you just showed up at the venue, you had done 75% of the hard work. then, by standing at the entrance and letting it be known that you were in the market, but on a strict budget, another 15% of the hard work was done for you. the last 10% was waiting it out, sometimes past the start of the concert and into the first few numbers, until somebody would usually show up, comp your ticket, or sell it for pennies on the dollar.

"the true secret to all of this," he waxed eloquently, "is to be prepared to NOT see the concert. but i am here to testify: there hasn't been a concert that i've shown up to in the past 12 months that i haven't gotten in to."

we were fascinated--but skeptical that his little master plan would work for that particular concert: depeche fans are rabid, irrational beings when it comes to live dm (us being the exception, naturally!) and the pearl venue was small (less than 1500). not likely.

so we said our goodbyes and headed into the concert, happy to have our tickets clutched tightly in our sweaty little fists. we were totally FINE paying the big bucks.

that is, until we were leaving the concert 2 hours later and ran into our friend, who was exiting the concert as well..........since he had been COMPED his tickets at about 2 minutes before showtime from one of the executives of the head sponsors of the tour.

oh, the humanity!

needless to say, ever since that night, i've felt that my life has been incomplete as i have not had the opportunity to truly test this theory.

so........when we saw that muse was coming to mandalay bay last saturday night, we knew it was time to make our move:


in attendance that night for testing the tdoucr was jared & jody, stevekemp & kamari, and russ & mindi.

we arrived at the scene and were dismayed to see that there were no sellers. no scalpers. not a ticket to be found....

whiskey. tango. foxtrot. ??!!

we were informed that security had been there just minutes before and run the illegal ticket sales out of town on a rail. (which i've never, NEVER seen at a concert before. so of course it would be this particular time. it just makes sense, does it not?)


we kept at it, hoping to find someone willing to sell, but i must admit: it was looking mighty grim.

we were just about to throw in the proverbial towel when stevekemp arrived back from casing the casino--and i have to say: him waving six tickets was truly a beautiful sight to behold. it was pure JOY.


the best part of this story? the fact that stevekemp talked to somebody who knew somebody who was tight with somebody else's second-cousin's sister-in-law's home-teacher's assistant-manager's best-friend from fantasy-football-league there at the box office......and the tickets were FREE.

(not a lie.)

& the even better part of this now-too-lengthy story? they were in a suite--complete with our own bathroom, private viewing patio, and lounge area.



it completed me.


we missed the first two songs, but we were greeted by this when we walked into the arena:
(you're welcome for the 7 seconds of technical awesomeness that my phone can capture)






muse rocked--and so did we....


the morals of this story?

it's not what you know, but WHO you know. and who THEY know.

never buy concert tickets if you think there is a possibility that somebody who is basically working for satan can hook you up for free.

rich or poor, it's nice to pretend that you have $$$ by finding somebody to enable you.

dreams do come true, and not just for members of the 'make a wish' foundation.

if you are a rock star, you can wear sparkly pants & shiny shoes and totally get away with it.


the end.