Back in February or March, we bought 6 tickets (2 sets of 3) to take our girls to see their first concert, Taylor Swift (whom they are all in love with, especially Riana who owns all of her CDs.) We were under the impression that the tickets would sell out in minutes and no more would be available again. Since they were pretty expensive tickets ($80-$90 per seat), Grant and I decided that we would give them each $30 of their ticket and that they would need to earn the rest in order to go. Around this same time, I was really struggling with my health (ending in getting my tonsils removed.) So we told the girls they could earn the tickets by simply finishing their (home) school work for the year. I needed more help from them in being self-sufficient, as I had been so sick. The girls continued to play and play and procrastinate for weeks, until the last week or two, when they tried to hurry and finish all their work. Well, they ran out of time. And although it was extremely hard to follow through, we decided it was more important for the girls to learn the life lesson, even if we lost all of our money. We definitely learned many lessons in the process, as well, including the fact that tickets were still available for purchase on the day of the concert.
We tried to sell the tickets on Facebook, however were not able to get even close to a full price offer. So on the day of the concert, we read up on the laws about scalping tickets and then we made some signs to sell our tickets. (As a back-up plan, we had decided beforehand that if we didn't sell any tickets for a reasonable price, we would call Grant's sister and her girls, and give them the 4 tickets. And if we sold the first set of tickets but not the second, we would call my brother's daughter and go with her. Since all of our nieces are also in love with Taylor Swift.) Well, we went up to the Tacoma Dome super early and started trying to sell our tickets. As soon as we put our sign up, two men approached us and offered us low amounts for our tickets. However, I wasn't so sure about selling them still and wouldn't budge. One guy didn't give up easily. Finally, after bringing his price up and up and up, I decided to sell them to him for $7 cheaper than we paid (which included all of our fees and insurance.) It was funny how he tried to show us on his smart phone that tickets were going for dirt cheap on StubHub and such. Since Grant is normally the salesman in our relationship, I was so proud of myself for getting so much money out of the guy-- $225 dollars for our 3 worst tickets (we never showed him our good ones.) We walked on with the cash and 3 tickets left, agreeing that we would only take full price for those tickets, because worst case scenario, we would get to go enjoy the concert. We were approached by just about every creepy looking guy in the vincinity. Most of them offered insultingly low amounts of money and then they acted so disgusted, when we wouldn't take it. Many of them told us we were crazy and other such things. I couldn't stand being around them for even a minute! Ugh! I have to say though that we were very blessed by the kindness of one of them. He noticed the cash falling out of my pocket and pointed it out to me. I felt sick inside but also extremely thankful that he let me know, so we could move it to a safer location. I learned many very important lessons. For one, I will never go to a concert without tickets because I do not want to have to deal with scalpers again. (However, I might try to buy on StubHub at the last minute and see what a deal I can get.)
About an hour from the start of the concert, we called my brother, Chris, and offered the ticket to his daughter, Kaatlin. Shortly thereafter, 3 girls in their early twenties, who also had some insulting offers from the scalpers, offered to trade us their 4 tickets for our 3 (both in pretty equal locations- our were lower yet further from the stage, while theirs were closer to the stage but further up.) We made the trade and offered the last ticket to my brother. So we ended up with 4 tickets and $225 in cash.
While we waited, we tried to win backstage passes, better seats/tickets, T-shirts, etc. from KMPS radio station. We thought we would be late for the concert, and ended up leaving Chris and Kaatlin's tickets at the will call window, however, they had two other opening acts first.
It was fun to see all the signs and outfits people had made. Some people had spent a lot of time and money to stand out for Taylor.
Taylor Swift put on an awesome concert! She has a very sweet personality and said such nice things to the audience. She was actually quite humble about the whole thing saying things like that she was still so amazed that all these people chose to come spend the evening with her. She wore many beautiful outfits, had tons of fancy props and guitars, acted out lots of stories/songs (like "Speak Now" with the wedding scene), had amazing backup dancers, and even had a few tricks up her sleeve (like when she had the whole audience hold up any light, like a cell phone, that they might have- so cool!) My favorite parts were when she came out and sang at the glowing tree in the middle of the audience and when she floated over the audience during her last song (before the encore) "Love Story." It was amazing to be there and we were so glad that Chris and Kaatlin could come. It was actually Grant's 1st concert and obviously Calyssas as well. (I have been to a few before- Tim McGraw, John Michael Montgomery, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, etc. with friends.) I wish my girls would've worked hard to earn the tickets, but there is always next time. I know the lessons they learned were more important then attending any concert.
