I have recently become aware exactly how important a piece of nostalgia the concert ticket has become. Obviously we all know about iconic concert posters, but tickets are just throwaway aren’t they?
Well plainly speaking NO!
It seems that many people treasure their tickets and stubs as they serve as a memento of that special occasion for one reason or other. Maybe it’s because you met a new partner at the venue? Could it have been that bands last ever gig? Was it in a venue much smaller than you would assume that they would be playing in? Could it have been a secret gig prior to a big tour? Did something substantial happen at the gig, such as a riot? Was it this acts first ever concert? Is that venue no longer there? There could be many reasons, but everyone that has their concert tickets will be able to pick a few absolute gems for one reason or other.
With these changing times of print at home tickets and showing your virtual ticket on your phone to the door staff, are decent concert tickets sadly becoming a thing of the past? I desperately hope not! I was fearful for vinyl a few years back, but I needn’t have worried had I?
The concert ticket is part of the overall concert experience for the purchaser. It usually starts on finding out that your favourite acts are coming to town and you either especially go into your local decent record store to purchase them or call the ticket line and get them sent in the post.
If the tickets are going to come in the post, then there is the anticipation of wondering when they will arrive. Each day the postman comes, suddenly isn’t filled with despair as the bills roll in, but with excitement as you hear that plonk as the mail hits the mat. Is it my tickets? When it is, you carefully open up the envelope and there they are, all crisp and shiny and your passport to a great night out.
If you get them from your local record shop, then you stand in the queue, waiting patiently, praying that they have some left or have them in stock. You get to the front and YES they have them! You exchange your notes for some pieces of paper, but they might as well be for nuggets of gold – you are soooo excited. You can’t wait for that special day to arrive.
The day comes and you get to the venue and you really hope that the promoter will let you keep your ticket or not deface it by tearing it in half. If you have to hand it over for a stamp on your hand, then you really must make a beeline to the desk on the way out to grab a ticket as a souvenir, whether it is your exact one or not.
Alas, sometimes it is not possible to keep a hold of your tickets or you lose them, then this is a little upsetting. I know I have many gaps in my collection, where I wish that I still had that little piece of coloured paper with those special words on it. A classic example of this would be my very first gig, which was The Buzzcocks at the Top Rank Suite in Brighton back in 1978. That was a very special gig as the crowd were very lairy and because the band refused to do an encore due to the gobbing punks, the crowd invaded the stage and there were blokes walking up West Street in front of me with speakers and the like that they had nicked from the venue. Alas The Buzzcocks did not return to Brighton on their 1979 tour, which was a damn shame as their support act was Joy Division, who never played Brighton.
Back in the day, riots at gigs were a sad regular occurance. My mate Dave witnessed first hand at a Sham 69 gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London, where the gig had to be stopped due to skinhead stage invasions. On a website on the history of the venue it states “The Sham 69 gig ends in a fiasco. The gig lasted 20 minutes through fighting, stage invasions and skinheads out in force.The fire curtain is dropped and isn’t raised until the audience are gone.”
I can recall a riot at the Pavilion Theatre in Brighton when The Exploited were headlining. That was stopped after about 4 songs and the police arrived in force.
Certain concert tickets can bring back happy memories of a fantastic time that you can alas no longer bring back as those people are no longer around and so that little piece of paper can take on huge significance. Whether it be that the artist is no longer with us or the fact that a loved one you attended the concert with has passed away.
I have had a ferret around for some of my treasured tickets and my mate Dave has too and we would like to share a few of them with you.
Maybe you would like to email us photos of your treasured tickets and explain why they are important to you? Send them to whatson@brightonandhovenews.org and we will endeavour to load them on our Facebook page.
Superb,interesting article, of course also back in the day one would buy the likes of Sounds, Melody Maker and NME to see what gigs were happening,then go to the venues box office to purchase ticket.
I went to that crass gig, it was 1981,support from poison girls and Annie anxiety, a benefit for Worthing youth cnd. I was 15,it was my second gig, it was at Durrington social club on a pretty rough council estate and a load of local skinheads forced their way in, but I don’t remember any fighting. Crass were at their angry best