Giving away your ticket - a truncated episode of grief
It was with insurmountable sorrow that I offloaded my ticket to see Wet Leg at the 9:30 Club on Friday. But them’s the brakes.
Wet Leg must be one of my two or three favourite groups out there right now (alongside Yard Act and HAIM). I was hooked when I first heard Chaise Lounge, bought their debut LP the day after it came out at a record store in Connecticut, and swooped in to buy the final copy of their follow-up – Moisturizer – the day it was released at Byrdland in DC.
Even before it was released I had already bought my ticket to see them at the 9:30 Club. And then life got in the way the week of.
Still, I held out on the hope that I could still see them live – this is Wet Leg!! But a 10.30pm start time is ultimately what did me in – I couldn’t afford to not sleep this weekend. Almost every other weekend, sure, I’ll suffer the next day if it means seeing Wet Leg.
And so I did what any responsible would-be concert-goer does: Sell the ticket as close to face value as I could. I was pretty sickened to see tickets starting at $270 on one site – I sold mine for $200 less than that. Because I just wanted the purchaser to enjoy the concert – that mattered more to me.
I wish I could say this was the only time I had to offload a ticket. Alas, it wasn’t. I recall a memory a couple of years ago when I woke up at 4am to be put in a queue of 56,000-plus people to get a ticket to see Spurs-Chelsea: Pochettino’s return to White Hart Lane.
I was unsuccessful at the first go. But then I did a quick look on the laptop a handful of hours later and, lo and behold, there was one available. I snapped it up – huzzah!
Just a couple weeks to go til the match and – you guessed it – the televised authorities moved it to a Monday night when I would be in Oban.
So, of course, I did what any responsible would-be attendee did: I gave it away. There were too many hurdles to make a transaction work from a US to UK bank account, and I thought it’d be a great shame to let the ticket go unused.
I found someone who wanted to see the game with his mates. And I gave it away. Tottenham lost that night, but I think most people remember it for THAT high-line picture.
I hope one day karma rewards me, if I’m being totally honest. And I’m very fortunate to be in a position to be mildly disappointed at having to relinquish these things.
I hope Wet Leg tour in the US again.
I hope to see Tottenham again. It’s been almost eight years.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Supermarket, by Wet Leg
And now for your links:
The Telegraph: “Arsenal and Spurs had their Succession moment – now new regimes face real test”
Jay Harris ($$): “Thomas Frank said Tottenham just delivered their ‘most complete performance’ yet. Is he right?”
Alasdair Gold: “Why Thomas Frank lost his cool at Brighton and Archie Gray’s big hint to Tottenham future”
Independent: “Crisis club Sheffield Wednesday can’t afford to think about the future”
Rolling Stone: “Wet Leg Play Central Park: Backstage With the Band”
Category: General Sports
