DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020059

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

WHY DO TICKET SALES TICK FANS OFF? ANSWER: BIG-TIME ARTISTS, SCALPERS AND SET-ASIDES

YOU REALLY CAN'T ALWAYS GET what you want. Tickets for next week's Elton John concert at the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater sold out in barely 30 minutes. It didn't take nearly that long before hackles were raised:

Fans were ticked because classified ads offering tickets at three and four times the face value ran in The Virginian-Pilot before they went on sale Sept. 13.

Fans who couldn't get tickets were ticked because those who did were allowed to buy up to six in the reserved section or eight on the lawn.

Fans were ticked because tickets were set aside for the amphitheater's corporate sponsors, guests of the performers and the media.

If the litany sounds familiar, it's because it's heard every time someone with John's drawing power performs.

Scores of Jimmy Buffett fans didn't get to see him last year or when he returned to the amphitheater three months ago. Garth Brooks' fans were just as vociferous in January after his three concerts at Hampton Coliseum sold out over several days.

The classified ads are placed by out-of-town brokers - scalping is illegal in Virginia Beach and Norfolk - who have no way of knowing how many tickets they will have for sale, said amphitheater GM Mike Tabor. The brokers hire people to wait in line. They place their ads in advance assuming they'll have tickets.

``Here's a test,'' Tabor said. ``Call one of those numbers the day the ad runs and ask for a specific section. I'll bet $100 that you don't get the seats you want.''

The 20,000-seat amphitheater sets aside 5 to 8 percent of its tickets - 1,000 to 1,600 - for sponsors, the media and the performers, whose requests are written into their contracts, Tabor said.

No other tickets are set aside, he added. In fact, the amphitheater must call Ticketmaster and the artist's management five minutes before any show goes on sale with the total number of tickets available.

Some tickets are set aside at the 14,000-seat Hampton Coliseum, said GM Joe Tsao, though not nearly as many as at the amphitheater because his facility is smaller and doesn't have as many sponsors.

``You need to put it in perspective,'' Tsao said. ``One, you have to understand the buying public for the show specifically. Think of the profile of the typical buyer for Elton John - you're probably looking at yourself in the mirror.

``Think about it. When was the last time he bought a ticket to go to a public event? It's not your typical concert-going crowd. Are they quite up to speed with how tickets are sold in this day and age? Probably not. When Guns N' Roses were at their peak, they would sell out just as fast. But you didn't have 15- and 16-year-olds crying and moaning about having to buy a ticket.''

Country megastar Brooks' three-night stint at the coliseum in January didn't sell out immediately, Tsao said. It took nearly a week before the last ticket was gone.

Still, he heard complaints, including one from a lady who used an out-of-town scalper rather than take her chances in line. She called Tsao when she realized she'd paid triple the $18 price.

``My thing was, `Where have you been lately? What do you want me to do?' '' Tsao said. ``She said, `I don't want you to do anything. I just wanted you to know I wasn't happy.'

``These scalping companies are just a fact of life. As long as the demand is there, these people will supply it. Tickets (for Brooks) went on sale at 10 a.m. By 10:45, our lines were gone. People straggled in all day. You can't tell me the opportunity wasn't there to buy tickets.''

Tabor said contracts often specify that seats in the first 20 rows of the amphitheater cannot be withheld, but the amphitheater goes that one better with a stricter policy. Only tickets in Section 102, Row K and farther back are put aside, leaving the prime seats in the gold circle and orchestra for the public.

As for the number of tickets one person can buy, that's determined on a show-by-show basis by the amphitheater and the artist's management, Tabor said.

Basically, though, the odds of scoring seats come down to supply and demand. With itineraries and ticket sale dates routinely posted on the Internet, anyone anywhere in the country can order. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARIO TESTINO

The bigger the name - Elton John performs in Virginia Beach next

week - the louder the cry from people who couldn't, or didn't, get

tickets. KEYWORDS: CONCERT TICKET SCALPERS

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