Where to find tickets for sold out concert

Ticket touting is a huge issue, and online sales leave re-sellers charging extortionate prices for tickets. However, a lot of old-school ticket buyers will still flog unwanted tickets outside the venue, and big events are always frequented by touts. A tout will try and charge you a stupid amount of money for a ticket, however a decent life hack is to wait until the act are just about to go on stage and then hunt to see if any touts are willing to go dirt cheap.

Find out what time the act takes to the stage via their social media and be sure to haggle your way down to a decent fee.

This plan is for the more spontaneous of events lovers, and those not afraid of spending the evening in the pub next door if the plan fails. Not the most fool-proof way of getting into an event, but well worth a try. Online competitions are generally free to enter and only require you to have an email address or social media account!

Here are our best tips for how to navigate the confusion! Enter the digital lottery. You might win, but if you do, you need to see the show on that same day. So this is not usually a good option for most people. Check StubHub. Small point to remember: once you are sure that the clerk has made the effort to look for tickets on your chosen date, accept their word that there are none. Box office staff like selling all available tickets, and will do so if they can.

Most are not magicians, though, and cannot produce tickets which really and genuinely don't exist! Be an earlybird Most people assume that a good review automatically means the show is sold out the second the word "hits the street".

Not true. In London the public tend to buy seats around three weeks ahead for all but the most anticipated shows. In the case of an unexpected new smash hit show review, the first few days after opening will often be less busy than you expect, so tickets will often be available!

These usually consist of tickets given back to the box office by customers unable to use them, or agencies unable to sell their stock. A few even come from Police and Consumer Protection officers who have confiscated tout's stock. Also, the theatre usually hasn't sold the type of seats mentioned above. Some theatres, notably the Royal National, the Royal Shakespeare Company wherever they are currently playing , Royal Court and Lyceum also keep back a few seats deliberately for sale on the day of performance as a public service and anti tout measure.

Increasingly, this trend is being followed by the most popular musicals and plays at other venues, with the front row of the stalls being held for sale on the day - often more cheaply though they may have a slightly restricted view of the stage, particularly where the height of the stage prevents seeing the actors' feet!

Returns lines form outside the theatre from around 8a. Tickets go on sale at 10 a. Wrap up warm, take refreshments, and be prepared to wait. Some box offices insist that you pay with one or the other specifically, depending on the source of the tickets they are selling you. A reader says, "You can usually get really good returns at the Donmar for a Sat eve if you get there by about 6 and are prepared to wait; we got front row tickets for "Frost Nixon" for example.

It's first come first served and the BO staff are really helpful, and you need cash. If there's two of you, one can sit and wait and the other can shop in Covent Garden, fetch supplies of food etc.

I've had similar experiences for other sold out shows there and at the Almeida, more than once. The Royal Court's system works on the basis that you turn up after a certain time on the day and get given a card with a number; you then go back at a certain time I think half an hour before the start time, but you would need to check and they sell off what they've had returned in the order of your numbered card.

We got great tickets for 'the Seagull' last year Reader Mark also notes that unsold 'Day Seats' may end up being sold either online or by telephone through the central phoneroom of each theatre once demand at the counter has been satisfied. Rush Seats and Ballots Sometimes run by the theatre, sometimes on behalf of the theatre by todaytix. With Rush Tickets, the fastest on the app get to snap up cheap tickets on the day of performance at 10am as they go on sale.

Pay and collect at the theatre as instructed. With Ballots, fill in the form - usually up to a week ahead, and winners are notified that they can buy tickets within a fixed time frame, between 4 and 24 hours before the show. If you don't want the seats or forget, next person drawn gets them. If you don't have a smartphone, you can enter online or by email for some lotteries.

Manipulate the online system Some booking systems - notably Nederlander Theatres - show performances as being "Sold Out" when you encounter the first "Choose your Date" calendar.

If you click on a date that has tickets available, though, you can then use the "Change the Date" facility on the page to see if that is really true. The monkey has found that it isn't - and has gone on to select the date it really wants, and found a smattering of tickets that suited it very nicely. Pay for the VIP treatment Most theatres offer this service - ask the box office for details. Choose from champagne at the interval to a full meal, private rooms or just a programme and chocolates.

All with the best seats included. If you happen to be staying in a hotel with a concierge service, ask them to obtain seats for you. Members of the concierge service organisation 'Golden Keys' co-operate to make the impossible seem easy. Scale the peaks The busiest performances are Saturday then Friday evening. Next come Saturday and Sunday matinees, especially for child friendly shows e. The Lion King; and Thursday evenings. At the Royal National Theatre midweek matinees are also busy as mailing list members seem to prefer them and take many of the available tickets during their priority booking period.

Choose Monday to Wednesday Evenings and midweek matinees except at the National Theatre as you stand a better chance in general. Theatremonkey reckons Tuesday evenings and the midweek matinees often see the cast give the best performances of the week. Extra Performances Extra performances of hit shows are often scheduled outside the normal pattern of Monday to Saturday night plus two afternoons.

Tickets often go on sale at short notice and seats are often left over on the day for casual walk-ins to buy. Charity galas may add a donation to the price, but in the cheapest seats it will often not be too much and at least you get to see the play.

STAR Agencies Agencies, because they charge a bit more, can have tickets when the theatre has sold out. Do note, though, that many agents no longer have actual reserved "allocations," instead, they log into the theatre's stock and share that. This means of course that if the theatre is sold out, so is the agent. The only exceptions are the few agencies continuing with their own supplies, and those times when a company has bought tickets in advance and so may have some left.

Legitimate companies include embers include Lovetheatre. Local Coach Trips Some coach tour companies within driving distance of London run inclusive trips combining a ticket with transport from their local area. These companies often schedule well ahead and will have bought great seats at group rates in anticipation of a new hit show.

But Craigslist can provide a few more minefields. When in doubt, ask for photo confirmation of their tickets or receipt before going through with the sale. A friend of mine who will remain nameless almost got scammed before a sold-out Jeff Rosenstock show last summer, via a Facebook user who went by Sean Thompson.

This was a case where the scam was clear-cut and avoidable, but still unsettling, especially given that multiple other Facebook users had written about him successfully pulling off the same stunt on other event pages.