Letters

In ordinary times it is often difficult to make plans. With all of the deployments since 2003 it has been VERY difficult for military families to make plans and do things together. When the soldier is not deployed they are often getting ready to deploy. Or, often times, may move (PCS) in between deployments. This Summer I was excited about this tour. I knew my wife would be coming home (from her 4th deployment) from Iraq in time for us to go to some KISS concerts. All of us as a family. We could make up for some of the other times, other tours, we could not go. The problem was I knew she would be home sometime in July or August. And, then she would go on leave sometime after she came home. Hmmmph. How do you buy Pre-sale Flip Video Packages or Pre-sale Meet and Greets or anything else offering good seats without knowing exactly WHEN you will be able to go? I had a dilemma. I kept waiting and waiting for some definite dates of leave. By the time I knew for sure it was too late to buy any of those package deals for the tour dates within our window of opportunity. But, I wanted REALLY good seats. My wife deserved the best. Our family deserved the best. We had missed out on so many things for so many years. Part of the sacrifices we all make in military families. I did what we must do often times. I adapted and overcame. I learned how to get good KISS tickets when the packages are no longer available. My tips are: 1. Find reputable ticket brokers, as many as you can, and compare tickets and prices. Take the time to research these brokers. Some of them have been around a very long time. 2. Try Ebay, but use common sense. Make sure the seller has a lot of feedback before you even think about buying tickets from them. Also, different states have different laws to protect the buyer of tickets. Familiarize yourself with that info by looking it up within Ebay to see what kind of protection you may or may not have. 3. Stubhub is a great place to look and they have some protections available to you as a buyer. 4. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 5. Look on Ticketmaster or LiveNation in the week leading up to the show you want to see. Keep checking every few hours every day. The promoter and the band will often add more tickets in the last few days. These may be seats originally designated as "comp" tickets. Or, tickets not sold as packages. 6. Look for tickets in pairs. Even if you need 4 tickets. Get the best pair you can and then shop for the next best pair you can get. I even kept shopping for upgrades after getting good tickets. In Philadelphia our family of 4 ended up in 2nd row all together. I ended up reselling a pair of 5th row tickets (to scalpers). And, for fun, I GAVE AWAY a pair of 6th row and a pair of 11th row tickets to deserving KISS fans in the lawn area. We all had great times. I wish my wife could have met KISS, or at least had one of them just say, "Hi", to her. It would have been a big thrill for her. It just could not work out. It's the kind of thing we miss out on as a military family. Others will relate to this. While we may have to miss out on some things we can still get great seats.