the webthinking blog

Buying tickets for U2’s 2005 Verigo tour was definitely an interesting online experience. I’m sharing it inspired by Godin’s Fifteen minutes post.

Ticketmaster.ca originally listed two dates for U2’s Toronto performance: September 12 and 14. Online sales were to open on a Saturday, sometime in March 2005, at 10 AM sharp. 10 minutes before, I was there all jazzed up, refreshing the Tickemaster page every 30 seconds, ready to order. By 10.02 I got the outrageous message:

Your wait time is approximately 38 minutes or more

How’s that for a web purchase?? After fifteen minutes, I opened a different browser window, Firefox this time, to prevent cookie sharing and had a big surprise – a third show was added for Toronto, even though it wasn’t initially advertised! Right on! Switched back to Internet Explorer to check the count down, guess what – it timed out! Yes, I lost my place in the queue! Luckily, my Firefox was still doing its job, still in the queue. Fired-up Internet Explorer again, logged into Ticketmaster.ca, searched for U2 in Toronto, and there you go – around 10.40 AM a fourth show was added! Placed another order, just in case.

And if you’re wondering – around 11.10 AM, I was able to select my two tickets for the third show. Needless to say, I really enjoyed their performance in September! Way to go, U2! Nice move from two to four shows at Air Canada Centre!