I’m a big fan of the band Franz Ferdinand, so when an email arrived in my inbox saying they were coming to Agganis Arena, I marked the date on my calendar and set my alarm to be first in line for tickets. To add to my excitement, the email shouted at me, “SPECIAL INTERNET PRESALE FOR BU FACULTY AND STAFF AND STUDENTS! ONE DAY ONLY!” On the morning of ticket sales, my friends and I purchased tickets for our group. We even had to give a specific password included in the email to buy these exclusive presale tickets. It wasn’t until I logged on to my computer later in the day to see what my insider status as a BU student had bought me that I discovered I would be watching the concert from a row of seats at the very back of the arena. At the booth I was told these were “the best seats available.”
I have since learned presales often sell off the worst seats to ensure a full venue, but somehow, in between being promised a special offer and whispering a pass code through a ticket window, I innocently thought I had access to good seats. Maybe I’m naive to the world of concert promotion, but regardless, I believe the Agganis Arena management should at the very least give BU students honest offers. BU students are more than seat fillers. We’re the fans who view Agganis Arena as a part of our campus and we deserve better. I’ll try and enjoy the concert I attend, but I will not buy into Agganis Arena’s bogus promotions again.
Trevor Stonefield COM ’08