Planning ahead is one of the most effective ways to enjoy yourself while you’re at a concert. Luckily, the Internet makes planning head much easier now than ever before. You can see exactly where your seats are, how long it will take you to get to the venue, and even buy your tickets right from a computer or your phone. Third party ticket sites even allow you to buy tickets while you’re standing in line waiting to get into the concert, download the tickets right to your phone, and just present the code on your screen to the ticket booth. Getting to a show is easier than ever.
It can also be a lot more fun, too. We recommend planning as much of your show out as possible in order to get the most out of every concert you take in.
Logistics
The first area that your planning should focus on is getting to and from the show. The logistics of transportation can seem like a bore, but this is one of the biggest issues that people have when they go to a show.
Parking is one of the biggest frustrations that people deal with when they go to a concert. Parking is expensive and the lot can sometimes fill up before you get there if you are running late. Rather than leaving your parking place as a question mark until the last minute, plan it out before you get there. Use public transportation if you can to get to and from the show. It will save you a huge pain in the butt when it comes to trying to get out of the parking lot at the end of the night. If that’s not an option, then buy a parking pass online ahead of time. The same sites that sell online tickets also sell parking passes—if your venue offers them. This way, you can lock in a low cost for your parking and not be at the mercy of any price increases that management sees fit to make on the day of the show. You can also guarantee a spot for yourself this way. Parking passes tend to be sold by the number, and if you have a pass ahead of time, you are almost guaranteed a decent spot no matter how late you might be running.
At the Show
The other side of planning ahead for a show is to have a plan in place for while you’re at the show. This covers several different things. For example, you should have a decent idea of where your seats are located, where important things like the bathroom, customer service, concessions, and first aid might be, and what the quickest way in and out of the venue is.
When it comes to the others that you are with, you should also be in communication with them about any sort of plans that you might have. This could be a meet up spot after the show, or a place to meet if you are separated from your party. You should also have some sort of plan in place if an emergency arises.
These are not always things that you will need, but in the off chance that you do need them, it is good to have a process in place that you can stick to. There will be no questions about what to do and no doubt that the people that you’ve come with are doing the things that they’re supposed to be doing in order to get out of the venue safely and quickly at the end of the night.
Having a meeting place and an emergency plan set up if you are headed to a concert with a group of teens can also make your job as a chaperoning adult a lot less stressful.
No, you cannot plan for every single situation that might occur. There are some things that we cannot account for no matter how thoroughly we plan in advance. That’s just the way that life works. However, by spending some time thinking about common issues that might arise and having a plan in place to handle them well, you can sidestep some of the most frequent problems that you might come across and get the most out of every single concert you go to.
When you plan ahead, you can go to concerts like a pro. Not only does it save you on stress and headaches, it can help you to save money, have more fun, and enjoy your time far more than ever before.