Go online, not in line, for Elton tickets

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Elton John might sing “I’m still standing,” but you’ll make a big mistake if you do the same outside the Covelli Centre when tickets for his concert there go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, arena officials say.

In the age of buying tickets online, you can be among the first to be at the center’s box office and still not get tickets for the concert, said Bridget Wolsonovich, its director of marketing.

“The first person in line at the box office is competing with everyone with a computer logging in at 10 a.m. to get tickets,” she said. “Your chances of getting tickets are better online than in line.”

Those at the box office save the Ticketmaster fee, which could be about $8 to $10 a ticket. But that’s assuming you can get a ticket at the center’s box office.

Eric Ryan, the center’s executive director, said “You should sit at home with your fuzzy socks trying to get tickets.” Despite urging people to buy tickets for the May 1 concert at ticketmaster.com, Wolsonovich said, “I bet I have people camping out Thursday night [outside the center].”

She also expects people to line up at local Ticketmaster locations — at Giant Eagle supermarkets and Macy’s — to buy tickets for the concert. That’s another idea she doesn’t recommend.

Whether you buy online or in line, decide what price you want to pay for the tickets and not a specific seat location, Ryan said.

“Know your price level and how any tickets you want,” he said. “Do that and get out. Don’t say, ‘I want Section 212 and the first three rows. That’s going to slow you down [on line].”

Without Ticketmaster fees, tickets for John’s concert cost $39, $89 and $139.

“This is going to be insane and crazy,” Ryan said. “We’re expecting tickets to sell very well.”

There are plenty of facilities that don’t open box offices for big events like this, Ryan said.

“We keep our box office open, but you end up dealing with disappointed people,” he said.

Also, Wolsonovich said don’t buy tickets from Web sites.

“There are tons of scalper sites claiming to have tickets now,” she said. “People who buy them will not be able to get in because they’re not real tickets. They’re bogus.”

And they’re expensive, she said.

The fake tickets are going for as much as $1,300 online, Wolsonovich said.

The center will have up to 7,000 tickets available for the concert.

If the show is a sell-out, it will fall shy of the center’s record for best attended event.

That honor goes to the Feb. 21, 2009, boxing card featuring middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, a Youngstown native. Attendance for that show was 7,334.