Tickets acquired

Occasionally I can be a clever bugger. I have managed to procure tickets for the White Stripes show in Iqaluit even though they have not gone on sale yet.

How did I manage this neat little trick? By remembering something that bands tend to do when they go on tour. That being before tickets go on sale to the general public many bands make a limited number of them available to their fan club. So once I heard the rumours about the band coming here I joined the White Stripes fan club online and checked in occasionally to see if there were any tickets on sale.

As of last night, the only tickets up for grabs were for shows in Alberta and Manitoba. They were going on sale today. During my morning break I figured I'd take a quick pop over to the site to see if they had added Iqaluit. They had not only added the city, but the tickets were on sale now.

Some quick punching in of information and I have now purchased two tickets to see the show. I could have bought up to four, but honestly, I hadn't heard of anyone who wanted them. And while I suspect they're going to vanish pretty fast, I really can't be bothered to buy tickets to try and scalp them later. It's not like I'm hard up for the money. Oh, and for those in town wanting to go, they still have tickets for sale as of now, but I don't know how much longer that will last. I imagine there are very limited numbers.

The tickets cost about $40 US each (I have no idea why I was charged in US rather than Canadian funds) and that includes service charge. I'm guessing that works out to about $90 Canadian for a pair of tickets for a world class band in truly one of the more odd settings you would ever see a band. And apparently cheaper than you might elsewhere, like say Toronto.

It's funny, I was commenting today to a co-worker that this must be one of the biggest musical acts to play Iqaluit (not actually visit, as Madonna and Springsteen have made refueling stops on their way elsewhere). My co-worker, who has spent her whole life in Iqaluit, corrected me. Apparently there's been no big acts in recent years, but for a while in the 60s, 70s and 80s some big names did play here.

Such as? Well, she cited April Wine, which made me laugh, but she insists it was during their prime so it was a big deal. Okay, fine. She mentioned Gordon Lightfoot played here in the late 60s, and I'll give some credit to that. And, bizarrely enough, The Eagles have apparently played Iqaluit.

You know, I think The Eagles trump the White Stripes in this case. Given the various drug and alcohol habits of the band members, I wonder if they even knew where they were...