May 28 Police Concert and cheap parking by GM Place

The moment Ticketmaster was selling Police concert tickets, I was on their website repeatedly hitting the refresh button and getting the "sold out" message. After numerous attempts, I got the option of buying row 30 Gold Premium floor seats for a mere $425 each with only a minute to make my decision. In the frenzy of the moment, I ended up buying them. Of course I regretted it after entering in my billing info. I mean, what the heck was I thinking? I could go to Vegas, catch a concert and fly back for that price.

So when they added the second show, I bought two reasonably priced tickets at around $111 each with the intent of selling the floor seats for face value. Well, imagine my surprise when my friend was able to buy floor tickets for $225. In Row 19. Closer than my pricier seats. It turns out my tix cost $425 because they were Gold seats, which essentially means you get some kind of Police memorabilia. Oh, the memorabilia we got was a fanny pack. ?!?

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I post my tickets on Craigslist a little less than face value. No response. So a few days before the concert, I post them for half price. Not. one. response. So we ended up going yesterday. It was a great concert but not worth $425 a ticket. And they were saying it was sold out, but it wasn't. I ran into some friends that were sitting in row 36 on the floor, they told me they were sitting in the nosebleeds and an usher asked them if they wanted to move to the floor, so he gave them some Comp floor seat stubs. After they moved down to the floor, basically everyone sitting around them was all giddy because they also got the free upgrade. So basically they are just trying to make it look sold out, because it looks strange to look out on the floor and see tons of empty space.
Oh, we saw scalpers outside selling tickets for ten bucks. And, I saw tickets selling on Ebay for $25.

As for the concert, Sting sounded amazing, and he looked amazing. He looked so serene and relaxed up on stage, and he looked genuinely happy. His physique is WOW. Put it this way, I signed up for yoga today.
Apparently Pearl Jam was at the concert.
Anyways, I'm pretty pissed I spent so much for this concert, and about the way they sell the tickets. I guess it's all about the concert promoters making the most amount of money. But come on, charging an extra $200 to sit further back for a vinyl fanny pack? that thing is going in the garbage anyways, taking up more space in a land fill.

Tip: If you're going to any concerts or events at GM Place in the evening, park in the International Mall on Keefer Street. It's $2.50 for the entire evening and most people don't know about it so it's not too busy. It's much better than paying upwards of $15 for parking and have a hard time getting out when the concert/event ends.
Also, instead of getting the pricey food at GM Place, walk across the street to Costco, and get a hotdog and drink for $2. If you want to splurge, get their fries too.

Good deals

In Tuesday's Vancouver Sun's Style section there's a $30 off coupon at Wear Else which expires April 30. The great thing about this coupon is, it's not one of those, spend at least $100. As long as the item's over $30, you can use it. So you can buy a $40 item for $10. Doh.

www.beancoffeeshop.com
Get $12 off your first order for new customers. I'm not a coffee drinker so I've never tried their coffees, but they appear to have a pretty good clientele.
Looks like no minimum order.

Cheerios select cereals has a free adult admission movie pass inside!

Canadian Tire online, free shipping for any order over $49. Use this promo code SPRING316


:)

Some deals

• Alaska Airlines has some pretty good deals right now if you're traveling within the US. If you're a Vancouver person like me, you can drive up to Sea-Tac, or take the quickshuttle there and fly out to LA. For airfare, taxes and fees included, you're looking at $218.60 return. Even better deals if you're flying out to Oakland (very close to San Francisco). If you're flying out of Portland, there are some even better deals. I just booked a flight to Oakland (return) for less than $179 (flying out of Seattle). I'm probably gonna book a car rental and hotel through Priceline.


• Roots (brick and mortar store), 50% off at items including sale items. For online shopping at Roots.com use coupon code BOX06. They've got some comfy yoga pants and some cute purses. Mexx (brick and mortar) also has stuff 50% off, but that's not really a big deal since Mexx has this sale often. In fact, I think it's just plain silly to buy anything regular price from Mexx or Buffalo for that matter.


• Staples.ca $30 off $200 or more purchase, coupon code 81741.


• American Apparel.ca 10% off orders of $85 or more, coupon code HOLIDAYDEC06


• Future Shop, Prison Break Season One is $29.99. I just rented the whole season a couple months ago, and it cost more to rent (six discs). And isn't watching Wentworth Miller sitting in the chair after he gets his toe cut off in the dr's office just priceless?? Ahhh, Wenty!!
  

I am not a fan of Roots or Staples. For some reason I can't stand most of the staff at Roots and I've had multiple problems with online ordering from Staples.