Free Concert Tickets, or are they?

I have been entering Facebook Contests for free tickets lately and I have been winning a lot.

The first set of tickets that I won were for Foreigner at Jones Beach.  The problem was that I was notified, by email, on Thursday Night for a concert on Friday, which I didn't read until Monday.  So, does that count as winning.  And to make matters worse, when I told Carrie this story, she checked her email and found out that she won too, but never read the email either.

So, lesson learned.  I started making sure I read all my emails on a daily basis, especially from Live Nation.  Then it happened, I won 2 Tickets for Brad Paisley at Jones beach.  Hot Dog.  I posted it on facebook, to get all my friends jealous, and went with Carrie to the Concert.  As we arrived, I realized that my free tickets were only free if we walked to Jones Beach.  The dreaded parking fee!  Oh well, pay for parking, get our seats, which were great, enjoyed the Concert, our $10 beers and $8 Pepsi's and went live so our friends could experience a bit of the concert from home.  All said and done, a great night out, but our Free Tickets costed us about $55 in parking fees, drinking and eating.  Still a great night, great weather and a packed house rocking with Brad Paisley.

So, a week later, as I can checking my emails, I won again.  This time it was 2 lawn tickets to see Larry the Cable Guy at the Bald Hill, PennySaver Amphitheater last night.  As I'm posting to facebook to make my friends jealous again,  Carrie tells me she won as well.  So now we post that we won 4 tickets and who wanted to share in our good fortune.   One of our friends from Nassau County took us up on the offer and in exchange for the free tickets, she offered to stop at Dough-ology and pick up some pre-concert treats.  Doughnuts and a Show for free, this just keeps getting better and better.  Until we show up for the show. 

We get there a half hour before the show and there is one guy, managing 2 rows of cars, asking for a $20 parking fee.  He's not in a booth, not even in a uniform.  He's just standing there collecting $20 bills from all the cars entering the Amphitheatre.  I said that we won free tickets and wondered if that applied to the parking as well.  The answer was a resounding No!  So I asked him if took credit cards and the answer was a resounding No!  Then I gave him a $50 Bill, figuring it would be easier to break it there, rather that at the concession stand.  This time, the answer was a exasperating yes.  We got out change and parked our car.  

So then it started to rain a bit, so we got our jackets, met our friends and went to get our free tickets at the ticket booth,  The Ticket agent was very nice and friendly, and she upgraded our Lawn Seats to the Orchestra and all our seats were together.  $38 more dollars for food and drinks, $16 for 2 beers and $8 for a diet coke and Flavored Spiked Seltzer water with some sort of alcohol, but I could tell you which one from the taste.  So, if my math is right, our 4 free tickets and 4 free Doughnuts, Thanks to Melissa, That was sweet of her, costed us $85.  (Yes it's right, I added $3 in tips) 

Aside from being rained on for about 45 minutes, it was a great show.  Larry the Cable Guy was hilarious and a good time was had by all,  But Free, I think not.  But it was Priceless!

Jan 7th, 2019 update:

We just won tickets to the Big Apple Circus.  We may need to start a GoFundMe campaign! LOL

ACE
Alex C, Elie, MBA
Ace Consulting Expeditors, Inc.
AlexCMElie@Gmail.com
Mobile  631-504-2637

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