Gift Giving Guy

Like to see your loved one re-enact the “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket” musical number from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Consider giving concert tickets to see his or her favorite performers. That’s what I did last night. My wife and I saw Josh Groban in concert, and we enjoyed his stunning baritone vocals.

To keep track of upcoming concerts, I rely on Performer Alerts from ticketmaster.com. Simply sign up for a free My TicketMaster account and login. Search for favorite bands, singers, and comedians by name and add them to your e-mail alerts. Ticketmaster will send you reminder e-mails well in advance and just before the concert tickets first go on sale. You can buy the tickets online through ticketmaster.com and have them mailed to you (or even printed from your computer). If you want better seats, find out if joining the artist’s fan club will allow you a pre-sale purchase date.

One caveat: Ticketmaster discloses your e-mail address to the concert venue, so you might get event e-mails from the venue. Most (if not all) will have opt-out links at the bottom of the message if you don’t want these e-mails.