If you like specific acts, sure. Or maybe some cities take independent venues more seriously than others. Growing up, ok I missed out on getting Metallica tickets because I didn't want to support clear channel (or Live Nation, or TM, etc...), but I still was able to see plenty of amazing metal bands in indie venues.

Another interesting note: Weird Al is playing three venues within driving distance from me. Only one of them is selling tickets through TM.

▲

wolvoleo 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

True, I do see a thriving ecosystem here in Europe for some more fringey types of acts. There's like resident advisor ( https://ra.co ), XCEED ( https://xceed.me ) . Probably because some events don't meet ticketmaster's T&Cs (they can be a bit spicy).

In fact I have not used ticketmaster in the last 2 years, the last time was a big ticket stadium-type thing. Most of the events I attend are doing it through resident advisor and I have about 40 tickets in my history there now. I'm glad the ecosystem hold by ticketmaster is being broken, at least here in Europe.

Though even there you do see some ticketmaster crap popping up like universe.com

▲

midnitewarrior 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Go see Weird Al. It was a really great show. My wife only knew one of his songs (Word Crimes, she's a professional editor), and she loved the show. I loved it too.

▲

karl_gluck 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Strongly agreed. He played BlizzCon a few years back and it was my favorite part of the weekend.

▲

baggachipz 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I just saw him a couple weeks ago. It's such a fun show, people there are from ALL walks. He's no spring chicken but he gives it his all, and his band and backups do too. Just an all-around great dude.

	▲	reactordev an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Will confirm, all-around great dude. He's the kind of guy you WOULD find in those independent venues. He'll happily go out of his way for it.