Tickets: Going the Extra Yard to Get Show Tickets for Someone Else

A friend of mine posted on social media that she needed help desperately to get Peter Frampton tickets. She would have done it herself, but she ended up watching some smaller children for family and couldn't go take them and stand in line in the blistering heat.

She and I have been friends since tenth grade, which makes it like over 35 years that we've known each other. We haven't necessarily kept in touch over the years, mostly at funerals for mutual friends family members, but, still - that bond is there.

So, I volunteered to stand in line for tickets.

Supposedly, when you go to Ticketmaster, you can obtain tickets that they have bought. Well. I'm going to go stand in line. It's a beautiful day and who knows, I might run into someone I know while standing in line.

Maybe the line won't be outrageously long. Maybe it will be. I'll find out. I'm going to meet my friend at a house a few blocks away from the Civic Center to get the money to pay for this. For your information, if you buy tickets online, you need a charge card or Paypal, or you can probably use your debit card from your bank.

It's really quite cool that he's going to be in Mankato on the twelfth of July. Mankato has an outside amphitheater that was made from a spent rock quarry owned by SMC.

The acoustics are good in this quarry, so the show should be quite a blast. Peter Frampton was a singer that was leading our hearts when we were in high school. He's part of our past and it's such an honor to get tickets for his show.

I'm headed to Mankato to pick up her money and exchange it for tickets. The day is sunny and although we normally get humid, hot weather in June, this day is outlandishly hot and the heat index is insane.

Well. I got the money and headed to the Ticket Center. There is a parking ramp near and I headed in there. I was supposed to wait until closer to noon, since that is when the tickets were going to be sold, although online it said they'd allow them to be sold starting at 10 a.m.

The parking ramp is shared by a hotel, a restaurant, and a government center and the Civic Center.

The hotel guests and the restaurant have parking priorities and privileges, so I ended up parking on the top of the ramp. I discovered that I am afraid of heights and since it was a little warm and I was early, I got back into my car and started it to sit in the air conditioning. Temperature gauge for outside air was 86 degrees.

Then, I decided to drive to the library located on the next block. I turned in my parking token and went to the library. I killed a little time at the library then headed back to the Civic Center. I decided to park in the same area, but under the edge of the roof. That afforded my car a little more shade than the direct sun I was parked in the first time.

Still 86 degrees. I walked down the stairs and walked across the lowest parking lot, crossed the street to the Civic Center and the door said if this door is locked, go to the lobby door. Well. I started walking to the end of the building to another door, which turned out to be unlocked and I walked it. I was greeted by cold, air-conditioned air. The woman in the glass-walled booth was more than happy to assist me with purchasing the tickets.

To be honest, there was no line, at all. I was the only person there, besides the ticket person.

The seating at the Vetter Amphitheater is divided into four sections, plus a fifth section on the floor.

My friend wanted to sit as close as possible but if there weren't any available in the floor section then, she was happy just getting to sit anywhere. As luck would have it - there were a few seats still available in the second row. So. That was my choice. On the floor, very close to Frampton. Not bad, not bad at all.

My friend was very happy and I departed knowing that it was going to be a good day all around.

Just a few pictures to show the traffic patterns and the Civic Center.