Manage to snag a ticket to the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s annual Halloween Show? Consider yourself lucky.
An underground market for tickets to the midnight concert emerged on campus Monday evening as students scrambled to procure last-minute tickets to the sold-out event. The annual Halloween Show—which sets a student-made silent film to a YSO soundtrack—filled each of Woolsey Hall’s 2,650 seats Monday evening. But getting one’s butt in a chair was hardly child’s play.
After the show sold out, students hoping to attend the sold-out show turned to panlists, Facebook groups and friends-of-friends, searching for unwanted tickets. Some got lucky; others, not so much. After all, the black market tends to be fickle.
One mass email exemplified the trend.
From: Will Buy Tickets buyyourysotix@gmail.com
Date: October 31, 2011 9:27:35 PM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Sell your YSO Ticket!
Plans fell through? Don’t have time? Why not sell your YSO Halloween show ticket for a profit? Reply for more info.
We replied, but did not receive more information.
Many ticket-less freshmen took their troubles to the Class of 2015 Facebook group. What was once home to pre-college bonding and awkward introductions quickly became a bastion of the underground economy: a virtual trading post a quick and painless as Fort Hood in Oregon Trail for potential buyers and sellers. Upwards of twenty YSO-related posts appeared on the group within the hours leading up to the event.
Other frosh, meanwhile, used the group to lament their inability to attend the concert, offering to pay top-dollar for their midnight YSO fix. Some orchestral junkies offered to pay nearly four times the initial price of the $10 ticket, but there simply weren’t enough extra tickets to go around.
But not all efforts were futile.
“I bought an orchestra seat for $20,” said Jeremy Zitomer ’15. “When it seemed that literally the entire campus wanted to be at this show, I realized that I’d probably be missing out if I didn’t find a ticket at the last minute.”
According to Zitomer, a classmate accepted his “enticing” offer within “ten seconds.” Indeed, social networking has its perks; try finding a spur-of-the-moment buyer for your unwanted YSO ticket back in the days of landlines and telephone booths.
Other freshmen agreed that Facebook was a good avenue for buying and selling tickets.
“It was easy and quick,” said Lionel Rodriguez ’15 of his Facebook-facilitated transaction. “People who wanted the tickets were very eager to trade.”
Of course, with only 2,650 seats in Woolsey and only mere hours to finagle a last-minute bargain, not all would-be attendees could find tickets. For some, that didn’t seem to be a problem, and happy endings abounded on All Hallows’ Eve.
“At least I could stay in and get my work done,” said Han Myo Oo ’15.