hi! i'm sorry to bother you with such a stupid question, but i'm currently studying Japanese at university and as a part of my education, i plan on visiting Japan. how difficult it is to get to Granrodeo events if i'm only around for a few months? (like, how pricey and how fast are tickets sold out? my only reference is the Gorillaz concert i attended in last november where the cheapest tickets where ~$40 and i had to buy them in april.) :3
Hi! Not a stupid question at all. And I hope you donât mind me answering non-privately, so others can see.
Ticketing in Japan is rather different than in the rest of the world, and, sad to say, itâs generally not user friendly for foreign fans. Some artists do sell to overseas fans, but unfortunately, Granrodeo isnât one of them. Tickets are usually sold via lottery and only after several rounds of lottery is there a first-come, first-served general sale. (And those general sales are TOUGH; Iâve only ever managed one ticket that way, because the system servers usually crap out with that many people trying.)
So, lotteries ... some lotteries require that you buy some item (usually a CD, DVD or book) and get a serial number that you then enter into the ticketing site. Some are Fan Club only. Most are open to anyone eligible. And that means you have an account on one of the official ticket seller sites. It used to be just eplus, Pia and Lawson, all of which require a Japanese mobile phone for account verification and the ability to pay within 3-5 days (foreign credit cards not accepted). See what I mean about making it tough for foreign fans? Lately other sites have been selling tickets as well, like Rakuten, Animate and Yahoo Japan. However, youâll still need to be able to pay one of their required ways, which typically means being here in Japan, or having someone who can pay for you.
That said, I am more than glad to help folks out by entering lotteries for them. Just donât ask that I enter FC lottery -- we can only get 2 tickets for most shows, and I generally need both tickets.
As for timing and price ... GR one man lives generally are 6800-7800 yen, depending on venue. And timing depends:Â tour tickets are usually on sale a few months in advance, some festivals are the same, but others have much shorter time frames.
tl:dr Once you know when youâll be here, check to see if thereâs shows (or ask me if thereâs any) and Iâll see what I can do to help you get a ticket. ^_^
