If you are really committed and have a credit card, going to a show for free is easy. It is usually a bit of a pain and can be stressful, so I don't do this as much as I did when i was unemployed, but here is the basic formula:
Premium seats are $400. On Stubhub, the average resale price I saw when I checked was $525. So, you can make $125 per ticket.
That means if you buy enough $400 tickets, and sell them for $125 profit, you only need to do this enough times to cover the cost of getting yourself one good premium seat as well as paying for the StubHub fees.
So, it would run you thousands of dollars (all of which you would get back), but you'd see the show for free from one of the best seats in the house. And, it technically wouldn't cost you anything, aside from the stress of those seats not selling until the last minute (since that is when people typically overpay for seats).
I'm seeing Arcade Fire for free from the front row of the VIP section in August using this methodology (using much lower ticket costs to do it, thankfully).
Updated On: 6/9/14 at 01:42 AM