Will exchange sex for Coldplay tickets

Coldplay a hot ticket

Offers of sex, iPods follow rush of fans to box office for British band's Fillmore show

Delfin Vigil, Aidin Vaziri, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, May 5, 2005

The sign on the box office of the Fillmore had been up for days: "Coldplay show is VERY sold out."

But that didn't stop some very desperate fans from taking very desperate measures to get into the British band's very limited engagement at the San Francisco venue Wednesday night.

"If there are any cool guys who'd like to share a ticket with a 27-year- old blonde haired blue eyed girl, I'd really appreciate it," wrote one of the almost 400 postings on Craigslist looking for one of the approximately 1,100 Coldplay tickets.

Among things fans said they were willing to give up for tickets -- which sold out Sunday within a minute -- were sex, iPods, airline tickets, thousands of dollars and even a 1994 Honda Accord.

"I'm 5'6, 140," continued the message. "Just to be fair, I want to note that I am 5 months pregnant. I'm not seeing the father anymore (psycho), so I'm definitely looking to jump back in to the dating scene ..." signed "hugs and kisses! Keri."

Keri's hopes -- whether legitimate or not -- may have been kept alive thanks to the equally desperate Chris, who posted a request for two cute girls on behalf of him and a friend:

"My Buddy and I lucked out and got a couple of pairs of tickets to Coldplay. ... Unfortunately, we both recently been dumped by our girlfriends. We are not dirtbags and can actually take a couple of girls already, but we decided to hold out for a couple of girls that are prettier. ... Please no homosexual offer or reply's."

The tickets -- which were available online, by phone or at the box office -- sold out almost instantly Sunday.

"Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m., and tickets sold out at 10 a.m.," said Aaron Siuda, a publicist with Bill Graham Presents, which put on the show. He explained it this way: If 2,100 people clicked on a button at that very second, 1,100 of them could conceivably get tickets. That's apparently what happened before 10:01 a.m. Sunday.

But while Coldplay fans may have closed crazy deals on Craigslist, they still had to get by the Fillmore's anti-scalping crew.

Unlike most concerts handled by the venue, no tickets were printed for the 1,100 fans who bought them.

Instead, the legitimate buyers of the $26 ticket (limited to two per transaction) had to wait in the will-call line before Wednesday's 9 p.m. show, present identification and be immediately escorted into the Fillmore, Siuda said.

"We just don't have enough supply to fill the demand," Siuda said after scoping out the almost 2-block-long line for potential scalpers. "It happens a couple times a year -- like with Prince and Metallica most recently. This is not a normal Fillmore show."

Normally, Siuda said, the Fillmore sells tickets months in advance for a headliner. But in Wednesday night's case, only about 1,100 were sold to the public and some distributed among guests, promoters and a handful of others who were lucky enough to catch Coldplay, whose new album, "X&Y," will be released next month.

News of the ticket frenzy sent a rush of blood to the head of Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin.

"Is this is a joke? It doesn't even enter my mind that people are wanting to fight for tickets because I'm still in awe that anyone wants to come see us in the first place," Martin said about an hour before the gig.

The day had already gotten off to a strange start for the band, who were at the studios of radio station Alice 97.3 FM on Wednesday afternoon when Mayor Gavin Newsom phoned in to the live show -- and wound up interviewing two band members for 15 minutes, covering some of the band's history and plans.

It was unclear whether the motives of the mayor, a Coldplay fan, included scoring a ticket.

Of all of the sexual innuendo, electronic gadgets and bumper-to-bumper guarantees for tickets spammed on Craiglist during the past week, at least one person did make it into the Coldplay concert, thanks to the community forum.

"I really, really wanted to go the concert tonight, but I wasn't about to give my first-born child or offer any sex like the ridiculous people I was reading about on Craigslist," said Kimberly Rosenberg of San Francisco.

"So I just answered a posting that was looking for a true Coldplay fan to have a good time with. And now he's standing right next to me," Rosenberg said while in line for the concert.

It was Brad Fitzpatrick of Pittsburg who put a smile upon Rosenberg's face. The patron saint of Coldplay said he was just sending out good karma when he posted an offer for a Coldplay ticket for the $26 face value.

"I had never been so amused in my life," Fitzpatrick said of the response he received. "Every time I needed a comedy break, I'd give them a read."

Fitzpatrick, 34, said he had chosen Rosenberg over the dozens of others requests (including ones with suggestive photographs) because she seemed like a real fan. He ended up giving the ticket to her for free as the two entered the concert as friends.

Meanwhile, a woman with fishnet stockings slowly paraded up and down the 2-block-long line outside the Fillmore swinging her hips and slowly whispering, "Tickets? Tickets?"

Apparently, nobody heard her.

©2005 San Francisco Chronicle