GAME OF GROANS: HOW TO WIN SEATS IN A DIGITAL AGE

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably noticed that in recent years, more and more Filipinos have been gobbling up live entertainment like Pacman on Power Pellets: from sporting events to stage plays, from fan meets to concerts.

- RICARDO T. PAMINTUAN

I'm simply amazed at the amount of money and time being spent to be "in the moment" and to be able to preserve it on social media.

Yet, in spite of all the euphoria a live act brings, one should still expect some anxiety, hitches, and heartaches even before the show begins.

There was a time when concerts were rare treats, not routine events. Local acts dominated the scene, and foreign artists were the stuff of legend. Ticket prices were often a line drawn between the haves and the have-nots, with fans saving up for months to secure even a nosebleed seat—if they're lucky enough to hear about the show before it sold out.

I still remember with mixed feelings Michael Jackson's HIStory World Tour. It was one of the first concerts I splurged on, and the open-air show ticket price seemed steep even when I was already gainfully employed. Watching him in person was unforgettable, as was his lip-syncing.

By 2013, when Julio Iglesias performed at the Manila Hotel with ticket prices even higher, I thought I'd seen the peak. Now, with acts like U2, Coldplay, Adele, Taylor Swift, and Suga (a.k.a. Agust D), high prices feel like the norm, but tickets are snapped up within seconds.

Concert culture has certainly undergone a profound transformation, with the journey from physical lineups to digital lotteries now shaping the way fans experience live music. For those who remember scoring concert tickets without battling millions of others online, today's ticketing landscape feels almost like stepping into a sci-fi story, an alternate reality where a stoic AI decides your fate.

Gone are the days of grunt work entailing sweating it out, risking being drenched by rain or victimized by pickpockets, or duking it out with pa-dedma queue cutters.