This was a bad year to put off buying Sun God tickets for your friends. By April 22, all 3,500 tickets for the festival had been sold — just two and a half weeks after they went on sale.
Like last year, the tickets could be purchased starting April 5 for $41 each. In order to curb the number of non-students attending the festival, A.S. Concerts & Events maintained the policy that guest tickets must be purchased by a UCSD student or employee, with a limit of two tickets per person.
A small number of alumni tickets — included in a $55 package that offers dinner on RIMAC Field — are still available on www.alumni.ucsd.edu. While students and faculty buy guest tickets from a pool of 3,200, the Alumni Association normally sets aside 300 tickets for its members.
Last year, guest tickets didn’t sell out until the week of the festival. Associate Vice President of Concerts & Events Alex Bramwell attributes this year’s speedy sell-out to increased off-campus hype about the artists performing at this year’s festival — including Drake, Michelle Branch, B.o.B. and DJ Z-Trip.
“We have the same number, we have the same policy as last year — I guess it was just more excitement about the lineup,” Bramwell said.
A.S. President Utsav Gupta was among those left without a ticket, having been taken by surprise when they sold out so quickly.
“They sold out three weeks faster than last year, so it was pretty unexpected,” Gupta said. “It’s a good sign for the event — I think people are excited about Sun God this year. The A.S. president couldn’t even get a [guest] ticket to Sun God.”
After guest tickets ran out unexpectedly on April 22, many students and nonstudents began to solicit tickets online, through sites like Facebook and Craigslist. Among the reimbursements offered on these sites are cash, alcohol and a place to crash on the day of the concert. Scalpers have already begun posting their extra tickets with prices as high as $90.
According to Bramwell, tracking down scalpers by tracing back tickets to their student ID numbers would be an impractical course of action for the UC Police Department, given the manpower and time required to track down individual offenders.
“It’s a tricky situation,” Bramwell said. “So, the best thing we are going to be doing is drafting cease-and-desist type ordinances on behalf of the university, and contacting scalpers individually — telling them, essentially, to take their posting down.”
Bramwell said that additional guest tickets might be made available on May 10, just before the festival.
“There’s a very small chance that a very small number may be on sale on May 10 — but it’s very unlikely at this point, and I don’t think it’s going to happen, personally,” Bramwell said. “It’s better to give the warning that ‘Well, there’s a slight chance that it might happen, but don’t get your hopes up.’ Don’t plan on it.”
Those who do have guest tickets will have to trade them for wristbands on Thursday, May 13 or on the day of the festival in order to be admitted.
Readers can contact Hayley Bisceglia-Martin at [email protected].
