Want tickets to a show? You'd better plan ahead

The general public gets a chance to buy tickets tomorrow for the "Celtic Woman" concerts at the Citi Performing Arts Center, but the pickings are slim.

Nearly 90 percent of the tickets have already been sold through a series of presales, leaving only about 675 available for the March 9 show and only 200 for the March 10 show. Most of the best seats in the 3,500-seat theater are long gone.

Presales are becoming standard practice in the entertainment business, an inexpensive but effective way to reach and reward core fans. But the growing use of these advance sales means anyone not plugged in to the presale network runs the risk of being left out in the cold at the box office.

"You really have to pay attention," said Josiah Spaulding , chief executive of the Citi center. "The normal way of advertising in the newspaper or on the radio is not going to happen as much in the future. It's all based on technology now."

Bonnie Poindexter , a spokeswoman for Ticketmaster, the nation's largest ticket vendor, said the company's first presale was for a series of 1998 Depeche Mode concerts. Fans who purchased the band's CD received the chance to buy tickets to a concert in advance of the general public.

Poindexter said it's rare now to have an event that doesn't have a presale. "We see presales across all event categories," she said. "It's another variation on direct marketing."

A whole business has sprung up around presales. Several websites track presales and the passwords needed to access them on behalf of fans as well as ticket brokers looking to increase their ticket inventory.

Presalenow.com, for example, charges $8 for a three-day pass to its listings and $35 a month for a membership targeted at ticket brokers. UltimatePresales.com charges $7 for a day's membership, $40 for a month, and $410 for a year.

The Show of the Month Club gives its members a heads-up on shows coming to Boston theaters and early access to tickets for some events. A membership costs $35 for two years.

American Express has been offering its cardholders presale access to a wide variety of entertainment events since 1989, from Broadway shows to Rolling Stones concerts.

"We are able to offer them some of the best seats in the house," said company spokeswoman Judy Tenzer .

Most fan clubs do the same thing. Justin Timberlake's fan club, for example, costs $45 to join and provides access to preferred ticket sales and VIP packages.

Many venues also offer an advance notice about tickets . The TD Banknorth Garden has a free Insiders Club where members are alerted to upcoming events and in some cases given access to special ticket packages.

Broadway Across America, which is affiliated with the Opera House and Colonial Theatre in Boston, has a free e-Club in which members are given "advance offers for local Broadway shows before they go on sale to the public."

The Citi center charges a tax-deductible donation of $25 for club memberships that provide advance notification of shows and priority seating.

On some shows, there are multiple presales. A colleague of mine at the Globe assumed he would have no trouble getting good seats to the "Celtic Woman" concerts because he was a club member at the Citi center. He was the first in line at the box office on Dec. 21 when tickets went on sale to club members, but he discovered many of the best tickets had already been sold during an earlier presale.

"Celtic Woman" has become a music industry phenomenon. Some critics have described it as a singing version of "Riverdance" and "Lord of the Dance." The show was introduced to American audiences through a Public Broadcasting System special filmed in Dublin and aired on close to 200 PBS stations in 2005, which laid the groundwork for a US tour. A second PBS special was filmed last August, laying the groundwork for another tour this year.

"There's a huge underground following, particularly in places like Boston," said a spokeswoman for "Celtic Woman."

Because of the close relationship between "Celtic Woman" and the Public Broadcasting System, PBS stations in each of the tour cities were allowed to offer tickets to supporters as part of a fund-raising drive. According to Spaulding, WGBH snapped up and resold to its financial supporters a fifth of the seats for the first show and more than half of the seats for the second show. A WGBH spokeswoman said she didn't have details on the ticket markups.

On Dec. 21, the Citi center began selling tickets to club members, groups, members of the American Automobile Association, and anyone else who wanted a ticket. Spaulding said a concert sale notification went out to a Citi center e-mail list of more than 100,000 people.

As of last week, Spaulding said, all but 875 tickets for the two shows had been sold, without a single advertisement running in local newspapers, on radio, or on television. The "Celtic Woman" spokeswoman said no advertising is planned in Boston.

"It's the way of the future," Spaulding said.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.