Heaven &... Hell! >:(

August 10! The date I've been waiting for a while now. This is the date of the Heaven & Hell's (or "Black Sabbath with Dio" - TM Yngwie Malmsteen) concert. I bought my ticket way in advance during the so-called "pre-sale". If I go to a concert by myself, I don't really like general admission anymore, so I get assigned seats instead. I got a pretty sweet seat over at the San Jose State University Events Center. I like that venue. I've seen a few concerts at the Events Center, and I work not far from there. I had planned on going to grab a bite to eat after work and then walk over to the venue.

Good plan, right? All I had to do was patiently wait... But of course everything had to go to... hell. The band's official site announced that the concert had been moved from the SJSU Events Center to... The Warfield in San Francisco. I couldn't believe it. I strongly, strongly dislike driving to San Francisco. I always get lost, there's never any parking and I don't really like being out there late at night. My dislike of going to SF is so great that I have skipped shows where I would have very liked to have gone, only because it's San Francisco. I have nothing against the city or those who live there, please don't get me wrong. I don't mind going if someone else drives and keeps me out of the whole trying to find the address and/or a place to park. I just don't like driving over there. Why oh why, if it was a low ticket sales issue couldn't they have moved the concert to, let's say, the newly remodeled San Jose Civic Auditorium (across the street from work pretty much!)? I really want to go to this show, so to freakin' San Francisco it is.

But wait! That's not all! A few days ago, I got an e-mail from Ticketmaster saying among other (stupid) things that those with $60 tickets had the choice of 1) getting an assigned seat, or 2) get general admission entrance and be able to get in 1/2 hour before everyone else. Those with $50 tickets would just get general admission and be let in at the regular time. Since I got my ticket a long time ago, I went back to check the e-mail receipt. $67 total. Surely I must have a $60 ticket, so I'll just take the assigned seat option, right? Wrong! I have a $50 ticket, just that I was charged ALMOST $20 IN FEES!!!

So I'll be going to a concert that I really want to see, except that everything surrounding it is what, in my own personal case, is WRONG about going to concerts.

I found out BART stops fairly close to the Warfield, so I'll be going that route more than likely. I'd still rather walk in San Francisco at midnight back to the BART station with my legs hurting from standing for hours and hours and having to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready to go to work, than driving there. Hopefully the talks between BART and the union will have been resolved by the 10th.

The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams indeed.

And yes, no one's holding a gun to my head to go!