On the day of the Lady Gaga concert at Xcel in St. Paul earlier this month, I went to Ticketmaster.com. As if the Lady herself was blessing my procrastination--I got a great seat in the lower level. I paid regular price but at least I didn't pay a premium (other than Ticketmaster's and Xcel's fees). At sold-out concerts, the promoters will often release good seats on the day of the show. Score!

Even smarter fans showed up at Xcel 30 minutes before the start and got tickets below face value.

So tell me, what are your strategies for getting discounted concert tickets? Showing up ticket-less on the day of the show and scoring a discount? Trolling Craig's List? Goldstar? eBay? Classifieds?

Share your tactics for an upcoming article. You can email me at jewoldt@startribune.com or call 612-673-7633.

It's good to be back from vacation. Thanks for your patience. John