Discounted Drake tickets go on sale

Mason students Rosa Fazio and Anthony McLean, both from New Jersey, meet in a line for Drake concert tickets Friday morning outside the Hub. The line extended from inside Original Burger Company and started down the side sidewalk. (Kevin Loker)

A line of students weaving from the Student Involvement Office, through the Original Burger Company service area, past the patio area and along the sidewalk outside of the HUB (formerly SUB II), all awaited a chance Friday to purchase discounted tickets to see Drake in November.

Hip-hop artist Drake will perform at the Patriot Center, Tuesday Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. The Office for Student Involvement is sponsoring the event.

Friday, beginning at 10 a.m., a limited number of discounted tickets for the show are being sold at the Office of Student Involvement in the HUB.

Assistant Director of Student Involvement for Programming Michelle Davis said the discount ticket sale is “a first come, first serve situation.”

“We [Office of Student Involvement] are pairing up with Live Nation, the promoter of the show, to buy down tickets to sell to students at a more reasonable student friendly price,” said Davis. “We were trying to bring a different show the week before, that we decided would not be in our best interest when we found out Drake was coming.”  

Program Board announced Wednesday via Facebook and Twitter that Drake would be this year’s Fall Concert performer. The Friday discounted ticket sale was also announced at that time.

Freshman Avis Shackelford stood with the mass of students outside the HUB this morning but said she wasn’t deterred by the long line.

“I’ve been here about one hour—it’s worth it though,” Shackelford said. “I’ve loved him [Drake] since day one.”

Shackelford said she heard about the Friday ticket sale on Twitter and then joined the Program Board group on Facebook to find out more information.

Fellow freshman Brendon Donohoe said he’s looking forward to the concert and hopes to hear Drake perform his favorite song, “Headlines.”

“I’m planning to go with some friends here and some [friends] at VCU,” said Donohoe.

Tickets are being sold Friday for $35 (center box) and $15 (upper bowl).

“Drake tickets at normal price are going for $80, $50 or $30 dollars.” Davis said. “We are buying down the lesser of the two to $35 or $15 dollars to give students a serious discount.”

Once the discounted tickets are sold out, tickets may be purchased for full price at the Patriot Center box office or on ticketmaster.com, said Davis.

The Office of Student Involvement sets the ticket prices according to the cost of the artist.

“An artist of Drake’s magnitude is a very expensive show to put on in general,” said Davis. “Any price we ask students to pay is always based on the cost of the artist. The Office of Student Involvement never makes money on our shows.”

Davis also mentioned there are tickets available for several other fall performances at the Patriot Center including comics Wanda Sykes and Russell Brand.

Sykes is performing Saturday, Oct. 15 during Family Weekend and Russell Brand comes to the Patriot Center Nov. 17.

Tickets for these shows are also available for students when they come to buy Drake tickets.