Usually, admitting to obsessively hoarding tiny, grotty pieces of paper, lager-splattered and moth-ridden from sitting in a box in your wardrobe for 15 years, would have alarm bells ringing among your friends and loved ones. Not so for music fans, for whom hanging on to gig tickets is a hallowed ritual. Every ticket stub tells a story. The sweaty pilgrimage to the venue. The greasy post-gig kebab you came to regret. The night the support act you’d never heard of before became your new favourite band. The great gigs and the bitter disappointments. I’ve got a stash at home, and so do most of you, judging by the massive response to our shout-out on Twitter at the weekend for stubs you’d rush to save in a house fire. It’s an obsession that’ll probably soon fade out as e-tickets become more and more the norm – let’s face it, a plain A4 print-out with a barcode on doesn’t quite look the same pinned to your bedroom wall. Till then, here’s a selection of NME readers’ collections and most prized ticket stubs. Got your own you want to share? Tweet us your favourite ticket stubs and its story.
NME✔
Keep ticket stubs from great gigs? We want photos of your favourites. Tweet pics of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
JAC@misterchiv88
NME✔
Keep ticket stubs from great gigs? We want photos of your favourites. Tweet pics of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
simon munday@simonmunday65@NME
Love keeping tickets, they all bring back great memories! pic.twitter.com/yNvdiZZ6gN
@karis22 @NME Few old ticket stubs that ive digged out. pic.twitter.com/EBqcSfPF06
— Ryan Thornton (@RyanThornton90) August 3, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Maria Mouskos@Maria_Mouskos
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
James M@myhouseofjames
‘s other TweetsNME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Bella@bel_mel_
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Callum Atkinson@Rock_n_Grohl
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
People Music@promoterbloke@NME The Clash – first night of their White Riot tour. In Guildford. Guildford! pic.twitter.com/Hhxqalzhk8
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Richard Ellis@rdjellis
@NME went to spike island but lost the ticket stub! pic.twitter.com/nSn9da7LiZ
— ⭐️⭐️HeAvYsOuL⭐️⭐️ (@HeAvYsOuL22) August 2, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Richard Ellis@rdjellis
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Claire M@weecm33
@NME The Killers, Gaslight Anthem, Muse and Springsteen all in there! pic.twitter.com/T82DKGiXFO
— Farah (@Fairycat101) August 1, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Tom-oh-no@thom_dorke
@NME here’s a selection of mine. pic.twitter.com/awVVQCxjRi
— Dave Hammond (@dave_hamm76) August 1, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Chris Payne@xtofallabout@NME This is from the rearranged @oasis gig @TheBarrowlands in 94, after Liam stormed offstage at the previous one. pic.twitter.com/TpKggBvQij
@NME got quite a few but the best are on display pic.twitter.com/UCRcU0p9fR
— Christopher Wardle (@BIBSTEROASIS) August 1, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Richard@dickie034
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
????????????????????@molmcgrath
@NME I have a box full of them. these are just a few pic.twitter.com/GLRuRuh7DX
‘s other Tweets@NME With The Beastie Boys opening up. 1987. pic.twitter.com/onb5OgzEnG
— nil_by_mouth (@nil_by_mouth) August 1, 2014
@NME Not mine, but a scan of my dad’s signed ticket to The Jam. Sounds like it was a top gig… pic.twitter.com/Fqecqjyq2l
— Joseph (@JoeTheMod97) August 1, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
~saffron~@saffronrobs
@NME A week spent in Dublin with @remhq pic.twitter.com/wXsm8TARxQ
— nil_by_mouth (@nil_by_mouth) August 1, 2014
@NME The first Trilogy shows by @thecure, in Germany pic.twitter.com/qWhbEvLwFC
— nil_by_mouth (@nil_by_mouth) August 1, 2014
@NME 13 Godspeed You! Black Emperor gigs in five months. pic.twitter.com/mCa6PuQZ4X
— nil_by_mouth (@nil_by_mouth) August 1, 2014
NME✔
Do you keep ticket stubs from shows by your favourite bands? Tweet us photos of your most prized ticket stubs and we’ll post the best…
Natália Improta@naaatalia
@NME just a few pic.twitter.com/KV2MLrRX49
— Fred (@whufcfred6) August 1, 2014
2 thoughts on “The Obsessive Joy Of Collecting”
Thank You! This is beautiful made me smile thinking about my r old sons joy whenever he sees a School Bus then has to draw it as soon as we get home! Your story will help so many understand the joy instead of just thinking of ways to stop the obsessive behavior. Thank you!
The clock labored against them. It takes time to print tickets. One grocery chain had to refund the syndicate $600,000 for orders it failed to execute. By the time of the drawing, the investors had acquired only 5 million of the 7 million combinations, leaving a nearly 1 in 3 chance that they would miss out on the jackpot altogether.
Comments are closed.