If you’ve been following our gleeful/aghast coverage of the Hannah Montana ticket implosion, this USA Today story will be old news, but hidden at the end is the most epic/ridiculous example yet of a parent going to inane lengths (and spending inane amounts of money!) to score tix for their kids, a Nebraska woman who “labored both online and off to buy multiple sets of tickets in two different cities, selling and swapping until she finally landed good seats for the show of her choice. And spent four figures in the process.” Because easily procured cheap seats make kiddies cry.

Her Hannah Montana ordeal began simply enough. She paid $30 to join the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana fan club, which gives members access to presale tickets.

When time came to log in, the information technology specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture quickly grabbed four seats.

“I figured, ‘Hey, I’m with the fan club, they must be great seats,’ ” she says. “But they were way in the back. So I passed.”

Next, she tried a Ticketmaster office, which was out of blank tickets for the printer.

Changing tactics, she hopped on eBay and found tickets available for a Hannah Montana gig in Illinois. “We have relatives there, so I figured I’d make it into a big trip.”

The seats weren’t great, but she bought them anyway at $48 each.

“But now I’m thinking, I’ve got bad seats, potentially grim fall weather and a 10-hour drive,” Anderson says. Plan B quickly forms.

She went back on eBay and bought four seats to the Omaha show for $1,000 total. She put her four Illinois tickets on eBay, and got almost the same amount for them.

Day of show. Out of curiosity, the now wily ticket-buying veteran went back onto Ticketmaster’s site and “unbelievably” found four tickets right next to Cyrus’ catwalk. She snapped them up, then offered a friend her eBay-purchased tickets at face value.

And the house lights dim.

Cue Cyrus.

“At one point, Miley addressed the crowd, the parents really,” says Anderson. “She said, ‘I know it took a lot for you to get here tonight.’ I had to smile. If she only knew.”

Follow in the ins and outs of all those hoops? This makes the futile few hours that I spent on Ticketmaster’s website the other night searching for Hall And Oates tickets look like some piker shit. And I love Hall And Oates. (Maybe even more than Hannah Montana.)

Web Scalping Boosts Ticket Prices And Frustration [USA Today]
[Photo: AP]