Most tickets for shows, concerts and festivals are sold through the ticket selling company 'Ticketmaster'. Ticketmaster operate both over the phone and online, with most people choosing online to order their tickets.

To buy tickets, you firstly need to register with Ticketmaster (which stores your details) and then your good to buy your tickets. I suggest you don't create an account just before tickets go on sale as it likely something will go wrong and you'll miss out on buying the good tickets!

Considering Ticketmaster is such a big, successful company, I am surprised their website doesn't cope with great demand. It is better than it used to be as the website would always crash as soon as tickets went on sale.

Although I have never not got the tickets I wanted, I do find using the website quite stressful. However, I am the person who wants the best seats available so I bring it on myself really.

Tickets tend to go on sale at 9:00am and they launch exactly at that time. I recommend having the page ready for 9am so you can choose your tickets and press buy straight away (make sure you're signed in!).

You do have a couple of minutes grace period where, after you choose the tickets you want, Ticketmaster reserve them whilst you get ready. After this reservation time has passed and you still haven't bought the tickets, they will then become available for others to buy.

The website has a massive range of tickets to sell and on the whole it is a good website. However, the website can be a bit slow (perhaps I expect too much?!). I purchased tickets for T in the Park this year and I was left in a 20 minute queue before I could purchase my tickets online.

Ticket dispatching is their strength. They guarantee that the tickets will have arrived to your door at least 7 days prior to the event. Expensive tickets, such as festival tickets normally require a signature upon delivery. Tickets I have ordered (and thats a lot) have never been lost in the post.

They also work alongside 'Get Me In' which allows people to sell the tickets they do not want.