Built by a Ticketing Industry Insider

In 1989, my first venue job was at the legendary Boathouse in Norfolk, Virginia — a venue that became known for hosting artists before they exploded into major acts. Over the years, bands like No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, Phish, System of a Down, Incubus, The Ramones, Oingo Boingo, Judas Priest, and countless others played its stage.

What started in venue security eventually turned into a full-time position in the promoter's office and later into the box office itself. Over the last 35+ years, I've worked in live events, ticketing operations, onsales & presales, settlements, customer service, and event execution across various venues.

I've seen ticketing evolve from physical tickets and overnight campouts… to online sales, digital delivery, resale marketplaces, dynamic pricing, and unfortunately, a growing amount of confusion for fans.

As online ticketing expanded, box offices started seeing:

• Photoshopped “print-at-home” tickets
• Duplicate tickets sold multiple times
• Fans unknowingly purchasing resale tickets for 2x–4x face value
• Customers showing up devastated because they bought from the wrong site

And here's the truth:
Most people simply Google the event and click the first link they see.

They assume it must be official.

Then they arrive at the box office angry, confused, or heartbroken after paying $200 for a ticket the venue sold for $50.

That's why TicketTruth was created.

TicketTruth exists because people deserve to pay face value for tickets and not have to go on a scavenger hunt to find the official ticket provider.

This site was built to:

• help fans locate official ticket sources
• reduce confusion around ticketing
• explain how resale actually works
• help people avoid scams
• make ticket buying less intimidating

TicketTruth is part ticket directory, part education platform, and part consumer advocacy project built by someone who has spent decades inside the industry watching fans struggle with a system they were never taught how to navigate.

Because the truth is:
The ticketing industry can be confusing enough without accidentally buying lawn seats that mysteriously turned into “front row” on somebody's home printer.

And yes… that actually happened.