Saint Petersburg is the most musical city in Russia. Not only is the offer of great classical concerts abundant. Also lovers of modern music can surely find something of their liking in this city. In order to visit these more modern concerts, you will obviously first have to know when and where they will be held. This blog post aims to help you with that.
Ticket websites in Saint Petersburg
There is an abundance of ticket websites in Saint Petersburg. Here below I give an example of a few them. The pictures are clickable links to the sites.
The Russian ticket website bileter does have an English language version and you can also search per genre here. Although all 3 of the above screenshots have been made on the same day it is clear that they offer tickets to different gigs. Now, there are more ticket websites than these 3, but I feel like these are the main ones. To mention even more doesn’t add a lot.
The drawback of these ticket websites
Like I mentioned above, an important drawback for foreigners is that most sites don’t have an English language version.
You should also keep in mind that some concert halls don’t work with any ticket website period. This is mainly the case for classical music and opera events at the Mariinsky theatre (wikipedia) and at the Mikhailovsky theatre.
Both these venues completely controll the ticket sales themselves. They are so famous that they do not need the ticket sites in order to sell enough tickets.
Apart from that, you should not forget that these ticket websites are merely agents. If they cannot earn a commission they will not promote an event. This explains the different offer on different sites. Obviously, you, the customer, is the one who is supposed to pay this commission.
If you want to get a good overview of upcoming concerts in Saint Petersburg you should therefore check not just one, but several of these ticket websites.
If you don’t want to pay commission, you could try to purchase your ticket directly from the concerthall. I will discuss this in more detail below.
Up here you see what you are charged when you buy a 6000 rubles ticket on the bileter ticket website:
- 10% Commission: 600 Rubles (9.51 $ , according to the exchange rate at the time of writing).
- 300 Rubles for delivery of the or 450 Rubles for express delivery. In all fairness, I should mention that delivery is not a necessity. You can also pick up the tickets at pickup point from the ticket website. Bileter has ticket offices all over the city. You can also buy your ticket directly at the ticket office, in case you don’t like to buy them on the internet.
So delivery is usually not necessary. But 10% commission seems to be the norm on these ticket websites. If you’re buying several expensive tickets this adds up quite a bit.
Using the ticket websites merely to search for gigs and avoiding paying commission
If you don’t want to pay commision you can check whether it is possible to buy your tickets directly from the concert hall. The concert from the example above will be held at the A2 Green CLub on the Petrogradsky island.
So, how do you go about this? Right. You just google the name of the place. And bingo, on their website they sell tickets for the same gig without commission. E-tickets. But, and this is even better, you can free of charge make a reservation on their website. This is how you do that on the website of the A2 Green Club:
Step 1: select the concert you want to visit
It is pretty self-explanatory really You just click on the green button, which says ‘билеты’.
Step 2 Select in which part of the hall you want to sit or stand
Selecting a place for a ticket at the A2Green Club in Saint Petersburg RussiaThis is also pretty self-explanatory. I think . The different colors correspond to different prices. Select the colour that best represents your financial superpowers.
After having made your selection the following will be written at the bottom of your screen:
итого 6000 руб. за 1 билет (without the 600 rubles commission that bileter charges).
And on the right side you will see three different options:
Доставка (delivery), выкуп в кассе (pick at them up at the club) and Перейти к оплате ( pay now). Because only the last button is colored green, it might seem that this is the only correct option to choose. This is however not the case.
Delivery of your ticket by the A2 Green Club will set you back 200 Rubles.
But I would probably choose the option in the middle and make a reservation free of charge.
You fill in your name, e-mail and phone number. And, if all is fine, you should receive an e-mail within a short while:
In this e-mail you will find your reservation number (номер брони).. Now you have 48 hours to pick up the tickets at the cash register.
In dit mailtje staat je boekingscode: (номер брони). Nu heb je 48 uur de tijd om bij de kassa je kaartje op te halen. Are you taking the metro? Read my blog post on how to use the metro in Saint Petersburg.
Not every concert hall in Saint Petersburg has such a user-friendly website as the A2 Green Club. But IT products in Russia are usually of good quality.
But, obviously you shouldn’t enter your card details if a site looks fishy too you!
Other famous concert halls in Saint Petersburg that sell tickets on their own website
Club Kosmonavt
Yea, this means cosmonaut. Many blues and rock gigs are organized here.
The website of club Kosmonavt is in Russian only.
Free concerts
Many venues offer live music in Saint Petersburg. Often of high quality.
Sometimes on public holidays the municipality organizes free concerts.
This website from kudago about free events in Saint Petersburg is only available in Russian unfortunately.
Street musicians
As soon as the weather allows it and often even before that street musicians find a place on the streets and play. Sometimes amazingly well.. Some groups have their own fanbase, which seems to know when and on which street their favorite musician play and will show up there..
Metro musicians
I have never known for sure whether to see these as a separate category of musicians or whether they are just street musicians on their way back home, trying to make an extra buck. Often it seems like these guys know just 1 song. This 1 song they perform under ground between two metro stations. Usually while moving from one end of the carriage to another. At the next station they quickly switch to the carriage next door and repeat what they just did. To be honest I am not a huge fun on musicians in the trains (n the underground passages is fine).
In the underground passage, like on the street, you only stop to listen when you are in the mood and like something. In the actual train you don’t have that luxury. You’re stuck with these guys for one station at least.
Conclusion
Saint Petersburg has a lot to offer to lovers of modern music who are pepared to do their homework to find the events that interest them, I wish you a lot of luck with that. Please leave your questions or comments below.