So is the pit in fact general admission and will there be seats? Though it's very frequently the case that general admission tickets are for areas without seats, sometimes there are seats in general admission areas and every seat map I've ever seen for Chastain's pit without tables shows rows of seats and I have never heard of a seat-less pit being used at that venue. And that would be very unusual for Chastain: as mentioned previously, tickets are sold at Chastain in series and the reason there's incentive to buy such tickets is that when you do, you're supposed to get the best seats available (and the more seniority you have in buying series tickets--that is, the more years you've done it--the better tickets you're supposed to get; it's quite a brilliant system). Yet on StubHub, I am seeing that most of those selling pit tickets do have them listed as general admission (though interestingly, a few don't) so I'm thinking that it probably is in fact general admission in the pit. But is it with or without seats?
Like jasonk848's friend, I was online looking for tickets when they went on sale on 6/15 but pit tickets didn't ever come up for me. However, I was putting in Best Available and if for some reason the LiveNation system deems Orchestra F and beyond to be better than Pit then that could explain it. That would be wacky, but anything is possible. I would have thought that the situation was that the pit tickets were sold to the series ticket holders but if the pit is general admission then even if there are seats in that area, I would be surprised if the series ticket holders got those tickets.
stomp7, I would be interested to hear what tickets you got from buying the series. I would have taken the same approach you did except I thought I still wouldn't come out with very good tickets because I thought the best ones would all go to the series ticket holders and I would be best to buy tickets from them when they resell. Bear in mind that historically speaking, many series ticket holders do resell their seats for any given show because it's not that they buy the series tickets wanting to go to every show, it's that they buy the series tickets wanting to get the best seats so they have them for any shows they do want to attend. I will be bummed at not buying the series if you ended up with general admission pit tickets and the pit will have seats.
While I'm here, I'll make a couple of comments pursuant to what other posters have said:
Mike C. said "disagree on Chastain being ' not that big'. The seats are very spread out to accommodate coolers/tables (which are not allowed), and with the surrounding neighborhoods the sound is turned WAY down. Good seats are a must, IMO, for any show at this place. Worst venue in Atlanta." It's hard to say it better than that! I agree that Chastain is the worst venue, at least the worst large venue in Atlanta. And I agree that Chastain is indeed a large venue and that good tickets are key here. In the past, matters were made even worse by the sound simply not being that good but I think these days they've worked that out--but you do need to be down fairly close to the stage, I think not so much to get the right volume as to get the proper sound mix. As far as size goes, while the capacity is 6900 and that's smaller than a number of other venues, as Mike C. notes, the rows are incredibly spaced out. If you were to get tickets in Orchestra A right in the middle, you would be amazed at how far back you would be in light of those being tickets that sound like they would pretty good--and then of course it only gets worse from there.
Mike C. also said "so glad there will not be tables of baby boomers in front of the stage eating sushi and pissing off Sumner like they did Morrissey a few years back." This goes along with his "worst venue in Atlanta" comment I'm sure. This is of course all related to the series ticket holders and the tables. Chastain is a really fun place where you can enjoy a nice evening outdoors with friends, a nice meal, and some great music--but unfortunately, oftentimes those who attend forget about enjoying the music and as a result, Chastain can be a really terrible place to see a concert when you do actually care about the concert. In other words, it's not a bad place in theory but more often than not, it is a bad place in practice. This is because the best tickets are sold as part of series and because you get better tickets the longer you've been buying the series, there's an a double incentive (you have to buy everything and you have to buy it every year to get the best seats) to buy tickets to shows you don't really care about. And so as a result, for a typical Chastain show (the kind that allows coolers), the typical Chastain crowd shows up--and that typical Chastain crowd is there for the atmosphere and a meal with friends, not whomever happens to be on stage. Therefore, it is truly a great thing that the New Order show will be without tables and without coolers: that really should help to keep the "I'm here for the atmosphere" crowd away. Housey, I hope that answers your question "who would go to a Morrissey show, sit in the front row, and eat animal products": it wasn't personal to him and they probably had no idea that it might offend him (but honestly, if that would offend him, he needs to suck it up: he's there to perform, not dictate what people eat).
Anyway, if the pit tickets are general admission WITH seats, I'm hoping to get hold of some for a reasonable price sometime soon!
