Anybody want a Kenny Chesney ticket?

Want a single Kenny Chesney ticket?

Didn't think so. Me either. But that's what I have.

One ticket. Section 111, Row E, Seat 6.

The cost? $96.51.

And to think, it only took 10 minutes of staring at a spinning wheel to earn the privilege of a single seat.

I went through the presale buy for the June 18 Chesney show Thursday morning, not as a die-hard Chesney fan, but as a reporter wanting to experience the frustration of a local country fan.

By now, I've read and heard plenty of stories from people upset about how hard it is to get tickets for top concerts at the snazzy new Premier Center.

The issue has drawn more than its share of interest. The city council got an update this week, just a few days after the second press conference the Premier Center's held about the topic since the opening last fall.

Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Eric Church and Ed Sheeran all sold out quickly, leading some to conclude that the center's been colluding with StubHub and other secondary market sellers to push blocks of tickets out into the overpriced marketplace on purpose.

The Premier Center says this isn't the case, but plenty of people don't and won't believe them, including a few of my twitter followers.

Music blogger Scott Hudson's had enough of the complaints. He says top shows are frustrating everywhere, the frustration isn't unique to Sioux Falls, and that everyone needs to stop whining about the frustration.

Not all shows sell out, either. Nickelback tickets were on sale up until the show this week. PrairieTickets.com's owner, Brian Opp, sent out a press release this week saying Bob Seger tickets are selling on his site for under face value.

I have no direct experience with the buyer's frustration. A lot of the music I like isn't popular enough to draw sellout crowds. I pay at the door for most of the shows I see, usually in tiny spaces like Total Drag Records or Latitude 44. I'm too cheap to pay more than $25 for a ticket, and I don't like arena shows anyway. There are plenty of popular acts I dig, but seeing them in a space bigger than The District isn't appealing enough for me to break my self-imposed price limit.

Most concert-goers don't see things that way.

When I jumped into the presale party this morning, I could tell right away that it wouldn't be the same sort of smooth and speedy experience I'm used to with online shopping. It felt more like online shopping circa 1997.

The presale started at 10 a.m., so I logged on, as instructed, and plugged in the code from my Premier Center newsletter.

As you can see from the video, it took 10 minutes to learn that two tickets were out of reach. I was competing with everyone else, which slowed things down significantly.

Two tickets were a no go. Four tickets were a no go. So it was down to a single ticket, and a $90 ticket to boot. The rest of the process was timed. Had I taken too long to enter my information, the ticket I'd held would go back into availability, I was told, so I had to hurry. Every step was timed.

In the end, I got my ticket, but plenty of people surely didn't. One other person in my office failed, and two friends struck out, too. They were looking for more than one ticket, so there's that.

Therein lies the frustration. Most people don't want single seats unless the show is general admission.

That I logged in as quickly as I could and searched using a computer with an ultra-fast office connection and still came up short for anything but a single ticket is a pretty clear sign of how tough it can be for a fan.

Yet another reason I prefer my shows and venues small.

But I have a ticket now. What should I do with it?

John Hult is the Reader's Watchdog reporter for Argus Leader Media. Contact him with questions and concerns at 605-331-2301, 605-370-8617,twitter.com/ArgusJHultorFacebook.com/ArgusReadersWatchdog