Review 01 · Live Intelligence
Concerts.
A plain bill of the next few days' concerts, theatre and comedy, read from Ticketmaster in your browser. It invents nothing, and that is also what limits it.
- Tested 27 September 2026, 20:10–20:22 UTC
- Where the work happens straight from the source to your browser
- Against Songkick, Bandsintown, Ticketmaster Discovery API
1What it is, and who it is for
Concerts is a live listing of upcoming shows, from music and festivals to theatre and comedy, in one of six countries: the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Australia. Filter by when, where, type and price; heart what you like; switch between the bill, a calendar, a venue list and a venue map the page draws itself. Any show saves to your calendar as an .ics file, and Near me narrows the bill to shows within 250 km.
It suits anyone choosing a show this week who wants a list, not a shop window.
2How it works
There is no relay. The page's script, concerts/assets/js/app.js, calls Ticketmaster's Discovery API v2 at app.ticketmaster.com directly from your browser (lines 64–86). The API answers cross-origin requests itself (we saw access-control-allow-origin: *). A key built into the page is used unless you save your own, which stays in your browser's localStorage under ct.tmkey (33–41, 955–980).
One sync asks for the first 100 music, 50 theatre and 40 comedy events in one country, or 50, 30 and 20 per country when you ask for all six, sorted by date from tomorrow (207–220). Each raw record is cut down to the facts the bill can show (88–180). When some reads fail, the ones that worked stay on the bill and the status line says how many were refused and why: a refused key, a rate limit, no answer (221–252). The venue map is drawn on the page's own canvas from each event's coordinates, with no map library or tile provider (546–557). Near me computes a haversine distance in the page, and your position is sent nowhere (925–953).
3The test
We loaded the page from the local 537 copy, then repeated its US request with its own query shape and built-in key.
Loaded the page from the local 537 copy.
HTTP 200, 64,560 bytes; app.js is 49,222 bytes.
Asked Ticketmaster for US music, size 100, sorted by date from tomorrow.
HTTP 200 in 0.45 s, 997,609 bytes, access-control-allow-origin: *. 100 events, all dated 28 September, every one with venue coordinates, 23 with a price range, at 92 venues. 4,837 of 5,000 calls left on the key.
Repeated the read for theatre (50) and comedy (40).
Theatre: 50 events, all 28 September, none priced. Comedy: 40 over 28–29 September, 3 priced. So a US sync covered about two days: 190 shows, 26 priced.
4Against the field
Each rival was read on its own pages on the test day. Pencil marks what it does better; red, where Concerts goes further.
Songkick
songkick.com · checked 27 September 2026, 20:12 UTC
Live-music discovery built around the artists you listen to: concerts near you, artist tracking through Spotify, festivals, personalised alerts, and apps for iOS and Android.
In pencil
- It follows your artists and sends concert alerts; Concerts has no accounts and no alerts.
- A far larger catalogue, by its own figure 6 million concerts and festivals, gathered beyond a single ticket seller.
In red
- Theatre, opera, orchestra, dance and comedy share the bill with concerts, typed from Ticketmaster's own classification tree.app.js 103–125
- Nothing needs an account: favourites and a personal key stay in your browser.app.js 33–41, 188, 698
Bandsintown
bandsintown.com · checked 27 September 2026, 20:12 UTC, from its App Store listing (the site refused our fetch)
A concert app: follow artists or sync Spotify and Apple Music, get alerts for nearby shows, set reminders, buy from official sellers.
In pencil
- Alerts when an artist you follow announces a show near you; Concerts lists only what is already on sale.
- It builds your list from your Spotify and Apple Music listening.
In red
- It shows its working: the status line counts refused reads and says why.app.js 240–252
- A venue list and a drawn venue map from the events' own coordinates, with no map provider.app.js 529–557
Ticketmaster Discovery API
developer.ticketmaster.com · checked 27 September 2026, 20:12 UTC
The public event-search API Concerts reads, documented at 5,000 calls a day and 5 a second, with paging to the 1,000th item.
In pencil
- Fields the page drops, such as seat maps, accessibility and ticket limits.
- Paging to the 1,000th item of a query; the page reads only the first page of each category.
In red
- It turns raw JSON into a readable bill with type, calendar, venue and map views and plain-words errors, and asks you for no code and no key.app.js 88–180, 655–690
5Where it falls short
- A short horizon. Each sync takes the earliest 100, 50 and 40 events, so our US bill covered only 28–29 September; the page cannot go further or take a date range (app.js 207–220).
- Prices are rare. Only 26 of the 190 shows we read carried a price, so the price filter works on a small minority.
- One seller. It lists what Ticketmaster sells, and nothing from other ticket sellers or independent venues.
- One shared key. Ticketmaster documents 5,000 calls a day; a six-country sync spends 18. The page's answer is to ask for your own key.
6The verdict
Concerts is an honest window on Ticketmaster's listings, every show real and every failed read admitted, but on test day it showed the next two days, not the season.
- In red ink
- Theatre and comedy beside music, a drawn venue map, .ics files, no account: all in your browser.
- In pencil
- For following artists, alerts or a long look at the month ahead: Songkick or Bandsintown.