What's a Counterfeit? Fake tickets are sold which may (to some degree) appear real, but probably won't get you in. Security of course always varies, but you could be out some cash and in jail for trying to enter fraudulently. Counterfeiters have kept pace with past attempts to foil their efforts, like replicating the layering of variously colored papers. Nonetheless, complex images and black-light techniques (neither of which can be successfully duplicated) help identify what's real.

Warning! Don't buy tickets at a show (where it's likely to be counterfeit, and at any rate to encourage folks to show up without tickets), or from a ticket broker (where you're either paying through the ass, or at any rate supporting greedy pigs who charge others through the ass). Buy only from reputable sources: Ticketmaster, venue box offices, or Phish mail order.

Investigation: Shelly Cublertson <shell@phish.net> posted (9/18/97) to the phish@phish.net and phish-info@phish.net, "There is currently an investigation underway regarding sales of counterfeit tickets. If you have been the victim of someone selling counterfeit tickets to a Phish concert, your assistance would be very much appreciated. Please respond and let me know where and when the incident occurred. If it falls within the scope of this particular investigation, I will follow up with you for further details. Thank you." No word yet on the results (if any) of that investigation.

How to Tell: As of the summer of 1998, mail order tickets included a new reflective security device which will make them easy to distinguish and nearly impossible to reproduce. But for other tickets (Ticketmaster or box office) you'll need to depend on legend (and possibly myth, so try these at your own risk) tbat says that you can distinguish real from fake through these various tricks and trials:

• Blacklight test: Chad <chadfa@aol.com> recommended (12/20/97) holding a black light up to the back of it: "it should have TM logos all over it, [although] the ads across the back of the ticket could be almost anything." And "Uncle Jesse" <unclejesse@juno.com> noted (3/10/98) that you can get a small pocket black light at Spencer's Gift stores.
• Cigarette test: Many contend that you can (carefully, of course) hold a cigarette or match to the back of the ticket -- if a small disc-shaped spot turns blank on the front of the ticket rather than burning through, and without burning through, then (purportedly) the ticket is legit. Problem 1: This only works on Ticketmaster tickets, not on mail order tickets. Problem 2: This may be reproducable by counterfeiters anyway. Problem 3: If you burn someone's ticket, and they thought and/or still think it's real, you may end up in a fight (ack!). Problem 4: You should be relying on reputable sources (known persons, including Phish and Ticketmaster) to get tickets anyway. :-) Nonetheless, custom rules, and this is commonly accepted as a test among many folks. Moreover, it's so commonly regarded that anyone who refuses the cigarette test may be (or at least usualy is) regarded as (a) selling a fake, and (b) knowing that what they're selling is a fake.
• Fingernail test: Andrew Goldblatt <goldblat@erols.com> reported that, "Instead of burning your ticket you can run you fingernail quickly across the ticket and the friction of your nail will leave a black line across the front" if it's real.
• The Bozo test: The best way to tell is to just look at the damned thing - the images are usually sloppy, the text is often muddled, and the entire design is usually off-balance.
• Crayon test: J Semmler <jsemmler@aol.com> pointed (3/4/98) out that, " if the words written on the ticket are in crayon it's probably a fake."

See also: article about NYE counterfeiting.

"You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it's got to be that way in music or it isn't music.""
-- Billie Holiday"