Rogers Wireless and concert promoter Live Nation have teamed to bring concertgoers a new way to see bands.

In the coming months, don't be surprised to see tech-savvy ticket scalpers trying to sell armloads of cellphones outside concert venues.

A highly innovative arrangement between Rogers Wireless and concert promoter Live Nation will allow Rogers cellphone users to purchase tickets and receive them through their cellphones using a service called Wireless Box Office.

"We're the first in Canada for mobile ticketing for a concert," Rogers' Director of Product Launch Reade Barber says. "The technology might have been used in other areas but we're the first in Canada to employ it in this manner."

According to Barber and Caleb Rubin, Rogers' senior director of marketing and strategy (consumer segment), the purchase procedure is fairly straightforward. In the mobile Internet browser on the handset, simply go into the music and tones section, then into the Wireless Box Office area and you're on your way.

"Essentially what you're doing on the handset is you're purchasing a ticket," Rubin says. "You just go through the experience, you pick the concert that you want to go to, you can pick up your two tickets and you enter your credit card information (MasterCard, Visa, American Express accepted). Once you've confirmed the purchase we'll send you two messages: One contains a multimedia message (MMS) bar code that gets scanned at the event. The other text message (SMS) is one saying that we've received your order."

Both Rubin and Barber say there are several options available should you lose or accidentally delete the messages with your ticket information. Should you lose the message containing the scannable 2D barcode image, the text message confirming your order can be exchanged for a paper ticket at the event. You can also text message the word "repeat" and another message will be sent to your phone. Finally, another text message will be sent prior to the event reminding fans they purchased tickets.

One difference between Wireless Box Office and an online ticket site such as Ticketmaster is the option regarding seat location and price range is not available. A $1 Rogers wireless fee will be added for each ticket purchased.

"The tickets you'll see in Wireless Box Office come from our preferred allotment with Live Nation," Rubin says. "All of those tickets are prime in every arena."

Sure, but concertgoers still might like to choose where their seats will be and how much they would like to spend.

The arrangement also contains some exclusive concerts only for Rogers Wireless customers and a special VIP venue access area with a special entry line set aside for Rogers customers.

As a way of launching Wireless Box Office, Rogers customers will have the first chance to purchase tickets for the upcoming Simple Plan tour being sponsored by Rogers. Overall, Rogers will sponsor 10 concerts at the Molson Amphitheatre and 50 gigs at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.

"There'll actually be thousands of tickets to approximately 100 shows which will vary in terms of venues from small venues to large venues," Barber says. "It's through our exclusive relationship with Live Nation and their select concerts that we have access to."