Because the foil tickets can't be printed on the thermal-printing machines used by ticketing outlets such as Ticketmaster and Fastixx, the band has to handle its own sales, which could affect whether the show will sell out, Culbertson said. Because Phish has to spend more to process all phone and Internet orders on its own, foil tickets cost fans more. But Culbertson says the trade-off is that fans can recognize fakes more easily.

Foil tickets aren't the only security option. Tickets with glitter, moire patterns, custom dyes and multi-layered paper have all been tried. Counterfeits are often printed on low-quality stock; inks can be runny, and color separation can be poor. But every foil ticket has unique lettering in it which can't be copied, unlike a holographic image, which can be.

A two-ticket system, similar to what was used at Woodstock '99, is another anti-counterfeiting measure. For Seattle's Last Call Millennium Ball, featuring Chris Isaak [ tickets ], Robert Cray [ tickets ] and the Squirrel Nut Zippers [ tickets ], fans first buy a regular ticket through a Fasttix outlet, then exchange it for a ''souvenir'' ticket at the will-call window. The second ticket has a unique pattern and other undisclosed properties. Fasttix's Keenan believes the system will deter counterfeiting more successfully than black light checking, which he discontinued because it required too many lights and didn't work outdoors.

One line of defense is astute observation on the part of ticket-takers and sales supervisors, says Gregory Roberts, director of marketing and events for the Pontiac Silverdome. The Silverdome trains ticket-takers to look for duplicate numbers on general admission tickets (a common counterfeiting mistake), and ushers and security personnel look for people trying to sit in an area that's reserved for a special party.

The Silverdome sells all its concert tickets through Ticketmaster, which sometimes sends employees to the Silverdome to randomly check tickets with black lights. (Live Daily is published by Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, the site for Ticketmaster's online sales.) The Silverdome doesn't own its own black lights, and Roberts says the method is like ''trying to find a needle in a haystack.'' He doesn't want to slow lines down with blanket black-light checking on New Year's Eve, when the Silverdome is putting on a Metallica/Ted Nugent show whose top-tier tickets have already sold-out at $99.50. The floor area won't have seats, so he plans to set up two or three checkpoints to check for counterfeit tickets.

No method is certain to deter counterfeiters. Both Frankie Accardi, CEO of mail-order ticketing firm GDTS TOO and Phish's Culbertson say that the thermal stock used in ticket outlet machines has been stolen in the past. Counterfeiters have used college print shops to try to duplicate glitter tickets, and one counterfeiter boldly used a Kinko's copy shop to duplicate Rolling Stones/U2 backstage passes for the Silverdome. Kinko's tipped off the venue, and the culprit was busted in a sting operation.

Fastixx's Keenan believes the future is in bar-coded tickets, which have to be passed through a reading machine at the gate and are currently used at rugby and soccer matches in Australia. Each ticket's bar-code is unique, and only one is allowed through the turnstile. Keenan doubts a ticket could be copied, but if it was, the holder of a fake ticket could get into a show before the legitimate ticket-holder arrived. It's a problem that Keenan says would have to be resolved at the gate, which could mean a wait and a trying experience for ticket-holders.

Another possible future for the ticket is the untearable ticket, which the New York Knicks basketball team will use for its season, club and suite tickets this year. Made of a synthetic material, the ticket can only be torn at a perforation, so anyone who questions its authenticity can try to tear it on a corner. According to the New York Post, Madison Square Garden (where the Knicks play) may eventually use this ticket for concerts.

It's the ticket-buyer, of course, who's really the first to be on the lookout for fakes. Bands and venues are adamant that the best way to avoid counterfeits is to avoid buying tickets in parking lots and from scalpers. But the demand for seats at the top New Year's shows is high, and after shows sell out, fans will inevitably buy tickets from anyone who has them. Fans should watch out for bad printing jobs, repeated series of numbers on general admission tickets, and paper stock that doesn't have the slick feel of tickets bought at outlets.

One last word of caution is advised for people buying tickets on auction websites. After a recent Backstreet Boys/Bruce Springsteen ticket scam on eBay, buyers should check out the identity of sellers and use an escrow service.