'Are you serious?' Paul McCartney fans fume at £600 tickets as queue gets 'stuck' for Manchester and London shows

This morning, tickets for Paul McCartney's hotly anticipated Manchester and London shows went on sale.

The Beatles legend is bringing his acclaimed Got Back tour to the city's Co-op Live later this year on Saturday, December 14 and Sunday , December 15. He will also perform at The O2 in London on Wednesday, December 18 and Thursday, December 19, as part of the only four UK dates announced.

The tour - the first time he will play in Manchester in 13 years - follows his Glastonbury headline set back in 2022. He also last performed in London six years ago.

READ MORE: LIVE: Paul McCartney tickets go on sale for Manchester and London as fans complain of 'frozen' queues - updates

Announced last week, a number of fans were lucky enough to get Co-op member or O2 Priority codes for access to Wednesday's pre-sale (June 19). But the pre-sale was met with concerns from fans who struggled to get through the online booking system in time to get tickets.

Today's general sale has also been met with high demand with fans expressing disappointment and shock at the price of tickets, with some options costing up to £600 for the UK shows. Fans have also reported getting 'stuck' in the online queues for tickets.

On the price of a ticket, the cheapest options available for the two dates have ranged from £30.95 to £182.95 for standard options. However, fans online have been sharing ticket prices ranging from £429.10 for section 312 in the Co-op Live arena, to £592.25 for section 104 on the Sunday, 15 December show.

One user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote: "Spent 40 minutes in a Ticketmaster queue to see Paul McCartney in December only to find out that the prices were £655 per person, a price which is beyond unreasonable. People obviously pay it but it's completely unfair."

Another wrote: "@PaulMcCartney £600 a ticket?! Are you serious? @Ticketmaster @TheCoopLive."

Mark Maguire, Labour candidate for Castle Point in Essex, also tried for tickets this morning. He said that the cheapest option available to him were £655.70 each, and added that its 'something that needs addressing'.

Some didn't disclose how much they had spent to secure the tickets, but alluded to some steep prices. Another on X wrote: "I'll have to sell a kidney to pay for them, but he can't go on forever, can he?"!"

Tickets in section 313 are available for £418.60 each. These are classed as 'official platinum tickets', but do not include any additional benefits to standard tickets.

On its website, Ticketmaster says these "are premium tickets made available by artists and Event Organisers through Ticketmaster. They give fans safe and fair access to some of the most in-demand tickets."

Meanwhile, some fans said they were able to get through to the ticket selection screen, but have been unable to get through. One fan wrote that they felt 'cheated and disappointed' over the experience this morning.

They wrote: "@TMFanSupport trying to buy seats for #PaulMcCartney. Queued - got in promptly. Have spent 20 mins putting tickets in my basket and finding that can't get to checkout. Enough of the horrid yellow sign. Feeling cheated and disappointed by another fiasco."

Responding to the issue with the queue not appearing to move, another shared their experience of the pre-sale: "I had the same on pre sale, I was 195 in the queue and got nowhere, could not complete the sale. Something very wrong."

In the last few minutes, fans have also been notified via a pop-up that there is significant demand for the shows. The warning informs that ticket availability is now 'extremely limited'. At one stage, some users were in a queue of more than 20,000 people.

The ticket screen for the second night at Co-op Live shows some of the cheapest options still available. In section 104, they were available for £592.25 each, whilst section 110 tickets were available for £154.95. None of the £30 seats were available to choose from.

There are already tickets available to purchase on resale sites such as Viagogo. Ticket prices vary from £295 and £934. With these resale sites, customers are always buying at their own risk.

But, Viagogo says it is a ‘regulated marketplace where fans have the guarantee’, but fans attending live events with tickets acquired through resale websites are always advised to double check the ticket terms and conditions at the point of sale - such as Ticketmaster or Live Nation - to ensure a smooth live event experience.