Sir Paul McCartney fans fuming as ‘absolutely disgusting’ touts flog concert tickets for £16,000
Sir Paul McCartney fans have been left fuming after missing out on tickets to his upcoming shows which are being flogged for close to £20,000 by online touts.
The Beatles legend, 76, released tickets for three UK shows on Monday morning at 10am, but minutes later they were being advertised on StubHub for £750, with pairs going for as much as £16,800.
Ticket prices started at £192 for two before increasing into the thousands for a date at London’s O2 Arena in December. McCartney will also play Liverpool’s Echo Arena and the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
Fans who failed to secure tickets vented their fury online with many calling for more action to be taken against touts.
Others questioned how sites including Viagogo and StubHub were claiming to have hundreds of tickets for sale minutes after they were made available to buy.
One fuming fan tweeted: “Maddening! How is this right? None available to fans at 10am on the official @TicketmasterUK & @AXS_UK sites yet plenty available immediately on viagogo. What a complete racket!”
Another wrote: “@TicketmasterUK @PaulMcCartney @EchoArena so how the hell do you get tickets then? Advertised to go on general sale - impossible to get them. A lot of disappointed people and they'll be on the resale site for 5 X value in minutes. Hang your heads.”
Presales: sold out instantly.
General sale: sold out instantly.
VIP: sold out in presale instantly.
Not a chance in hell! I’d say @PaulMcCartney might need to do more UK dates but actual fans would be scammed out of going to those shows too! Lots of us are devastated. 😓— Frankie (@FrankieGJones) July 16, 2018
@TicketmasterUK Have @PaulMcCartney tickets got Liverpool sold out in first 2 seconds!??? We’re there ever any available? 😢 pic.twitter.com/lyaNWPMbqS
— Steven Horner (@TheTownTank) July 16, 2018
Absolutely disgusting. @PaulMcCartney tickets seemingly “sold out” at 10:01, loads on Viagogo by 10:02 though and look how many are there by 10:28. Don’t worry fans, there are still thousand of tickets left... for x3 the price. Terrible @TicketmasterUK @TheSSEHydro @EchoArena pic.twitter.com/SBMDutUVsj
— Ryan Davison Crisp (@dpgcrimethink) July 16, 2018
Had hopes of securing a pair of Paul McCartney tickets today but seeing as they sold out instantly on Ticketmaster and I’m not a multi-millionaire who can afford the hugely inflated re-sales I’ll have to miss out seeing an artist I’ve admired and respected for over 30 years :-(
— David McKeown (@davidmckeown28) July 16, 2018
Standard Online has contacted TicketMaster for comment.
McCartney is currently gearing up for his Freshen Up tour which will kick off in Québec City, Canada on September 17 before taking him through Poland and Austria before wrapping up in the UK on December 16.
His new album Egypt Station will drop days before he hits the road. It will mark his first studio album in five years, following on from the 2013 release of New.
Speaking about the forthcoming album, McCartney said: “I liked the words ‘Egypt Station.’ It reminded me of the ‘album’ albums we used to make.
“I think of it as a dream location that the music emanates from.”
The British icon recently took part in Carpool Karaoke with James Corden which saw him take the chat show host on a tour of his home town of Liverpool from Penny Lane to his old house.