In the day of semi-legal scalping, promoters and artists are going to great lengths to try and shut down ticket brokers from buying blocks of tickets and reselling at much higher prices.
For England’s SJM, that includes a clear statement at the point of purchase that the name on the ticket must be the person who attends the concert. While those intentions may be noble, it turned into a bad situation at Tuesday’s (September 19) London show by the Foo Fighters.
Hundreds of ticket holders, ranging from those that bought their stubs on the secondary market to people who had been given a relative or friends ticket, were initially turned away from enterance into the 02. The reason given was that their photo ID did not match the name on the ticket.
After a great deal of disagreement, the arena finally let those without matching names into the show but reports say that many of the ticket holders had already left.
The Evening Standard told of a number of situations including a woman who gave her brother her ticket after her work schedule changed and a couple who had purchased their tickets through the official resale partner StubHub.
On Wednesday, the Foo Fighters issued an official statement:
Foo Fighters, SJM and The O2 are frustrated and saddened that despite their best efforts tickets for last night’s show at the O2 fell into the hands of unscrupulous secondary ticket agencies.
Unfortunately, this meant a small number of fans purchasing bogus tickets from these unscrupulous outlets did not get into the sold out show… Foo Fighters, The O2 and SJM strongly advise and sincerely hope that in the future ALL fans buy tickets only from legitimate sites to ensure they are not defrauded out of their hard earned money.
SJM and the 02 also issued a joint statement:
Fans that bought tickets through our official box offices had to agree that they were buying named tickets prior to purchase. This was not a ‘last minute’ decision but was clear from the outset. We did this to prevent tickets being re-sold at extortionate prices. The vast majority of fans understood and adhered to this.
StubHum took a more consumer friendly approach, calling the situation “not fair to customers”.
The problem with putting restrictions on tickets is that there are often unintended consequences. Many fans will receive tickets as gifts, will have a change of plans, or will want to enter the venue separately from the lead booker, and these restrictions mean that they can be denied entry. This is simply not fair for consumers.
