Not great for the fans
In case you missed it (who are we kidding, of course you didn’t), the last couple of weeks on Instagram have been collectively devoted to Beyoncé and Rihanna. Literally a day doesn’t go by on social media without a friend, or a friend of a friend, posting a blurry photo captioned with an empowering mantra from their time watching Bey on her Formation world tour, and/or Rihanna on the UK leg of her Anti world tour.
Incredible performances aside, the incongruous fact remained; despite the gigs being listed as ‘sold out’, Wembley Stadium looked half empty for both Bey and Rihanna. As in, half the seats were sad and bum-free.
But why? The hype surrounding the shows alone would have been enough to fill Wembley Stadium tenfold. Don’t blame the fans, blame the ticket touts.
According The Daily Mirror, over-eager touts bought thousands of tickets for Rihanna’s gig on the on 24th June and Beyoncé’s Formation Wembley gig, and whilst (some) devoted fans bought the tickets at extortionate prices, it did mean that, according to gig-goers, nearly half of the 90,000 capacity-stadium was left empty.
It’s not just these two power-houses that were affected by ticket touts, a number of tickets for the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child West End show were left unsold after they were listed at a staggering £2,000 on resale sites. Let’s just remember you could buy a ticket for part one and part two of the play for £70 on official sites.
‘We work hard to make the face value of the ticket as accessible to as many of the fans as possible’, explained Mumford & Sons manager Adam Tudhope to The Daily Mirror.
‘So there's nothing worse for the band playing a “sold-out” show than looking out at empty seats because touts bought the tickets and tried to sell them on secondary sites at massively inflated prices.’ We’re right with you on this one, Adam.
