Tickets to Ed Sheeran‘s highly anticipated 2018 Australian tour are already being flogged for almost $1,000 a piece online, after only going on pre-sale yesterday.
Music Feeds has spotted tickets advertised for as much as $960 each on controversial ticket resale site Viagogo, despite their original price being around $165 each. There are also many other tickets being advertised for hundreds of dollars more than their original purchase price.
Hundreds of thousands of Sheeran fans attempted to get their hands on tickets during yesterday’s pre-sales, ahead of tickets going on sale to the general public next Tuesday, 23rd May. And with many missing out, some are already pointing the finger at ticket scalpers.
In a statement, tour promoters Frontier Touring have told punters not to buy tickets from “dirty scalpers”, “because it would really suck to realise you paid five times more for tickets that aren’t valid when we go to general on-sale on Tuesday”.
It’s likely that more shows will be added to Sheeran’s upcoming Australian tour ahead of the public on-sale next week, to cope with demand. Read Frontier Touring’s full statement below, and for all of Sheeran’s tour dates and ticket details, head here.
A number of big-name Australian and international acts have been affected by online ticket scalping in the past year, including the likes of Adele, Midnight Oil, Green Day and The Smith Street Band.
Ticket scalping bots have copped most of the blame, and while the Australian Senate passed a motion in March calling for ticketing bots to be banned down under like they are in the US, the motion has failed to gain the support of the Government.
Labor also recently criticised Viagogo for allegedly advertising fake concert tickets online, after the Swiss-based site was referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) earlier this year by consumer advocacy group CHOICE over “dodgy pricing practices”.
UPDATE: Ed Sheeran has now added new shows to his 2018 Australian tour to keep up with demand.
Frontier Touring Statement (16/05/17)
Hi Sheerios,
We know that our pre-sale may have been tough on many of you. What can we say, Ed’s a pretty popular guy! The demand for tickets on this tour can only be described as next level and we love that so many of you are so passionate about Ed.
Hundreds of thousands of you have stretched major ticketing systems to the maximum, which is impressive, but we appreciate for you, is pretty bloody annoying.
Please remember though that we’re only in pre-sale. More tickets will be available in all ticket categories, for all shows, in the sale to the general public next Tuesday. So stay strong, chances are Tuesday may be your lucky day.
Hope to see you in March.
For current tour info, make sure you visit www.frontiertouring.com/edsheeran
Frontier
PS – don’t buy from dirty scalpers because it would really suck to realise you paid 5 times more for tickets that aren’t valid when we go to general on-sale on Tuesday. Ticketek Australia, Ticketmaster New Zealand and Ticketmaster Australia are the only authorised outlets for these shows.
