A self-confessed Ed Sheeran tragic, I had two computer screens open on Tuesday when pre-sale tickets went up for grabs at 3pm. I also had the website up on my phone and I had my mum with her phone held firmly to her ear as back up.
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My colleague did much the same. We sat watching our screens jam over and over. Finally, after an hour, I made it through to ticket sales, albeit briefly. It timed out.
I got through again, this time the computer apparently couldn’t comprehend my order. Four tickets, that’s all I wanted. Best available – hell any available.
Eventually, I scored four, way way up the back somewhere. My colleague didn’t get any. It seems countless Facebook friends were desperately disappointed too. A quick saw countless tickets still up for sale at exorbitant prices. Being the Ed tragic I am, I probably would have paid the $700 they were asking. But multiply that by four, and it’s one expensive night out.
So thumbs down to the scalpers buying up big and then offering the tickets at hugely inflated prices. You’ve robbed real-life fans, some as young as five, the chance to see a true musical genius live.
Sheeran had reportedly insisted on capping prices at around $165. That makes him so much cheaper than most big-name stars to hit our shoes.
When he last toured in 2015 he proved he’s worth every cent, keeping 48,000 rain-drenched fans at ANZ Stadium mesmerised for two-and-a-half hours.
If you closed your eyes you’d have sworn sounds coming from the guitar and loop pedal were the product of a 10-piece band. Yet there was Ed, drencehd from head to toe, delivering a bang that matched ACDC.
Ed told the crowd that night that everything they heard was real – all him, all happening here and all happening now. What a shame heartless scalpers won’t keep it real and respect his wish to stay affordable.