Immediate re-sale of Lizzo tickets on Ticketmaster site raises fans' anger

Music fans have raised concerns about Ticketmaster’s online sales system after tickets for a sold-out concert appeared to go on re-sale on its website minutes later for more than double the original price.

Tickets for American singer Lizzo’s show in Dublin’s Olympia on November 10 were originally priced between €39.50 and €45, and sold out this morning.

However, a number of fans voiced their anger on social media after tickets appeared on the site listed as ‘re-sale’ for €140 just minutes later.

Ticketmaster did not respond to a request for comment at the time of going to print.

One unsuccessful fan today wrote jokingly on Twitter: "Lizzo seems to have sold out before actually going on sale. I really like her music, but the fact she can bend the space-time continuum is what's truly impressive."

Comedian Alison Spittle commented on the "whiff of Lizzo sadness" she felt as she landed in Dublin Airport.

"It's intense and I know my country is in pain right now", she wrote.

The concerns come after Ticketmaster announced last year that it would be shutting down its controversial secondary site Seatwave following customer complaints about tickets being sold at inflated prices.

At the time, the company said it had “listened” to its customers and had decided to close the site in favour of instead having its own fan-to-fan re-sale service on the Ticketmaster website, where it said it would offer users the chance to “easily buy tickets or sell tickets you can’t use at the price originally paid or less”.

Following the general sale of Lizzo tickets today, Ticketmaster also put ‘Platinum’ tickets on sale for the event. The tickets, also priced at €140, are described on the company’s website as “premium tickets made available by artists and event organisers through Ticketmaster” which “give fans safe and fair access to some of the most in-demand tickets in the house at market-driven prices.”

Prices paid for platinum tickets do not include any extras or VIP elements.

Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, whose anti-ticket touting bill was approved by the Government last year but has yet to be enacted, said he hoped his Anti-Ticket Touting Bill, which he initially proposed with Fianna Fáil’s Stephen Donnelly in 2016, would soon become law.

“It’s frustrating that the legislation still has not been enacted three years on, and unfortunately its progress at the moment is out of my control,” he said.

“When I initiated the legislation three years ago, I knew all the acts that were selling out. It’s been so long that I’m no longer familiar with all the names.”

The proposed legislation is due to be sent to the European Commission, where it will be checked to ensure it doesn’t contain any anti-competitive issues that would give Ireland an unfair advantage over other EU countries.