160,000 U2 tickets sell out in 50 minutes

U2’s SUMMER concerts in Croke Park sold out in 50 minutes yesterday — smashing all previous Irish box office records.

As fans snapped up all 160,000 tickets for the June 24 and June 25 concerts, a pair of U2 tickets fetched €18,970 on the internet yesterday amid speculation that touts were trying to cash in on fans’ demand and drive up prices.

The private auction on Ebay saw bids of up to €510 for the pair of tickets before two bids increased the price to €18,970. The sale was just one of the auctions online after concert promoters ruled out the possibility of a third concert.

Ticketmaster said the concerts sold out at 8.50am although some punters were still seen buying tickets from the Ticketmaster stand in Dublin’s Stephen’s Green shopping centre at about 10am yesterday, while it’s believed a number of music stores around the country still had a few tickets remaining into the afternoon.

At one stage after all the tickets had been sold, 140,000 people were still either on the U2.com site or trying to gain access.

“We could have sold a million tickets this morning, we could have sold out Croke Park 10 times over, but there is only two concerts,” MCD’s Justin Green said.

He said the tickets, costing between €59.50 and €80, had sold evenly across internet, phone and ticket stalls and that all three ticket sources had been “bombarded.”

Those wishing to buy tickets for the concerts were limited to six per person, while those who had bought online as a member of U2.com were limited to four tickets per person.

As huge queues formed outside music stores across the country, around 100 people, thought to be from Liverpool, were removed by security before 11 pm on Thursday night after they tried to jump the queue outside the Stephen’s Green shopping centre.

“We don’t know if they were touts, acting on behalf of touts or genuine fans, but they were acting a bit suspiciously by jumping in the middle of the queue,” a Ticketmaster spokesman said.

Sales here were quicker than in Britain where 260,000 tickets were sold in six hours. In the North tickets sold out in 22 minutes. US concert dates have also sold out, although the concerts are taking place in comparatively smaller venues.

U2 begin their tour on March 28 when the band plays San Diego.