The Vivid LIVE festival’s recent pre-sale ticket round didn’t go as planned after unscrupulous ticket-scalpers hijacked the sale, leaving a handful of disgruntled punters without tickets and looking for answers.
As ABC News reports, angry Bon Iver fans took to social media after their attempts to buy pre-sale tickets for the singer-songwriter’s upcoming Vivid LIVE performance came up short, despite tickets simultaneously appearing on re-sale sites.
Tickets for performances by the likes of Bon Iver and Vivid LIVE headliners New Order were priced from $89 on the Sydney Opera House and Ticketmaster website, however fans reported seeing them on the Ticketmaster Resale website for up to $450.
Even fans who were able to secure tickets were upset about the delays that ensued, with one punter tweeting, “It was an online ticketing nightmare but after 3hrs and 58mins we finally have tickets to see Bon Iver at #VividLIVE.”
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Matt Levey of consumer watchdog Choice told the ABC the situation looked “fishy” and called it a “debacle” saying the facts suggest “there were people in there gaming this, profiteering, which is something no one wants to see from a consumer point of view”.
Taking to Twitter, organisers blamed “congestion” and “a technical issue with the Sydney Opera House website” for the wait times. Event organisers often have no way of knowing if scalpers are employing bots to unfairly secure tickets.
One fan suggested organisers should cancel all tickets sold, refund the money, and then redo the sales “with a platform that doesn’t allow re-selling above the ticket price”.
Vivid LIVE 2016
New Order (Sydney Only)
Bon Iver Presents Cercle (Sydney Only)
Anohni: Antony And The Johnsons + Oneohtrix Point Never Present Hopelessness (Sydney Only)
Esperanza Spalding Presents: Emily’s D+Evolution
Future Classic Presents Ta-Ku Live Feat. Wafia (Sydney Only)
Hiatus Kaiyote With Sampa The Great
Max Richter ‘Sleep’ (Sydney Only)
Oneohtrix Point Never
Deafheaven
Wayne Shorter Quartet
Goodgod Super Club
Poliça
Tiny Ruins
Dress Up Attack! Feat. Walter Martin With Special Guests Sally Seltmann & Holly Throsby
Lighting The Sails ‘Songlines’ Directed By Rhoda Roberts
Friday, 27th May – Monday, 13th June 2016
Sydney Opera House, Sydney NSW
Tickets: Vivid LIVE
