Secret Sounds Touring, the promoters of the upcoming Splendour In The Grass sideshows, have issued a warning to punters, urging them to stay away from “unauthorised sellers”, specifically citing ticket resale sites such as Gumtree and Ticketmaster Resale.
Tickets for a string of Splendour sideshows, including eagerly anticipated headline appearances from At The Drive-In, The 1975, James Blake, and many more, went on sale yesterday morning and many were quickly swept up by eager punters and, unfortunately, scalpers.
In particular, tickets for At The Drive-In’s first Australian performances since 2001 swiftly sold out and it wasn’t long before they showed up on resale sites for up to three times the original price of the ticket.
At the time of writing, there are six tickets available for the band’s Melbourne show at The Forum and 44 available for their Sydney appearance at the Enmore Theatre. Tickets for both appearances are selling at upwards of AUD$300.
In response, Secret Sounds have issued a statement urging punters to steer clear of these websites. “Please do not purchase your tickets to our shows through any unauthorised sellers (Ticketmaster RESALE, ViaGoGo, Ebay, Gumtree & The Ticket Merchant),” the wrote.
“Ticket links on our website are the only authorised sellers of our concert tickets and we can’t guarantee the validity of any tickets purchased through these other channels. We understand your frustration, please keep your eye on our page in regards to the At The Drive-In tour.”
Speaking to The Music, a spokesperson for Ticketmaster said it is consumers and not the sites who are responsible for the prices that appear. “For high-demand events, it is inevitable that a resale market will exist,” the spokesperson said.
“Ticket holders, not Ticketmaster Resale, control the inventory and the price of the tickets, which can be listed above or below the original face value.”
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“Ticketmaster Resale is a ticket marketplace that responds to what fans want; the ability to buy and resell tickets when they are no longer available on the primary market.” The spokesperson also addressed the issue of ticket validity.
“A key benefit of using Ticketmaster Resale is that it is safe and secure for buyers. We offer a 100% money back guarantee, which is not provided by all secondary sites.”
Back in March, Aussie band Violent Soho issued a fiery statement against scalpers after ticket to their upcoming WACO tour with Dune Rats and DZ Deathrays appeared on resale sites for upwards of $200 each.
